Hospitals In Crisis

[Becky B]

On 03/01/2023 at 10:56, nikki-red said:

A lot of the problems are down to massive delays in things like social care etc, that enables patients to go home. We’ve had patients on our ward for weeks while they wait for their homes to be cleaned/adapted/made safe or while they wait for home care visits to be put in place.

This has a knock on affect all down the line, even meaning people are in A&E longer, because there’s no beds in AMU to move them to.

Too true.

And have you seen this? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64160868

😳😳

[Chekhov]

13 hours ago, Longcol said:

It was the politicians who made the decision, and the lockdowns brought down the rapid increase in hospitalisations pdq.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1190335/covid-19-daily-hospitalizations-in-the-uk/

But we've been through all that before on the covid thread..........................................

And you are speculating. But, as regards this thread, I lost my enthusiasm for the NHS when NHS managers consistently kept putting pressure on  the (admittedly weak) government by calling for more lockdowns and masks.

Quite apart from anything, as the lockdown was wound down it made no difference to infections, they kept falling.

And, incidentally, masks made no difference to infections going up again..... :

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Chekhov

[Cyclecar]

I am not one of nature's pessimists but I cannot see it improving - short, medium or long term. The NHS has evolved into a money swallowing omnivore, I cannot see any way out of the problem other than to keep throwing good money after bad. 

 

Let's face it, if you were designing a National Health Service today, you wouldn't start with what we have i n front  of us.  This has been simmering for years, successive governments have just kicked the can down the road. When inflation was close to zero they could hold it together, but when it got to double-digits we all knew that the public sector would kick off.  It's not just the nurses that are asking for 19%, it's all the other NHS workers as well. 

 

The only way to solve that is to say yes, but we are trimming your future pension benefits (howls and screams...). Currently, the nation's  public sector pension liablities are about £2trillion.  That's two million million. God knows how the country will find that down the settee. But if the Treasury can reduce its future spend it does make some sort of fiscal sense. But it will be a difficult sell. 

 

Eventually I foresee some sort of parallel health set up, part funded by the state, part funded  by the individual. But it will take time, and I will have gone to the terminus at Abbey Lane........

 

Stay safe. 

[Chekhov]

3 hours ago, Cyclecar said:

I am not one of nature's pessimists but I cannot see it improving - short, medium or long term. The NHS has evolved into a money swallowing omnivore, I cannot see any way out of the problem other than to keep throwing good money after bad. 

Let's face it, if you were designing a National Health Service today, you wouldn't start with what we have i n front  of us.  This has been simmering for years, successive governments have just kicked the can down the road. When inflation was close to zero they could hold it together, but when it got to double-digits we all knew that the public sector would kick off.  It's not just the nurses that are asking for 19%, it's all the other NHS workers as well. 

The only way to solve that is to say yes, but we are trimming your future pension benefits (howls and screams...). Currently, the nation's  public sector pension liablities are about £2trillion.  That's two million million. God knows how the country will find that down the settee. But if the Treasury can reduce its future spend it does make some sort of fiscal sense. But it will be a difficult sell. 

Eventually I foresee some sort of parallel health set up, part funded by the state, part funded  by the individual. But it will take time, and I will have gone to the terminus at Abbey Lane........

Stay safe. 

There is much truth in that.

 

>>Stay safe<<

 

I am only prepared to stay relatively safe because I want to live my life.....

[El Cid]

6 hours ago, Cyclecar said:

When inflation was close to zero they could hold it together, but when it got to double-digits we all knew that the public sector would kick off.  It's not just the nurses that are asking for 19%, it's all the other NHS workers as well. 

Surely if you want the same level of service in the NHS, fire service or police force; you just keep funding level with inflation?

If you increase you supermarket shopping bill by 10% less than inflation, you will become thinner.

[Miss_60]

After the implementation of a new ePR, all NHS  Trusts are now producing highly detailed reports which involves measuring the efficiency of clinical staff and resource utilisation. The functionality to start charging patients for their medical treatment already exists and just needs to be switched on when the NHS is fully privatised, which will probably be in the next 5 years.

[Minimo]

As an update on my original post, I was eventually diagnosed as having an RSV (virus) causing main symptom of extreme breathlessness and unproductive cough. The cough was quickly sorted with a fantastic pill. I have had superb follow up from COPD nurses, such that last night I slept without the backboard they had provided, and feel so much better today in all ways. So our NHS does work, at least sometimes, and I for one am immensely grateful.

[Longcol]

11 hours ago, Chekhov said:

And you are speculating. But, as regards this thread, I lost my enthusiasm for the NHS when NHS managers consistently kept putting pressure on  the (admittedly weak) government by calling for more lockdowns and masks.

Quite apart from anything, as the lockdown was wound down it made no difference to infections, they kept falling.

And, incidentally, masks made no difference to infections going up again..... :

 

And you're still using new cases data from a time when there under 200,00 tests a day. You must be the only person who believed Johnson's claim the UK would have a world beating test track and trace sytem by 1 June 2020 when they carried out  a pitiful 71,000 tests.

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing

 

Anyhow, lets's stick to the covid thread eh?

Edited January 7, 2023 by Longcol

[hackey lad]

13 minutes ago, Minimo said:

As an update on my original post, I was eventually diagnosed as having an RSV (virus) causing main symptom of extreme breathlessness and unproductive cough. The cough was quickly sorted with a fantastic pill. I have had superb follow up from COPD nurses, such that last night I slept without the backboard they had provided, and feel so much better today in all ways. So our NHS does work, at least sometimes, and I for one am immensely grateful.

[Anna B]

44 minutes ago, Minimo said:

As an update on my original post, I was eventually diagnosed as having an RSV (virus) causing main symptom of extreme breathlessness and unproductive cough. The cough was quickly sorted with a fantastic pill. I have had superb follow up from COPD nurses, such that last night I slept without the backboard they had provided, and feel so much better today in all ways. So our NHS does work, at least sometimes, and I for one am immensely grateful.

So pleased to hear that. 

It's nice to hear of its successes (which are many) rather than its failures. 

It saved my life too when I had cancer. That's why I care about it very much, and hate to see what's happening to it.