Posted on 01/19/2015 3:20:27 PM PST by Olog-hai
Britain’s most senior doctor has said the under-pressure NHS may be forced to abandon the concept of free healthcare for all.
Prof. Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS in England, said there were doubts over whether the taxpayer-funded model was “sustainable in the longer term”.
He added that huge changes were needed—including less reliance on hospitals—if free treatment was to be preserved.
He told the Guardian: “If the NHS continues to function as it does now, it’s going to really struggle to cope because the model of delivery and service that we have at the moment is not fit for the future.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I can’t believe anyone is that dumb. Free? Nothing is free. It only means someone else has to pay for it. Those ads on TV for scooters, braces, etc. really tick me off when they say “at no cost to you”. Well, yeah, but your neighbors, kids, and grandkids are paying for them. Add to that, the incredible amount of fraud, waste, and corruption that accompanies all government programs, and you have the recipe for the fiscal mess almost all governments are in now.
I have never understood how it can be considered generous or compassionate to give away another person’s money.
Bump
Still a concept after all these years, kind of funny.
Well as an alternative you could reduce the number of patients to keep the costs in check .... now let me think of a fair ethical compassionate way of doing that, keeping in mind that royalty, the elite, bureaucrats, etc. must be taken care of .... yes, those citizens designated of lesser value or diminished economical viability could be sacrificed.
Prof. Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS in England, said there were doubts over whether the taxpayer-funded model was “sustainable in the longer term”.
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Gee, ya’ think, Professor?
My ex was a Brit. I recall going and waiting with her at the Doctors. It was a dim, tiny waiting area crowded with people sitting shoulder to shoulder.
After over an hours wait the doctor saw her for perhaps 10 minutes tops.
One evening I called to report she had chest pains (it was before we were married or I would have taken her to the ER on base). The doctor showed a little over an hour later and said he thought it was gas.
“So they’ll charge the Brits and give free healthcare to the immigrants.”
that’s exactly the way things are going now in the UK. but i would suggest the use of the term invaders over immigrants.
I don’t think it was sustainable to begin with—I’ll go out on a limb and say there were people THEN that thought the NHS a total wash.
Not many, and those that did were doubtful more on practical than theoretical grounds, in the unique environment of postwar austerity Britain.. Even those doubts soon withered when the NHS appeared to be a success, soon earning pretty well unanimous support across the political spectrum And indeed it did work successfully for the first 35 years - it was not until the 1980s that probems began to appear and grow. I witnessed the gradual change at first hand, since I've been an NHS patient for all of its 66 years.
Not really, the NHS was welcomed. The difference is that the modern NHS deals with nonsense the original model wasn’t set up to do.
No, the current govt has started to charge non-Brits for NHS care.
Not great, but not the awful system Americans think it is.
Except she never considered stopping the NHS. Even she funded it, in fact under her, the NHS received more funding than Labour govts.
We in the UK all know its not free, in fact there has been a constant public dialogue/argument about its funding, how much tax needed to fund it.
The weight of liberal lies in western civilization rivals the combined weight of all the mountain ranges on earth. I don’t see how it’s possible to move those mountains of lies.
1—Most doctors surgeries in the UK are as open as anywhere else. Some smaller and older surgeries may be crowded, but what you experienced isn’t the norm.
2—The average over-run time is 5-10m, not an hour. And the obvious point is that they overrun because British GP’s will take time with every patient.
3-UK doctor slots are slated for 20 mins. Obviously some people will take longer, some will be dealt with in 5-10 mins. Depends on the complaint.
4—There will be one doctor out on call from each normal surgery. The doctor should have been quicker, but I have to ask, if you thought it was chest pains, why on earth didn’t you take here straight to the hospital? I say this as the son of two heart attack victims, with whom I phoned an ambulance or rushed them to A&E.
5—So you had a ‘bad doctor’(perhaps). And America dosent have them?.
No, it isn’t. As said, we are charging non-Brits, not before time.
Oh, really? Geez, I didn’t realize that. Wasn’t she the one who said that the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money?
Great quote, which as a conservative, I use all the time, lol.
As to the NHS, as a conservative, I have argued that private healthcare should be increased and more encouraged by tax breaks etc, which would allow more people with income to use it, and ease the burden on the NHS and would allow the NHS to focus on serving the poorer people of the UK. Would also ease the burden on the taxpayer as well.
You’d have a streamlined, less costly NHS which would serve people better, and you’d have more and even better private healthcare. Everyone’s a winner. Socialists and conservatives happy. Well maybe, lol.
This was 1988 in Suffolk County. I called what I believed to be an emergency number and specified “chest pains.” They sent out an MD.
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