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Thank goodness for our NHS


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I know that is stating the obvious...

But after reading this news item it brought it home to me how lucky we all are to have it.

New research conducted by the analytics firm Gallup and the nonprofit organization West Health has found 1 in 7 people in the U.S. would avoid seeking treatment for the key symptoms of COVID-19 because of concerns over cost.

The study shines a light on the U.S. healthcare system and the barriers it places on people with low incomes from accessing healthcare.

Enough said....

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-cost-of-care-puts-off-1-in-7-people-from-seeking-treatment?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MNT Daily News&utm_content=2020-05-09&utm_country=&utm_hcp=&apid=25002370

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For some reason people wanting to paint the NHS as "the envy of the world" always point to the USA (which has far better health outcomes overall than the NHS in any case) and never to the many health systems in other countries that are better than the NHS. We could do better if the NHS was treated as a health service and not as something sacred, never to be criticised or changed. We have seen it with this crisis, the cry being "protect our NHS" not "save our sick".

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52 minutes ago, Observer II said:

The reason they cry "save the NHS" is because the don't want it swamped;  that's the only reason for the lock down imo;  just to keep that curve down while allowing for herd immunity, We're being conned.   😷😷

I had the opportunity to learn first hand from my parents and grandparents of life before 1947 and believe me we should get off our high horses and get down to earth ...

Life before then was pay or die ,that is why every street had a" lady" you would go to for anything from a tooth extraction to a pregnancy termination.

It's all to easy to look back in disdain at events that are rapidly diminishing in memory and nobody to remind us of the way things were.

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That's all well and good Latch, but since it was established the NHS hasn't been allowed to progress to something more suited to the modern world because of it being placed on a pedestal. Any suggestion that it could be allowed to use the private sector to improve it's service to the customer has been met with cries of "the evil Tories are trying to sell off "our NHS" to the Americans" as if anyone in their right mind would buy such a cash guzzling behemoth. The NHS doesn't just let the people down, it lets down the doctors and nurses it employs by not providing the equipment they need to do their jobs properly.

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Make your mind up Asp -  your calling the NHS a cash guzzling behemoth, then criticising it's lack of equipment, which requires cash to obtain.   If anything, the NHS is a victim of it's own success,  with more expensive innovation and equipment over the years, providing a service free at the point of need.   We could of course argue over want and need; eg why does it provide for non-life saving procedures like IVF and gender reassignment, but as Latch says, it's a miracle in comparison to the pre-war scenario.      😷

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It is a cash guzzling behemoth. We could put the entirety of our GDP into it and it still wouldn't be satisfied because of its inherent inefficiencies. And it's a bit simplistic to say it's a miracle in comparison to the pre-war scenario, that was 75 years ago. There are poor countries in Africa whose health provision is miraculous in comparison to 75 years ago. The problem is that the NHS isn't being run in an  efficient manner. Your examples of non-life saving procedures could be added to the health tourism which the inefficient NHS makes no effort in getting paid for. Why should they? After all the tax payer will make up any shortfall. So there is scope for some business-like management provision rather than the laissez faire model that is in place now. And of course, any criticism of the NHS is immediately taken as criticism of the front-line staff (doctors and nurses) rather than the actual management of the whole thing, which makes it forbidden to even hint at changing anyrhing for the better. That would be tantamount to accepting Donal Trump's offer to buy it, an offer he has never made and never will make. He has better things to do, such as sorting out the US healthcare system that Obama made such a fine job of.

When I was criticising the lack of equipment, it was the management I was criticising. They have the money but they didn't spend it on the equipment needed in a timely manner and then said it was the big boy did it and ran away the government's fault.

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I'll agree with your criticism of NHS management and organisation, which is imo is a dog's breakfast, with multiple "Trusts", each with paid Boards of non-elected members and a surplus of CEO's on astronomical salaries.  As for the limitations we need to place upon it,  I think that requires a National conversation to establish it's mission, is it there to provide life saving treatment or extended to cover wants like gender reassignment, IVF, and of course health tourism.  What it needs to be is a National (UK) Organisation,  not an international one or devolved to pretend nations within the UK.  But most of all imo, it needs to be, having been given a mission statement, independent of political point scoring.      😷

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With lots of free time on most folks hands at the moment may I suggest a 10 minute read of this article.

Not a political statement just an observation on ordinary people before the NHS began. 

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/10/hunger-filth-fear-and-death-remembering-life-nhs

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All well and good Latch, but the NHS was instituted and has provided, not free health care because nothing in this life is free, health care that doesn't depend on your income. However that is not to say it can't be improved upon, but treating it as a political scoring point as certain parties do, hasn't helped to achieve much needed improvements. The mantra that "the evil Tories want to sell it off to the highest bidder" is obviously untrue as the NHS has existed under Tory governments for two thirds of its life. We need the NHS to be financed by the government but to be free of government control. I think the government needs this too because at the moment when anything goes wrong the blame is placed at the government's door and not that of the NHS management. And as I've said before politicians are incapable of running anything efficiently or economically, they never have their eyes on the long term future of anything but their own careers.

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