The NHS in Crisis: How Can We Save the National Health Service? - TLDR News 

NHS doctor here. First of all: comparing healthcare spending between countries is slightly difficult with the NHS because the NHS does pretty much all the heavy lifting on the lifesaving stuff, unlike in other healthcare systems where there’s a different split. That means that for most things, private healthcare spending can be ignored - it won’t affect outcomes. Healthcare spending in the U.K. prior to the pandemic was about 9.8% of GDP - the NHS with 7.7%, the remaining 2.1% private. Given that it’s the NHS that’s having to do the actual life saving in the U.K. (the A&E, intensive care, emergency surgery, cancer treatments, transplants, care of the elderly, the majority of primary care as funded by the NHS…), you’ve effectively got the health of the nation preserved by 7.7% of GDP. That’s fallen from the 8.8% of GDP it received in 2010. Second. The NHS needs about 4% more money to stand still every year, because every year demand goes up: we have an ageing population, and the longer you live the more expensive it is to keep you alive even longer. We also want all the latest treatments - and rightly so - but those aren’t cheap. During the Blair/Brown years the NHS received on average an extra 6% per annum (and that average is significantly pulled down by the last two years of Brown’s government after the financial crisis, where the NHS got what it needed to stand still but no more). That extra money allows things to get better - waiting times fell and patient satisfaction was at a record high. Since the Tories got in in 2010 the NHS received an average of 1-2% more money per year - well below what was needed just to tread water. Part of this was achieved by freezing staff pay (leading to effective real terms pay cuts of 15-20% for nurses and other non medical staff, and 25-30% for doctors of all stripes). Needless to say, this has not helped with recruitment and retention (neither has the massive increase in tuition fees and abolition of bursaries for nursing students - and doctors are still furious about Hunt’s imposition of a new contract on junior doctors). So. Prior to the pandemic, there was a ten year squeeze on NHS finances, with a diminishing number of beds and staff per capita, unprecedented in its history. Before the pandemic hit, we were short about 140,000 healthcare staff, including 10,000 doctors and 40,000 nurses. Brexit probably didn’t help by making Britain a less attractive place to work for nurses from neighbouring European countries (and oh boy do we need them). And then CoViD happened. The NHS, as you pointed out, runs hot most of the year in terms of bed occupancy, because all the “fat” of spare beds has been trimmed over the last few decades. We have half the number of ITU beds per capita that Italy does, and one fifth those of Germany. CoViD nearly completely broke the health service. Staff are burnt out, and deeply resentful that all the supposed praise and applause from the PM didn’t translate into actual improvements in pay and conditions, leading to further worsening of morale. As people leave - and this was true before the pandemic - those of us left behind are left covering more gaps, and we become overstretched, burnt out, and then we leave, creating a vicious circle. In order to fix the health service, there needs to be sustained investment in healthcare above the 4% per annum required merely to keep things running. There are efficiencies to be made, but making them requires *additional* spending, like, for example, giving us a single working IT system and digitising all healthcare records so if a man visiting London from Aberdeen is hit by a car and rushed to hospital, the doctors in London can instantly access all his past medical records, and when he’s discharged, referrals automatically pinging off to his local hospital so his local doctors back in Scotland can see the x-rays and letters and results from that trip to London. That alone would save millions of man-hours and massively increase productivity (as well as reducing the amount of time needed to on-board staff as they move from hospital to hospital). Economies of scale of procurement for such an IT system would also apply to drugs and other treatments in addition, instead of having the internal market to force hospitals to “compete” for NHS contracts which just throws up barriers to efficient care. Training more doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff is essential (at present we only train about half to two-thirds of the medical graduates we need just to keep the current consultant body from shrinking), and retaining them by giving them meaningful pay rises after a decade of real terms pay cuts (because medicine is still, at the end of the day, a job, and people can and will leave if they reach a point where they don’t feel valued any more). On the subject of GP fees: that’d the thin end of the wedge, and as you correctly pointed out in your video, will deter those who need the help the most - who’ll end up presenting in extremis to A&E later and then end up costing the system more. Primary care needs a HUGE amount of additional investment so we have more GPs and allied healthcare professionals in their surgeries - it currently does 80% of the legwork on less than 10% of the budget (and that’s with GPs working 40 hours a week while ostensibly doing 3 day weeks - so you’re getting 40 hours of work for the price of 24 - because they’re so overwhelmed with admin. Every friend I have in GP land is simply working flat out with 7-session weeks (a session being a half day - a week being ten sessions) regularly rivalling my full time 46-hour a week on average hospital rota minus the night shifts). We have to accept that good public services cost money. Large infrastructure projects like hospital buildings or a unified IT system, or single one-off costs like buying out PFI debt, could simply be financed through deficit spending, but ongoing healthcare costs are going to require higher taxes. That means higher taxes for those that can most afford it - higher rates of income tax, a wealth tax, higher corporation taxes, and so on. The U.K. should be looking at matching it’s public sector healthcare spending (i.e. what the NHS gets - 7.7%) to the overall healthcare spending of comparable nations like France and Germany (around about 11%), as that’s a closer reflection of the bits actually doing the vital lifesaving stuff getting the money they need.

