Ditch the NHS for private health care

[Tony 10]

At least we are both consistent eh?

[Tradescanthia 10]

Is it time we ditched the NHS in favour of a private health care system, taking parts of health care systems seen in Europe and the US?

 

It's often difficult to have a proper discussion about the future of our national health care because of the Golden Calf mentality that permeates the public sector, the NHS in particular, and the Unions.

 

But lets be honest, it's nowhere near perfect and often falls short of what we might expect of a modern health service.

 

If we had the private sector replace the NHS, competing companies would strive to provide better services and provide them at competative prices to win customers. They would have to meet the service expectations of its customers, or it customers will look elsewhere. The tax burden on Joe Public should go down, then it is your choice whether to spend that extra money in your pocket on fags and booze, or on health insurance.

 

No comment -----IDIOT !!!!!!

[Bassman62 10]

What a great way for our marvellous NHS to treat an old war hero. Makes me so proud of our NHS.

That is totaly obscene but about par for the course.

[JFKvsNixon 11]

No they can't.

 

Perhaps the better way to look at it is that the private sector cherry picking the profit making patients leaving the loss making patients to the NHS. This wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for each NHS trust having to balance their books, the loss of the profit making patients makes this more difficult.

[Tony 10]

The private sector tenders for the work that the NHS procures. There is no cherry picking. It's the NHS calling the shots on who does what.

 

I'll await a contrived explanation with a link to http://www.leftfootforward.com

[JFKvsNixon 11]

The private sector tenders for the work that the NHS procures. There is no cherry picking. It's the NHS calling the shots on who does what.

 

I'll await a contrived explanation with a link to http://www.leftfootforward.com

 

Maybe, but it's not the NHS trusts calling the shots. What you have to remember is that the trusts get paid a flat rate for performing an operation, irrespective of the cost of that operation.

 

This becomes a problem when a patient needs expensive interventions to be able to have an operation, the private sector will not touch him and they will have the operation on the NHS. The NHS will not get paid a penny extra to provide this service or cover it's costs, so this patient in effect becomes a loss making patient for the trust.

Edited September 22, 2010 by JFKvsNixon

[Tony 10]

Maybe so but the claim (not by you) was that the private sector is 'cherry picking' what they do. That isn't true.

 

The problems of the internal workings of the NHS really just underline that it is a bit rubbish compared to other health services as evidenced by cancer and heart survival stat's. We should be ashamed that other European nations have cancer survival rates double the UK's. The NHS is not something to be proud of.

 

As much as we might love to love it, the NHS seems to be broken and people are dying as a result. It's time that we stopped treating it like a political football and got it sorted out. Fast. If private sector is a part of that then so be it if it makes ill people well, helps the sick live longer, and the dying have proper dignity.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Tony

[donkey 10]

When I worked in Spain, part of my wages went towards a private health care premium. My Eye got injured, and I was immediately informed by my fellow workers that the Doctor (who worked for the medical insurance company) would not acknowledge my injury as serious. They never did, because that way they could get out of paying for any days off work. My colleagues told me that nobody ever got a day off authorised by the medics unless they had "lost a leg." This turned out to be correct. After an examination of my eye which lasted several seconds, I was told there was nothing wrong with me. But there was, and because it was not treated immediately it deteriorated, and subsequently it took almost a year of treatment by the NHS who promptly diagnosed the injury correctly on my return to the UK, and prescribed the appropriate treatment free of charge.

 

Anyone naive enough to believe that ****** about private healthcare being better should watch the film 'Sicko.' It certainly resonated with my own experience of private medical insurance.

[Tradescanthia 10]

When I worked in Spain, part of my wages went towards a private health care premium. My Eye got injured, and I was immediately informed by my fellow workers that the Doctor (who worked for the medical insurance company) would not acknowledge my injury as serious. They never did, because that way they could get out of paying for any days off work. My colleagues told me that nobody ever got a day off authorised by the medics unless they had "lost a leg." This turned out to be correct. After an examination of my eye which lasted several seconds, I was told there was nothing wrong with me. But there was, and because it was not treated immediately it deteriorated, and subsequently it took almost a year of treatment by the NHS who promptly diagnosed the injury correctly on my return to the UK, and prescribed the appropriate treatment free of charge.

 

Anyone naive enough to believe that ****** about private healthcare being better should watch the film 'Sicko.' It certainly resonated with my own experience of private medical insurance.

 

Just about sums it up mate. :clap:

[mj.scuba 10]

No comment -----IDIOT !!!!!!

 

So no comment but a snide comment. You have the intellect of an Amoeba.

[Bedders 10]

The NHS, the police force and every other public authority/organisation needs to be modernised and streamlined.

 

Get rid of all the red tape and corporate nonsense and allow the authorities to do fulfill their roles properly. It is the red tape which wastes the money. We don't need more money, we need to stop wasting the money we have!

 

I don't think we need to privatise the nhs but i do think we need to sort it out and STOP WASTING MONEY.

 

I totally agree with you.....but it won't ever happen in our lifetime. Most Mp's come from either an accounting or leagal profession background. Red tape is their earner....and they aren't going to get rid of that. If only Guy Falkes...

[Alex C. 10]

Just to add my personal experience - had my op today, was lots better than when I had it done in an NHS hospital.

 

The main difference was rather than being shuffled around waiting areas, I was in a specific 'cubicle' (very nice, had a window view ) and they moved me when I needed to be. Nice touch was being walked to the operating theatre so I could meet all the staff who'd be helping out.

 

When I came round, they gave me much more time to recover and chatted to me for a while - at the hospital, I was given 20 minutes to recover and ended up falling over trying to get into my clothes because I was still groggy.

 

However, with all that in mind - if they aren't taking the complicated cases (day surgery are the most uncomplicated cases), but they're getting the same amount per operation as the hospital who deal with all the non day-surgery cases, it's easy to see why they can provide a much better environment.