"We will have blood on our hands" as there are no suitable beds for a mentally ill teenager.

tapzilla2k

Labour will always want to spend more money on the NHS, it is the Parties defining achievement (especially when you look at all the obstacles that stood in the way of the NHS even getting through Parliament). As for the Tories ? They are not honest about the NHS, Jeremy Hunt co authored a book about how to privatise the NHS. It's the last great state asset and if there is one thing the Tories are good at it's flogging state assets off on the cheap to spivs in the city (no worse than screaming Labour are socialists with an addiction to spending).

What we really need is an honest debate about what the NHS can and can't afford to do, then take it from there.

Goooner

Good luck trying to start your honest debate, never going to happen

Jezza99

But you have already stated that you don't want a debate on anything unless taxes are raised and health insurance is ruled out. Therein lies the sacred cow problem.

Goooner

We could start the debate questioning why stuff like boob jobs, sex changes, IVF and the like are provided on the NHS.

Jezza99

Particularly when anyone even suggests reform, the usual hysterics all scream "evil Tories want to privatise the NHS!"

It's funny actually, for a party that allegedly is dead set on privatising the NHS, they have spent many decades in government since 1948, and never even got close to privatising it. You would have thought they might of at least tried on a few occasions.  

Despite that, every election we hear "you have only got 48 hours to save the NHS!" or similar garbage .

Bl4ckGryph0n

Yes without that it is never going to happen really...Interestingly isn't it Labour who is the only political party who actually sold (shortlisted only private companies) a Hospital to the private sector. And initiated much more privatisation than anyone else...

Bl4ckGryph0n

Apologies, I re-read it and you are correct you didn't blame it on austerity. You were merely questioning it and whether we can afford it...

Personally I don't think this has anything to do with austerity. There is a huge budget and appropriate prioritisation needs to be made....There is also a lot of waste, I shall not go into details as I can't possibly do that, but my teams were shocked at times as to what brand new equipment they found unused in certain areas, yet as it was quite old, it was already obsolete yet totally unused...As it is such a huge organisation it is impossible to generalise with gravity. But despite absolutely fantastic dedicated people there does seem to be a serious issue at the same time as well...

I think that as a society we truly need to take mental health very seriously. It is fascinating to see the change in organisations both private and public where at conferences there is actually some time spend regarding the mental health of the Human Resources. It is to me very important to consider that, and to be inclusive.

But I'm really annoyed that from an emergency care perspective the professionals involved bang there heads against the wall as they are being thwarted at every opportunity (pardon the expression). That is not on....

domtheone

You say you want an honest debate directly after posting that crap about Hunt.

From the introduction to the book.

The policy suggestions which we outline in this book are meant to open a debate, not close it. We have not written a manifesto for instant implementation. Instead, we are submitting a series of ideas, united by a common philosophy, which we believe begins to address
both the weaknesses in our nation and the defects in our party. Our book contains a range of proposals, submitted by a variety ofauthors. Just as we want a diversity of approaches in public policy, so we do not pretend to a single, monolithic policy platform. We are as interested in seeing competing ideas emerge as we are in seeing our own make headway.

If we are going to have an actual honest debate, maybe we can start by dropping the nonsense that the Tories just want to privatise the NHS.

Jezza99

Agreed.  Specifically with the bold bit.

Tis the reason for so many of the issues today.

Government(s) are, seemingly, not bothered about it.  When the population increases by 10-20 million over a couple of decades, it's not rocket science to figure out that many services will suffer and we will can/will not be able to cope, adequately.

There's little long term planning so it's hard to see it getting any better.  Easy to see it getting worse.

rustybin

It's a great benefit to the coffers if you collect additional taxes from the additional workers and don't invest them in proportionate additional infrastructure.