as far as I recall, NHS "issues" were resolved with Brexit. there was a bus, back in 2016, where was written 350 mil pounds will go to NHS, rather than EU :)

As a retired NHS worker…how about kicking out the highly paid accountants, managers and CEO. All who have no healthcare experience. Then pay the nurses and doctors more, they then do not have to do extra hours just to pay their bills and do not make mistakes because of lack of concentration and working on low nutritional food. Then nationalise all aspects of the NHS and make it illegal for private companies to drain the NHS of public money as they do now.

You don't want to discourage gp visits. Gp visits increases the chances of noticing deceases earlier, when treatments are easer and cheaper.

Germany tried something like the GP charge a couple years ago. It wasn't with every visit but with every quarter of the year. If you went to the GP but hadn't payed the 10 euros yet you'd have to pay first and then you'd be good for 3 months. If you didn't go to the gp in a quarter you wouldn't have to pay. At the end of the day the concept was cancelled. I think partially because everyone got annoyed with the 10 euros especially since a lot of places did only take cash. I do think a charge like such would just harm those who need care and I think it'd be better to pump the promised "post brexit money" into the NHS...

A GP charge discourages the poor, leading to more illness and lower productivity. It is in the taxpayer's self interest to fund healthcare for the poor.

I get skeptical of a £10 charge. Like I'd be able to pay for a small bill like that but with someone poor, that £10 can really be the difference between a meal or not. I'd rather just increase tax than burden poor people more.

So where is the promised £350m per week post-Brexit for the NHS? I'm still waiting for an answer.

Could bringing back the old Nursing bursary help encourage more to become nurses? I currently work in healthcare and I have noticed since the pandemic we've had less people apply for nurse positions.

£10 represents more than "just a couple" of hours of extra work for too many people in England, and if you compare it with the state pension it's also pretty significant. The war on poverty needs to be won before such change is introduced.

So in other words: put some actual money into services and staff (rather than management and corrupt contracts) and encourage people to be more healthy, through providing public fitness schemes coupled with pushing addictive garbage "food" out of the market with taxation and legislation. Who would have thought that the way to save the NHS was to properly invest in it and reduce the number of patients it has to treat? It's almost like it's being set up to fail

In the Netherlands, the result of letting people pay more for doctor visits, is that they postpone seeking help, and therefore making their health condition worse and more expensive to heal.

As someone studying economics, I always feel joyful when people say"as they otherwise would have". Such a simple but beatiful phrase.

You really shouldn't simplify the lack of beds to "buy a few more beds". Each bed needs to be staffed and equipped, too. That is the real cost of each bed.

It's a slippery slope, it will start at £10 then The cost will rapidly go up just like it did with parking. I have lived on countries with private health care it's a nightmare for the poor and those in most need

wasnt there a red buss that promised a solution?

*me in the US watching the Europeans calmly discuss healthcare funding and how a $10 charge would be harmful to people who need care the most while the US lets healthcare costs run rampant*

The most precious resource of the NHS isn't beds and meds, it's people. With Brexit and overall anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain today, foreigners, upon whom the NHS rely hugely, will not be enticed to come to the UK, where they are treated like dirt, and may not be permitted to bring their family and loved ones over.

