Tony Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Should the NHS be immune from cuts? From the Guardian The NHS's cash crisis is so great that it will have to either cut services to patients or close accident and emergency and maternity units if it is to avoid going bust, ministers have been warned. Resolving the service's deepening financial worries will involve decisions that will be politically unpalatable as any efforts to save money will arouse controversy, according to a senior NHS leader. Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, writes in the Guardian that longer waiting times and worsening balance sheets at foundation trust hospitals show that the NHS is facing an "unprecedented financial challenge" that has not yet been widely recognised. The need to make £20bn of efficiency savings by 2015 "means our finances are under more strain than ever", he says. "I am deeply concerned that the gravity of this problem for the NHS is not widely understood by patients and the public. There is a real risk we will sleepwalk into a financial crisis that patients will feel the full force of. "This could see the NHS forced to salami-slice its way out of financial trouble, cutting services and use of less effective treatments," adds Farrar, whose organisation represents most NHS hospitals, primary care trusts, ambulance services and mental health trusts in England. "There are three scenarios," he adds. "The NHS maintains service standards but goes bust while doing so; it sees standards slip but maintains financial balance; or it keeps improving and stays in the black. Clearly, we all want the third option." His intervention comes days after the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, warned that 22 trusts, which between them run 60 hospitals, were on "the brink of financial collapse" because of punishing repayments under private finance initiative deals struck while Labour was in power. Farrar says remaining solvent while preserving quality of patient care "means radically re-orienting services to reduce hospital stays and offering new forms of care. Put bluntly, this means fewer beds and fewerhospital-based jobs." Closing some hospital units as part of a drive to centralise key medical services will both drive up standards and save money, he argues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 The way new labour used PFI's youd struggle to tell the difference between them and conservatives ideals :/ It's too early for me on this. IT's a horrbible situation but I have none of the answers. I don't think we should cut funding to the NHS but I don';t know if there will be any choice. A friend worked as a porter and said it was full of massive wasteage and mismanagedment. Another thing leftover from the labour government. saying that I don't trust the conservatives to sort it out! either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0114owl1867 Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 I'm not surprised they're being swarmed from all directions, the growth of the NHS hasn't matched the growth of the recent population surge and birth rate of people from lets just say 'other' countries !!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love_rat Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 I think the NHS has to go back to what it origionally was intended to do, ie, treat the sick. Looking after people who have illnesses through no fault of their own - this should be fully funded. People with self inflicted injurys such as drug addictions etc... should be forced to pay for their treatment, people who end up in A&E through drink related problems on Friday night should be hit with a hefty bill when they sober up. Certain lifestyle problems should no longer be funded through the NHS People wanting fancy/posing type treatments, that includes people wanting boob jobs, people wanting to change from a man to a women, from a woman to a cat etc.... should be made to pay £1000s - this is not essential and so they should pay this. People comeing from abroad to take advantage of the NHS systems should be stopped, or again be made to pay £1000s. When this happens, people pay for the non-essentials or self inflicted injurys, then we will be able to pay fo the pills required to treat cancer sufferers, or people with Alzheimers. To save the NHS, it has to go back to what it was origionally intended to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 I think the NHS has to go back to what it origionally was intended to do, ie, treat the sick. Looking after people who have illnesses through no fault of their own - this should be fully funded. People with self inflicted injurys such as drug addictions etc... should be forced to pay for their treatment, people who end up in A&E through drink related problems on Friday night should be hit with a hefty bill when they sober up. Certain lifestyle problems should no longer be funded through the NHS People wanting fancy/posing type treatments, that includes people wanting boob jobs, people wanting to change from a man to a women, from a woman to a cat etc.... should be made to pay £1000s - this is not essential and so they should pay this. People comeing from abroad to take advantage of the NHS systems should be stopped, or again be made to pay £1000s. When this happens, people pay for the non-essentials or self inflicted injurys, then we will be able to pay fo the pills required to treat cancer sufferers, or people with Alzheimers. To save the NHS, it has to go back to what it was origionally intended to be It's not as simple as that..when the NHS was set up the treatments available were limited by our medical knowledge..nowadays we treat a lot of things that aren't "lifestyle problems" that we didn't/couldn't in the past..do you want us to go back to that..if so you need to decide which illnesses we treat and which we let run their course.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 I think the NHS has to go back to what it origionally was intended to do, ie, treat the sick. Looking after people who have illnesses through no fault of their own - this should be fully funded. People with self inflicted injurys such as drug addictions etc... should be forced to pay for their treatment, people who end up in A&E through drink related problems on Friday night should be hit with a hefty bill when they sober up. Certain lifestyle problems should no longer be funded through the NHS So if I'm doing some extreme sport to get fit an I fall and break my arm I shouldn't be entitled to help onthe NHS as it is a self inflicted injury? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 So if I'm doing some extreme sport to get fit an I fall and break my arm I shouldn't be entitled to help onthe NHS as it is a self inflicted injury? You could take out insurance to cover your sport... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 You could take out insurance to cover your sport... so sport and healthy activity are to be the preserve of the rich now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love_rat Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 It's not as simple as that..when the NHS was set up the treatments available were limited by our medical knowledge..nowadays we treat a lot of things that aren't "lifestyle problems" that we didn't/couldn't in the past..do you want us to go back to that..if so you need to decide which illnesses we treat and which we let run their course.. Easy answer....who do we treat? People with illnesses through no fault of there own....ie.....cancer, alzheimers etc.... get the idea? Who's illnesses run their course?..........the lifestyle ones, men who choose to become women, women who want to become a horse, boob jobs, nose jobs etc.... all non essential. In the case of a man who thinks he is a women, just say "look mate, take a look inside your pants - ifyou have a penis, you are a man"....in other words, stop being silly and go away The extreeme sport? you should pay towards the cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love_rat Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 so sport and healthy activity are to be the preserve of the rich now? Or just accept there is a risk, decide if its worth doing. If its worth the risk and you get injured, then thats what you have to accept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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