We have universal health care medicine mostly free at the point of delivery via the NHS.

This model would make it hard for the service to be run as anything but a nationalised service.

Ok we can take two very real examples of where public and private try to co exist in universal healthcare.

GP's are mostly self employed and some are so overworked they are no longer able to provide a service. I know a few and for them it is not a money issue. It is simply they do not have enough hours in the day. They are so reliant on other non existent services they have taken up as much slack as they can. Dentists meanwhile will often not provide an NHS service as it is far more profitable to run a private one. (Despite NHS dental fees being too expensive for those who probably really need them.)

Back in the day National Insurance was a levy to pay for things like the NHS, increasingly now that pot as more akin to general taxation. Maybe we should go back to ring fenced funding of the NHS. I wonder if folks would miss as many appointments if they understood the costs.

This seems to suggest that the private sector is not already heavily involved in the NHS. Estimates vary that between 25% and 40% of its budget is spent via the private sector. Which is already substantial by any measurement. Some ambulance services, for instance, are privatised.

It's a question of common sense. If using the profit motive produces hard work and efficiency, go for it. If it results in cutting corners, stressing staff, reducing care quality and lengthening waits then don't. That generally means that support services can be privatised whilst clinical provisions ought not to be.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

My first adult job was as admin in the NHS. Hilarious title of deceased patient's property, I also did the wages and petty cash,and gave out 'pocket money' from the welfare of longer term patients. There were three in total in my office. We had five managers. I presume it hasn't changed much in that regard. Of course, the hospital used to do a lot then, but very little now. Just minor procedures. Not even A & E which is 30 miles away on packed roads.

Edited by ASCPFC (14 Jan 2022 12.56pm)

Red and Blue Army!

In the real world, my experience of my local hospitals tells me that they are disgracefully run by often underqualified people with little or no communication or organisation and with too few staff.

The net result is a service that is not fit for purpose.

I despair at the amount of people who must die unnecessarily due to misdiagnosis, poor treatment or incorrect or unnecessary medication.

Something has to change.

I received a letter last week with a date for an appointment at the ENT department at Queen Elizabeth hospital having been referred before Christmas.
Although nothing serious (hopefully), I do suffer with chronic vertigo and need the discomfort in sinuses checked out.

I was given date in June and I played it down when people said that’s a long time to wait as I didn’t think 3 month wait was that bad.

So I went to write it on my calendar when I realised I couldn’t as my calendar only goes up to December 2022!!!

I too have prostate cancer. Having had a prostatectomy (removal) in 2010 and been told, after a few years, I was cancer free, it came back again. Radiotherapy seemed to halt it, but then it came back a second time.

Now I am waiting again myself, but not because of NHS delays, but for the cancer to grow large enough to know exactly where it is, so it can be targetted efficiently.

Obviously, I don't know neighbour's precise details, but chemo for prostate cancer is not the usual treatment. It's usually quite slow growing and difficult to locate precisely. Radiotherapy is more usual, with hormone treatment to slow down any reoccurrence. Maybe that's what is being considered. My experience has been very good all the way through. I have a telephone line I can call at anytime to get advice or appointments advanced. There are also new treatments coming through, which give us all reasons to be hopeful.

If you think a chat with a fellow sufferer would help your neighbour, send me a PM and I will give you my number.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.