Wasn't the NHS supposed to be saved with all the money the UK doesn't have to pay the EU anymore? Anyway, we had the so called "practice fee" here in Germany from 2004 - 2012. It sucked and was thankfully abolished and we agreed to never do such a stupid thing ever again (hopefully).

Alcohol, cigarette, fast food, sugar taxes should all go to NHS, they have to deal with the fallout. If the tax was high enough less people would buy it, and thus reduce the problem. Boom problem solved. You're welcome.

I live in Cyprus. I can see a Doctor in 24hrs and a specialist in about a week. It costs 6 euros to visit. Breast and testicular checks are annual.We have only a minor backlog from Covid. I cannot understand why in the UK when I lived there, everything took so much longer. I pay a fraction of what I did in the UK as well. Mind you we do not have TV's in every room giving health advice that nobody looks at.

For all the right wing vitriol about the NHS, remember a decade of austerity, or underfunding of the countries services by this government. There are shortages across the entire service, so when using the NHS, remember the staff are doing their best in difficult circumstances, and *NEVER* raise your voice to NHS staff, your GP, or GP receptionist.

"The NHS is the closest thing we have to a national religion" The Queen of the United Kingdom and Supreme Governor of the Church of England: "Am I a Joke to you?" Edit: Replaced "Head of the Anglican Church" to "Supreme Governor of the Church of England", which is the official title the Queen holds over the Church of England.

Q: How can we save the NHS? A: Stop voting Tory.

As someone who is trained in the healthcare sector, has live overseas in another country with public healthcare, and who lives with a chronic illness: the NHS needs to invest heavily in outpatient and community care. Every public health model in the world shows that unmanaged chronic illness is significantly more costly by waiting for ppl to end up in hospital before legitimate intervention methods than just giving ppl the support they need to manage before things get bad enough to need hospital care.its cheaper, places less pressure on acute services and increases patient outcomes. The community support (not just GPs but also outpatient programs, Mental health programs, lifestyle programs and management of chronic and palliative care in the community) in the UK is trying its best, but is nowhere near what it should be for a population of its size. In my personal case, I struggled so much getting treatment on the nhs for my chronic illness that i ended up going private and have budgeted future need for the same going forward for my life. But it makes me very sad, because what about anyone who cant afford private care-they essentially have to be dying before they get help.think of the loss of quality of life, the loss of potential taxes, the social effects of only seeing healthcare as a hospital based system.invest in community care, save money and make ppls lives better.

If gp visits cost money, then the poor will transfer that workload to ER to avoid paying for it. Which will cripple hospitals and cost the NHS even more money. I thought the aim was to help the NHS?

I'd rather pay an extra £10 a month in taxes than pay £10 every time I need to see a GP. That seems more fair, because I can easily afford that, but not everyone can afford £10 for a GP visit. Make the people who can afford to pay more pay more. We already have a system for that, it's called income tax.

The *instant* a bridge is crossed, and some/certain folks have to pay £10, then that will open the door to increases - ad infinitum. And the moment something isn't freely available to *everyone* is the moment those who've long dreamed of breaking NHS can start cutting and privatizing it. That's just how it is. People dislike "those people" getting something for free that they have to pay for, and begin supporting the gutting of it for "those people". "Those people" eventually become everyone. Point is, do not open the door to charges, and do not open the door to means testing. Whatever the solution, it cannot be one that crosses the Rubicon.

I my country we pay 2.50 for a GP visit, it’s affordable but still if a large number of people are visiting it’s contributing to the system. I’ve been living in the UK for 4 years now and my head can’t still wrap around the fact that to see a GP I need to wait 2-3 weeks.. I just hope I am always healthy

how about leaving the EU, boris said that would save us alot of money that can go to the nhs

My experience of the NHS is that the doctors and technicians have been great. But they are let down by a bureaucracy that needs a rething. For example, why do I need to register at a single surgery? Back in Australia I would go to the doctors surgery that was most convenient, relevant and with the shortest waiting times. I recently waited a month for an appointment any doctor could do.

