A&e visits

[Ring]

Im sorry but call me old fashioned a nurse is a nurse not a doctor this is the problem right across the nhs ex ambulance driver of 21 years we went down this route of everyone must have a degree does not matter whether you have common sense or 2 left feet you must have it on paper and it does not work hands on is the best way to learn but the new teaching techniques does not allow this you stand and observe ffs the ambulance cadets do not even train in an ambulance or see one until they are posted to their new stations then it is down to the old style drivers/paramedics to show them how to work an a Ambulance they then can not work on their own for a year so they go about tripple crewed, talk about a backward society. I am now disabled thanks to the job I used to do and it was caused by over weight lazy young people who thought it was there given right to be carried in a chair down 3 flights of stairs /taken to A/E to waste there time and then the next day you see the same lazy twats walking about smoking using their mobile phones with no worries in the world [who is the daft ones here]. Now for the problems in the NHS when you are showing auxillary nurses how to draw blood/ give oxygen/take vital signs etc etc it is cheap labour no if,s or buts and it is the same right across the Nhs I get 2 spinal epidural injections a year that is all they can offer me now I have just waited 10 months on my second one of the year and when I phoned up to say I was overdue I was told that I would be lucky to have the second one within the year , I actually had it last Friday as a space popped up so grabbed with both hands that's why I can sit today and have a rant. Personally they should have dived at Sir Richard Bransons feet when he offered to take the lottery on cover his costs only and plough the rest into the NHS. Would not be a total solution but would have been better than the shambles we have today

 

[Jacob]

I think a few simple changes would cause a fast and irreversible alteration.

1) Anyone who goes to A&E and who is affected by alcohol over the drink drive limit should be charged the full cost of being there.

2) Anyone who goes with an illness that family, friends or workmates can diagnose and advise on treatment eg colds, flu etc should be charged the full costs of the visit.

3) Any time wasters..charge them the full costs.

4) IVF ( it is natures way that some people are barren) and breast enlargements ( vanity) charge full costs or refer to private medicine.

5) ???? next

Typically the costs are around £250 per visit.

The NHS should also charge all of the foreign nationals who are using our hospitals for free. Even to the extent of of each visitor having to prove eligibility.

Al

What an appalling set of uncivilised anti-social suggestions.
It's so easy to blame those at the bottom of the heap but in fact the current problems of the NHS are due to the government's deliberate under-funding. Jeremy Hunt the tory **nt in other words!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What's the "bottom of the heap" to do with the price of fish? If they needn't be there, they needn't be there.
All foreign nationals should have adequate health insurance on entering the Country - it's the National Health Service - not the International Health Service. Even reciprocal healthcare arrangements often aren't.

 

[Jacob]

What's the "bottom of the heap" to do with the price of fish? If they needn't be there, they needn't be there.
All foreign nationals should have adequate health insurance on entering the Country - it's the National Health Service - not the International Health Service. Even reciprocal healthcare arrangements often aren't.

If people need emergency care they should get it without question. It's called "civilisation" but I realise that quite a few people haven't cottoned on to this yet.
One ancient and basic tenet of civilisation is extending care to travellers, strangers, foreigners, migrants etc.
Do we really want to go back to the dark ages or to have an American standard of health care?

Blame culture has no bottom line - accidents and illnesses happen and you can blame drunks, blame the fat, blame smokers, but what about blaming drivers for being on the road, swimmers for being in water, woodworkers for being careless and so on?

NB the NHS is still rated as one of the most efficient and cost effective services in the world. We spend less per head than even the yanks do on "Obama care" but our system is vastly more effective.

 

[Gerry]

I would quite happily pay a nominal charge to visit the doctors, say £10
That would deter attention seekers and hypochondriacs to a degree and provide a good influx of funds to the NHS.

I have a serious genetic heart condition but I only visit the doctors when needed and the last one was over a year ago.

Gerry

 

[Jacob]

I would quite happily pay a nominal charge to visit the doctors, say £10
That would deter attention seekers and hypochondriacs to a degree and provide a good influx of funds to the NHS.

I have a serious genetic heart condition but I only visit the doctors when needed and the last one was over a year ago.

