I have long been a fan of the National Health Service (NHS), especially as so many members of my extended family have worked or are still working in it. My mother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, two of my sisters, sister-in-law and three nieces have all treaded or continue to tread the wards of the NHS.
My early years experiencing the health service were good and straightforward. When required, one picked up the landline telephone, spoke to a receptionist at any time of the day and made an appointment with either the doctor or dentist, at a time that suited. However, and sadly, my experience recently has left me thinking that it is time for a different approach to the way we treat the health of the nation.
I am a 60-year-old man with a health problem common in men over 50, prostate enlargement. In the U.K. one in three men suffer from enlarged prostates, whilst one in six are diagnosed with prostate cancer. My route to my operation started routinely. I recognised the problem, managed to call my local GP surgery and made an appointment with a doctor and a nurse for a full medical. As a result I had to have a scan on my bladder, and this also happened in a timely manner.
However, my experiences of the NHS took a dive once I received a phone call from my doctor, one Friday evening requesting that I urgently attend the Accident and Emergency department to have my bladder drained of urine, as the amount that I was holding and unable to release was starting to impact on my left kidney. I arrived in the A&E department at 8:30pm; the unit was packed. Where have all these people come from and what were they doing here? Eventually, I was seen, catheter fitted, and taken up to a ward at 3am. I was informed later that a wait of six hours in A&E was “a short one”. The following afternoon I was discharged, having been told by the consultant that my left kidney was fine, there was no sign of cancer in my prostate, but I would require an “urgent” operation to reduce the size of my prostate.
An urgent prostate operation on the NHS, I was initially informed, is 24 weeks, so I braced myself for the wait. I absolutely hated wearing the catheter, it prevented me from doing so much, and the thought of having it attached to my leg for the next six months wore me down mentally. I waited six weeks before I called the Urology Department, just to make sure that I was on the waiting list. The receptionist confirmed that I was, but my wait was now 58 weeks, some 64 weeks after my initial visit to hospital, and 40 weeks longer than I was initially informed. Remember, I was told that my case was “urgent”. I was informed that if I wanted to challenge the length of time that I had to wait for my operation, I had to contact my GP.
The following morning I called at 8am – you now can only call first thing in the morning if you want an appointment to see a doctor. I waited 40 minutes on my mobile, only to eventually get through to be told that there were no appointments available and I had to call back the following morning, which I did, with the exact same outcome.
This is the point that I decided to go against my principles and have my operation privately. My operation took place mid-February 2024, some 12 weeks after my November visit to A&E. The period between November and February dealing with the NHS was mixed. As mentioned, I failed to get through to the GP’s surgery. I had to call 111 on a couple of occasions. One time, after eventually getting through, my GP practice in Eastbourne was not listed on the NHS computer, so we spent several minutes going around the houses as I explained that the GP practice that was listed had closed several years ago and I had been transferred to a new one. I also had a second visit to A&E at the request of the 111 service. It turned out that I had a bout of pneumonia, diagnosed after another six hours wait. The community nursing team was brilliant, arriving at my home when that said that would.
The surgeon who carried out my operation was the same man who would have done it on the NHS. What was it Aneurin Bevan said in 1948, “I stuffed their mouths with gold”, referring to doctors and consultants being able to continue with their private practices if they accepted NHS patients.
During my time of recovery I spent a bit of time researching various aspects of the NHS and not a lot of this research filled my heart with joy. In England we spend £181.7 billion on the NHS annually. Twenty-five million working days are lost each year due to staff sickness. £136 million is spent on giving away medicines that can be purchased over the counter at any pharmacy or supermarket. 7.7 million people are waiting for an operation. 19% of NHS staff come from abroad, whilst 5,000 doctors left the NHS in 2022 to work in different parts of the world.
So much has changed since the National Health Service started way back in 1948. We can now expect to live, on average, 13 years longer, the population has grown by 17 million people and the diseases that our forefathers once died of are now treatable.
