NHS not fit for the 21st century

Pacifico

you have my sympathy - personally I would never set foot in the place as I dont know of a single person who has gone there who has had what I would call 'good' care. Everytime it turns into a disaster.

mark6226

I dunno. They looked after me in a&e after I fell down the stairs in a bungalow....

Yes, really.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I wonder how many of those now moaning about the NHS and suffering as a consequence of NHS problems voted Tory? 
How many of these will put it together and realise that they themselves have voted for this chaos. They have got what they voted for. Jacks certainly not alright now.
Yes the Tories will tell us that since Cameron came to power that spending has increased. This is true. But it's increased at a significantly lower rate than under Blair. People deride this man but under him the NHS began to recover and massively improve. All that was achieved has gone and thanks to voter apathy, indifference and greed we now have this shocking mess created by the Tories . Created by the voters.
Those who returned this party cannot be absolved. Absolutely not.
These are the types who bought shares in the utilities under thatcher and made a killing. They are the types who bought shares and now moan about the mess out utilities are in and the profiteering. They didn't care at the time. What did they think was going to happen when they utilities were privatised? You've got it. They didn't think, they didn't care. They just counted their profits and the very rich got richer and more powerful
The NHS is our society in a microcosm. It's what happens when people don't care. When they dont take the long view. When they look after number 1.
I know the NHS problems can't be solved by money alone. However, the decline of the NHS in its present form can't be directly attributed to the Tory party. It started when they were returned to power.
What did people expect when they voted Tory ? 
They just didn't care as long as Jack was alright. 
The electorate voted for this mess.
How many will actually be able to put that together. 
How many lives will the I'm alright Jack mentality cost?
This is how it will go. A la out government will eventually return. They will try and repair the NHS. They will improve it at massive costs and when they have done that the electorate will return a Tory government and the whole ludicrous process will start again.
What is it that makes the British electorate so thick and myopic?
Tories are only doing what the Tories have always done.
When will people realise that the NHS can never be safe under the Tories. It's very ethos is the opposite of what the Tories believe in.
But the Tories aren't the problem it's the voters. They are the ones to blame for this NHS mess. They voted them in three times now and the voters have got exactly what they voted for.
Theres no point saying that we have a minority government. The Tories are in power as a minority government. The Tories are in power because that is what our electorate decided.
they voted for I'm alright Jack and didn't care about anyone else but themselves.
And that is what they've got.
the Tories recently handed Stagecoach a £3.3 billion bonus. They run the east coast rail franchise under the Cheshire cats brand name. Stagecoach were going to default on their contract that runs until 2023 and hand back the franchise to the Tories. Stagecoach are one of the most profitable British companies around. How can someone default unless they can't pay the bills? Anyway the Tories did not to be embarrassed by this and allowed stagecoach to default three years early. This has deprived the taxpayer of £3.3 billion.
stagecoach weren't in trouble with the franchise they just weren't making enough to profit. They overbid. Tough. 

As soon as the Tories allowed stagecoach to hand back the franchise , their shares immediately rose by 18%. Someone made a killing there didn't they? Of course, stagecoach via the Souter dynasty are massive contributors to the Tory party. He who pays the piper and all that.
you see, the Tories can spend the money when it suits them.
What has this to do with the NHS? It's all part of the same problem. And the voters don't care. They don't seem to think it's all related. They don't give a monkeys. And they still vote Tory and have the audacity to be surprised when the NHS is in free fall and terminal crisis. The voters voted for this mess and that is what they have got. Not everyone voted Tory but we don't count. Those who voted Tory don't count to the Tories unless they have power and privilege. Those we call the floating voters simply don't care until it becomes a problem for them. It becomes a problem for everyone when the put their X next to the Tories on voting day.
Our electoral system relies on indifference , ignorance and selfishness. We are only allowed to vote because the real power in this country knows that our incipient weaknesses will always return a Tory government every few terms. The system allows for what happened after the war. They system allows for the Blair expansions . Why? Because the system knows it can always rely on the voters to eventually return a Tory government so they can undo everything labour achieved and more. They rely on the voters not giving a monkeys about anyone but themselves. Our wonderful electorate.


I was brought up to call a spade a spade and tell it like it is. I know that isn't the way anymore.

When those who voted Tory are in a line of dying people in A E how many will see the light before they see the light?

rustybin

Brilliant a 'nasty Tory' rant...Don't forget to breathe Undo everything Labour achieved? ROFLMAO like not being in a good place for a financial crisis, like using PFI for the NHS like it was free candy, like inviting everyone in to come and use our services, like actually selling off a hospital to the private sector and so on...

Oh, I love a good biased rant...

Goooner

Party politics aside, the NHS is in absolute crisis, the guy who's presided over it for the last 6 years has just effectively been rewarded for allowing it to get into this state and there doesn't seem to be any short, medium or long term plan for its future.

Shambles.

rustybin

Besides "let's just keep throwing more and more money at it" nobody is allowed to do anything much about it without being shouted down saying they want to sell it all off.

rustybin

NHS spending is up 9% in real terms since 2010. Police budgets as a comparison fell by around 20%.

No other department has done so well. It's by far the highest priority for government spending.

Health spending in the UK is above the average for the EU, eu15 and OECD.

Health expenditure and financing

It's a concern there are problems. But it's not due to cuts.

rustybin

Allowed? They can do all sorts, they're the government. They can throw more money at it to prolong the agony. Additional taxes.. They could kill it and rebuild it from the ground up. Restructure it. Sell it off.

There's all sorts of things they can do. They're choosing to do nothing which is (IMO) worse than trying to do something meaningful and well thoughtout and failing.

As we've seen with Brexit, the British people are happy to put themselves through something which might be potentially expensive and detrimental in the short term if there's a chance of something more positive in the longer term.

Iain42

The only funding measure of any relevance is how much money is being spent in relation to demand for services.

It's all good and well saying expenditure has gone up by 25% (for example), but if demand for services has gone up by 50% then the spending is inadequate.

It's the same with education funding - yes, they're spending more overall, but are they spending more per child in real terms after allowing for a huge increase in costs? (No).

Goooner

A&E attendances in Nov 2010 were around 1.69m

November just gone they were 1.99m.

That's almost an 18% increase in 7 years.

I agree, demand has outstripped supply. But that demand increase is unsustainable.

It's not just about money, because we can't afford to keep throwing money at this. 9% real terms increase when almost everything else has been cut is huge.

The NHS needs to look at what it does and prioritise properly.

We do also need to spend a bit more. I'm certainly not denying that. But we haven't had cuts and by international standards we spend above average on health already.