It appears from yesterdays times that 20% of GPS are only working about 26 hours a a week ( as GPS that is ) . It certainly is like that in our surgery . There are several at least eight doctors but they only do two or three days a week .
Doctors take other roles less work more dosh .
That’s what I’m paying for Muddy. At least I do know my surgeon (at least) does operate within the NHS as well because he offered me a place on his NHS list (with a waiting time of at least 12 months).
So basically what you are paying for ( I don’t blame you I might do the same) is to queue jump the NHS waiting list , the rest are just frills .
Basically, when it comes to it, yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
100% agree.
Watching on another internet platform Americans now living in the UK were talking about having to take out insurance to cover any National Health needs until they have paid enough in national health insurance contributions
I can see one day we’ll all have to pay for the NHS … however, at the moment I can’t fault them as their response over treatment times with Mr M has been faultless, I’d even say impressive.
Trouble is when I’ve heard what size bills or cost or medical cover our American cousins get hit with I’m afraid I couldn’t afford it.
The French and Germans have a different system, which, admittedly, I haven’t a clue how it works.
The Italian system used to be you paid upfront for treatment then claimed it back through your tax deductions. I don’t know if it’s still the same these days.
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Friday/Saturday night piss heads should be made to pay .
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The NHS needs a complete overall, trouble is none of the politicians are prepared to grab the nettle, the very same surgeons who do private ops have been trained through the nhs system gaining experience through it, all likely hood the nurses are of the same .
The NHS will have to charge in the end , no reason why it can’t be introduced from a certain age, the bar stewards raised pension age with out so much as a blink of an eye .
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@Percy_Vere , l think you have mis-understood my question,nor maybe l
didnt phrase it clearly Percy?
I meant the nurses, (front line staff?) are moving from nursing jobs into
administration jobs within the NHS to escape low pay and long hours ??
I doubt there is any qualification required for admin other than to be
reasonably intelligent ??
If this is happening, then surely it will contribute to the nursing shortage ??
Regarding your upcoming private operation, good for you, l would do the
same if l could afford it !
But this is part of the problem imo, too many people (who can afford to
do otherwise) have been relying on the NHS to get their health needs
catered for ??
The NHS was created to enable basically destitute people to get medical
assistance instead of relying on the charity of doctors to do the right
thing!!
I didn’t mean hospital consultant level doctors. I am talking management consultancy.
GPs have a very difficult job. We are lucky to still have the old fashioned type practices because big companies are buying up swathes of disillusioned retiring GP businesses and making them a one size fits all shareholder venture. E.g virgin care recently rebranded to HCRG care & owned by private equity. Not much media presence on that. Just lots of GP bashing while at the same time GPs are facing some of the most difficult situations they have ever dealt with given that the NHS can’t recruit due to a lack of skilled staff (B word/covid etc).
But the sort of services this is talking about payment for here are not GP led, but hospital services.
They have clearly been warming people up to this by redesigning the GP online system which I notice now has lots of paid services icons when you log in to make a GP appointment. So those without a pc or smartphone are reliant on support. The next thing will be that you will end up talking to a bot.
I can explain how the French system works - and it works well. At arrival for any health treatment, from local doctor appointment to hospital treatment and even A&E, the very first thing is they check is that you can pay. This is either a french health system card or your own credit card. The health system card is only obtainable for citizens or residents who are paying tax and social charges. No health system card and no other means of payment then no treatment.
The health service card confirms that the state will cover 75% of the treatment. The balance is either paid for by insurance (a top up insurance called a mutual) or by the individual directly. The top up insurance costs about 30 euro a month. Very low paid get government support for this.
Costs without the health system card and the top up insurance would be quite high. 30 euros just for a doctor appointment. Thousands for hospital treatment. But you are covered for so much - opticians, dentists and most of a prescription cost. This system works well, removes any risk of health tourism, obliges people to pay for missed appointments (suspect this is quite a cost in the NHS) and is very transparent. I do not know but wonder if the top up insurance might decline payments for drunks in A&E on a Saturday night. Seems possible.
I recently had a fairly complex operation to re-attach a retina, plus out-patient visits. The cost to me for this plus a page long prescription (ointments, drops, bandages, pain killers, etc) was a total of 4 euros. And the treatment was excellent. I went to A&E late on a Friday, seen at once, no waiting at all, was given an appointment for surgery the very next Monday, operation was done at the university hospital in Bordeaux, surgeon was the professor of ophthalmology, all completed by 5pm Monday.
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@AnnieS , Oh, l see, l did mis-understand you then !!
But why is it neccassary to use a consultant administrator ?? But maybe
that is the point you are making Annie ? If so l quite agree !!
It must cost plenty to use use a private contractor for this ??But does that
mean the NHS has no administrators of its own anymore ??
Or does it use the contractors alongside its own administrators ?!?!
Seems to me there is a big effort by private interests to discredit the NHS
at this moment and so increase their influence in our healthcare and l
include GPs in this as well !!
I think the hospitals and the GPs are linked in this possibly by inducements
from the private equities that you mentioned?
But what can we do to stop this??
@strathmore … I have to say compared to the American Medical Insurance method the French system sounds a lot fairer.
Thanks for that info … firsthand is always more trustworthy than reading biased google search results.
@strathmore , It seems that if you have the money or health system card
you are well catered for, but that was always the way things are , if you are
rich enough nothing is a problem ??
The NHS was designed to do away with the embarrassment of the state
from having to collect all the dead bodies due to untreated illness and
freezing to death in cold weather that happened in days of yore ?
So what does France do with all the dead migrants in winter ??
Edited to say
They are not dead
They build fires in the streets and woods around the ports and people bring them food .
It is sad to see.
Nearly every week I read a story in our local paper of someone stuck in a foreign hospital and they are being chased for payment. Last week it was a very premature baby whose mother suddenly went into labour. the week before it was a young man who had an accident while riding a scooter and broke his neck. Insurance companies try and wriggle out as we all know.
yet a wealthy Nigerian woman came here a few years ago and gave birth to quads and our NHS delivered them, kept them all in hospital for months and it cost hundreds of thousands. They asked her to pay but she cleared off home without doing so.
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The money wasted in the NHS is a disgrace. A few years ago I had a vein sorted out. Prior to the op they measured me for surgical stockings for afterwards. The nurse told me she had to order them even if I chose not to wear them because that what the NICE guidelines said. I never did wear them and they were a total waste of money because they won’t fit anybody else. Then there’s the cost of a special appointment and nurse to measure me! i also had a former neighbour who was a nurse and the stuff she pinched from the hospital would have stocked a small pharmacy. She called it a perk of the job and said everybody did it.