Taking everything into consideration – my own experiences, those of my family and friends who currently work int the NHS, the publicly available facts and figures – I feel that it is time a massive overhaul of the way we care for the U.K.’s population. I predict that the main political parties will be falling over themselves during the upcoming general election to ‘Save the NHS’ or ‘Invest in the NHS’, but none will promote the idea of a different approach like the social insurance models that work so well in other countries or consider the idea of privatisation.
I am no expert in medical matters, but what I do know is that £180 billion that is currently being spent is not delivering a service that is fit for purpose for the 21st century.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Amazing that the Parties who are so wedded to the EU do not want us to have the actual EU benefits of a functioning social insurance based health service or State owned & run rental accommodation with long term tenancies.
They could of course save millions by moving the NHS to a no fault compensation scheme, the second biggest cost after the staff , but that would upset the lawyers.
But what about short-term tenancies for people who only want to live somewhere for a month or two? For example, for construction workers? Maybe state run rental as a last resort option – but I don’t think ‘the state’ should get any bigger or more involved in the minutiae of its subjects’ lives.
Talking of which, just what we need, a state appointed regulator for football. Kinell.
See: history of USSR.
How could a state run anything be better run, let alone rental accommodation?
We have had so many good examples of state run enterprises: British Coal, British Steel, British Rail, British Leyland, the NHS, and the BBC. Wasn’t it £12 billion for the NHS IT programme that produced, not much at all.
In addition, we also have government controlled corporations in the Motor and Energy Industries, because of the NET Zero policies, whose performance has shown just how well they can produce quality products at affordable prices.
Yes, bureaucracy is the name of the game.
Here’s an example of State run efficiency:
The Civil Service is making it impossible to stop the boats
It beggars belief that efforts to house illegal migrants in camps are proving more expensive than the hotels
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/20/the-civil-service-is-making-it-impossible-to-stop-the-boats
Any (competent) hotel manager will know that providing for a large group is less costly than for the same number of individuals, but the Civil Service is spending other people’s money, so ‘it’s OK’.
And this sort of inefficiency is endemic, not only in the NHS, QUANGOs, and other state run organisation but throughout the corporate world. Just look for any organisation with DEI officers, Climate Change Management, Gender Advisors, and any none-customer-facing expense (and any supporting ‘management structure’ and be amazed!
I had two knee conditions (arthritis and torn meniscus) simultaneously but the NHS failed to diagnose one and insisted on treating the other, although I was told by the physio that it might be a ligament problem, and prescribed exercises.
After 18 months I opted to consult privately. The arthritis deterioration was confirmed (the original NHS verdict was that the knee joint was clear of arthritic symptoms) and the torm meniscus was confirmed but its cause was a displaced dead bone fragment from a knee accident in my youth, again clear from the X-ray.
The consultant said that the arthritis wasn’t considered urgent and recommended a wait of 6 months to a year before corrective surgery, which I was considering paying for myself.
Given his recommendation to delay I decided if I was waiting I would get on a NHS list and only go private if it got painful. He agreed with that approach and said he would write, wearing his private hat, to himself wearing his NHS hat to get me on his NHS list.
If this is a joined up health service then ik ben een nederlander.
I think you misunderstood urgent here: It means the NHS was urging you to make an appointment for a surgical procedure which befits men of your age it would then eventually perform after months of profitable (for the people doing it) paper pushing and lamenting that the NHS budget must be increased because the waiting lists managed by the NHS always magically keep getting longer.
To the Notional Health Service, you’re one of the cash cows financing its “societal change” political programmes.
The problem is easily identifiable. A root and branch clearout of the management structure. All DIE posts and wokery binned. Reintroduce Matrons with real responsibility to run the wards. Nurse should primarily be ‘carers’, not necessarily graduates. Cease ‘free at the point of treatment.’ Introduce an insurance scheme to run in parallel to the basic NHS provision. Stop health tourism entirely. Good grief, I understand the French have a perfectly workable system, as do many others in Europe. If they can sort it out, why can’t we? We need to stop treating the NHS as a religion and run it like a business leavened with compassion.