Well, in France the way healthcare is provided is a bit different, and we always had to pay for the GP, it's 25€, with most of it being refunded later on by your national insurance (sécurité sociale). In the end you only pay 2 to 5€ per visit. Prescriptions would also be refunded by either the sécu or a private "mutuelle" (which is coming on top of the sécu, private, and helps fill the gaps of your costs). I would really like if you could do a video to compare the NHS system with other European systems. Also it would be nice to sometimes add comparisons to how things work more generally in other countries, or invite foreign youtubers, because the media in the UK is very biased to a UK centric view of the world where people don't get to understand how good or bad things are in the UK compared to other places because of that historic national pride. For example, most people in Europe would say that the NHS is terrible, and doctors / dentists etc in the UK are generally pretty lame both in terms of waiting time, patient relationship, actual medical skills etc. And I heard that from almost all french people I met (including myself here), Italians, Germans, Spanish, Norwegians, etc. I would really love to see more of those genuinely objective articles / videos in the media (mainstream or not)

I fear that a long term goal of the Tory party is to transition the NHS into a US style private insurance system. It makes sense with their actions over the last decade, gut funding, stop Nursing Bursaries, impose anti-immigration policies which lead to a smaller HC worker pool. This causes the NHS to slowly suffocate under the strain of short staffing and increased health demand. This in turn turns public opinion against the NHS because services and wait times become unbearable, and Private HC picks up the slack. Tories swoop in and say that the NHS has failed and Private HC is the way forward and we suffer like America where you pay $100 for a bag of IV Saline. Any criticism of the NHS must put the blame to the Tory party. They’ve been in power for a goddamn DECADE and they’ve done nothing to improve the NHS

The last time I was ever early, Britannia had a worldwide empire. ☺️ Also, I do hope the NHS, as an important service to one of the most diplomatically and economically important countries in the world, may soon be liberated from the plight it is in right now, and that COVID-19 may blow over in all countries. Although the NHS needs to improve (obviously) I trust that at least a sizeable portion of the British people can be aware of what is truly going on, and make a change.

I'm very much against charging people to see the GP, even £10. However, I would be in favour of a system like in Finland - where it's free unless you miss your appointment (with surgeries having the power to waive the fee if they feel it's unfair to charge given the situation).

the most obvious step is to cut funding on NHS' over-bloated administrative bodies and channel these funds into actual medical care personnel and equipment

For reference: I’m lucky enough to be an American with pretty excellent insurance and I pay 15 USD per visit. I’d much prefer to give that money to the NHS rather than some company

Increased taxation on those who can pay more - and from novel sources (legalise weed) are the correct sources. No payment at the point of service: that cannot change.

In countries with fees for doctor’s visits, there tends to be a spike in demand at a&e units. Demand that increases wait times for genuine emergencies. What needs to happen instead of charging for more nhs services, they need to incentivise opting out so those who need free treatment still get it.

Many mentioned £10 charge may discourage Visiting GP but I think it would encourage people keep healthy life style! I also feel UK needs lots more health care equipment (at least X-lay CT MRI). Shortage of those making long waiting list and sometimes cause loosing life… ( finding cancer too slowly)

You should probably make a video explaining the difference between a Bismarck model and a Beveridge model. Tiny little reforms are easy paths it's a lot harder to talk about structural reform

For a country with absurd levels of financial inequality, I wish we could shake the idea that there's no way we could possibly finance the NHS without having everyone pay an equal contribution. We're still in the middle of a global crisis, but the general attitude is that we can't heavily tax the rich because 'that isn't fair'. Boo-fucking-hoo. Is it 'fair' for all the people living with debilitating pain and suffering who are stuck at the back of 3+ year waiting lists? Is it 'fair' for all the people who lost their income because of covid measures and have had to spend the savings they spent years trying to build up just to eat and stay warm? Was it 'fair' for the people who are dead because their cancer treatment was cancelled due to lack of hospital space? We need to have a serious conversation as a society about whether we want to prioritise a basic standard of living for everyone, or the ability to own multiple homes because you 'earned' it in your overpaid corporate job where you sit around doing fuck all, while healthcare workers are having mental breakdowns left right and centre from the insane stress they're put under for pennies. I don't know how wealth became so untouchable in the public eye but it absolutely disgusts me that we prioritise greed over suffering and act like there's nothing we could ever do about it.

we had those 10€ charge in Germany per quarter. They quickly removed it.

