The Doctors are SEETHING

[Lewis]

It's whether the government runs it all (rather than just backs it), and whether 'equality of access' is more important than actual outcomes. I suppose they are linked insofar as the 'Our NHS' people put the principle of the system over the fact that everywhere with paved roads has vastly superior cancer survival rates.

[Byron]

I do wonder how much the naturally aging population contributes to this, when you consider the average life expectancy is 10 years more than it was in 1945. Add in a rising population in general and it's not surprising tat the system is on its knees.

I do think we're moving towards a more privatised system. Not full on MURICA where you get left to die if you don't have $5,000k in credit but something where NI payments are increased (which I wouldn't mind, the NHS has done a lot for me in the past) or where more and more is moved to the private sector and the NHS works on the purely life-saving stuff.

[Lewis]

There is also the fact that medical treatments in 1948 amounted to fitting leg braces to lame children and proscribing mercury, so it's genuinely bizarre how people are attached to the system and a particular (and objectively inefficient) model of provision rather than the notion of state-backed healthcare.

[McAvennie]

So how about we keep the current funding and access alone and call it the baseline, then allow people to buy health insurance for non-urgent care, and to use that insurance for quicker access from the NHS.
Sure it's a two tier system, but not for quality of care - NHS patients still get a very good basic standard of care and in a decent timeframe.
This would also keep the money within the NHS rather than with private healthcare providers.

You might have to incentivise the insurance by offering a small tax break to those that take it up, but if you are careful to set that at a sensible level then you still make it a net income for the government.

You get to keep cancer treatments, maternity, A+E and chronic illnesses covered to their current standard, whilst subsidising the system out of routine hips and knees, quick consultations in outpatients etc

Plus the private providers can keep making money off of cosmetic surgery and people who want their health treatment to be like a hotel stay.

[randomlegend]

This case with the paediatric registrar is awful.

Makes you not want to do the job to be honest.

[Magic]

Go and do something else then.

[randomlegend]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/28/nhs-trainee-doctors-denied-leave-dossier-hospitals?fbclid=IwAR0RWwsHbiaU4y0bTFDZ2VDABtPX1-iDVFelOaliq-vkSpax0W5V9dJpWOo

I feel like I've been relatively well looked after in my first hospital, but I'm sure next year at NNUH (where the CQC accused the management of bullying) will be another matter.

[Lewis]

The downsides of monopoly provision (see also: patients receiving similar treatment).