It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

floss2

bluemoon wrote: »

... They've already announced student loans, air traffic control, the royal mail, even the schools being sold to 'private interests'....(

That's because the last time the blues were in power, they sold off most of the family silver - BT, gas, electric, water, steel etc and so there is nothing left to flog off except those things and nothing to provide an income to the country when it needs it.

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

Those treatments are necessities - and not peoples personal lifestyle wishes or self-inflicted - so I do hope they won't be cutting back on things like that. I'm the first person to say "If its a lifestyle wish or a self-inflicted ailment - then its back of the queue for that person for any money there is..." - but a necessity is a necessity and these should still be funded. (Can I be the first to propose that all money currently spent on dealing with drunks in Casualty is re-routed to necessities? Personally - and I know it sounds harsh to some - I would simply make any excuse I could not to treat that sort of self-inflicted injury - to make sure it was available for health problems that HADNT been self-inflicted. I would like to tell them "The waiting room for drunks is that bench across the carpark over there".....).

Crikey :eek: A lot of what you refer to as "lifestyle or self-inflicted" can stem from mental illness, though. Do you class mental illness as non-necessary treatment? Alcoholism is well known to often be caused by people self-medicating to deaden the pain caused by their life (poverty, poor housing, unemployment).

I'm happy to leave the choices on who and how to treat, to the medics, not politicians

ubamother

Self-inflicted - mmm not sure about that. I encourage my son to be very physically active - canoeing, sailing, making rafts, camping, whittling blah blah blah - if he hurts himself (and he will at some point!) is that self-inflicted? Technically yes. Will he go to the back of the queue? I hope not.

It is, I feel, somewhat naive to believe that the drinkers, the violent, the self-harmers, the obese have made a direct 'choice' in their lifestyle - so many areas can come together to encourage negative behaviours - family background, housing, poverty, mental illness - while some can fight against all these and win, not everyone can. Perhaps the tackling of these much earlier in people's lives will stop them leading to A & E visits at 2 am.

Larumbelle

Where would the line be? Would the person with diabetes get turned away because their diet just wasn't good enough? What about the person who consumes too much salt and eventually has a stroke? What about the person who has a one-night stand and contracts AIDs? Or the person who chooses to stay in an abusive relationship and ends up getting battered? The person who doesn't look both ways before crossing the road and gets hit by a lorry?

Yes, I'm twisting things round, but all of those injuries and illnesses could be classed as self-inflicted! Let he who is without sin and all that... yes, it is blimming annoying and unfair that the NHS spends vast resources treating 'self-inflicted' illnesses, but honestly, who here really leads a blameless life?

It's all a combination of luck and circumstance at the end of the day. Just like everything else in life.

I'm not attacking anyone here, by the way, just enjoying the debate

lauren_1

I am feeling quite belittled after a run in on another board, it appears my idea of making a few nappies and wipes disgusts a certain poster. I didnt want to point out that 25 years of helping my mother do her 2nd job as a seamstress made me a dab hand at the sewing machine.

Why is it people sneer just because some can actually make an item rather than buy it.

good news though, midwife appointment today!

floss2

lauren_1 wrote: »

I am feeling quite belittled after a run in on another board, it appears my idea of making a few nappies and wipes disgusts a certain poster. I didnt want to point out that 25 years of helping my mother do her 2nd job as a seamstress made me a dab hand at the sewing machine.

Why is it people sneer just because some can actually make an item rather than buy it...

Don't take any notice - you are not only saving money but saving landfill space. They sneer because they are ignorant of the skills it takes, and of the benefit that it brings to others.

lauren_1

Il stick to this board from now on, at least we love 'scabbing about in jumble sales'

i think 'scabbing about in jumble sales' should be on the school curriculum personally, lol

Larumbelle

Aw Lauren, ignore it. Most of the boards on this forum are just trolls' lairs. I've just read that thread through start to finish and I wouldn't even waste my breath telling you what I think of a certain poster. But it's them with the problem, not you! And a lot of that problem is insecurity, and a lot of it is probably jealousy, because that person probably knows that they lack the personal resources to manage things the way you do. And something has made them very, very bitter. So who cares? Stop feeding the trolls and stick to those of us who can have intelligent discussions and don't need to resort to petty sniping when we find we don't agree about everything.

I personally despair that so many people find it so difficult to get their head around second-hand anything. Especially baby stuff - most of it is barely used, and babies neither know nor care how much money you have spent on them! But more generally as well.

Something that has made me smile today - the rag and bone man came round today, I offered them a broken washing machine that's been quietly festering away for about eight months, and they asked if the pile of junk surrounding it was all rubbish too. Well yes it was... some of it had been there even before we moved in
Anyway, they got my normal bin and my recycling bin and went through the lot, taking even the most rusted useless-looking metal and carefully sorting out the rubbish as they went. I'm still going to need a skip (there's two old sofas out there!!! not mine I must add) but I have a lot less rubbish there and it's all nice and tidy. And the men must presumably get some money for it and it all ends up recycled instead of landfilled. So it's win-win-win.

Then my neighbour started moaning and said I shouldn't encourage '!!!!!!' to hang around :mad:

elizabunny

I think it may be incorrect to assume that everyone is in the position to make the correct lifestyle choices. There can be many circumstances through a person's life which lead them to the choices they make.

Someone who has been smoking since a youngster and started purely because it was the 'cool' thing to do in company, may find that on trying to give it up in later life, they're addicted to the wretched stuff and the job is much more difficult to do, particularly if they have a stressful life.

Similarly, people who have been struggling on low incomes, may not always find it possible to make some of the healthier foods choices because of the prices. How many times do we see the BOGOFs/offers applied to items such as pizzas, crisps, beer etc etc? Now if this was applied with equal ferocity to fruit and veg etc. and less emphasis was placed on the unhealthier foods, maybe this would make the choices easier. Some obesity problems are caused by medical issues, despite what we are repeatedly told and we were not all born to be the same size.

IMO there can be medical and social reasons why people's lifestyle choices are not always the healthiest. I also have to say here, that if you have paid into the pot over the years, you are entiltled to the same NHS treatment as everyone else. We should not be deciding who can and who cannot receive treatment.

It's my opinion only but , surely if we choose to ski every year, ride horses, pothole, climb mountains etc. etc. we are making a lifestyle choice that could also place additional expense on the NHS.

Every element of our lives has a risk attached to it, we can try to minimise the danger as much as possible but people should be free to make their choices without the risk of being discriminated against. I agree that there should be help and encouragement to give people the right information to assist people to make the right choices, but I really fear for a world, where only a certain size, a certain look, a certain lifestyle is the only one acceptable.

Now I have finished my 'sermon' for today I'll go back to my own little world and keep quiet:)

LilacLouisa

lauren_1 wrote: »

I am feeling quite belittled after a run in on another board, it appears my idea of making a few nappies and wipes disgusts a certain poster. I didnt want to point out that 25 years of helping my mother do her 2nd job as a seamstress made me a dab hand at the sewing machine.

Why is it people sneer just because some can actually make an item rather than buy it.

good news though, midwife appointment today!

Well if ever supplies of disposable nappies, baby wipes etc ever become difficult to get, guess who will be able to cope - you! People will then be seeking your advice :-)