Is The Nhs Failing Us?

[pdq1]

Thinking outside the box what if the NHS health budget every year was distributed to all its citizens so they could decide where and what they decided which private treatment they wanted to take up.

Obviously the healthy people could build up a pot for future use and the unhealthy can get immediate treatment. The money could only be used for health problems.

Is this a step too far?

[humbersloop]

I'm aware of that squad, though I always thought the BMA was, in all but name, a union actually.

[lcg]

yes...and i work for the nhs! as they keep privatising things, they get worse....my trust has just demolished and rearranged services. my hubby has serious mental health issues and they stopped his psychotherapy (as they do not offer it under any circumstances) and instead of seeing his mental health nurse for an hour a fortnight, he now gets 10 minutes each month....useless for monitoring his state of mind. at least his shrink gave us his work mobile, so if the merde hits the ventilateur i have someone to ask for help. i no longer have a nurse to see and am left to fend for myself (they used to do joint visits with no problem). i know of community mental health workers who have caseloads of 50+ patients (up by over 25%) which will be fine until someone kills themselves or hurts someone else, and then it will be their fault, of course.

[Sqad]

humber....LOL.......it is...BUT for the Gp's.

The BMA has little time for Consultants, particularly those in private practice.

[humbersloop]

..and when GPs, via Clinical Commissioning Groups, get their dabs on the money come April, I genuinely believe anyone who thinks it's bad now may be in for a nasty surprise

[Sqad]

humber.........exactly..........

[pdq1]

If the NHS is already creeping towards privatisation as mentioned a few times above it seems better to me for the patients to have a far greater say in the process. We know the Tory party ideallogically would like all patients to go private. To do this we would be expected to take out our own medical insurance whilst the profits would go to the medical companies. The Tories wouldn't be happy unless NHS funding is removed from the balance sheet.

Thats why I suggest the money that currently goes into the NHS goes to the patient not medical companies or insurance consultants. The NHS belongs to us not the government or anybody else...we have paid for it.

The Tories always believe in choice. Well give us the money and let us choose!

[boxtops]

..but the money's not going to medical insurance or commercial companies. The GPs are getting some (not all ) of the funding so that they can commission services for their local patients - the CCGs are relatively small areas, and each of them are forming patient consultative groups where the patients will have a say about the services which the CCGs are going to be commissioning on their behalf.

There are certain services which WILL still be commissioned centrally, not at local level, such as cancer services - and the core services of GP practices will be commissioned centrally, since the CCGs can't commission themselves to deliver GP practice services. It must be said that the great majority of GPs won't hold this money personally - it's in their commissioning groups, the CCGs will hold the contracts with the hospitals etc. (as the PCTs do at the moment).

If there doesn't turn out to be a lot of patient and public involvement in your geographical area, then there should be - our patient groups are advertising now for members.

I take the point that "we have paid for the NHS" but we can't directly organise the nurse or doctor training for the services which individual patients would be asking for, there has to be central forecasting of likely demand for the services to work at all in the future.