Republicans: NHS is "Owellian and Evil"

meghatronic said:
So with a sample size of just 3, we have 2 failures and 1 success. Do you not see my point? :)

My pet hate was NHS dentistry. My last checkup was TWO MINUTES. I wrote a letter of complaint and then went private. Where my checkups last THIRTY MINUTES for only double the cost.
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Well i used that as an example as it was only one of the people i know that had serious gripes with their experience.

And ONLY double the cost :D
 
We pay about half per person for our publically funded system that covers everyone, than the USA currently pays for medicare/medicaid.

We get reasonable value for money at present (pretty much smack bang in the middle when you compare our system to cost/clinical effectiveness etc), but there's obviously improvements that could be made in various areas.
 
Azagoth said:
The NHS would be a far better institution if we were to get shot of 90% of the useless middle-management paper pushers.
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I agree here to an extent.

My Wife works for the NHS as an accountant (accounts payable / receivable so not front line but essential just like it is in any company). I worked out the other day she has 7 managers, 3 of which are titled 'Director', 'Assistant Director' and 'Deputy Director'. As far as I can tell, they appear to do very similar roles or in reality they are not directors at all rather, mere section heads. The remaining 4 managers are managers in title only and in the case of my wifes direct line manager is merely a senior version of the same role (albeit paid nearly three times as much based on the pay grades (:confused:?!)).

It seems that the problem with the NHS is more down to the old 'too many chiefs not enough Indians' problem.
 
dirtydog said:
There was an American being interviewed on the BBC just now, criticising the NHS. He said we have to wait six weeks for a dental appointment and "have you seen the state of British teeth?" :rolleyes:

Bloody Yanks and their obsession with teeth!
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My friend lives in New York at the moment, and finds it hilarious what Americans do to their teeth. He was going on about a newsreader with stupidly bright white teeth.
 
oweneades said:
I agree here to an extent.

My Wife works for the NHS as an accountant (accounts payable / receivable so not front line but essential just like it is in any company). I worked out the other day she has 7 managers, 3 of which are titled 'Director', 'Assistant Director' and 'Deputy Director'. As far as I can tell, they appear to do very similar roles or in reality they are not directors at all rather, mere section heads. The remaining 4 managers are managers in title only and in the case of my wifes direct line manager is merely a senior version of the same role (albeit paid nearly three times as much based on the pay grades (:confused:?!)).

It seems that the problem with the NHS is more down to the old 'too many chiefs not enough Indians' problem.
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I also work for the NHS and can 100% confirm this, Normal staff number constantly being cut, yet at the same time there seems to be more and more managers appearing dong nothing.

Also the amount of pointless courses you have to attend these days is a joke, they must spend a fortune on them as well.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8199615.stm

I know it's far from perfect, but compared to the US health system, it's leaps and bounds ahead. The though of even a hint of socialism scares the crap out of a lot of Yanks.

I know a lot of people do the classic British thing of moaning about everything, but is the NHS a fundamental part of the UK or is it really evil?

I for one think the NHS is a lot better than most people give it credit for.
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in my experience it's not bad. there are certainly worse ones around. if it weren't for NHS i would be dead right now so i feel more appreciative than most.:)
 
Keltik THC said:
you do know that taxes dont fund our country right? and that taxes are used to pay back the money the money we are initially loaned from the international bankers?
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You seem to have sidestepped the question with yet more nonsense. Calling you up on your claims it like trying to deal with a persistent bowel infection - no matter what you do and how sensibly you try and correct things, more disagreeable crap keeps coming out.

but aside from that, who said i was talking about just ciggaretes and alcahol? im talking about crack, heroin, coca cola and sunny delight.
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Keltik THC, are you including marijuana as well?
 
Skyfall said:
I meant refused on the basis of being sick too much. Of course they have to ration what healthcare people get, you can't go giving everyone with a headache a full battery of MRI scans.
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One of the reasons publically-funded healthcare is often more efficient than private is that the clinicians don't have a vested interest in providing you with the most expensive tests and treatment. Doctors in America (for insurance-funded patients) will often opt for tests that provide no more, or insignificantly more information than another - MRI rather than CT for example, because they receive a cut of the test-cost. Consequently doctors won't try and be cost-effective.
 
drunkenmaster said:
people are refused treatment in the NHS constantly, are you mad?

You can't get a hip replacement if your hip only hurts you a bit all the time for years, its only when it gets so bad you can't walk anymore. SO rather than fix you up early asap to get you back out and working/living. They wait till it would simply be too morally disgusting to ignore you anymore. WHich often leaves people in a FAR worse condition post surgery than if it had been taken care of earlier.

Most conditions you'll find there are very specific criteria you have to meet, before your condition becomes severe enough to require treatment. Not sure why people think that isn't the case.
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You seem to have an idea that in the states you simply walk in and say "my hip hurts me occasionally" and they send you for a repacement just because you want one. It doesn't work like that, and rightly so.
 
Monkey Puzzle said:
You seem to have an idea that in the states you simply walk in and say "my hip hurts me occasionally" and they send you for a repacement just because you want one. It doesn't work like that, and rightly so.
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Yep insurance companies will wriggle out of everything they possibly can do.
 
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