Hospital Treatment Tourism

[reohn2]

The growth in wealth that many have experienced is not directly linked to income of the owners. House prices in the south east and London is a great example.

As for selling up the house and garden you have owned for 50 years and nurtured, and that allows you to have your grandchildren come and stay, and moving into a one room flat - well, it's not easy, and no wonder most resist it as long as they can.

I think those of us with income but low wealth should buy our parents' house a month at a time while they still live in it. They get more income and we get more wealth. That way we reduce two inequalities at once.

The problem you posed was one of eating v wealth tied up in property,I'd rather eat.
As for the children buying their parents house is a very good idea though flawed.The children may not always be able to afford to due to their own financial situation.
FWIW I have three daughters,all married though one has been divorced and is now remarried.The very thoughts of her ex husband(who was a complete and utter despot) having any claim on the house we live in is beyond reason,there will I've no doubt be many other circumstances where parents wouldn't be comfortable with their children and spouses buying the house they live in.

[bovlomov]

Earlier I was talking about fragmented services, a stitch in time, and how it isn't saving nine. Here's another example.

Tens of thousands of new mothers a year are seeking help at an A&E unit or GP surgery because they cannot reach a midwife to ask them for advice, a new study has found.

Cutting back on non-emergency services doesn't save money, because people who need a bit of advice or reassurance, with nowhere else to turn, are forced into A&E.

[hjd10]

How up to date is that article or rather relevant to what is going on at the moment?

Purely anecdotal, but multi-anecdotal over several years:

It seems to me that, increasingly, much of the inefficiency and waste in the NHS is a direct result of internal markets. That is, GPs, District Nurses, Ambulance Services, Out-of-hours GPs, A&E, and non-emergency hospital services, all in conflict (over budgets) rather than in cooperation. Then the NHS is in conflict with local authorities over health versus social care. Thus, a minor ailment becomes an emergency; a minor social care issue becomes a health issue, and a health issue becomes a social care crisis.

A stitch in time might well save nine, but no one wants the first stitch to be on their department's account.

A related problem, about social care. Every residential street in the country is visited by care staff from half a dozen agencies. Most have travelled from some distance, often by bus. It is costly and dispiriting for the carer, who isn't being paid for the bus fare or the time (though I believe this is changing to some degree). Then each one will spend 15, 30 or 45 minutes with a client before travelling across town to another client. The whole thing is madly inefficient - comparable with the early days of bus deregulation. You could hardly devise a more wasteful use of human resources if you tried. I'm not necessarily arguing for all to be taken into public ownership, but the system cannot continue without a certain amount of cooperation and regulation. Home care is crumbling while a large proportion of human endeavour is wasted on travel between jobs.

NHS"s inflation rate is double the inflation rate for the whole economy. The reason is of course that the prices the NHS pay for things expands to use up exactly the increased budget the NHS gets each year. Basic economics, no surprise, Department of Health know all about it of course - but we voters keep demanding more cash for the NHS and demanding no real reform of it, and you can't get elected unless you promise both those things. So governments keep their promises, hand over the cash, and watch it burning up in NHS inflation year after year. Odd.


It's a composting toilet -> my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

This is exactly how I feel about the NHS...... I remember 14 years ago today visiting the hospital when my daughter was born and thinking this place looks a bit run down.
Fast forward to today and how much extra cash has gone into the system (Remember the cash that Labour poured into the NHS) and it appears to have been frittered away on wastage? Incidentally the hospital looks much worse today and is in a crisis at the moment.
There are two separate NHS Clinics here in Sleaford that have not seen improvements in the last 20 years that I've been in the town and now they both look very run down. It appears that they are both going to close soon leaving many people having to travel to at least 15 miles away. That said however one thing I have noticed is the number of administration offices that are rented by the NHS all over the place.
As others have said the NHS has a silo mentality.....


Howie

[ed_phelan]

Once again, we are seeing the government get away with underfunding and running down the NHS and placing the blame on migrants. Personally, I would rather not live in a country that turns away those in desperate need of surgery. I am sure that there are also plenty of British citizens who have received hospital care abroad without paying for it- I know I have!

