I think it's a case of every health care system (except Cuba's! ) in the world being absolute S**t. Fixing the problem either means leaving out the poor (America) or have a crap as hell system that serves everybody poorly. It seems to me that Governments grossly underestimate the cost of the actual healthcare system, and never allocate enough in funding. IMO NHS schemes are good in principle, but Governments haven't cared enough to fund them properly. It's a case of simply not enough money or care.

Originally Posted by DCFGS3

I think it's a case of every health care system (except Cuba's! ) in the world being absolute S**t. Fixing the problem either means leaving out the poor (America) or have a crap as hell system that serves everybody poorly. It seems to me that Governments grossly underestimate the cost of the actual healthcare system, and never allocate enough in funding. IMO NHS schemes are good in principle, but Governments haven't cared enough to fund them properly. It's a case of simply not enough money or care.

It's not just a case of throwing more money at it though. Ignoring the privatisation issue for the moment, even run as a socialised system there's a massive amount of room for improvement, both management and financial. One of the biggest problems seems to me to be the lack of accountability in the NHS, which leads to the "it's not really my problem" mentality which all nationalised industries suffer from to one degree or another. No-one's that bothered about whether they do their job correctly or not, and despite the money which is thrown at it, very little seems to be directed to where it's really needed and where the most benefits would come from - right down at the sharp end where patient care and conditions are involved.

If it's to be kept as a nationalised system it needs an absolutely massive overhaul, otherwise it'll just end up costing the taxpayer more and more for less and less, with even that 'less' being of poorer quality.