A new record wait for an ambulance?

[tiddles]

Yesterday a lady had a nasty fall at the crossing outside marks and Spencer’s at around 5.45. She was laying on the pavement by Megan’s.

. At 8.15 when I popped to the shops she was still there. We had a brief chat - she had a dislocated hip and was in extreme pain. I called 999 and was trying told she was in the queue. Luckily there was an off duty paramedic passing by who was trying to assist and make her more comfortable.

It really brought home to me how our NHS has been brought to its knees by the government.( It was likely that when she finally got to hospital there would be a 4-5 hour wait. )

You might not be aware but at kings A and E, part of it is now run by a private medical company. The large room empty of staff or facilities where you are directed after triage is not run by the nhs (a friend recently waited 7 hours for a head injury complained about the quality of care and was told it was a private company so the nhs was not responsible)

I know it’s been a really tricky number of years but this to me suggests we need massive investment in public services - the endless touting of tax cuts by the leadership contestants fill me with utter dread.

Sorry a bit of a rambling rant but I just feel disheartened with the powers that be.

[first mate]

Thank you for alerting us to this.

The news about Kings a&e is especially worrying. I do not understand how the NHS Trust would not be ultimately responsible and liable for every aspect of care, even if contracted out to a private company. Though pretty stunned that part of a&e would now be in private hands.

If this is all accurate, can anyone working for the Trust, or in the know, tell us more?

[legalalien]

It’s this I think

https://www.laingbuissonnews.com/healthcare-markets-content/news-healthcare-markets-content/totally-plc-secures-urgent-treatment-centre-contract/

Walk in urgent care centre for minor injuries, presumably designed to take pressure off A and E. Will see if I can find more details.

[Monkey]

Poor lady. I hope she’s safe and well and being looked after properly.

It’s an awfully and unreasonably long time to wait and I wonder what would happen it had been raining or super hot like last week or cold…

Worrying times.

[Sue]

Well, how long have the Tories been in power?

Cutting funds to the NHS plus the loss of staff due to Brexit has led to this (Covid not so much, I suspect).

Future tax cuts will make the situation worse, with even less funding, and then even more NHS staff will leave.

Slippery and steep slope to total privatisation. In my opinion.

Meanwhile, people like this poor person are left in pain. I hope she is OK now. Disgraceful situation.

[Penguin68]

Cutting funds to the NHS plus the loss of staff due to Brexit has led to this (Covid not so much, I suspect).

Actually, far from cutting funds the Tories (like every government since the 1970s and before), has pumped money into the NHS - frequently at well above inflation, - so increased in real terms.

The business model for the NHS was set in 1948 and has effectively not changed since then (with a little tinkering around the edges). Name me a commercial business operating with the same business model for close to the last 75 years and I'll show you a business that went bust 25-50 years ago!

And remember that the GP sector (primary Care) has always stood outside the NHS - they are simply private and independent contractors who provide services to the NHS (although mainly trained at the expense of the NHS).

[ab29]

I think only UCC at King's is run by a private company - Greenbrook Healthcare. It has become a complete disaster . I was there a couple of months ago - I waited for nine hours, after which I went to St Thomas' and got help straight away.

[tiddles]

I’m very worried that this chipping away will undermine the very essence of what the NHS is. Every year there are phenomenal progress in medical advances- so of course we have to keep abreast. The fact that a private company has a foothold in a key hospital is very worrisome. The NHS is not a business- private health companies are - so they need to make a profit.

As a type one diabetic I am given world class support and access to tools to manage my condition. The American healthcare system is frightening in its exploitation of people who have the same condition- making patients pay astronomical amounts for insulin which costs pennies to produce.

[heartblock]

Sadly Wes Streeting and Starmer seem ok with private healthcare in the NHS... it’s all very depressing.

[Penguin68]

Sadly Wes Streeting and Starmer seem ok with private healthcare in the NHS... it’s all very depressing.

