Yorkieguy
Established Member
Really, I ought not to take the bait, but here goes anyway.
Contrary to your assertion that private medicine is less efficient than the NHS, the reverse is so.
That’s because surgery in private hospitals is ‘elective’, (‘life improving’ - not ‘life-saving), and can be better planned.
If an operating theatre in a private hospital is scheduled to perform say six knee replacement operations on a particular day, they will go ahead as planned. In an NHS hospital which also has an A&E Dept, it isn’t unusual for someone to be on the point of going into the theatre for say a coronary by-pass or orthopaedic operation, when victims of say a car crash need life-saying emergency surgery right away, which could include limb amputations. Often there will be several casualties in such instances, which will tie up the theatres and surgical teams for rest of the day, and sometimes beyond. That’s nobody’s fault – it’s just the way things are.
As to 'being brought into the State Sector' - Private Health is used extensively by the NHS – has been for decades, and it costs the NHS no more than if done in-house.
It was a Labour government that expanded that involvement when John Reid was Secretary for Health in 2003. He controversially increased capacity by introducing private companies to run treatment centres for knee, hip and eye operations. He did so to provide extra staff and extra capacity to help treat more patients in the NHS at an unprecedented rate delivering a staunch defence of Labour's reform programme to the party's annual conference. He made the case for extending to all the choices normally only available to those who could afford them.
If a GP needs to refer you for a physical or mental health condition, in most cases you have the legal right to choose the hospital or service you'd like to go to. This will include many private hospitals if they provide services to the NHS and it does not cost the NHS any more than a referral to a standard NHS hospital. You can also choose a clinical team led by a consultant or named healthcare professional, if that team provides the treatment you require. My wife and I both had a knee replacement operation in a private hospital on the NHS (she in 2017, me in 2018). We asked our GP which hospital and surgeon she would choose if she needed the operation and went with her advice, choosing the private hospital she would have done, and the surgeon who carried out our operations.
Cataracts:
Over 400,000 cataract surgeries are done by the NHS every year in England – many at private hospitals.
Some procedures on the NHS, were never envisaged in 1948 and aren't to treat people who are ill. Many such procedures are outsourced to the private sector.
Abortions:
Pregnancy is not an illness - it's consequence of unprotected sex.
Often welcome and planned - too often, not so. Contraception is widely available, including the 'morning after pill' of which there are two types, which work up to five days after unprotected sex. The pill is available at most pharmacies, Minor Injuries Units, A&E and GPs. Despite this, there were 214,256 abortions for women resident in England and Wales in 2021, the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.
98.5% of abortions are funded by The Department of Health. In 2021, the number of funded by the NHS performed by private abortion providers such as BPAS and Marie Stopes, was a record high of 165,400 (77.2%).
There were 624,828 live births in England and Wales in 2021, an increase of 1.8% from 613,936 in 2020. Thus, of 839,084 conceptions, 214,256 were terminated - a termination rate of 25%. Hence, the most dangerous place for a child to be is in its mother’s womb, (which nature provided as a place of safety) – not in the outside world.
It's called 'A Woman's Right to Choose'.
I'm not being judgmental - I was born illegitimate in 1939 - my mother was 36, and thought she was in a stable relationship which would lead to marriage. Not so - my father (who I never knew, and think of only as a 'sperm donor'), was a married man. She was abandoned by him, and disowned by her family. I/we spent the first 3 months of my life in an unmarried mothers' home, then she/we were turfed out to make her/our way in the world as best she/we could. She died of TB aged 41 when I was five., so I had a bleak start in life. But how lucky I was to have been conceived in 1939 - not 2019, or I may not have made it to the outside world. Everything I've had in life, including life itself, has been a bonus to me. Not a 'misery memoire' - a good luck story.
The other side of the coin is Infertility. A condition, not an illness.
Since 1978, the miracle of IVF/DI, became possible. (Once called 'test-tube babies').
Over 1.3 million IVF cycles and more than 260,000 donor insemination (DI) cycles have been performed in the UK since 1991, resulting in the birth of 390,000 babies, new figures from the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority show. (March 2024). The treatment is provided by private clinics, and about 40% are funded by the NHS, if the patients meet NHS criteria. (About 20,000 cycles in 2021).
Wes Streeting is spot on when he says: 'The NHS isn't a shrine - it's a service'.
A lot needs to change in the NHS, and it's not just about throwing money at it.
He'll have his work cut out, but I think he'll do a good job.
David.
