NHS 'dangerously' short 100,000 staff

I don’t understand how the NHS is lacking doctors if medicine is one of the most competitive university course...?

Medicine is competitive for many reasons, you can’t just cram students into a lecture hall. People want good doctors and doctors are normally quite intelligent people. Perhaps they should try and build a little more medical schools but you can’t just take anyone on board.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 21

Captain Haddock

18

Original post by Chief Wiggum

The proportion of UK GDP spent on healthcare compares perfectly reasonably with other Western countries.

https://www.ft.com/content/4a009b68-7cf1-11e7-9108-edda0bcbc928

You call it reasonable, which is fair, but I was assuming that the use of the '**** ton' unit of mass was supposed to imply an unreasonable, or at least bordering on unreasonable, amount. On a GDP basis we still spend less than France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, among others. The point is that it's not an impressive or unreasonably large amount, and there is plenty of room for increasing spending.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 22

peeked

18

Original post by euphrosyne

I'm not from the UK so I don't know a lot about this - could somebody please explain why people are so against privatising the NHS (especially if it'll solve many problems)?

I know a lot of GPs who leave the UK and move to Dubai so they can work private, and they all seem so much happier.

I think it’s because it could mean poorer people lose out. I guess privatisation will probably be better for the doctors but a lot of British people don’t suddenly want to start paying for health care.

Reply 23

peeked

18

Original post by Captain Haddock

You call it reasonable, which is fair, but I was assuming that the use of the '**** ton' unit of mass was supposed to imply an unreasonable, or at least bordering on unreasonable, amount. We still spend less than France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, among others. The point is that it's not an impressive or unreasonably large amount, and there is plenty of room for increasing spending.

Agreed, we should spend a little more on the NHS, it needs it.

Reply 24

Kendrick Lumbar

2

Original post by peeked

Perhaps they should try and build a little more medical schools but you can’t just take anyone on board.

This is a lot harder than you think it is and wouldn't resolve the issue any time soon due to how long it would take to generate a curriculum, hire professors, find partner hospitals etc. and most importantly, get the medical school GMC accredited.

Reply 25

peeked

18

Original post by Kendrick Lumbar

This is a lot harder than you think it is and wouldn't resolve the issue any time soon due to how long it would take to generate a curriculum, hire professors, find partner hospitals etc. and most importantly, get the medical school GMC accredited.

Yeah I guess, my point mainly focused on the fact that you can’t just accept more people to study medicine, as doctors should be intelligent and there isn’t the resources.

Reply 26

Kendrick Lumbar

2

Original post by peeked

Yeah I guess, my point mainly focused on the fact that you can’t just accept more people to study medicine, as doctors should be intelligent and there isn’t the resources.

You don't need to be intelligent to be a doctor, you need to have a good memory. Anyway, by your logic, there wouldn't really be an issue as plenty of capable students are rejected each year. But the resources aren't available, I agree. NHS funding needs to be laid out to see where the money is going now, before more money is injected in. Throwing money at a problem won't necessarily solve it.

Reply 27

username2752874

22

Would you guys say that med schools are becoming competitive to a fault?

Or rather, a better way, I think we're gonna need more than a 25% expansion on places

Also bring back the nursing bursary and raise nurse salaries

Reply 28

Kendrick Lumbar

2

Original post by Kyber Ninja

Would you guys say that med schools are becoming competitive to a fault?

Or rather, a better way, I think we're gonna need more than a 25% expansion on places

Also bring back the nursing bursary and raise nurse salaries

We need to be able to retain doctors.

Reply 29

username2752874

22

Original post by Kendrick Lumbar

We need to be able to retain doctors.

True, but if you've got more in the system there's less of a burden on the others.

Hunt tried to impose a policy of making medics who leave the UK too early pay for the training, but I don't think that was very popular with docs (I think it would have public backing though).

Reply 30

SophieSmall

21

Original post by peeked

Medicine is competitive for many reasons, you can’t just cram students into a lecture hall. People want good doctors and doctors are normally white intelligent people. Perhaps they should try and build a little more medical schools but you can’t just take anyone on board.

...why you mentioning race?

Reply 31

Jammy Duel

21

Original post by Chief Wiggum

Although the UK is the only country in the world with an NHS-style system, and other European countries/Australia etc seem to manage with partially insurance-based systems.

Not quite, Cuba uses a similar system, aside from them doing things like forcing abortions to hit targets rather than putting the patient first.

Original post by Kendrick Lumbar

You give too much credit to the UK government actually being able to get something right in the long-term. With Comrade Corbyn, Theresa the Doormat, and the Fantom LibDems, there's not exactly much to be optimistic about.

Thing is the NHS is so right that if you looked at European healthcare system outcomes without the countries being labelled I can pretty much guarantee you will be nowhere near identifying which is for the UK. Even the Commonwealth fund, that think tank that for no discernible reasons says time and time again that the NHS is the best system in the world, puts the NHS as the second worst when it comes to healthcare outcomes. Some Eastern European countries make the NHS look bad.

Reply 32

Jammy Duel

21

Original post by peeked

I think it’s because it could mean poorer people lose out. I guess privatisation will probably be better for the doctors but a lot of British people don’t suddenly want to start paying for health care.

Privatisation as it gets used when referring to the NHS does not necessitate paying for healthcare for the simple reason that "privatisation" as it is normally used is not privatisation at all. What gets called privatisation is perfectly acceptable for 64% of the population, that's a greater proportion than those who think that it can all be solved simply by throwing more money at the problem.