NHS - Time to privatise?

[Deleted User]

Pennywise wrote: »

The OP has my sympathy. My Mum was discharged on a Friday on a bank holiday weekend after a hip op, and was also suffering from diabetes and cancer. Her blood sugars were all over the place and she was drifting in and our of consciousness. Despite all the promises of McMillan cancer nurses, a so-called 24 hour GP cover service, we couldn't get any help or advice at all throughout the weekend. The McMillan nurses phone numbers just went to answerphone with promises to call back "as soon as they can", which turned out to be the following Wednesday. The out of hours GP service sent a foreign GP who could barely speak English and was about as much us as a chocolate fireguard. The contact phone number given for the ward was useless as, yes, it was closed at weekends! We eventually muddled through to Tuesday when we managed to get an emergency GP appointment and were dumstruck to find that one of the drugs they'd given her after the hip op had dangerous inter-action with her existing medication. So, not only did the hospital not bother to check the medication they were giving her, we were let down by GPs who can't be bothered to provide weekend cover and so-called McMillan "angels" who likewise clearly don't provide out of hours cover. Hopeless!

Sounds familiar. Its worrying to think how many people this sort of thing is happening to.

Like you, I also question whether some of these people should be working in a caring profession.

ThumbRemote

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

You really are missing point as 3rd rate service may apply to hospital based in India or another Country where you have to pay for the service, You get NHS treatment FOC still and again I will make the point that it is your father therefore if he wishes to stay independent it is your job as his child to assist him and make life easier, It is not down to the NHS to provide this and they operated on him without any costs to you or him so why bother moaning here ?

Well that's an impressive contradiction. Father wants to stay independent. Therefore child must assist in that. Which is hardly independent, is it...

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

Seriously you need to realise there are far more important things in life than throwing a hissy fit as you did not like what was done here, If the ward was closed what do you expect them to do ? - I guess they should have put him into a private suite with the expenses covered by the tax payer.

Followed by a complete lack of common sense.

Stevie_Palimo

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Well that's an impressive contradiction. Father wants to stay independent. Therefore child must assist in that. Which is hardly independent, is it...



Followed by a complete lack of common sense.

You know exactly what I mean so no need to a be a pedantic so and so is there. As I say many a time on here people all want want, want and want it is stupid and nobody wants to stand on there own two feet.


Lets make this rather simple so that you may understand :-


OAP wants to stay at home and has kids therefore it is down to them to assist him/her in every day living to make it smooth this can be by asking for outside help and or doing it themselves.


As for your other comment Paul, Yes he may have paid tax and NI but again HE NEVER PAID FOR SURGERY SO IT IS OF COURSE FOC.

[Deleted User]

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

You know exactly what I mean so no need to a be a pedantic so and so is there. As I say many a time on here people all want want, want and want it is stupid and nobody wants to stand on there own two feet.


Lets make this rather simple so that you may understand :-


OAP wants to stay at home and has kids therefore it is down to them to assist him/her in every day living to make it smooth this can be by asking for outside help and or doing it themselves.


As for your other comment Paul, Yes he may have paid tax and NI but again HE NEVER PAID FOR SURGERY SO IT IS OF COURSE FOC.

Steve I just dont get it. Are you really saying because he didnt get out a chequebook at the time and pay for it then he has no right to complain when it goes wrong?

As others have pointed out, we all pay in a way. Its nice that we all, in effect, pay for a national health service which works. But thats just the point - it does not.

And it will get worse and worse because of attitudes like yours. i.e. its free so dont complain.

Its OUR NHS, paid for by US. We have a right to complain when something is not right especially since WE own it.

shaun_from_Africa

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

where as the UK healthcare is VERY CLEARLY FOC.

And that comment is VERY CLEARLY, rubbish.

I am currently in the UK but because I don't pay income tax or National insurance here, I am not legally entitled to use the NHS for non emergency treatment and if I use it for an emergency, I should legally be billed for this, so tell me, how exactly is it free?