“The problem is easily identifiable”
Indeed: it’s a State run, non-contestable monopoly, to serve political aims, that is a cost centre, generates no revenue, has no incentive to be efficient or increase labour productivity – in fact since staff reward is grade and length of service not merit of industry, since it cannot go bankrupt, it has a perverse incentive to do the opposite.
So no price system or competition to test consumer preferences and perception of the value of output, and to see whether value of input is greater or less than value of output.
Getting a new jockey and grooms for Daisy the cow, mucking out the stable, won’t ensure she’ll win the Grand National.
You can’t have a Mercedes and will just have to make do with a second hand Polo. —–Notice when they get it wrong they never apologise for fear of litigation. I have been waiting for an X ray for 3 weeks. When I called the surgery to double check if they had actually referred me for one the receptionist looked at her computer and said “Oh yes you have been referred, you will just have to wait”—-So I waited. A week later the phone rang and the receptionist said “Just to let you know that you were not referred 3 weeks ago, you were referred yesterday, and you will get an appointment soon” In other words they FORGOT.——In any other walk of life or business they would surely just admit they made a mistake and say sorry. ——No apology was forthcoming. In any other business where people had choice they would not get away with holding customers in utter contempt like this.
Then it makes sense to flog off Daisy and buy a thoroughbred. I’m advocating ‘horses for courses.’ Identifying the problem is the easy bit. Finding an acceptable, if unpalatable solution, not so, Therein lies the crux of the matter.
Steve Wallis said, “I feel that it is time a massive overhaul of the way we care for the U.K.’s population.” Yes, but that ignores The Elephant in the Room.
The National Health Service paid for by British citizens was doomed from the moment it was forced to give free medical treatment to the entire world.
The Notional Health Service is paid for by everyone who’s legally resident in Britain, ie, subject to general taxation here. British expats don’t pay for it. But people living in Britain who are foreign national do. Picking nits perhaps, but I think that’s an important one.
And illegals and tourists?
I don’t quite understand why you bring this up here. The NHS is supposed recover to cost of treating tourists by billing their home insurance system for this although it reportedly only does this very incompletely. Treating illegal immigrants or, for that matter. anyone else who’s jobless, is obviously just a cost.
Exactly.
UK NHS entitlements Primary care
Secondary care
Maternity care Maternity care is free for refugees and asylum seekers. For groups that may be chargeable, maternity services are always immediately necessary.
Refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants may be able to access free vitamins (folic acid, vitamins C and D) through the Healthy Start Scheme.
Maternity prescription exemption forms should be provided.
Help with prescription charges, dental, and optical care People with low income, including refugees, asylum seekers, refused asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants, can apply to the NHS low income scheme for help with medical costs, including prescription charges, dental treatment, and sight tests. Individuals must fill in an HC1 form and will receive an HC2 certificate if eligible. A maternity exemption form entitles pregnant patients to free dental treatment. Further details are available in the ‘Patient resources’ box, below.
I see they managed to squeeze in the
’testing and treatment of covid-19’ aka rebranded colds and flu, under NHS services that are ‘free’ regardless of immigration status.
The tool C-19, one of the biggest transference of wealth schemes and scams in the history of mankind, aided and abetted by the so-called national treasure – the NHS.
Good research. ——Socialists always defend the NHS, but there must be better and more efficient ways to do things. I believe in Germany they do it differently. The Germans are enrolled in non profit Insurance schemes. Many statistics eg beds or nurses or doctors per patient is higher in Germany and waiting times are less etc etc………I would be interested to learn if the German health care system caters for the whole world like we do. I have read that the UK is more generous to refugees that the Germans are.
£65,962,418
was spent by the NHS on translators and interpreters for 120 languages in 2019-2020
Yet thank God they now have a £3m a year NHS ‘green team’ set to introduce electric ambulances.. Let’s tally up the dead at the end of the year shall we?
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/03/15/patients-will-die-thanks-to-the-nhs-net-zero-drive/
I suppose it can be viewed as a cost effective measure – the patients can be incinerated on the way to hospital or the treatment centres.
