The shape of things to come ?

[observer]

Cash strapped NHS Trusts are now being driven  into rationing treatment based on lifestyle; so smokers and obese folk will be denied operations. No doubt Doctors have exercised rationing for some time, with their Not For Resucitation policy on some elderly patients, but now we're moving into the realms of virtual euthanasia based on lifestyle history; so no longer providing a service free to all at the point of need. Is this where we want to go?

[Davy51]

The ridiculous thing is that many obese people have been made that way by the marketing policies of big companies & the reliance on additives in food that no one can really say what harm are doing to people.

 

What really makes me laugh are these regular news reports stating that scientists are finding cures for x,y,& z ,which will prolong life expectancy. We have have one lot peddling longer lives in the future while the other lot are suggesting DNR policies. I think it is obvious that these miracle cures will depend on how much £ s d prospective patients are willing to cough up out of their own pockets.

 

Sounds a bit like a partially privatised NHS to me.

[observer]

There's certainly an issue in respect of obesity, which is basically due to excess calorie intake and the use of attractive addatives in junk food.  Things are now so bad, that when some need to go to hospital by ambulance, the fire brigade have to attend, to take a window out, in order to get them out of the house !   One wonders how/why, folk can allow themselves to reach that stage?

[Evil Sid]

Form of depression leading to a vicious circle of eating because they are depressed which then makes them over weight and even more depressed so they eat more to try and get over that depression, is one reason i suppose. Having to have a fire brigade take out a window has been known but not in many cases. i think i can recall only one being in the news in the past.

 

Surprising how many nurses are of the larger size, and how many nip out for a quick smoke break as well.

 

With the DNR issue most of the time it will have been discussed with relatives at some time after admittance. Such a decision usually has to be agreed by a relative based on the doctors assessment of the patient. I have been through it twice with the father in law and my mother and in both cases agreed that resuscitation would not be the right option for them. In my father in laws case because most of his internal organs had shut down and it would only be giving him a few more hours of painful life and in the case of my mother it was due to a massive brain haemorrhage  that left her with so much damage that even if she had been resuscitated what would be left of her would be a mere vegetable existence at best.

[Davy51]

My wife was asked about DNR for herself during the doctor's annual MOT appointment....it isn't something you normally drop into a conversation though. She replied with,"Plenty of living & holidays to fit in yet."

[observer]

Must be a hell of a lot of "depressed" folk about then Sid; an hour in Town just people watching, will show around 20% of folk are well over-weight.  It's a fairly simple equation - if calorie intake (food) exceeds that burnt off with exercise, it will begin to be stored as fat; SO, eat less or exercise more.  Problem is of course, kids aren't exercising these days and eating sugary comfort foods, thus dooming them to obesity in later life. Having said that, the BMI used by the Medics goes to the other extreme, where one would need to be bulimic to pass. As for smoking, seems "the experts" are now finding that we all smoke car exhausts and other airborne pollutants, which even find their way into the brain, possibly contributing to alzeimers; SO it seems we just can't win; but no excuse imo for the NHS to try ducking it's responsibilities to all.

[Evil Sid]

makes me wonder if this pokemon go craze is going to be lauded as the new fitness regime. after all it gets kids out in the fresh air and walking around. Must be a good thing right?

[Davy51]

I remember googling bmi once & the first search that came up was bmi baby holidays which seemed much more enjoyable.

[observer]

If these NHS Trusts want to save money, perhaps they could start with their highly paid executives eg: the woman who received a re-designated post at over 250k py, as recompence for a cock-up in her original post.  Perhaps, not just in the NHS, but throughout the public sector, time to clean out the stables ?

[asperity]

It's true that the public sector seems to have people on salaries which, on the face of them, appear to be excessive. But who am I, a mere working class boy, to judge the professional class?

[observer]

Guess you know your place then !  

[Davy51]

That "main man" that was being interviewed on BBC about the woman's new job looked very dodgy.

[Evil Sid]

Not dodgy enough by the awkwardness of his answers to the very straight question that was repeatedly asked. Obviously he had not been briefed properly before the interview on how to to the right spin on things to avoid having to answer. Honestly i could have handled that better.

 

Q: "So were any other candidates considered."  A: "Er she was the best person for the job." "so effectively the job was created for her." A: "she was the best person for the job"

 

Easy way out would have been to say "we did consider other candidates but she was best qualified for the position"  If pressed about who else was considered " I am not at liberty to discuss the names of the other candidates sufficed to say she was the better qualified"

 

Egad sir i may just make a politician yet.

[observer]

That's the concern Sid, these people are not "politicians" but a new breed of bureaucrat that has taken over our Town Halls, Hospitals and other NGOs, under the banner of "if you want the best, you have to pay the best"; thus producing a kind of football promotion race of grossly inflated pay rates; which  either have no political control or are aided and abetted by weak politicians. Perhaps time for a National cap on such pay rates and some limitations on their numbers ?  

[Davy51]

The argument about paying bosses based on responsibility is blown out of the water in this case when the sideways move is £ equally rewarding.

 

And we all wonder why the NHS is in a mess...management in secure jobs with big money while keeping the nursing side ticking over with overpriced bank staff.

[asperity]

The NHS, really not the envy of the world. But it's what we have and someone in power needs to grasp the nettle and sort out the many faults. Is there anybody there?

[Freeborn John]

That's the concern Sid, these people are not "politicians" but a new breed of bureaucrat that has taken over our Town Halls, Hospitals and other NGOs, under the banner of "if you want the best, you have to pay the best"; thus producing a kind of football promotion race of grossly inflated pay rates; which  either have no political control or are aided and abetted by weak politicians. Perhaps time for a National cap on such pay rates and some limitations on their numbers ?  

 

In a system where large salaries are justified as being necessary to procure the best people, we should therefore see the finest minds, the elite, at the top.

Is this the case; I suggest not, in fact I believe that the public sector is little more than sheltered accommodation for some pretty sub prime individuals who wouldn't last five minutes in the real world. 

 

[observer]

I suggest the myth has been put about by "the finest minds" and those who aspire to earn 50 times more than their staff; the reality is, that if there wasn't an arms race in salaries by Town Halls etc; we would get the same people doing these jobs for a lot less.

[Sha]

.................the public sector is little more than sheltered accommodation for some pretty sub prime individuals who wouldn't last five minutes in the real world. 

 

 

This sums it up well Freeborn John.

[Davy51]

It was mentioned on BBC news that 4 hospitals in Liverpool could merge to solve their own particular black hole. Maybe a slimming down of administration & backroom staff would save a few bob annually. I am sure one lot of management could easily run the four hospitals if they put their mind to it.

[observer]

What usually happens with re-organisations; is that you may get some thining down at the top, with increased salaries for those remaining, and golden good-byes for those leaving; but the biggest cuts will be made at the bottom.