How to solve the NHS funding crisis

olliebears

To be honest I would end the NHS it is no longer fit for purpose. Either that or provide care based on NI contributions. There has to be a reason why people who are safe in other counties refuse to claim asylum unless they can get to the UK. People without enough contributions would need a private medical insurance plan.

Herzlos

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

You'd soon see demand drop off when poor people stop going to the doctors until its too late to do anything and they just die, therefore massively reducing their use of resources.

Or instead of catching something early with a cheap Cheers, they wait until they need to skip a gp and go to hospital for expensive treatment.

kinger101

Herzlos wrote: »

Or instead of catching something early with a cheap Cheers, they wait until they need to skip a gp and go to hospital for expensive treatment.

Quite. My worries with the £10 charge too. It's all very well saying they pay that in undefined nordic country x, but their socioecomic system is unlikely to be comparable with ours. Particularly with reference to how much disposable income the low earners have.

The NHS is stretched because we want the same healthcare standards as Western Europe, but the middle classes aren't willing to pay the taxes to fund them. Labour's London vote would be halved if they suggested tax at German levels. Gordon Brown's legacy.

Thrugelmir

kinger101 wrote: »

With NHS dentists, even if you're the first in, the appointments starts 10 minutes late in my experience. By afternoons, it was 1 hour late. There's no void. The next patient is simply called.

If that was the case dentist practices would never close on time.....:D

antrobus

olliebears wrote: »

To be honest I would end the NHS it is no longer fit for purpose. Either that or provide care based on NI contributions. There has to be a reason why people who are safe in other counties refuse to claim asylum unless they can get to the UK. People without enough contributions would need a private medical insurance plan.

The reason is I suspect is that we speak English, and are the best approximation to the USA.

I doubt very much that your typical asylum seeker carries out an assessment of rival European healthcare systems when picking which country to head for. And if they did, why would they pick the country with a 'funding crisis'?

Cakeguts

kinger101 wrote: »

Quite. My worries with the £10 charge too. It's all very well saying they pay that in undefined nordic country x, but their socioecomic system is unlikely to be comparable with ours. Particularly with reference to how much disposable income the low earners have.

The NHS is stretched because we want the same healthcare standards as Western Europe, but the middle classes aren't willing to pay the taxes to fund them. Labour's London vote would be halved if they suggested tax at German levels. Gordon Brown's legacy.

Please define which low earners can't find £10 pounds?

antrobus

kinger101 wrote: »

Quite. My worries with the £10 charge too. It's all very well saying they pay that in undefined nordic country x, but their socioecomic system is unlikely to be comparable with ours. Particularly with reference to how much disposable income the low earners have....

I'm not sure which country it is either. But the wiki page on Healthcare in Sweden for example (which might even be right)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Sweden

... says that " Prescription drugs are not free but fees to the user are capped at 2,200 kr per annum" (about £200), and whilst health-care fees are charged they are capped at 1100kr (about £100).

Whereas in England prescription costs are capped at £110, and health-care fees are capped at zero.

Charging people a £10 or so to see a GP or whatever might be an example of nudge economics and help dissuade some twonks from turning up at A&E just because they have a bad headache. But it's not going to provide wodges of cash.

kinger101 wrote: »

The NHS is stretched because we want the same healthcare standards as Western Europe, but the middle classes aren't willing to pay the taxes to fund them. Labour's London vote would be halved if they suggested tax at German levels. Gordon Brown's legacy.

The UK spends about 10% of GDP on healthcare. Sweden is about 12%. 2% of GDP is about £38bn. (I think that's right, I'm relying on memory.)

An extra £38bn would sort out the NHS etc. But it would be 7p o the basic rate. Which is one reason why the Swedes pay more income tax.

funguy

There could be a graded use of GP services where the NHS covers a yearly health check and also 2 or 3 appointments a year. Thereafter, there is a nominal charge of £10 per visit. This ensures no one has to forgo medical attention but might restrict multiple visits which may be unnecessary.

Alternative suggestions have been everyone paying £2 a week to the GP surgery they are registered at directly. This would almost double the funding of Primary Care in the U.K. and probably increase the capacity available.

However, ultimately the issue is that demand is far higher than the supply. Therefore at some stage there has to be some way to reduce the demand for appointments...whether that be limiting number of attendance a year or charging it remains to be seen.....

Cakeguts

Our local hospital has an occupational therapy department which it says helps people to be safely discharged from hospital. It covers lots of illnesses but it doesn't cover mental illness. There used to be a mental health occupational therapy centre but the NHS decided to stop running it.

So someone can be discharged from hospital taking very strong medication that makes them feel drowsy, spaced out and tired with poor concentration the whole time and there might not be any follow up or help to adjust to living with the side effects of the medication.

The end result of this it that they finish up in hospital again and again and again at a cost of £400 per day and children who have parents in hospital for several weeks at a time over and over again.

vivatifosi

kinger101 wrote: »

With NHS dentists, even if you're the first in, the appointments starts 10 minutes late in my experience. By afternoons, it was 1 hour late. There's no void. The next patient is simply called.

My mother routinely received chemotherapy 2 hours after the appointment time.

I recently had a discussion with my GP about missed appointments as I was due to receive an urgent hospital appointment and was concerned the notification may arrive and the appointment be missed while I was on holiday.

He said that a big problem in the NHS is serial offenders. I don't know if there are ways to tackle this specific problem. Particularly if there is a cause: eg someone with Alzheimers may have problems managing their appointments.