At The Time Of The Year When Our Nhs Staff Are Stretched To Capacity, Can We Afford To Send This Amount Of Nhs Staff Out To Bangladesh?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42500514

Surely there are enough medics in the sub continent of India to take care of the situation?

The Government said:

"The deployment was another proud moment for the NHS".

Does that make up for all those patients in the UK waiting in corridors to be attended to?

[murraymints]

there lies a greater need at the moment..the news reports and film has been heart wrenching...

[maggiebee]

As MM says, there lies the greatest need. What's a couple of hours in a corridor compared to what we have witnessed via the TV.

[Sqad]

What a good point AOG, there are plenty of "Asian" doctors and nurses working in the NHS, why don't they go back to their country where they are needed?
Answer is simple....the pay is better in the UK than in their home country and if they went home, the NHS would collapse.

During interviews I always asked potential Asian candidates why they were applying for a job in the NHS when they were needed badly back in their country of origin. I was asked by "administration" not to ask that particular question to prospective aspirants.

[Zacs-Master]

They’re a specialist volunteer emergency medical / firefighting team put together for exactly such situations. The answer is, yes, we can afford to.

[Islay]

Yes their need is greater at the moment - I also believe it is voluntary!

[anneasquith]

I do know lots of NHS workers who travel abroad to assist in emergencies using their own holiday time .

[Old_Geezer]

I see your point, but, I'd hope the the UK could cope easily with just 40 doctors temporarily absent. Otherwise all doctor leave would have been put on hold ages ago.

[NoMercy]

Sometimes the wait in corridors is due to lack of beds and not staff.

[anotheoldgit]

Yes their need may be more than ours, but the point I am trying to make is the fact that they must have many doctors and nurses etc still in India (they haven't all come over here Sqad) and why is it, it is the UK who has to step in the breach all the time, apart from India, what about France, Germany or the rest of the World for that matter?

[anneasquith]

I may be wrong aog, but I do believe other countries also go to areas of great medical emergencies ?

[Zacs-Master]

This is another of your self contradictory posts, AOG. You’re always chirruping about having something to be proud of in Britain but when we’re in a position to do something which shows the world we’re leaders in our field, all you can do is criticise.

Britain is one of six countries able to offer rapid response at global quality standards. The others are Russia, China, Japan, Australia and Israel. I’m not sure whether any of them have been deployed. Maybe you could do some research?

[murraymints]

when interviewed one of our volunteers said it needs specialist care. not the type general nurses or doctors can provide... a question of humanity really....I am sure other nations are joining in too to offer help where they can..

[EDDIE51]

^ And a major cause of lack of beds is 'Bed blocking' by elderly patients who really ought to be sent home but can not be due to lack of suitable home care facilities. Local authorities used to provide such care but their budgets have been slashed. They can no longer afford it, so their answer is to refuse to provide home care packages and force patients to stay in Hospital where their care is funded by the NHS not by the local authority.
As I have said on here several times, my brother is the senior housing finance manager for a large South London council. He has told me several times that this is true.

[EDDIE51]

^ that was to No mercy's comment about lack of hospital beds.

[Peter Pedant]

// What a good point AOG,//

and it was all started by Enoch Powell as health minister in 1962 who wisehd to run the NHS with immigrant doctors whilst the NHS trained doctors went off and ran the american health service
( sorry sqad - another unintelligble academic point )

actually the charity workers are doing it in their time off
(sqad - "well give them less time off!" - I didnt have time to screw the nurses, drink, wash or go to the bog etc etc)

and as sqad well knows from his overworked underpaid time in the NHS, if a pillar of the team ( er sqad that is!) is absent - his elders and betters would find someone else to do it !

why arent their any muslim / islamic teams going out there ?
( at the time the Brahmaputra wiped out 50 000 people - (hey that is a river in the indian subcontintent, everyone!) I asked a Mr Khan that very thing and he replied
" Oh there are . we just dont do the blah-de-blah look everyone we are going on a charity jaunt." we just get on with it

[ sorry sqad another totally unibtelligible point about charity, saying look at me everyone! and just getting on with it)

[Old_Geezer]

"Surely there are enough medics in the sub continent of India to take care of the situation?"

I assume not. At least not enough with the required skills.

[ichkeria]

"Britain is one of six countries able to offer rapid response at global quality standards. The others are Russia, China, Japan, Australia and Israel."

I think if I was Russian I would actually be asking AOG's question.
Russia ranks in the bottom 3rd of healthcare provision globally.
Of course as pointed out, these are specialist WHO-certificated teams, and their purpose is expressly to go whwre there is great need.

As an aside the Bangladeshi government asked the Russians for assistance (not necessarily medical) in September and were given the brush-off, a foreign ministry spokesman claiming (perhaps with a straight face)
“We must consider that foreign intervention on an internal matter of a sovereign country could threaten communal harmony there.”
Don't choke on your cornflakes :-)

Anyway, I think it is good we have sent aid.

[sp1814]

AOG

You asked:

//Surely there are enough medics in the sub continent of India to take care of the situation?//

No, it appears that there are not, and specialist skills are required. This is why the international group has been put together.

It's a bit like Doctors Without Borders, another fantastic organisation - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

[Sqad]

Peter Pedant

"and it was all started by Enoch Powell as health minister in 1962 who wisehd to run the NHS with immigrant doctors whilst the NHS trained doctors went off and ran the american health service
( sorry sqad - another unintelligble academic point ) "

Not the whole story PP.
British trained doctors always got the good jobs and the non-Brits (Asians) got the crap jobs that no "white " Dr would take and as for Consultants posts....no chance for the non Brits except Psychiatry that nobody wanted. Racial discrimination was rife in the Medical world in the 50's, 60's and 70's and still is to a much less extent.

"I didnt have time to screw the nurses, drink, wash or go to the bog etc etc) "

Wrong, although we worked in excess of 100 hours a week, we still found time to drink, sh.ag nurses AND still go to the bog.
It is called ..."organisation."

"and as sqad well knows from his overworked underpaid time in the NHS, if a pillar of the team ( er sqad that is!) is absent - his elders and betters would find someone else to do it ! "

Wrong again.....it is almost impossible to lose your job in the NHS thanks to the strong Union support (BMA).....whatever your circumstances, you would still be paid.

Charity? the facts are that if you are working in a front line outfit in the NHS, one has commitments which cannot just be dropped to go off to outer Mongolia to a Diphtheria outbreak.

[-Talbot-]

Maybe this is more like how our foreign aid budget should be spent.
Have a permanent team ready to fly out where help is needed.
Much better than funding Ethiopian spice girls and lining the pockets of dictators.