Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh
People seem to regard it as an either/or situation - imho, it's not binary, it's fuzzy.
Health bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy (57.1%) in the US of A - that is not a good model; however, neither is just pumping more and more money into an already inefficient existing model.
That healthcare is free at the point of access is the place to start from, and then try work out how that can be best done in a world with diminishing financial resources.
---------- Post added at 11:25 ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 ----------
Or they could just be bone-idle, or not share the same work ethic as you - there are other options....  |
Here is what I would do.
1 - stop NHS doctors doing non NHS medical work. conflict of interest.
2 - apply some sort of quota to patients seen by doctors, is this a bad idea? nearly everytime I go to see a doctor in a hospital they are visibly standing around taking their time, dawdling etc. whilst having a waiting room full of patients, whilst I think we have a shortage of doctors the situation is hard to assess when the ones we have arent too efficient. My last appointment was 8.45am and my doctor didnt turn up until 9.30am and then took 30 mins to get to seeing patients.
3 - I would reassign nurses or make somr redundant, is clear in some areas they seem to be overstaffed, I have been in multiple wards where they standing around chatting to each other, however some other locations such as a&e seem understaffed.
4 - reassess all contracts with private companies and cancel PFI. Private sector taking the NHS for a ride. (this would get much worse under these reforms).
5 - Stop the prioritisation system based on age. Also stop the assumptions made by doctors that people from about 18 to 40 cant get seriously ill. I have lost count the amount of stories I have read where someone in that age group died or had serious health issues due to doctors not checking them out.
6 - add some kind of record keeping and checks on entry for people using services that are walk in type services (non refferal), these quite possibly get abused. Basic checks should be if legal resident in country and records of previous visits.
7 - things like nhs direct to be changed back to how it was at start (useful) so can actually send out ambulances etc. or scrap it. In its current form its a waste of cash as they only tell you to goto GP or a&e anyway.
8 - to further previous point start using the idle ambulances to take vulnerable patients to and from hospital,far cheaper than covering their taxi fares. Also provide transport's for GP as well as enforce GP's to do home visits and phone consultancy, if they refuse dock salary. Provide system for complaints with ultimate punishment been struck off.
The sad thing is the nhs is actually poorly performing not something that can handle cut backs (which is what privatastion would do). It is also less funded than german and french equivelent service per population?
Another example, in france if you see a local doctor and they decide you need a x-ray, they can do one there and then as have own machines. Here you need a refferal which can take weeks/months making you more ill and as such harder to treat as well as probably off work sick in meantime and then that refferal itself needs dedicated staff to deal with you. This I hope goes some way to explaining why we have more on long term sick as waiting for things like x-rays which shouldnt need a wait.