what does Marge think of this?
As it has been explained to me I think the “why” has something to do with Italy’s privacy laws and it’s the way it has been done for decades because of those.
They’re guarded with their lives and are not likely to be lost; Italians are scrupulous about these things because it’s the way they’ve been bought up. “If” though, I don’t know but I remeber asking something along those lines some years ago to be pretty much met with disbelief that such a thing was even possible.
Nowadays of course more and more Italian health records are being digitised and as I understand it things are moving towards this but slowly (as is the way in Italy), and those with digitised records instead of keeping their own records can instead request a copy. Apparently it is commonplace to request a copy as you make or confirm an oppointment.
Remember all the “Nationalised Industries” , such as the Gas & Elec boards, etc?
They were run the same way.
Get a problem? Throw more money & people at it!
Still got a problem?
Throw more!
Those other Nationalised Industries went down the pan, years ago.
See where all this is going, as far as the NHS is concerned?
It may not go private, but it will have to be run as a business model of some practical sort.
I have to agree and I don’t see any other way forward that would be as likely to work.
Large parts of our power supplies are run by France as a result. They are trying to re-nationalise the railways. It seems that the grass is always greener.
Dare I suggest that the EU were allowed to grab many of our operations, whilst we were in there?
Whether we are in or out, our previously nationalised industries are vulnerable to international takeover if privately run. In the case of power that’s a big risk. I thought China had been buying up a lot too. Would we want the NHS to be owned by the Chinese or Russians say?
Or, God forbid, Americans?
I was watching BBC News this morning and discovered that our GPs are really independent, private businesses that are, in the main, contracted to the NHS.
America owns much of our internet/social media. But behind that they also own systems infrastructure. But China has been buying up mineral and scarce resource rights particularly those inputs that feed into environmentally friendly goods. This has been going on under our noses. We rely on supply chains which feed into everything in our infrastructure. Those supply chains aren’t in the main owned by us because Britain has been belly button gazing for a while now. That is the opposite of the British empire where we were buying up all the supply chains. That’s how you become the most powerful nations.
She agrees with me.
I agree. If we voted to leave the EU, then we should extract ourselves from it completely. I don’t know how easy it would be to do it, but I’d like to nationalise all of our power generation operations (and probably others) and be in full control of our own country.
I agree. We lack strong, decisive leadership and have done since Maggie was stabbed in the back. Sadly, I can’t see anyone comparable on the horizon right now.
Yes, & they l are wearing two cloaks, Private & NHS.
Priority in which order?
Another thing, I hadn’t thought out, I went to the pharmacy, to get some stuff, which I normally have on prescription, to save the bother of busy phone lines & waiting lists.
I, in my usual joking way, said to to the Pharmacist, “this is costing me, I used to get it free”.
She replied, “Not half as much as it’s costing us”
I’m still struggling to understand what that meant!
Are there, really, bigger prices for prescriptions?
I suspect that what she’s referring to is the fact (or so I’ve heard) that the NHS pays well over the odds for pharmaceuticals due to its inefficient purchasing system, which I admit I do not understand!
Perhaps someone else who knows more might confirm or deny this.
True. I was told by my old GP that I can buy paracetamol tablets cheaper in Tesco, etc for far, far less than the equivalent he prescribes. Hence, he never prescribed them, telling patients to buy their own. And another thing, GPs tend not to prescribe generic drugs unless they are forced to by their local NHS commissioning people.
Yes. My diabetic and other medications I collect from the chemist often come with different brand names. The active ingredients are, of course, the same but I assume that as and when cheaper alternatives become available whoever is responsible makes the appropriate choice of which to buy.
We’re the same. The manufacturers of our meds sometimes vary too. It’s up to the pharmacist to decide when s/he orders from his/her suppliers.
Apparently you’ve put me on ignore after I answered you elsewhere so you might not be able to read this answer but never mind, it’s your loss.
This is a little bit out of date but anybody reading it will get the idea I’m sure, which is that because of how the NHS works a pharmacy doesn’t make very much per item and in fact sometimes even makes a loss depending upon how much the NHS pays versus what today’s stock price is.
I know that some of you won’t be able to read this because The Telegraph is subscription-only, but it looks to be a reasonable interpretation of the current state of affairs regarding the NHS.
That seems to be a continuation of the articles I linked to over the weekend.
Slight hijack: Another branch of the NHS that’s not really NHS at all is dentistry. We have been trying for months, now, to sign up with any supposedly NHS dentist who says their practise is taking on new patients and not getting anywhere fast. We have finally succumbed to having to go private again. One phone call, 2 appointments for next Tuesday afternoon made in less than 5 minutes this morning.
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