If you compare the amount of money spent on healthcare compared to other European countries, many would be in for a sort sharp shock.

[blackbike]

Personally, I would rather not live in a country that turns away those in desperate need of surgery.

Good luck with finding a country which allows anyone and everyone free access to its health system.

[bovlomov]

Personally, I would rather not live in a country that turns away those in desperate need of surgery.

Good luck with finding a country which allows anyone and everyone free access to its health system.

That must be a reply to a different post.

[CJ]

To ban all other services than the national service is communism! That ended well...

I believe that Cuba claims still to have a communist government, along with one of the best educated and healthiest populations in the world, resulting in an average life expectancy exceeding that of the USA.

[mercalia]

headline from the sunday express -
if believed then our health budget ius being used to fund cutting down smoking in foreign countries ( may not be much - £15m but that could be spent here)
click to enlarge can just about read the text
( another fake page )

waste

[landsurfer]

Reading the many posts throughout the forum there appears to be a group that blame everything on immigrants ..... And another that hold immigrants as blameless victims ....
It has to be a balanced reality ....
Some immigrants benefit the UK ...
Some are gun toting drug dealers and people traffickers ..
Some work, some are benefit tourists.
Can we just accept that and move on with our discussion's ?????

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Am I a foreigner wherever I go? Am I a foreigner in the UK, even though I am a citizen? I wasn't born there, and I don't live there. But I can trace my British ancestry to at least the 13th century. Is that good enough?

So, what precisely makes someone a foreigner?

Maybe you are an outsider, if Mick F comes to Devon to sup our ale he's an outsider

I might be wrong but British citizenship does not automatically entitle you to free NHS care.
As someone not born hear and not living here why should you be?
Some EU countries of course do have reciprocating free health care.


http://www.aboutimmigration.co.uk/will- ... tment.html

"Citizens of the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland - or of countries who have a reciprocal agreement with the UK regarding healthcare - may be entitled to free NHS treatment even if they are not resident in the UK. However, eligibility under this category will not generally apply if the overseas resident came to the UK knowing that they needed medical care. The exception is if they were specifically referred to the UK for treatment under a reciprocal"

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new- ... o-nhs-care
"As is the case already, most people, who live or work in another EEA country or Switzerland will continue to get free NHS care using a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) issued by the country they live in. This means the NHS can reclaim healthcare costs from the original country of residence.

UK state pensioners who live elsewhere in the EEA will now have the same rights to NHS care as people who live in England. This applies to all pensioners who receive a UK state retirement pension and registered for healthcare in Europe with an S1 form.

However, people who live elsewhere in the EEA or Switzerland who are not working and are under the UK retirement age should either use their EHIC if they’re entitled to one, or make sure they have health insurance if they need NHS care when visiting England. Otherwise they will have to pay for their care. This includes former UK residents, and ensures that people who already live and work in the UK do not end up paying through their taxes for visitors who are not economically active."


British citizenship does not seem to give you much? But a foreign athlete who holds such seems to be able to compete for us.
I would be a foreigner in your country as you would be in mine.
Sorry not read all the post just too many to catch up, so this might of been raised already.

[Vorpal]

I'm not entitled to care on the NHS. If I need treatment whilst visiting, I should be required to pay.

I have only once needed treatment whilst visiting, and that was some years ago. I did need to pay, but it wasn't much.

More recently, Littlest needed some treatment during a visit about 2-1/2 years ago, we started at a walk-in facility, but they sent us to A&E. Both places, when we gave them his NHS number, didn't want our foreign address. They wanted a UK address, and specifically asked us to supply the address of a relative, or someplace we were staying. I suggested a couple of times that we weren't eligible to receive care, and offered to pay, but they were having none of it. One person suggested that she didn't want to do the paperwork, but another said that as long as he had a valid NHS number, we didn't need to pay. She was quite clear about it. I suspect that she didn't know the rules, and probably didn't have to deal with many visitors who had a valid NHS number.

[CJ]

Some EU countries of course do have reciprocating free health care.

Is that like repeatedly in and out of hospital? Not sure I want that!