One small correction - prescriptions aren't paid for in all parts of the UK; Scotland have them for free at point of use like the rest of the NHS

Im glad somebody finally takes a look at this. You might not be experts on the NHS but if they won't say anything I'll take this

How about the following below: 1)Moving More 2)Eating Less 3)Quit Smoking 4)WearIng a Seat Belts 5)Wearing Mask indoors 6)Drinking Less Alcohol 7)Getting Enough Sleep NHS is having to deal with alot of self-induced diseases everyone should have the ultimate responsibility for their own health

i wonder how much the legalisation and taxing of cannabis would help plug the gap in the NHS. i remember seeing that Canada added a large amount to their coffers after they did it. Just a thought.

Where I live, we have to pay £55 for a doctor's visit but any referral to a specialist or hospital appointment is covered and all prescriptions are capped at £3.50 per item. Now the £55 is very high but required for the local infrastructure, a £10 charge by comparison sounds like a sensible step to raise the required funding even if just in the short term.

Ahhh my beloved US. It s pend more in healthcare than anyone in the world by far (19% of its GDP) and yet tens of millions are underinsured or don't have insurance. Great system 😐

The Tories have cut the money in real terms that is going into the NHS, at the same time brought in private firms to take over health services. Bringing in private firms to run health care services is a good idea, if they offered value for money, or a better service, but often they fail to do either, and simply view their NHS contract as a way to make money.

I think you can't go through that without first taking a look at all of the budget and see what can be eventually cut.

The problem with charges is that those under a certain age, over a certain age, those on benefits don't have to contribute to the tax income of the country and would be exempt from any healthcare charges going forward as they currently are with prescriptions. So that leaves the middle workers paying all the tax income for the country and then being penalised with GP fees as well as having more money taken away for National Insurance to aid elderly social care. So anyone who is exempt won't even notice any change whilst I pay for a GP visit and then pay for a prescription and then once I get my minimum wage pay packet, I'll give a quarter of my wages to pay for same things that I've just been charged for.

One answer to cut costs is to merge as many trusts as possible. Most hospital trusts are made up of between 1 and 4 hospital sites... That means HR, Finance, board of directors and everything in-between being repeated over and over again when in reality, one set of those people could run far more hospitals. Sure, their team sizes will need to increase, but management oversight wouldn't. An economy of scale if you will.

The first, second and third big issues with the NHS is that the tories don’t want it to be funded, don’t want it to be staffed, and don’t want it to succeed. It’s a missing opportunity for their mates to make money at the expense of our lives, and they can’t leave those on the table - they only have… thousands.

Brit living abroad here. The Japanese health system leaves a lot to be desired but the system here covers 70% of your medical expenses. This means that when you go to see a doctor the appointment alone (which sometimes can be under 10 minutes) will cost you around £8 (at the point of use)a visit, but then if you go back for the same issue only cost you about £3-4. This is fine for small ailments but if you need much more serious care, that 30% of a lot of money is still a lot of money. If we compare Britain to a country with famously long life expectancies and overall better health as a nation, I wonder if a charge for GP visits really would be a problem. Make it £6 or something that still represents an outlay for users that would discourage people without real issues while still being accessable for those who do have such issues.

