My point @Chris-P-Bacon [ admittedly not the sacking doctors bit ], is that you say we are over reacting to COVID, so I want to know, what would you change:
Stop admitting COVID patients? Stop vaccinating?
I don't see how you think we can carry on with a normal NHS, whilst this pandemic persists.
I was unlucky enough to be an inpatient during this pandemic and it was terrifying.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Just read the latest online news from South Africa which seems to imply that the Omicron variant is already running out of steam and slowing down and they haven't yet seen the uptick in hospitalisations and/or deaths they were expecting this week.
This may or may not be true of course - who knows.
I can remember in the olden days, a couple of years ago, I would have been happy to see a nurse . Experienced with it without a degree. " is this infected; do I need to...; is it alright if I...? That kind of thing. But I had to make an appointment with a doctor. I would have preferred to see a nurse who could refer me if necessary. Now it would be good to get onto the call queue thing never mind actually speak to someone.
I was checking on leading causes of death, taken globally. I was surprised by the 2019 data. No malaria, TB, Aids or diarrhoea in the top ten. Malaria deaths have fallen by over 90% since 1900 and many global areas have eradicated it completely, such as the UK and the US, where it was prevalent.
You can't even get through on the phone. The online appointment thing is useless. Apparently, the thing to do is to join a queue outside before the surgery opens. Then you have a chance of booking a telephone appointment.
I can remember in the olden days, a couple of years ago, I would have been happy to see a nurse . Experienced with it without a degree. " is this infected; do I need to...; is it alright if I...? That kind of thing.
We can do that at the local pharmacy, in the village. They employ an experienced nurse (semi retired) to work part time. It started as a day a week, I suspect it's a lot more now. She's there primarily to do the flu jabs but she also does some 'light' consultation work. I went in a couple of years ago asking for sterile dressings, and she asked what for, I showed her, she found the right sort of dressing and put it on for me. She did my flu jab last month. I sincerely wish she could have done the covid jabs as well, but the rules are too restrictive for them to offer it, so we have to do the 70 mile round trip to the vaccine centre instead.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Wow, what a lot of clever people we have on this forum! Really.
So it would seem as if what we are paying for our NHS very very broadly reflects the greater variety of things that we can ask it to do for us. That is a sweeping statement, I know.
I remember back in the 1950s being taken to see the family doctor for one of my many winter ailments and sitting on a hard, bentwood seat in a dark waiting room with a very hot gas fire. There were a lot of bronchitic patients in the room, as I recall. The doctor was based in the Wicker, a rough, working class area, and must have had a pretty miserable working life, but he was seen as almost a god by the people that he treated. He was such a figure in the community that I even now remember his name; Dr Pringle. Who in sixty years time will recall the name of their GP, I wonder.
Perhaps some of the perceived problems that we have with the NHS these days are based on the fact that the mystique has gone from the job. With Dr Google on hand, we are all our own experts now.
I remember my GP from when I was a child (Dr Flynn, he was Irish and seemed to me to be extremely ancient and grumpy, and for some unknown reason he always called my little brother "David", although that's not his name and as far as I know there isn't a David in the family). He was in Crookes and had been my mother's family doctor for as long as she could remember. I remember the Wicker being a bit rough when I was young although I think it's better now.
I also remember my GP who I registered with when we first moved here, who retired early due to ill health and later died. Since then I don't even know which of the GPs at the practice I'm actually registered with. It seems to be someone different every time I go (admittedly it's not often so it doesn't particularly bother me).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Yes, Fire. That’s why I was interested to know how the amount we pay in each year, compared to what we used to pay in, mirrors the sophistication of the service on offer. And Ben’s figures broadly suggest that they do.
In 1950, on average, every person in the UK paid £275 pa (in today’s terms) to fund the NHS In 1965 they paid £444 a year In 2020 they paid £3164 a year.
But you have it in a nutshell. Our expectations have changed. That is the problem.
No that is categorically not the problem. It is right that we expect the most effective medical treatments available and the NHS evolves over time to meet our needs.
The problem is that we do not fund it in a way that is commensurate with that. If we increased funding to reflect our nearest European neighbours, we would be able to increase quality (and reduce waiting lists) dramatically. There are arguments to have about how best to prioritise spending, but the need to fund it more is absolutely unambiguous.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
You can't even get through on the phone. The online appointment thing is useless. Apparently, the thing to do is to join a queue outside before the surgery opens. Then you have a chance of booking a telephone appointment.
Phone queues are a bit longer but doable where I am. I spend a fair amount of time on the phone to my practice, one way or another. Their systems work pretty well. But it's a larger practice with 12 GPs and various services and nurses offered. Maybe that makes a difference to capacity.
Posts
Stop admitting COVID patients?
Stop vaccinating?
I don't see how you think we can carry on with a normal NHS, whilst this pandemic persists.
I was unlucky enough to be an inpatient during this pandemic and it was terrifying.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
This may or may not be true of course - who knows.
I would have preferred to see a nurse who could refer me if necessary.
Now it would be good to get onto the call queue thing never mind actually speak to someone.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The problem is that we do not fund it in a way that is commensurate with that. If we increased funding to reflect our nearest European neighbours, we would be able to increase quality (and reduce waiting lists) dramatically. There are arguments to have about how best to prioritise spending, but the need to fund it more is absolutely unambiguous.
Phone queues are a bit longer but doable where I am. I spend a fair amount of time on the phone to my practice, one way or another. Their systems work pretty well. But it's a larger practice with 12 GPs and various services and nurses offered. Maybe that makes a difference to capacity.