[0762]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38853700

This bbc info/data just confirm what I always suspected - we are indeed the best performer of the four home nations when it comes to running our NHS and that's because our govt has tackled the organisation and management of the NHS in a more proactive and pragmatic fashion compared with say what is being done by the likes of the Tories in England. We are by no means perfect but we're certainly 'travelling in the right direction' and long may that positive line continue!

[0762]

I'm listening to the news re the latest STP cuts by NHS England and the resultant furore re an unbalanced financial argument to try to redress the probs re care for the elderly. I naturally reflect back to the shameless, inaccurate comments made in Scottish referendum year, 2014, re the future state of the NHS alone and the scaremongering drivel that was uttered pales into insignificance when viewing the events that are unfolding down south and were predicted by qualified people/health consultants in Scotland in the process of refuting the nonsensical arguments emanating from allied unionists who were intent on stopping any move towards Scot indy at all cost no matter how many lies, rhetoric and innuendo, that these shameless c#### could dream up. Ironically many of these 'low lifes' are no longer politically active!!

[hibeejim21]

The NHS was in surplus not so long ago...then the tories started their re-organisation.

This is a deliberately engineered Tory crisis from beginning to end. The population did not suddenly get sicker and age 10 years overnight in May 2010.

0.8% annual increase on spending (a "rise in spending", but only just and way,way less than what is required), the Social Care cuts, Lansley's Act (deliberately omitted from the 2010 manifesto), the Junior Doctors confrontation (junior doctors -that hotbed of radicalism!!!) and the cuts, pay and recruitment freezes inflicted on public and health services to realise this is all part of a detailed and comprehensive plan to dismantle and sell off the NHS.... I'd wager a good sum that may was over offering parts of it already to president trumpet.

Unless the English wake up soon,all the things that made the UK a decent country will be hived off. Their support for these arseholes is unwavering,which is a major reason I favour going it alone.

But that's going to require more people living in Scotland to wake up too.

[ritchiebaby]

I'm actually amazed at the response to the NHS crisis in England with respect to incoming patients having to wait in corridors for a bed. After god-knows-how-long the powers that be have come up with a solution that will automatically lead to a cut in beds!!!    

On a more personal (Scottish) level, I am waiting on a minor operation and I have received two letters from the same department with conflicting information about the end of the three month time limit. One of my distant relatives suffers from MS with additional complications and she is lucky enough to be receiving drugs costing £100k per annum. If she had lived 20 miles further east, she would not have been given the drugs. And I thought it was a National Health Service.  

In my experience, the main problem with the NHS is that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. And that is an admin problem. I honestly feel that if a lot of the money spent on admin was to be spent on the medical side, things would be much better. As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of targets and statistics. Hospitals should be run according to patients' needs, not an admin department's needs.

[0762]

My daughter is a fully qualified nurse and studying further for a Masters Degree. The admin problem is a 'top heavy' big issue but also the proper people to fit in to these kinda organisational posts is as big an issue - there are lotsa people in there who can hardly manage their own household activities, let alone managing people and budgets. Many of them are totally unsuitable for the work that they are supposed to be doing for various reasons and, in some cases, they are also in conflict with other NHS staff due to stressful situs, creating tension, poor integration with staff etc. Also gotta mention the wastage issue, which is managed at all well. The lack of requisite funding is still an issue but there are certainly other improvements to the service that could by a govt with the clout and ethics to do it! That UK govt is not currently evident!