Save the NHS for our children

[RuthHill]

This petition is being given to Nick Clegg on Friday. If you haven't already, please sign it to save the NHS for our children.

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Really, the fact they spent thousands trying to cure my DD says different to ME. The fact that state of the art equipment and treatement was available for her treatment without me having to even consider the cost says different to ME. The fact she had regular, safe, blood transfusions says different to ME. The fact that she had physio, OT, wheelchair services, home tutoring and ultimately palliative care so she could die at home says different to ME.

We never got kicked out of a hospital bed because our money ran out. She wasnt denied MRIs because our insurance didnt cover it. She wasnt denied treatment because she was going to die anyway. She got whatever she needed.

I had two homebirths because that is what I wanted and needed. I had two others in hospital without having to work out how much it would cost me.

I have an appointment with a specialist next week because I need the help.

My DS sees an excellent specialist nurse for his skin condition every three months. I can get an appointment with my GP within a week for a non emergency.

My DS has been diagnosed via NHS small.

The battles i have had regarding his LDs and ASD have been with the LEA not the NHS.

NHS is fucking brilliant.

It has faults - they dont include denying children chemotherapy and pain relief because their parents are uninsured or ineligable for medicare.

"NHS is fucking brilliant.

It has faults - they dont include denying children chemotherapy and pain relief because their parents are uninsured or ineligable for medicare"

You're referring to the US system, there isn't just 2 choices between what we have now and the US system of healthcare. The current system is better than the US system but that doesn't make it good. The comparitive study of the WHO demonstrates this as the US are 27th.

I am not dismissing your experince small.

I dont think I am one in a sea of millions though. I think I am one of millions who have experienced excellent care.

You are one of millions who have not. You are experincing the same sort of emotions but on the other end of the spectrum.

It is an institution with flaws. It needs to be constantly monitored and improved. I am not naive. I worked in the NHS for over 6 years as did OH. My OH has a degenerative condition, my DS has disabilities and my DD had cancer. I have a lot of experience of the NHS. I have had my battles.

I am not basing my opinions entirely on emotions. We have a system that offers state of the art treatement to everyone, regardless of income.
Something worth preserving.

smallwhitecat - can you name 5 ailments where the NHS is witholding state of the art care from patients?

You know what?

I am not going to defend how I feel about the NHS anymore.

Do you really expect me to say its bollocks after what it has done for my family? To dismiss all the treatments, appointments and medications?

I think MRIs, new chemos and drug treatments ARE state of the art. My DS was referred, tested and dx with APD in less than 6 mths from start to finish. The fact that I cant get treatment for it on the NHS is difficult but put into context, I can live with it.

My father died as a result of medical negligence. He was 57. I havent written off the whole system because of this.

I am actually finding it quite distressing to have to somehow justify the way I feel about an institution that has given my family so much.

So I am not going to anymore. If that ok.

Except - wikolite not not two choices. There are also countries where children die without treatment and without pain relief. Where people have to take their chances with black market antibiotics and hiv medications.

Where people share beds and carry their kids hundreds of miles to protect them against childhood illnesses that have been wiped out in this country.

Thefirstmrsdevere - your posts eloquently sum up what I think is great about the NHS and why at it's very best it makes me so proud to work within it.

People who attack the NHS are quite simply fools imo. You absolutely do not understand what a difference it makes to your life and to the lives of everyone in this country. You probably won't understand till your posturing and arguements have decimated it. Then when something goes wrong (and something always goes wrong) you will need it and it won't be there.

MDV-The conditions you describe are what exist in the developing world, we are in the developed world and so we will never have such conditions (fortunately). I still maintain that we as a country should be looking across the Channel at countries such as France and the Netherlands and look to revolutionise the way healthcare is delivered in this country.

Thats your opinion.

Mine is that I dont want the NHS 'revolutionised'.

I work in children's services. They are currently being 'revolutionised'

Its not as much fun as you would think.

"People who attack the NHS are quite simply fools imo"

Why does pointing out the flaws and suggesting ways to improve healthcare make you a fool?