Pollycat

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

"FOC" & "without any costs"
Really? The NHS may well have no paitent charges at the point of delivery but on average, every adult in the UK who pays tax and NI contributes around £2000 per year so to say that it's a free service is totally incorrect.

Hermione Grainger;
In your post #13, you've managed to quote a post by pollypenny but actually, that quote was by Stevie Palimo.

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

You get NHS treatment FOC still and again I will make the point that it is your father therefore if he wishes to stay independent it is your job as his child to assist him and make life easier, It is not down to the NHS to provide this and they operated on him without any costs to you or him so why bother moaning here ?

How did you manage to do that?

I was looking for the post to quote it but couldn't find it in any of pollypenny's posts.

Anyway, I disagree with Steve Palimo that it's a child job to assist a parent who wishes to stay independent when they need care but are just too damn stubborn to accept that fact.

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

I doubt an 80 year old pays taxes or NI tbh, Look at other Countries that tax you ie America and you pay your tax & healthcare thereafter so this is at costs where as the UK healthcare is VERY CLEARLY FOC.

An 80 year old may not pay tax & NI (although it's posible that they would pay tax if they have private pensions taking them over the tax-free allowance) but I'm pretty sure the OP's Dad paid both during his working life - which may have been as long as 50 years.

Stevie_Palimo

[quote=[Deleted User];69625893]Steve I just dont get it. Are you really saying because he didnt get out a chequebook at the time and pay for it then he has no right to complain when it goes wrong?

As others have pointed out, we all pay in a way. Its nice that we all, in effect, pay for a national health service which works. But thats just the point - it does not.

And it will get worse and worse because of attitudes like yours. i.e. its free so dont complain.

Its OUR NHS, paid for by US. We have a right to complain when something is not right especially since WE own it.[/QUOTE]



I am saying it is stretched to breaking point and you are moaning not me about a lack of care. What do you really have to complain about.


Op to NHS complaints Dept :- I would like to complain to you as you closed a ward at weekends due to being very short of staff and funds at present and feel very hard done by as I could not arrange the care of my parent due to this shambles of a system you have in place.


This is utter madness and if you are unhappy address the real issue that your parent is needing different living arrangements and as adamant as they maybe to stay at home you need to call time on this if they struggle with day to day things.

Stevie_Palimo

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

And that comment is VERY CLEARLY, rubbish.

I am currently in the UK but because I don't pay income tax or National insurance here, I am not legally entitled to use the NHS for non emergency treatment and if I use it for an emergency, I should legally be billed for this, so tell me, how exactly is it free?

Did I say it was free for the likes of you, Nope I thought not Shaun so again another pointless post looking to detract from the issue in-hand, Go elsewhere with your drivvle please.

Keep_pedalling

Having felt with the NHS / SS and several elderly relatives over the last decade I have seen varying results although mainly positive. The one recommendation I would give to anyone is make sure you get involved in any meeting involving care plans and discharge planning. This is not only because the elderly person may be talked into something against their interests, but because the elderly person can also just tell the person what they think they want to hear or even a load of porkies just to make sure they are sent home.

In the OPs case there would be no discharge planning because his father was never admitted as an in patient, and really this should have been sorted before he went for his opperation. His GP should have been aware of the situation, but again we don't know what if any conversations were had between the GP and father before hand. For a lot of old people a Friday for this type of operation would be ideal because family members are better able to help out at a weekend than during the week

I now attend all GP appointments with my mum unless it's a call out, and I speak to the GP in advance of any hospital out patients appointments. For the elderly who are truly on their own and are unable to comprehend what their options are or to articicute their views and concerns then it is truly a lottery of what happens to them.

Pollycat

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

This is utter madness and if you are unhappy address the real issue that your parent is needing different living arrangements and as adamant as they maybe to stay at home you need to call time on this if they struggle with day to day things.

But didn't you say it was a child's job to enable a parent to live independently if that's what he wanted......?

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

again I will make the point that it is your father therefore if he wishes to stay independent it is your job as his child to assist him and make life easier, It is not down to the NHS to provide this and they operated on him without any costs to you or him so why bother moaning here ?