General Chat

Today the government announced a major shake-up to NHS services in London paving the way for similar changes in other parts of the country.

Two London hospital A&E units are to be axed while two more could have their services slashed. The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a Commons statement that the reforms are aimed at saving lives and that he wanted to end uncertainty hanging over the future of London hospitals. Two of the affected hospitals are Ealing Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled that the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt did not have the power to implement cuts at Lewisham Hospital in south-east London, and this begs the question - has he acted within his powers in the changes he has announced today?

My thoughts, while listening to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt making his statement today were - is he saying it will save lives or is that spin for it will save money ;-)

Says a lot about what the Prime Minister David Cameron told NHS staff on 7th June 2011 when he said that - they and the country should trust him with the future of the health service.


What do you think?

The NHS as we know it has no future .

:-(

Although I accept improvement in some areas of the NHS are needed and have read about some people having bad experiences, I just cannot get my head round how you improve the NHS by cutting services :-S

I personally have much to thank the NHS for, not least that I am still here 20 years after being told that I only had months to live unless I had major heart surgery, I had the operation and have had several treatments for serious issues since - I cannot fault the care I received and have nothing but praise & admiration for the doctors and nurses who treated me.

Suzanne is right the NHS as we know it has no future.

It is being prepared for break up by both parties right in front of your eyes in a series of grandmother's footsteps.

At some point payment will move from free-at-the-point-of-use (*) to an insurance based system.

(*) except for dental care, death, spectacles, false teeth, walking aids, chiropody, physiotherapy, road accidents and so on

its been coming for a number of years,

before long we will all need private medical insurance before we are treated.

the NHS has had a lot of bad press lately,to be fair,they are not as bad as some make out.

the treatment my dad got saved his life,they also saved the lifes of my first grandchild and her mother(my daughter)the care was second to none. :-)

making hospitals into Trusts was the death knell of the NHS - I worked for the NHS for thirty years and it was working well, then we went Trust and things rapidly went downhill and will continue to do so until someone puts the brakes on it and reverts back to what it was, which is unlikely to happen

Once upon a time in the youkay engineering firms were run by engineers, airlines by people who knew how to fly, farms by farmers, armies by soldiers and so on and so forth right up to doctors surgeries which were run by doctors and hospitals which were run by doctors and matron.

Despite the success of this idea in most countries right up to the present day the UK has decided on the American way by which everything is run by professional administrators and one million lawyers.

Humankind has survived some disasters, I'm sure.
Like locusts and flash floods and flu.
There's never a moment when we've been secure
From the ills that the flesh is heir to.
If it isn't a war, it's some gruesome disease.
If it isn't disease, then it's war.
But there's worse still to come, and I'm asking you please
How the world's gonna take any more?

(CHORUS:)
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?

The world shook with dread of Atilla the Hun
As he conquered with fire and steel,
And Genghis and Kubla and all of the Kahns
Ground a groaning world under the heel.
Disaster, disaster, so what else is new?
We've suffered the worst and then some.
So I'm sorry to tell you, my suffering friends,
Of the terrible scourge still to come.
(CHORUS)
(BREAK:)
Oh, a suffering world cries for mercy
As far as the eye can see.
Lawyers around every bend in the road,
Laywers in every tree,
Lawyers in restaurants, lawyers in clubs,
Lawyers behind every door,
Behind windows and potted plants, shade trees and shrubs,
Lawyers on pogo sticks, lawyers in politics!
(CHORUS)
In spring there's tornadoes and rampaging floods,
In summer it's heat stroke and draught.
There's Ivy League football to ruin the fall,
It's a terrible scourge, without doubt.
There are blizzards to batter the shivering plain.
There are dust storms that strike, but far worse
Is the threat of disaster to shrivel the brain,
It's the threat of implacable curse.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?
How much can a poor nation stand

:-(

I still like the NHS. Obviously it is not quite what Nye thought it would be. But then he never thought we would all live to 110 and we would discover more and more expensive treatments to keep us alive till 120 or 130.

Out of 10, I would give it 9/10. And it has never fallen below 8/10 in my eyes. Yes, it could be very much better. But so could I be very much better. But most would give me 8/10 and an extra half for trying hard.

I hope Wales will see the way forward via a NHS. I think we will. But I also realise the Welsh government will have to think well outside the box and will have to collect a lot of money to make it work reasonably well. And we all have to accept that we will have to travel a long way sometimes for treatment.

I like the Plaid idea of levies on fizzy drinks and unhealthy food. A levy on KFC and MacDonalds in my view of 20% will not affect their sales one iota. But it will raise an awful lot of extra money for our NHS

the nhs in wales made the mistake of becoming trusts .and we have been going down hill ever since,agenda for change promised a much better service all round but it didnt deliver

plaid idea of a levy on fast food is outrageous,how dare they tell people how to live,and how dare the nhs single out smokers and the obese,these people pay towards their care through contributions and have as much right to treatment as the rest of us. :-(

and let's face it - if smokers gave up, the government would face a tremendous loss in taxes - when I worked for a tobacco company in the 50s and 60s, a pack of B & H was about 3/6 - The company got the 6d and the government the rest and I would imagine the same ratio applies today - the tax would have to come from somewhere else - so all in all, smokers make a massive contribution to the finances of this country

Tobacco tax raises around £10 billion, around 8% of what it costs to run the NHS.

Given the the total government spend this year is just over £700 billion then it amounts to less than 1.5% so whilst not insignificant, sadly it isn't a massive contribution to the finances of the country.

Smokers are a major drain on the finances of the UK and HMG/NHS in particular which is why the govt is so keen for people to stop smoking. Apart from the obvious health issues smoking remains a major source of fires and fatalaties and pushes up insurance bills.

Sadly it is really, really hard to give up and people don't get anywhere enough support. My OH is till recovering from the complex surgery she needed after the dentist discovered a lump on her tongue ... as we speak French at home it gave my language skills a real work out ;-)

Don't go there those who still smoke - stop now.

I suppose in context it is fair to say that that the costs and calamities of alchohol are even worse. I like my Scots malts though...

THEY CLOSED OUR A&E AND ITS NOW PART TIME
WALK IN THE NEAREST A&E IS NOW HALF AN HOUR DRIVE
AWAY,
WE ARE THE NEAREST HOSPITAL TO HEATHROW AND
THE NEAREST TO THE BUSIEST PART OF THE M25 BUT
WITHOUT AN A&E,,,,,,,,,,,,,
LOGIC ,,,,HONEST I CANT FIND ONE

Lies, damned lies, and statistics

It seems some of you believe, The Daily 'Fascist'

IMHO....the only government that wants rid of the NHS is 'Tory'



Holds hand over mouth!