Skip to main content


So, the theory being put forward by #ReformUK is a 20% tax relief on all private healthcare and insurance. The inference being that if more people take up private healthcare, there will be less demand on the #nhs. Sounds logical, right? The only problem is that we all know what will happen. If demand falls, so will the funding. Another "innovative?" idea is: "𝘊𝘢𝘡 𝘸𝘒π˜ͺ𝘡π˜ͺ𝘯𝘨 𝘭π˜ͺ𝘴𝘡𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘴π˜ͺ𝘯𝘨 π˜œπ˜’ & 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘒𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷π˜ͺπ˜₯𝘦𝘳𝘴." so basically shipping our sick and injured to another country. #politics

dick_turpin reshared this.

in reply to dick_turpin

I guess it's an improvement over the current situation where the NHS outsources operations to the private sector to improve waiting-time figures. If there's capacity in the private sector then it makes sense to use it but funding will always be a contentious issue.
in reply to dick_turpin

In 2019, the Conservatives promised 40 new hospitals by 2030. So far, two have been completed, and five are still under construction. There are currently 124,000 job vacancies in the #nhs. The problem isn't money; our national health system is failing because it lacks the capacity to cater to an exploding population and because nobody wants to work in healthcare.

It takes a special kind of dedication to want to nurse sick and injured people, so while yes, healthcare workers should be paid a decent wage, offering huge salaries doesn't necessarily mean the vacancies will be filled overnight.

#nhs
in reply to dick_turpin

My theory is the problem is coffee shops combined with the minimum wage; why spend your day dealing with puke and puss when you can serve coffee?
The answer is to roboticise the coffee shops!
in reply to penguin42

When my daughter went to university on a Bursary, there were 300 students on her course. Keep in mind that the universities retain that Β£14K+ regardless of whether you complete it or not. This is why the government did away with Bursaries for a short while. Anyway, back to my point. So 300 started with her, and after the first 'hands-on' with bleeding, puking, and pissing patients, over half dropped out. You'll never guess how many actually completed their diploma. THREE! Out of 300, only three finished; the rest walked away when they realised what a stomach-wrenching job it is.
in reply to dick_turpin

Why not charge extra tax on private care and give it to the NHS? Reform is funded by a few rich people to try and benefit themselves.
It seems Tory promises are pretty worthless. I suspect there are various issues with running the NHS, but driving people to private care is not the answer, unless you are earning from that.
in reply to Steve

Because as it says in the ReformUK manifesto, taxing private healthcare would make that option more expensive, thus encouraging those who could afford private healthcare to use the NHS, which is exactly the problem that needs solving. You need to get away from this fixation that the NHS needs more money; it doesn't, or at least not in the way you mean. What it needs are fewer users and more capacity.
in reply to dick_turpin

But they were promised the millions we would save from Brexit! The bus wouldn't lie to us!
I know it's not just a money problem.At least they ought to get less smokers with trashed lungs eventually. I'm amazed Sunak was allowed to do that by the tobacco lobby.
Please don't promote Reform as serious politics. They don't care about the country.
in reply to Steve

If you'd bothered to read what I wrote properly rather than thinking, "AHA! Another thing I can kick Cannon's bollocks for." you would see that I was, in fact, deriding that policy. The only bit I agree with is tax relief on private health care. Seems like a sensible idea to me. Taxing private healthcare is a typical Labour reaction: "Oh, we're not having anyone getting better healthcare even if they have paid for it!" that's the same mentality they have towards education. "We do not want grammar schools whereby some children have a better advantage than others; we want everyone to be equally thick!"

As I said, if we manage to reduce demand on the NHS, then Labour, especially, would probably look to cut NHS spending to help give the Train drivers a Porsche each.

I have no intention of "Promoting" Reform UK. They're too far right for me, but they do have one or two ideas in the manifesto that warrant consideration.

in reply to dick_turpin

Count Binface seems to have more sensible policies than that shower.
I'm really not out to always put you down.If one issue is with getting people to work in that industry then how does making it private help? Some people just can't afford to go private, so make the public services better.
And I'm still not a Labour guy, but I can vote tactically.
in reply to dick_turpin

If you can afford private, you should, but the effect on NHS demand would be unnoticeable. We'd be talking about four, maybe five thousand people in terms of reduction. We're talking about ten to twenty thousand increases every year for the NHS.

I want to see a third option. We need to speed up those 40 hospitals we were promised. If I had my way, I would build NHS hotels and ship out recovering patients to them or at least those who have no immediate threat to life. Where we (in your view, the government) went wrong was to close all those nightingale hospitals. They should have said to the likes of the NEC, "Bollocks! You're not having it back until we are good and ready." They were all kitted out and ready, perfect for what I envisaged and yet we threw away Β£66M and the opportunity to not treat patients in corridors.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHS_Nigh…

⇧