At one level 'private healthcare' - in the sense that health care is being provided to NHS patients through private contractors as part of the NHS service - has been fundamental to the NHS since its inception in 1948. GPs never 'joined' (as did hospital doctors) the NHS, preferring to remain individual or partnership or company contractors into the NHS, as did both dentists and ophthalmologists. Many laboratories serving the NHS are also, and always have been, non-NHS entities on contract.

The core part of the NHS offer - that treatment be 'free' (not charged to) the user at time of need - is what makes the NHS different and special - and that does continue still (in the main, dentistry, eye care and drug prescriptions notwithstanding). How that treatment is delivered, via NHS hospitals (or private hospitals on contract to the NHS) - via private GPs or NHS A&E - via government or private labs is just a matter of process. There is nothing magical, or necessary, in those delivering healthcare being in the employ of government. If the delivery is bad, of poor quality or poor timing is a separate issue - and needs to be addressed whether the deliverer is directly employed by the State or delivering a contract to the State.

[heartblock]

I have worked in the private sector and the NHS, trust me, in the private sector profit comes first and quality second. Defunding the NHS is a political tool to increase waiting lists and force people to seek private alternatives... this will continue until there is no NHS left. If you can’t see it then your eyes are closed.

Yes the original contract excluded medical doctors... do you know why? They wouldn’t support the NHS because they didn’t want to lose all that lovely money they made. Every other health professional fully supported the NHS. PPI killed the NHS - making a fortune out of ‘new builds; charging £200 to change light bulbs in the PPI building for example - all work was charged at an excessive rate to make profit for private companies... Golden Jubilee Wing at Kings being a prime example. Rant over..😏

[heartblock]

A reminder of the Blair legacy to the NHS...and no, I don’t trust Keir or Wes! https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/12/nhs-hospital-trusts-to-pay-out-further-55bn-under-pfi-scheme?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Penguin68]

PPI killed the NHS - making a fortune out of ‘new builds; charging £200 to change light bulbs in the PPI building for example - all work was charged at an excessive rate to make profit for private companies...

This is getting close to being lounged - but PPI had nothing to do with defunding the NHS and everything to do with getting public expenditure 'off the books' - it was a PR exercise, by, mainly, the Labour government. It's just that as the largest receiver of public expenditure the NHS was the most successful target for what was, at best, an accounting obfuscation.

Most companies let contracts to other companies for e.g. services. They do so with very tight contractual requirements which are closely vetted by experts in procurement, and with clear cost and performance targets. They employ heavy-weight lawyers to ensure this. They do so, generally, profitably (normally for both contractor and employing company). PPI contracts were, and are, a mess because HMG has no idea how to let or manage contracts (more accurately they forced the NHS to do so under their fiscal rules, but without ensuring they had a proper, commercial, procurement set-up). Government Departments and Nationalised Industries tend to fail to recruit procurement professionals of sufficient calibre to let contracts in a commercial space. PPI was always a bad idea, as it's job was to hide expenditure, not to control it.

[se22cat]

We moved to ED in 1980, my wife really loves the area, but we are looking to move out within the next year with the simplhy atrocious level of "care" at King's A&E being the main factor. Had two awful experiences there, and at our age this is a major concern. Both my parents sadly died there and I have no wish for any more of my family to suffer the same fate.

[sandyman]

This explains something I was curious about - a few weeks ago I was told to go to A&E when I called 111 about a minor injury but when went I couldn't actually find any A&E at Kings - the place I was seen was actually called just "Emergency" I think. I was seen relatively quickly, two hours, but it was just a bare unattended waiting area as described.

 

It’s this I think

https://www.laingbuissonnews.com/healthcare-markets-content/news-healthcare-markets-content/totally-plc-secures-urgent-treatment-centre-contract/

Walk in urgent care centre for minor injuries, presumably designed to take pressure off A and E. Will see if I can find more details.

[first mate]

Totally PLC are buying into healthcare facilities up and down the UK. They are also partnering with other companies to provide healthcare insurance models.

This is a giant step towards wholesale privatisation of NHS facilities.

The prospect of an americanised healthcare system is deeply depressing and frankly scary. Great if you have plenty of dosh but dire for everyone else.