Gerry

It'd also deter some desperate people in need of care who didn't have the cash.

 

[morturn]

I think Jeremy Hunt is a genius, in one short parliamentary statement he already has quite a few of you dancing to his tune.

Make it fail, then find someone to blame. So now it’s the people who go to the hospital for frivolous reasons, along with the drunks, the obese and as always, the immigrants, and you swallow it like sitting ducks.

So, the answer is ‘make people pay for it’. That is exactly what Hunt and his government wants to hear. His pals in the insurance companies, the private health service providers, and facility’s companies will be thanking you all the way to the bank in the same way as the people from the Netherlands, France and Germany are with our privatised railways.

Their public rail companies have bought up most of our privatised railways so that we are now subsidising their cheap train travel. To add insult to injury, even if you never use the trains, you are still subsidising the private franchises with tax breaks, and the government wants to privatise more.

It was not the immigrants, or the benefit claimants, the drunks, the obese, lame or lazy who closed the steel industry and the mining industry, it was the government, and they did it with the blessing of the working man.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"If people need emergency care they should get it without question. " Separate issue.
I don't believe anyone would query that - but we shouldn't allow health tourism. Besides, I go abroad I take out good health insurance - why shouldn't others coming here?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Morturn's magical money tree is still growing well ...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've just had an appointment reminder from my hospital informing me that missed appointments cost that one hospital £4,000,000 p.a. - that would be a good place to start charging.

 

[beech1948]

I think a few simple changes would cause a fast and irreversible alteration.

1) Anyone who goes to A&E and who is affected by alcohol over the drink drive limit should be charged the full cost of being there.

2) Anyone who goes with an illness that family, friends or workmates can diagnose and advise on treatment eg colds, flu etc should be charged the full costs of the visit.

3) Any time wasters..charge them the full costs.

4) IVF ( it is natures way that some people are barren) and breast enlargements ( vanity) charge full costs or refer to private medicine.

5) ???? next

Typically the costs are around £250 per visit.

The NHS should also charge all of the foreign nationals who are using our hospitals for free. Even to the extent of of each visitor having to prove eligibility.

Al

What an appalling set of uncivilised anti-social suggestions.
It's so easy to blame those at the bottom of the heap but in fact the current problems of the NHS are due to the government's deliberate under-funding. Jeremy Hunt the tory **nt in other words!

Jacob,

There is nothing appalling about what I wrote in my post merely common sense. It is rather your somewhat liberal mindedness using false sympathy which causes you to react like that.

By the way No 5) ???was to be that the NHS should charge Local Authorities for failing to provide sufficient care for elderly people who are "bed blocking" at the weekly rate used to pay for residential care homes.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There is a good case for one authority to cover everything, then this ludicrous infighting between councils and the NHS over funding wouldn't happen. Between individual trusts, as well - I got sent from one hospital to another without a cushion on a wheelchair because of a debate over which was to pay for it. If it wasn't for an experienced ambulance man ignoring them I'd probably still be there.

 

[Jacob]

....
By the way No 5) ???was to be that the NHS should charge Local Authorities for failing to provide sufficient care for elderly people who are "bed blocking" at the weekly rate used to pay for residential care homes.

Social services and care is being cut just the same by the government. Their only answer so far has been to suggest increasing council tax - which will of course punish poorer people in the less well off districts - no surprise there, that's exactly in line with all this government's policies across the board.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

I think the biggest problem is too much useless staff that does absolutely nothing- like there are 5 assistants for each doctor that does something, so those 6people really could be replaced with just 2-3 that does something...or they could hire 6 people that actually does a real job.
that and all the people who just goes to doctor to have a talk or as said previously prescription for a 16p paracetamol.

 

[Jacob]

I think the biggest problem is too much useless staff that does absolutely nothing- like there are 5 assistants for each doctor that does something, so those 6people really could be replaced with just 2-3 that does something...or they could hire 6 people that actually does a real job.
that and all the people who just goes to doctor to have a talk or as said previously prescription for a 16p paracetamol.