I live in guernsey where we don’t have the NHS and going to the GP cost £50 per appointment, yet you can call in the morning and see the doctor before lunch on most days and we have a very healthy population as serious care (I.e if you get referred by your GP) is govt. funded. The UK can take notes, maybe £50 is too much but stopping frivolous visits to the GP is a must for an efficient NHS

With personal experience of how the NHS works behind the scenes, they need to change the way they fund it, as it can often get sucked up by those higher up the chain, 'misplaced' (seriously, it happens), or put into things that make them look good rather than directly help patients. Recruitment needs to be better, and the quality of staff needs to be improved. The problems go all the way back to education, which has changed vastly over the past 5or so decades, and not always for the better. The threshold to pass is much lower for many positions, to deal with understaffing but this created obvious issues long term. It would be ideal if more foreign workers came to work in our NHS too; countries with a better amenable mortality rate should have incentives to send us anyone we need in a mutually beneficial relationship

Why didn’t every country just copy Germany? It’s the oldest healthcare system in the world and just plain works

The NHS really needs to review what services are offered on the NHS. There are some services which I think should not be offered on the NHS if they’re not actually life saving or life improving treatments. As well as this, some treatments offered are of questionable benefit and not always a good long or even medium term solution so their cost/benefit could mean it’s not actually financially viable and could offer a way to redirect funding.

My mum's a nurse and everyday is nothing but stress for her. Everyday she has to do more roles than she is paid to do, and even gets called in on her days off because of a lack of staff. During the pandemic she was forced to work 60 hours a week 10 hour shifts due to not enough staff, she can't stand the thought of patient's not being seen so she HAS to go in. The pay from all that still wasn't enough though. She's still struggled to provide a roof over her head, not to mention provide for my little brother (i live alone). It got to the point they were so short staffed she worked 80 hours a week for an entire month. EIGHTY HOURS PER WEEK she was getting called in because they were that desperate for staff. And yes the pay still sucked. Basically the NHS is under staffed because it's underfunded. Bad funding has lead to fewer medical staff in the work place. Not enough staff means the current staff get stretched too thin, get stressed and leave, an effect that's been snowballing since the tories took power. Also, because the medical workplace is now seen as extremely stressful no one wants to work in it. Fewer people aspire to be a nurse or doctor because after the last 10 years the job looks like a piss take. Covid has only made that worse and the pay for the stress and anxiety you will receive is not worth your mental health. My mum has had enough of the bullshit and wants to change jobs. So well done tory party. Not just 1 less nurse. 1 less GOOD nurse.

Simply stop all PFI and Agency Staff, Well far from simply, but it would go a long way.

Boris sees a crisis, goes on holidays.

Totally agree with your first point about needing to speak freely on the flaws in the NHS. This ridiculous deification of the institution is completely unhelpful and a bit eerily cult-like. Criticism of the NHS should not need to be prefaced with “I love the NHS, but…”

That graph is always something to look at, that waiting list has grown under the Conservatives after it was down and kept rather low for 3-4 years. Then we saw money being kept from the NHS and oh, look at where we are now.

As an NHS worker I have the following thoughts: 1) more beds. Beds is the reason there are so many people on the waiting lists, even though I work at one of the best funded Trusts there are constant bed shortages, which is what causes surgeries to be cancelled. 2) Once there are more beds, increase incentives and schemes for people to become a doctor, a nurse, a physio, an OT etc. as generally these aren’t careers that are pushed upon you at school. 3) streamline the non-medical staff. There are a lot of jobs in the NHS that don’t need to be there. The NHS is great in terms of its administration, we need all of those administrative staff as they help the doctors and nurses with their primary jobs, and most of the admin staff work just as hard as the nurses, but Jesus lord if there aren’t some old goats who have been in pointless jobs for 40 years who refuse to do anything that’s not in their job description. We shouldn’t do a typical Tory thing and just cut staff willynilly, it should be done on an individual basis. There are some wards and areas where the admin staff are completely overworked, and there are areas where you could cut 50% of the admin jobs and they’d still be over-staffed. 4) more care in the community. The Tories had the fantastic idea of cutting community care when they came into power. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but what they failed to understand was community care stops people from ending up needing beds in hospital, by cutting community care you’re taking away a life line for the most vulnerable people in society, who will end up needing a hospital bed sooner rather than later. Community care investment is unsexy and doesn’t sound amazing on campaign posters, so this will probably never happen, and the result is more people ending up in hospital which could’ve been prevented

You forgot the 350 Million a week direct brexit bus injection :)

The problem is that the gov keep cutting funding to any hospital that isn't in a main city. I had to go to a Worcestershire hospital for a cut between the fingers and running down to the palm of the hand. The little finger was effectively separated from half of the hand. We had to wait 6 hours in a waiting room with elderly people who had far worse injury's who had to travel an hour or more on their own because their local hospital no longer has the ability to treat them! One poor old lady had her arm popped out at the shoulder and had been there for 8 hours in agony. If I recall correctly she was in her late 70s... If you value the NHS and a general quality of life for anyone struggling to keep afloat, don't vote tory. This is what you get. Burning tower flats with black mould as insulation and a huge increase in child poverty.

