Medicine 2012...(hopeful entrants) !!

Volunteer in a carehome?

But isn't it all a bit pointless, you pay for someone to tell you you're good at logic puzzles from what I gather.

Okay. I just don't know why med schools would assume someone with ABD at AS could suddenly skip to AAA, as AS is half the A2 grade mark.

yep. I ballsed my NHS one up as well. I seemed to be saying that post code treatment was bad....because it was.

Did someone attempt to challenge that view?

Yeah, basically the guy was arguing that NHS trusts (in whatever sense they appear) must be able to have some level of independence when it comes to spending. A fact I agree on for reasons like geography as I've previously mentioned.

His point was that as a result trust X will spend more on a treatment than trust Y out of necessity.

Damn you, wrecking my simplistic black and white view of everything!

That does make sense, but apparently with postcode lottery the problem lies in that people are judged based on lifestyle (fair enough) and where they live (yes, statistics are good indicators, but ultimately they can't really say anything about an individual and it doesn't seem like a good enough reason to refuse someone certain medication). Although you can apply for "exceptional cases" which is good.

There just seems something inherently wrong and unfair in people getting different (and potentially less effective) treatment because of where they live, not because of necessity as such. Although I guess the fact a trust has to put less money towards treatment for, say, cancer means they have to delegate the funding elsewhere; and the fact they have to do that isn't really in their control, it just depends on prevalence of other illnesses, so it is out of necessity I guess. Such is the product of a utilitarian system, I guess.

(NB: If I'm spreading any wrong info or anything correct me because I don't know much about this tbh. )

Well you're right in the general sense. The trouble is that different trusts will have different policies for different things. So trust X might spend less than trust Y on the treatment of a disease. But that isn't because Y has less patients than X, it might be because X's treatment involves cheaper (and probably just as effective) drugs.

But then no one would really oppose that, the problem comes about when trust X compromises the effectiveness for cost. I don't really know how common that is, though, but I can bet it'll be happening a lot more if Lansley's plans go through. Although they are being met by massive ferocity, I'm starting to hope they might not happen.

Tbh I dunno how being able to see a pattern in shapes is evidence of a good potential doctor. Medical admissions make little sense sometimes.

I don't know. People seem to have this idea that the NHS at the moment is perfect and that the evil Conservatives are going to destroy it. It's not perfect at the moment. It costs the country a ridiculous amount of money and there are pockets of excellent care, pockets of appalling care and a middling majority. No consistency at all.

The plans have pros and cons, the current review of them should reduce the cons. I must say that at least the tories have a plan. Unlike everyone else. It's a case of 'I hate your plan....but I have no alternative....'

Really? I actually think it's the other way... I mean, there's always a story about how much of a failure the NHS is in the news and people tend to focus on the negatives of it. I remember seeing some stats which showed the the NHS was way more money effective than people think. If I find I'll post it.

It is inconsistent but encouraging competition sounds like it'll worsen that problem more than anything.

I would argue that lack of a plan is better than a plan which could make the situation worse... especially when the reforms could cost so much. What worries me is how opposed the RCN, BMA etc are to the reforms. I think there could be a degree of knee jerk reactions on behalf of the medical staff because they probably feel as loyal, if not more so, to the NHS than the general public, but they are also people who have looked at the plans in detail and still pretty vehemently and vocally disagree with them.

The cynical part of me says that nothing will change. Any new plans will take a good few years to implement across the country and we will be with them for a relatively short period of time before the next clever government idea.

The NHS as it stands is far better than what most countries in the world have, and we should be proud. But most of the worries people have are about waiting time, cleanliness etc Problems that I honestly don't think will change whether the changes happen or not. They need an ethos shift at the training level. The NHS should be 100% public. But I accept that if the private sector can do it more cost effectively and at a high enough standard then why not?

This is why I stay away from politics.

This isn't just politics, it's economics as well, even worse.

That's a good point. No one is ever in office long enough to make the changes. Dunno if that's a good or bad thing. Although Labour did decrease waiting times for cancer, iirc.

Well, I guess because of the cock ups with the private sector taking control of cleaning. The media presented that as a massive fiasco (and it was what with the MRSA deaths and everything) and that's imprinted in people's minds. Plus people are unhappy with "private" because of its American connotations.

I used to love politics and I wanted to go into it up until about Year 9 or 10 but it's too full of compromise and waaaay too depressing.

These changes will be just that. A change. Some people hate change full stop. Especially the media.

Luckily this government are proving that they aren't complete idiots by reviewing the changes

I must be really weird - I can't study well at home at all - hence why I'm always on TSR

On the other hand, my concentration at school is amazing - can get 1/2 hours' worth of work done in 10 minutes

At school I get distracted by girls- I go to a girls school. So yeah

I go to a boys school - which explains a lot