Sorry - wrong!
Understaffing is the big problem, at every level. You've obviously never had much to do with A&E or anybody who has, or you would have heard an entirely different story - nearer the truth.
It's amazing how in spite of it being acknowledged as one of the most efficient and economical health services in the world, various clever dicks can see ways to making it even more so!
Rumours of ne'er do wells and cheats are exaggerated and yet another example of how blame is directed down, rather than up; to government deliberate underfunding

 

[RogerS]

One of the district nurses that I see told me she worked in A&E prior to this job, and the last NYE she worked there was not one person she dealt with that was any other than drunk.

Yup..I'd advocate triage in A&E. If your drunk or high on drugs then you go to the back of the queue. If you had an accident because you did something stupid then back of the queue.

 

[RogerS]

I think a few simple changes would cause a fast and irreversible alteration.

1) Anyone who goes to A&E and who is affected by alcohol over the drink drive limit should be charged the full cost of being there.

2) Anyone who goes with an illness that family, friends or workmates can diagnose and advise on treatment eg colds, flu etc should be charged the full costs of the visit.

3) Any time wasters..charge them the full costs.

4) IVF ( it is natures way that some people are barren) and breast enlargements ( vanity) charge full costs or refer to private medicine.

I don't think it is that simple.

I'd think carefully about the "charge drunks" idea. So the NHS should charge people who've had a couple of drinks because their lifestyle contributed to the risk. Then what about all the other hobbies and lifestyles that put you at increased risk of a health problem ? Drug abuse ? Smoking ? Contact sports ? Horse riding ? Motorcycle riding ? Woodworking :shock: ? Idleness ?.

It's not rocket science to know when someone is totally out of their skull with booze. Or drugs. We're not talking about someone having a couple of pints.

With regard relying on self diagnosis (or by friend/family) - we also hear talk from medics about the "worried well". But then we hear that early detection of serious conditions is hampered because men especially don't present early enough. You can't have it both ways.

It's not both ways. If someone is daft enough not to want to present themselves early enough (after carrying out some reasoned diagnosis) then that's up to them.

For IVF, there is the counterclaim that the mental health problems that arise for people who can't have the children they want outweigh the cost of the treatment. Don't know whether I believe it.

I don't.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

I think the biggest problem is too much useless staff that does absolutely nothing- like there are 5 assistants for each doctor that does something, so those 6people really could be replaced with just 2-3 that does something...or they could hire 6 people that actually does a real job.
that and all the people who just goes to doctor to have a talk or as said previously prescription for a 16p paracetamol.

Sorry - wrong!
Understaffing is the big problem, at every level. You've obviously never had much to do with A&E or anybody who has, or you would have heard an entirely different story - nearer the truth.
It's amazing how in spite of it being acknowledged as one of the most efficient and economical health services in the world, various clever dicks can see ways to making it even more so!
Rumours of ne'er do wells and cheats are exaggerated and yet another example of how blame is directed down, rather than up; to government deliberate underfunding

I have to agree to disagree!
That has been my impression whenever I have went to hospitals or have went with someone else, Maybe there's staff shortage where it really matters- maybe... but There are too much completetly useless positions and people that really do nothing at all if you really look at their every day work there, too much ''assistants'' that are just there to entertain people, or 3 persons are given a job that a 1 qualified person could do. I'm not sure why I need to go through 4-5people just for simple procedure where every one of them does a simple task which could be done by just 1person making it all go so much faster and freeing up funds to hire actual doctors not just useless staff.
Again- that is only my view and observations I have had myself not what I have seen in TV/newspapers or told by others...

 

[Jacob]

One of the district nurses that I see told me she worked in A&E prior to this job, and the last NYE she worked there was not one person she dealt with that was any other than drunk.

Yup..I'd advocate triage in A&E. If your drunk or high on drugs then you go to the back of the queue. If you had an accident because you did something stupid then back of the queue.

I think they do - at least to prioritise anything obviously life threatening. But they aren't in a position to be judge and jury over somebody's stupidity and you can't necessarily tell if drunkenness or drugs is life threatening in itself, or hiding an underlying condition, or symptoms of something else entirely.
Once again the theme here is to blame the victims. The blame is with the government.

 

[RogerS]

......
why is it we talk about being charged for health care if you are drunk? ....

Because you're responsible for your own actions? Nothing at all to do with being rich or poor.