I dont think pointing out flaws and making suggestions is a problem. A lot of people who support the NHS also get involved various project to improve services.

'developed' world or not - if healthcare is not universal then it is de facto rationed to those with the means to pay. Any insurance scheme will have victims, people who are not covered for the particular condition, whose cover stops, who haven't paid up etc. Generally heavy users of health services tend to be those who therefore have the least means to pay. The more ill you are, the poorer you get.

Improving healthcare and dismantling the NHS are not the same thing. The former is a useful exercise, the latter is the act of fools.

Northern- Many European countries use insurance schemes and still have universal healthcare for all citizens

Everyone who is against progress in the health service uses emotive phrases like 'dismantling' the NHS and 'privatisation by the back door'. They try to stifle debate and scare the proles at the same timeby suggesting the only choice is between 'free healthcare' and 'private insurance' (that naturally you won't be able to afford!!!!). In principle, the NHS is a great asset. In practice, it is extremely patchy - working very well in some areas for some people but a disgrace in other areas and letting people down badly. Organisationally it is hidebound by bureaucracy, suffers from the lack of competition, at the same time as being constrained by the public funds available. There has to be a better way of administering the principle of 'free healthcare at the point of need' and the NHS model of public health provision is not the only game in town.

hudspur, the NHS is at the top of the league when it comes to providing access to healthcare regardless of wealth. It's one of the things we do best. To me, that has to be the cornerstone of our healthcare system. Despite all the money the french spend, they don't achieve so well in this area.

I am left wondering, with all this talk of the wonders of the french and german systems whether Lansley is proposing we spend an equivalent amount on healthcare in the UK, because I've missed that bit.

In fairness Chil, there wasn't a lot of debate at all. One minute we were told the tories had no plans for wholesale reform of the NHS, in the next breath Lansley produces his white paper and were off.

The fact is the majority of workers within the NHS are dead against these proposals, including most GPs. Cancer specialists, including the biggest charities out there, are warning of an enormous breakdown in cancer services if these proposals go ahead.

It's difficult to not be emotional about that when the only thing between you and death are the very services the tories have planned to scrap and have absolutely bugger all to put in it's place for years to come. I haven't got years whilst they fuck around to get this right.

(Chil1234 namechanged) And yet Lansley has been working on the white paper for seven years. It is disingenuous for those in the Health Service with whom he has been collaborating over all that time to claim 'we knew nothing about it mate'.

7 years? And this is the best he can come up with. He's not up to the job then IMO.

Read my link chil, they are stopping funding for the regional cancer networks next year and what plans do they have to replace this vital service? None. Absolutely fuck all.

7 years to come up with that? Genius.

Oh, and if they've been working on these plans for 7 years, why weren't they vaunted at the GE? Why did Cameron stand up on national TV and claim they were planning 'no top down reorganisation of the NHS'?

This is the biggest proposed change to the NHS in it's history, wouldn't it have been appropriate to tell the electorate about these plans before the general election. This isn't Cameron's money, or Lansley's money, it's our money, our services, let us decide.

There is no political mandate for these reforms and no support from health professionals.

I think its a ininteresting debate surrounding health in the country as many people seem opposed to any form of private provison but if you look across the world at where the best rated healthcare systems are then they do use the involvement of charities and private companies. The french system has been mentioned before and the french Government spends similar amounts of money on healthcare as our Government do, but they've devised a way of incorporating private money into their universal healthcare system.

inappa, they spend considerably more than we do in the UK. I think I've read that each working person pays around 20% of their gross salary towards healthcare. Imagine the NHS we could have with that kind of funding.

"Imagine the NHS we could have with that kind of funding."

All the extra funding would be wasted if we stuck doggedly with the current system of administration. It's a bottomless pit the way it's currently set up. The Labour government shovelled billions extra into the NHS over the last 10 years and we still ended up with PCTs running at a loss, postcode lotteries, old ladies left on trolleys and worse.