As someone who had a hospital appointment for late Nov and booked back in June, cancelled (not postponed) by the hospital just this morning (Oct), I guess one way of reducing waiting lists is to just wipe them clean.

How can we save the NHS? Simple: people need to stop voting Tory.

£27k is mediocre? Humm....maybe in London. It's pretty good in a lot of places though.

The NHS needs to stop using agencies for Doctors and Nurses. They end up paying 3x more on wages (if not more) which is money thrown away to agencies when they can just hire in house.

Wasn't the NHS supposed to be overwhelmed with money from Brexit?

Why do taxes go as high as 45% if we can’t even pay doctors and healthcare professions a proper wage?….

Wasn't Brexit the fix to everything ?

In Sweden we pay for visit the GP. But there is a maximum. If you go above 1500SEK, it becomes free. So you will never go bankrupt. Plus the government will cover your costs if you're poor.

There's a lot more that can be done in terms of increasing funding and efficiency before charging for GP visits. Personally, I already have to spend so much out of pocket on healthcare - hotels because I moved before getting to the end of a 6+ month waiting list and was faced with a year's wait before I could be referred to a hospital in my area. I already have to pay fully privately for dental care, I pay for prescriptions and now I am due for a national insurance rise. I've probably spent about £1200-1500 out of pocket on healthcare in the past year. Payment for GP visits would be the absolute middle finger cherry on top of that...

I believe that we should have a drunken yob fee and charge those who use up AE time for drinking too much.

Despite Brits' continual avowal of love for the NHS, Britain has voted for tax cuts over funding for social care for the last decade, so blame the politicians all you like but basically you get the government, and the NHS you deserve.

You're correct, the NHS does a hell of a lot of good, but has major issues with waiting times and understaffing Now we can argue about what or who is the main issue here, however the main problem as you say, is that it's very difficult to actually level any kind of criticism without people on either side complaining at you for doing so We have all had issues with it, my own grandmother was sent home from hospital at the start of covid with a severe condition in her leg, leaving her almost unable to walk unassisted and in great pain with only week's supply of painkillers and no guarantee of any more, which she only got more after 3 weeks and had issues attaining regular supplies over the last year That being said, we love the NHS, and a part of loving something is addressing its faults Ultimately we're best off with it, and all have a vested interest in making sure it does the best job it can

Norway have you pay fees, up to £ 150, then you get all four free, including medications. We don't have public dental and eyeexams though.

I never understood why there isn't a Nationalised Pharmaceutical Company. The NHS is funded by the tax payer but they give large sums of that money to the shareholders of drug companies. Obviously it'd be difficult for them to make drugs that are parented but surely they could easily make most other drugs then give it to the NHS.

Is it worth saving in its current form ? There is a reason no one else worldwide follows the model of the NHS.

I know another contributing reason behind NHS issues which is often not discussed - NHS Trusts being forced to go to private for-profit companies for basic things they should really have the money/funding to do themselves. The NHS can't afford to pay the companies properly (as the government doesn't fund them properly), so profit by these companies has to be made another way....by not having enough staff, lack of training, not adhering to basic safety due to no time and outdated tech and software. All these things have a direct impact on patients and can often endanger lives. People just often don't know this is going on because its hidden underneath so much legal stuff and layers of bullsh*t. People sometimes die because of system issues/broken tech etc. And its for these reasons. Its not the NHS's fault much of the time. They are just trapped between a lack of funds and greedy companies that need a profit somehow.

