Income tax must rise 3p to stop NHS 'staggering from year to year'

Skeeter said:
So you want a poll on how much people earn :p ;)
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Not like we haven't before ;)

But it would be interesting to see if this has more support amongst those who will be most affected by the proposals.

It's also quite strange that doctors are going to have to suffer a pay cut via tax and pensions to pay for this as they will be in the top 20% of earners paying x4 in more than they take out. I wonder what their take on this is especially in light of the current proposed contract changes.
 
Tunney said:
It requires long-term thinking and investment rather than one big bang. A successful NHS IT project needs leaders who understand both the NHS and IT. That's difficult to hire in.
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The main problem is, they usually don't hire. They use internally promoted managers who are not only often inadequate but also invariably not from an IT background.
 
V F said:
Isn't that the plan? Public pays it not Government.
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Where do you think the government get their money from :confused:

Rich1988 said:
I would happily pay to see my GP as others have said. a charge of around £20, it would prevent most of the missed appointments and make people think twice as to whether they actually need to go to the doctors or just have a cold and can buy over the counter medicine.
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That would work for generally healthy people who only go to the doctor once a year or so... What about people with long term illnesses, weakened immune systems etc who need to go more frequently, but don't qualify for exemption for whatever reason? I'd be all for this if it was possible to "self prescribe" for a wider range of medication, but when you need to see a doctor for something as harmless as an inhaler then it's not ideal...
 
I'm not sure how many of you have read the first article but:

Appleby estimates that NHS spending would have to increase by 30% or £43bn a year to take NHS total spending to the EU-15 average by 2020-21. The IFS estimates that this would involve an 8p increase on all rates of income tax.

This would be pretty spectacular. Imagine a basic rate tax payer paying 28% income tax + 10% national insurance and higher rates @ 48% + 2% respectively.

Does anyone think that this is remotely feasible? Then how are we to match the EU-15 average?
 
Paying for subscriptions for run of the mill stuff (ie non specialist treatments) would be a good step.

Giving doctors the power to kick people out of a and e if theyre not genuinely needing it (a and e is for when you wont make it long enough for a doctors to open and thats it)

Better medical education for the public as to when you need to see a doctor and when you dont. I wont see a doctor until something's got me down for at least 3 solid days or unless i really need something stronger than off the shelf painkillers.
 
what should happen is everyone should pay there fair share of national insurance , if I pay 10-11 % so should everybody and you should take the cap out.
There would be enough money to sort the nhs out then
 
bayo000 said:
I'll just leave this here for you so you might learn something, as a group they pay for everything they use and more.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/05/eu-migrants-uk-gains-20bn-ucl-study

While I completely support that people that just move to another country within EU (not just UK) should be restricted to claim benefits for a period of time, healthcare isn't one of them. Ideally healthcare should be free whenever and wherever you need it in EU overall.
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Feel free to educate me as I am not entirely clued up. But that is a report solely for EU migrants, what about Non-EU migrants?

It's no secret the NHS is at breaking point. Due to a variety of factors and especially not just because of those herpderp immigrants.

Throwing money at it isn't a long term solution either. Middle management is an area that keeps cropping up, but it helps unemployment figures look nice :P

I haven't got the figures, but the costs of drugs associated with terminal illnesses is something I have always questioned. I am well aware my views might not be shared. However I don't see the point of putting people on courses of drugs which cost in six figures a year just to extend their lives a little bit. (please correct me if these drugs do not cost that amount).

Having had 3 family members die of cancer and one of Parkinson's, peoples quality of life at the end isn't exactly nice, so why prolong it, at an astronomical cost?

I believe the litmus test would be the question; 'would you pay it yourself?'
 
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Yes I never said anything about EU migrants, I was talking about the bigger picture. They are a drain on the NHS, but not the only one.

A while ago in the hospital my partner works at, they slashed middle management as there were managers managing managers...

Recently there have been talks of a re-structure, a new layer of managers sat between the admin and the main managers. This is the brain child of one of the consultants whos wife (surprise surprise) is a prime candidate for one of these new positions..Jobs for the boys!
 
yozzer2001 said:
what should happen is everyone should pay there fair share of national insurance , if I pay 10-11 % so should everybody and you should take the cap out.
There would be enough money to sort the nhs out then
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I disagree.

People should be given the option of leaving the NHS. Those that opt out pay no NI. That way people who have private healthcare don't pay for something they aren't using.
 
George Hincapie said:
I disagree.

People should be given the option of leaving the NHS. Those that opt out pay no NI. That way people who have private healthcare don't pay for something they aren't using.
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I have private healthcare but this would be a disaster. Also what about emergencies when you require A&E or an ambulance?

Again I don't know the figures but I imagine quite a lot of people have private healthcare. Losing their contributions would be significant.
 
It goes into general taxation which pays for the things that NI is supposed to pay for. So you'd need to either a. retain an element of NI for those opting out to cover Pension contributions, or b. find another way to tax those opting out to recoup that element alone.
 
balky12 said:
I have private healthcare but this would be a disaster. Also what about emergencies when you require A&E or an ambulance?

Again I don't know the figures but I imagine quite a lot of people have private healthcare. Losing their contributions would be significant.
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Simple. Just set a fixed charge for an A&E visit.
 
chris_h said:
before increasing taxes, they should charge the immigrants to use the NHS until they have paid in for several years.

My partner has worked in the NHS for years, and is currently working in a hospital. The shear amount of foreign borns has gone beyond what we can afford.
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100% agree.

Kemik said:
How many immigrants do you think there are? Now how many would you say use the NHS? Finally, how would you administer it, ensure you get the money and how much would all that cost vs raise?
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It's not hard if you think about it.
Every immigrant coming in to the UK MUST have health insurance for every member of the family for 5 years.
 
No, I would not be willing to pay an increase in taxes to spent on the NHS. One is assuming that more money=more benefit, apparently 2003\2004 spending was 64 billion for 2014/2015 spending was 116 billion. Have outcomes nearly doubled to match the extra spending?
 
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