Is the NHS broken beyond repair..?

[alfinyalcabo]

Had you been to empty your p/ssbag Ashy ? ..

Anyway it was only your head you banged so no damage there.. Lol

Joking apart it's great to see you are on the mend Ashy, I have nothing but admiration for the NHS staff who are working under extreme pressures due to government cuts and lack of funding and staff..On the whole they do a wonderful job for what they have to put up with ..

[Supersub6]

Had you been to empty your p/ssbag Ashy ? ..

Anyway it was only your head you banged so no damage there.. Lol

Joking apart it's great to see you are on the mend Ashy, I have nothing but admiration for the NHS staff who are working under extreme pressures due to government cuts and lack of funding and staff..On the whole they do a wonderful job for what they have to put up with ..

Alf-- yes I had and I am told that that may have been the reason that I blacked out because I had been waiting to go!!
As you say, it was my head so no damage there on a long-term basis!
I felt sorry for my son who ended up having to administer to me on a day off! It won't even help his inheritance ---although I was a bit worried on Boxing Day when the other son turned up from High Wycombe to see me --- I thought that I was a goner!!

[1959_60]

Supersub - sorry to hear about your accident over Christmas, but great to hear that you are on the mend.

I would echo the thoughts above. The NHS staff do an unbelievable job but massive changes in the service are well overdue.

Yes, it was a beacon service for many years but it is becoming no fit for purpose these days with the many extra challenges it is facing.

And yes, it has been treated as a political football for too long. It is far too important to be treated like this any more. There should be a nation wide, non political discussion as to the future of the NHS (and social care), instead of the Tories/Labour using the issue to beat each other up.

I have said elsewhere that I have been heavily involved in drafting up a policy motion to go to the Lib Dem conference which has the support of many influential bodies.
The Tories are making a mess of it and Labour has no credible solutions either. They just criticise the Government and, as usual, have promised to spend £££.
Our policy is to take politics out of the discussion and work together to find a long term solution.
But until the other parties agree to this then we need to have our own policy which has the support of the people who actually know what they are talking about. We are calling it the New Beveridge.

More to follow...

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Alf-- yes I had and I am told that that may have been the reason that I blacked out because I had been waiting to go!!
As you say, it was my head so no damage there on a long-term basis!
I felt sorry for my son who ended up having to administer to me on a day off! It won't even help his inheritance ---although I was a bit worried on Boxing Day when the other son turned up from High Wycombe to see me --- I thought that I was a goner!!

Really sorry to hear about your travails and glad the NHS came to the rescue. My own experiences have always revolved around immediate family and not myself and I have always been really impressed with the care and dedication of the NHS staff concerned.

I find it really difficult to understand how the NHS is a political issue. Just fund it, sort it and check on and reduce the waste. It can't be that hard to do, can it?

Incidentally, delighted to hear you are on the mend!

[1959_60]

But it IS a political issue, Labour/Tories are making it one.

Do you trust the Tories to fund it and check on it? I don't.

Do you trust Labour to fund it and check on it? I don't.

The future of the NHS/social care should be decided by people who KNOW how it works, or how it SHOULD work.

And these experts are NOT Jeremy Hunt, John Mcdonnell, Theresa May, Jonathan Ashworth, Jeremy Corbyn or Philip Hammond.

[oldcolner]

But it IS a political issue, Labour/Tories are making it one.

Do you trust the Tories to fund it and check on it? I don't.

Do you trust Labour to fund it and check on it? I don't.

The future of the NHS/social care should be decided by people who KNOW how it works, or how it SHOULD work.

And these experts are NOT Jeremy Hunt, John Mcdonnell, Theresa May, Jonathan Ashworth, Jeremy Corbyn or Philip Hammond.

Yes well said 59-60.
In Scotland the SNP and Greens are in charge and have exactly the same problems. More older folk, more likely to be ill take multiple medicines, not enough consultants or nurses and no real plan. They do say we are spending record sums which they are, but in fact they are not spending all the money that comes to Scotland from Westminster for the NHS on the NHS in Scotland - so in real terms it’s declining.

BT I find it really difficult to understand how the NHS is a political issue. It’s entirely political as Governments dabble, reorganise for the short term as they are only in power for 5 years max so a 20 year plan is off the agenda. The next Government then reverses or reorganises just as the professionals have got used to the last change and they get another usually a 180 degrees turn. Tories want to use all resources and are accused of privatisation. Labour are wanting to do it all in house, but can’t and actually spent more on private providers than the Tories.
Governments now realise health and NHS are not synonymous. Good health has many determinants and hospital and GP treatment of diseases is not the main one. Social factors, public health, employment, disease prevention are all influential and plans are now to merge NHS and Social Services to help treat people at home rather than in hospital.
The local authorities have been under pressure from rate freezes and look to the NHS as a cash cow as they have been given budgets for public health.
So local and national Governments are also involved not just Westminster. By the way, Labour runs the Welsh NHS which has been the worst performing part of the UK in recent times.

Time for a great non political debate and a public education programme to tell them how to use the NHS properly and get them to help decide priorities.

[CaspertheClaret]

I hate how the EU referendum became politicised.

I have no political leanings and believe that our political system(and most others) is divisive and serves no purpose in current format.

I was strongly pro leave because I want us to be a creative strong force of invention in helping shape a new world not limited by ridiculous bureaucratic panderings. Politics in the formats we have now has now become as outdated as religion - let it go.

[CaspertheClaret]

Not sure you can get away with "the orange ape" analogy nowadays BT?