So now . I'm talking very specific about the Leeds hospital . Not only I waited 12 h to see a doctor with my son who had a seizure but also there have been at least 3 wards shut with a lots of empty beds . At least u finally have said what most hard working people think or always wanted to say . Thanks again for this great video

"Is it unfair to charge for GP visits". Me an American that hasn't been to a hospital in 10 years do to the fact if I go ill be charged more than a month's pay. Or if I call an Ambulance I'll be charged anywhere from 500$-5000$

I feel like it should be like prescriptions where most people pay a small amount but you can still get support if you're unemployed.

I think a middle ground would be making patients pay for wastage .so any waste of medicine , not showing to appointment etc should be penalised somehow .As drugs and appliances can be very expensive and lots people over order and doctors could get more patients helped if people turned up to their appointments

elect government that actually wants to improve nhs instead of to destroy it

Stopping them from creating redundant jobs and diversity programs would probably save a huge amount of money. The NHS was also never designed to offer complex services, only basic ones such as broken bones, infections, cuts and basic injuries. It certainly wasn't designed to pay for things like highly experimental and expensive treatments, which it now does.

I think the 2020 pandemic has taught a lot of people the importance of multiple streams of income,unfortunately having a job doesn't mean security...no rich man or woman made it through salary,investing now will be wise

I have a bowel obstruction that brought me by ambulance 3 times to A&E, 48 hours in hospital and seeing 3 consultant gastroenterologists they still dont know what it is, on the third occasion I was administered strong pain relief and upon seeing the consultant he asked he where the pain was, but the pain had gone with the strong pain killers.., its ridiculous.

There is a difference between the national health and the NHS. The NHS is just one contributory factor to the national health. Life expectancy has apparently increased more through improved sanitation than improved medicine, so the sewerage system and bin men are integral to our national health, but are not part of the NHS. Likewise the care system, hygiene lessons for children, preventative medicine, food safety standards, health and safety legislation, homicide rates, housing conditions and possibly even some forms of "alternative medicine" are contributory to the national health. And I haven't even mentioned private medicine! We need to stop fetishizing the NHS at the expense of other contributors to our national health.

Because of the economic crisis and the rate of unemployment, now is the best time to invest and make money 💯

If the USA spend this much more on healthcare than countries where healthcare works, that makes me doubt the value of healthcare spending as a measure of healthcare quality.

NHS doctor here. I don’t know what the answer is for the overall situation is but on a personal situation I’m Working down my notice and will be taking six months off before it kills me. I fear that I’m not alone.

I don't know nor don't remember all the statistics as there is a lot of them nowadays but, the best way I can think of to make the NHS a richer public health organisation is, there needs to be more healthy & health warning advertisements needs to be made from the additional charities as well (Not just the NHS & their third parties) & encourage a lot of people to make donations so that way; this helps to prevent high taxation, £10 GP admission fee, more hospital deaths, uncured injuries, long waiting lists, forced payments, limited payment to NHS staff which means that; there be more NHS staff especially, doctors, more hospital beds, more ways to cure, more tools & equipment to scan, diagnose & cure, a more specialised NHS, low tax, inexpensive medicine, short waiting list, less deaths, less illness & less injuries which would make NHS more richer & more prepared. I think all we need mainly most or all of us Brits need to make continuous donations Nationwide in our will a bit like the Water Aid adverts which would encourage us to fund £5/10 for example. Maybe, a bit of celebrity endorsement helps encourage most people to make good health donations since today is a Liberal democracy. Being sceptical at the NHS is one thing but doing something about this is another thing but I just think that whoever is UK's prime minister needs to think this way to make the NHS more richer, specialised & organised. This is my honest opinion & I know what I'm saying is long but what do u guys think?

despite the economic crisis i still think this is a right time to start up an investment

If it was do with money, why has Italy had less deaths with a third of the funding... The NHS is badly run not underfunded

Not sure about a charge for visiting the GP. Although I think a fixed penalty notice should be given to those miss multiple appointments. The amount of patients that do not attend appointments is an inefficiency and expense that could either raise money or see better use of finite resources available.

I was going to say "Why not just charge GP visits the same way as prescriptions are charged?" but as stated in video the people that visit the GP the most are those with the least money.