Disgraceful

Speaking as A Public Sector worker who’s wages ,pensions, term and conditions have been absolutely hammered in the last 12 years. That’s going to be hard. The few times we’ve chosen to fight we’ve had the Tory press and media in full swing against us and we know how easy it is for the General public to be conned by these.

 

And red rain thinks we’re sht, one opinion doesn’t represent the truth or the majority.

 

My friend's a midwife and its been hard work during the pandemic, with the risk of catching Covid, PPE and not being able to be as" available" to the mothers.

 

My wife just received an email to say they are all getting a £100 bonus from the trust for their hard word during covid .

 

This was so clearly going to happen.

That's why it was sickening to see Johnson, Hunt etc out clapping for the NHS back in the first lockdown. Tory **********s sold them out at every opportunity. Said it at the time - the nurses remind me Boxer in Animal Farm. Use them up, clap and cheer for them, but sell them out when it's all sorted.

 

I didn't clap for the NHS. I refuse to pay lip service to thank the workers in the NHS (and others) who have put themselves at risk to work throughout the pandemic. I voted to give them a better pay rise. I will do that again every time I have a vote, but it appears that the largest minority of the population don't want to reward the same people as I think should be rewarded...

 

Nail, head.

This country is chock full of subservient, selfish, gullible ********.

 

It's absolutely disgusting.

I do find it strange though that no one has thought to mention the millions of private sector workers who were asked to stay at home to "protect the NHS", did so, but now have lost their jobs (700k), are about to (c1-3m) or had their pay slashed. Do they get 1% of anything?

When you support the Tories' lockdown, you support the destruction of the ecosystem which funds the NHS. That doesn't excuse this decision in isolation, of course it doesn't, but it really isn't difficult to join the dots.

 

When you had all the gullible last year saying "Boris will definitely give them a pay rise with how they,ve looked after him", not a chance, this is the tory way and the working class brexiteers that voted him in will find out soon enough...

 

but they'll still vote tory next time

 

I clapped ( not because I was told to but because a lot of nhs workers I know appreciated it )and I've always used my vote to support the NHS

 

Same here.

 

Aye, in this materialistic world, they buy a house in a cul de sac and think they,ve arrived, their roots being a thing of embarrassment and put firmly in the past...

 

Maybe not but a contrary point of view is still a valid one. Not to mention an amazing display if empathy on their part despite everything they've been through.

I'm not saying I support the government in any way, I definitely don't, just that it was interesting to hear an NHS worker putting others ahead of themselves rather than reacting with outrage.

 

I honestly do not get this cultish devotion to Our NHS.

Its riddled with medical negligence claims. £83 BILLION in 2019 of total claims. £5bn for legal fees. Its entire budget for the same year for comparison was £129bn. £48Bn on wages. That doesnt include pension liabilities.

Its the 5th? biggest employer in the world. 1.3m staff. Around a third are front line care givers. Its top heavy with middle management and administration roles on salaries they would struggle to get close to in the private sector. Or a fair minority justify.

The NHS has an ability to waste money and resources. Be it over paying for basics such as PPE! paracetamol or wasting it on vanity projects such as expensive art collections.

Some trusts have art collections if sold would cover a nurses wage for 10 years plus.

It needs after the dust settles a proper cross party committee to have a full root and branch overhaul of the NHS and start getting the government better value for money. Get rid of the over paid staff in positions above their competency, get a leaner management system in place. Get better procurement procedures in place. Get rid of the dangerous practitioners.

Then perhaps we can get those staff who deserve a pay increase a proper raise in wages rather than paying them from funds destined for elsewhere.

 

‘I honestly do not get this cultish devotion to Our NHS’
No you wouldn’t, Perhaps it’s not cultish. Perhaps people do realise it can be run better, but that doesn’t mean running it down through years of underfunding. Then theirs the various Tory Health ministers wearing an NHS Lapel badge pretending they’re Champions to the NHS. The NHS is worth every penny, Even The Brexit bus supports it , lol.
The people who call for Reform of the NHS are people who would gladly see it go into Privatisation and would gleefully have a slice of that financial pie.
Don’t patronise with your Cultish devotion ********

 

I am devoted to 'our NHS' because I believe in the principle of it and recognise the devotion of the vast majority of the staff within it. If I'm part of a cult because of that then its the first cult I'm happy to be a member of. Just at this moment, at this time, in context of events its not necessary or helpful to skew the argument against the NHS bureaucracy - there's another time for that. Just now its quite simple-NHS workers deserve more than a clap. They saved the PM's life and are being rewarded with a pay cut.

 

I bet the figure for negligence would come down if it were better funded and staffed.

 

Much of medicine is based around probabilities. But I hope doctors don't stop treating people when the odds are against them. It would cut down negligence claims, but there would be a lot of dead people who could have been saved. What would help address things is if we could work more on a no-fault compensation system for when things go wrong. True - the dodgy practitioners still need to be identified and removed, but it would at least cut out the huge waste in terms of legal fees on both sides.

As for Deetee's wider point. In my view the NHS remains the finest social welfare policy ever introduced in this country and for all it's undoubted faults, it still maintains the fairness and social justice of the principle of treatment free at the point of delivery for all, regardless of rank or financial standing.

 

The alternative is your private health insurance. A system that the US has proved to be antisocial, inhumane and inefficient. I've lived in the US. I've heard of people who have died because they daren't phone for an ambulance through fear of cost. My father-in-law had a 4 day stay in hospital and paid $55,000 for the privilege because his health insurance form had one small mistake in it. Those private corporations DO NOT have your interests at heart. Only profit.

The NHS is the single greatest socialist achievement in this country's history. We have a lot of uneducated and naïve people in the UK, but there's a reason the NHS is always defended to the hilt across pretty much every demographic. It's simply worth defending.