UK General Election 2024 (or 25)
There has been so much money pumped into the NHS it's clear that just pumping more money into the NHS isn't going to work. It needs top to bottom reform.
If they, let's say, get a 20% wage rise, that also does nothing to solve the issue. It just makes the service more expensive and less efficient.
Strikes always feel like blackmail to me, I realise workers have rights and so on, but no sure mass strikes achieve much. I've always worked in the private sector where you get few benefits, no guarantees about anything, including your pension and only way to get a wage rise is often to get another job, sometimes outside of the company.
It's tough, yet when you try and impose the similar conditions on the public sector it's somehow grossly unfair.
Not saying either are correct and so on, but there just has to be a better way.
If they, let's say, get a 20% wage rise, that also does nothing to solve the issue. It just makes the service more expensive and less efficient.
Strikes always feel like blackmail to me, I realise workers have rights and so on, but no sure mass strikes achieve much. I've always worked in the private sector where you get few benefits, no guarantees about anything, including your pension and only way to get a wage rise is often to get another job, sometimes outside of the company.
It's tough, yet when you try and impose the similar conditions on the public sector it's somehow grossly unfair.
Not saying either are correct and so on, but there just has to be a better way.
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sionascaig
- Posts: 1074
- Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 9:38 am
You could argue that the conservatives have deliberately run down the NHS to get it into the situation you describe - reform needed... Under the Blair government the focus was on customer outcomes and had record low waiting times / customer satisfaction...
Now its been run down so much, e.g. almost no capital investment for last ten years there are no winners (apart maybe for those arguing for reform - the argument now a lot stronger)..
Hard to see how some form of insurance model doesn't figure in the solution though.
If you had managed BA the same way the gov has handled the NHS I doubt there would be many subscribers left )
Now its been run down so much, e.g. almost no capital investment for last ten years there are no winners (apart maybe for those arguing for reform - the argument now a lot stronger)..
Hard to see how some form of insurance model doesn't figure in the solution though.
If you had managed BA the same way the gov has handled the NHS I doubt there would be many subscribers left )
I've always argued against things that are free because they are not valued and often misused. I'm not saying you need to charge for things or incentivise that, but if you add a nudge to the cost of services you could save billions and increase efficiency dramatically.
Maybe give everybody vouchers or something that they can 'spend' by booking an appointment or something. I don't know the detail as I haven't thought it through.
But if you look at plastic bag usage, it was a real problem until you asked people to pay 10p, then usage collapsed. This is what I'm trying to say, introduce a nudge and you could improve things dramatically.
People talk about 'cuts' but in outright and real terms the NHS budget has been on an upward path under successive governments, but it's never solved anything. At it's current rate of compounding it will end up mstching the entire national income eventually. But every politician just kicks the can down the road as it's not a vote winner.
Maybe give everybody vouchers or something that they can 'spend' by booking an appointment or something. I don't know the detail as I haven't thought it through.
But if you look at plastic bag usage, it was a real problem until you asked people to pay 10p, then usage collapsed. This is what I'm trying to say, introduce a nudge and you could improve things dramatically.
People talk about 'cuts' but in outright and real terms the NHS budget has been on an upward path under successive governments, but it's never solved anything. At it's current rate of compounding it will end up mstching the entire national income eventually. But every politician just kicks the can down the road as it's not a vote winner.
Chief Executive of Ambulance Services reassures us that if you need an ambulance tomorrow they will respond as normal, that's 12 hours. 
And if you've got a category 4 emergency, e.g. vomiting, they'll treat it as even less urgent.
Who's ever called an ambulance for vomiting? I used to do it twice a week when I was younger.
And if you've got a category 4 emergency, e.g. vomiting, they'll treat it as even less urgent.
Who's ever called an ambulance for vomiting? I used to do it twice a week when I was younger.
Try not to have an accident this week and FFS, don't go to the races and be selfish enough to request the racecourse ambulance if you have a heart attack! It's no more than a 3-hour wait until the last race and that's small by today's standards.