Politicians are cowards they are not going to do anything with the NHS especially as it employs 10 percent of the working population, they need their votes, its just the same as they won’t speak out against the take over of scoiety by intimidation of extreme Islamists, The Muslim community won’t stop it and the Government would rather bend to it out of fear than face it.
So we are ruled by inept cowards who like the power, like the fame, like the money but who chase popularity over morality, and who have zero ideals or principles.
Whoever wins the next election will just tax us more to pour more money into the ever hungry monster that is the NHS.
If reform party are successful, they plan to
save the NHS by:
“Under our policy, all frontline NHS & Social Care staff will pay zero basic rate tax for 3 years.”
https://twitter.com/reformparty_uk/status/1761677615989932206
Who, then, will cover the cash shortfall in the ever increasing ‘legalised’ government robbery of citizens money?
Anyone a ‘long a fan of the NHS’ hasn’t been paying attention.
It was, is and always will be a poke of sihte.
The NHS is a soviet-era nationalized industry. It has never worked well and will never work well because its design principles – care provided by the state, funded by taxation, free to the consumer – are flawed. Essentially, there are no incentives for staff to be productive or to provide good customer care and no incentives for consumers to moderate their demand. Politicians and bureaucrats use the NHS as a vehicle to advance their favoured political causes which are increasingly tangential to healthcare. Anybody who believes the NHS can be made satisfactory by further reform or by increased funding is delusional. Fans of the NHS deserve the continuing disappointment which will come their way.
I won’t say anything against it because I know it is a secular religion in this country and I admire the Brits for believing in it but I do not agree that it is the envy of the world. The level of service in other European countries in terms of healthcare has for me been better than in Britain. Might be better than the American system though. I visited some wealthy relatives and had to accompany an aunt on her appointments and their facilities looked even more run down than ours even at institutions like Bethesda Hospital. I got the impression that their system has been infected by the same parasite as ours. You could see and feel the hollowing out just like you can with every aspect of our lives.
Welcome to the real world! What kept you?
My 89 year old neighbour has been on the usual prostate medication for 22 years (unreviewed). Eventually it was decided he should have a TURPS procedure. The first date was cancelled on the day (no beds available), the second and third dates couldn’t proceed because of urine infection. The fourth date went ahead satisfactorily. In each case he also had to attend the hospital (12 miles away) for a pre-op assessment. All this took over a year, during which period he was getting up five or six times every night (with a bad back to boot). Lovely.
The NHS are still pushing Low Fat Diets, while many doctors have realised that, for many, especially the not so young, not so active in physical intensive sport, it’s the Carbohydrates that need to be kept in check. (This is educational advice, not medical advice: though I haven’t seen similar warnings by Climate Acivists when suggesting a ‘plant based diet’. )
It appears that the NHS is so monolithic it still propagating poor dietary advice, creating a greater workload and larger pharmaceutical bill for itself and taxpayers.
And now we hear that it has released patient statistics on excess deaths to the pharmaceutical companies, yet won’t release it to be analysed for the public to have some understanding as to why it is happening.
My most recent experience, for something non-medically urgent but still impacting my life and wellbeing hugely, included a 4-week wait just to get a phonecall with a GP to discuss medication, a 2-week wait for a GP blood test (I understand this is standard now – when I last visited many years ago you could have it done at the local hospital on the same day), an hour on hold to even get through to reception to book said blood test, and a further 3 weeks before I could discuss the results with the GP – by phone of course – during which the GP called me by the wrong name.
All these excuses about growing populations, an increase in treatable diseases etc – yes of course this will be having an effect, but we all know that things have been exponentially worse since Covid, or rather since the lockdowns, for no real understandable reason, especially in terms of GP access.
Urgent these days just means weeks or months wait rather than years.
Why do consultants get paid for consultations which only involve reading PSA lab tests ? I can do that.So can my GP, the practice nurse and the postman.
Why are lab tests result not in Hospital records ?
Why do blood tests ordered by GP not get in to hospital records.?
How can consultants consult when fed with rubbish data ?
Can I get consultancy fee for stating the obvious ?