NHS funding

Hecateh · Foundation Stone Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 2006

What should and shouldn't be funded by the NHS?

Not funding patients who have paid for some private drugs???

(To me this is ridiculous)

Funding for IVF - and in what circumstances?

Funding for 'self inflicted' illness - e.g. smoking rlated / obesity / sports injuries ????

Any other thoughts on how the NHS could better organise its use of available funds?

_________________
“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
- Ziggy
Made my 1000 miles walking in 8 months rather than the year of my target. Woo Hoo.

Davbro · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject:

The one I will comment on is the IVF. I think for those who cannot have children naturally there are enough parentless children in the system to cater for this.
In a similar vein I do not agree with bringing children from abroad as Madonna did.

MandyJ · connector Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 107

Interesting topics.
The one I feel most strongly about is not funding people who have used some private medicine - this is a real minefield as where is the line going to be drawn? If you have a procedure privately which leads to problems later in life - are you then going to be refused NHS care? When my daughter damaged her knee we looked at having the repair done privately. If we'd gone ahead and in 20 years time it needed further treatment, could they turn round and say "you've started so you must finish privately". If you fund some of your treatment yourself isn't that a good thing?? So many stupid stupid inconsistencies in this approach.

IVF. I'm very ambivalent about this becasue I don't think it's a woman's "right" to have a child. It's a privilege. And although my heart bleeds for infertile women and I can understand their anguish I'm not sure that the NHS should pay. Bet I'm opening a can of worms with that statement, don't shoot me down please. So many many poor children in care and needing adoption - shouldn't more effort be made to make this a possible option? Better to save the children already alive and maybe suffering, spend the resources on cures for childhood diseases.
(Hope I can say such a controversial thing on here without anyone taking offense)

Self-inflicted?? Driving a car? Fixing tiles on your roof? RSI because you're on internet forums all day?? Not going to the dentist regularly and ending up with major dental work needed? Life itself is self-inflicted....This is a very dangerous area to start imposing rules...

Hecateh · Foundation Stone Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 2006

You've come close to reflecting my thoughts there Mandy.

I agree that IVF shouldn't be available on the NHS, but have extra sympathy for those made infertile by treatment for illness I.E Not cancer itself causing infertility but radiotherapy. I do think, where possible/sperm should be harvested prior to this treatment.

Maybe, any sort of 'elective' treatment should be done in partnership rather than refusing care to anyone who has chosen to go part private.

I got my tummy tuck and boob life on the NHS because I had done half the job, paying for my weight loss surgery - now is that different? And I fully accpet that getting big in the first place was about putting too much of the wrong sort of food in my mouth and not being active enough.

These subjects are controversial in themselves and no view is unacceptable - what is unnacceptable, I I don't think anyone will do this, is putting someone else down for having a different view.
_________________
“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
- Ziggy
Made my 1000 miles walking in 8 months rather than the year of my target. Woo Hoo.

MissMuppet · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject:

I had 3 nose jobs on the NHS and Marc is on the waiting list to have surgery on his jaw... I guess these are medical though, although there is some cosmetic work involved in both!
_________________
Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you!!

Please sponsor me if you can afford it - http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/joharrison1977

Hecateh · Foundation Stone Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 2006

I don't (well I can't really) object to certain cosmetic surgery being done on the NHS as it can have great benefits, medically and mentally. What I guess I do think is that each case has to be assessed individually and that no-one has the 'right' to surgery that isn't essential.

Doctors and surgeons obviously get their training in the NHS and need to practice apart from anything else. Neither of my ops has had 'perfect' results. Neither the tummy tuck nor the boobs are symmetrical and if I had paid thousands I may have been a bit disgruntled about it = as it is I'm just so grateful.

I think that maybe people could be assessed and given points in relation to how much they should pay and how much the NHS should contribute when it is elective surgery. But I know there is no way of making it fair - and even if it was fair it wouldn't ever be perceived as fair. Some people would always be able to get the better of the 'system' and others would always lose out.
_________________
“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
- Ziggy
Made my 1000 miles walking in 8 months rather than the year of my target. Woo Hoo.

Nannyp · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:05 pm Post subject:

But, you couldn't breath properly, through no fault of your own (or are you now about to own up to your cocaine addiction

)

I feel terribly sorry for those who cannot conceive, and yet like most replies on here, I believe that there are many children in the world who have no parents.....

I think that there is a real problem of funding, and I can see that those with "self inflicted" injuries, disease etc will be the one's who will be scapegoated.

The NHS is no longer what it set out to be, and that is the problem.

Davbro · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:57 am Post subject:

A report on the news this morning was showing how expensive it is for equipment and operations. The conclusion was that in the future there will probably have to be some sort of top up payment from the patient.

MandyJ · connector Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 107

A top-up payment sounds very dangerous to me, either we have an NHS or we don't. If we do then treatment should be free. Full stop. The rot has already well set in with prescription charges, but if any part of essential treatment is charged then it's not the same service as we understand it. The obvious conclusion is to go to a full private/insurance based service.
After all, anyone who works pays for their treatment anyway, it's not actually "free" for a lot of people anyway - so those who already contribute through their taxes/NI shouldn't have to pay more

Cosmetic surgery - I can't agree that it should be done on the NHS unless there are actual medical or psychological reasons for it, and by psychological I don't just mean "my self-esteem is a bit low"....
Society needs a bit of a reality check here, think about the truly important health issues[/quote]

Davbro · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:48 pm Post subject:

It is not only Prescription charges Mandy, there is payment at the dentist (even NHS, if you can find one), and optician now which was originally on the NHS.

MandyJ · connector Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 107

Quite, forgot about the dentist/optician. Now they are charges that REALLY make me cross as they mean so many people simply don't bother to go, leading to horrendous problems - which the NHS have to deal with, whereas if there had been free preventative care in the first place there wouldn't be such a drain on the system later!

katieqr · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject:

it looks like i m in the minority here. i think ivf should be available on nhs. i have 2 kids and would have been devastated if i hadn t been able to. adoption isnt always a solution- i prob wouldn t have been able to due to disabilitys. everyone s circumstances are different so can t be generalised.

cosmetic surgery i m not so sure about.

i ve had to use nhs constantly for past 25yrs and see big changes. ops that i had before were only 8wk waiting lists and now up to a yr. the care and attention i would say have improved and a lot more detailed - ie pre op assessments.

i need new reading glasses but for now i m putting it off cos they re so expensive. i m getting a tooth extracted this month but cos it s getting done in hosp it won t cost but it would ve if my dentist had went ahead with it. a bit strange, i thought.l

dragonfly · Pioneer Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 1507 Location: Wales

Personally... I dont think that the NHS should fund IVF. Its a privilage to have children not a right. And when i saw the news report last weeks that the NHS refuse IVF to smoker i thought, about time! If they want children enough they would pack it in. I dont beleive IVF is right anyway, feels wrong to me. Even when i was told i would have no children (polycystic overies) i always said this.
It daves words... there are enough parentless couples to cater for this!!

I think NHS should cater for people in pain/the sick not cosmetic (barring serious accidents/burning). I never understood why NHS coughs up millions of pound every year on IVF and here in wales prescribing people paracetomal that cost 16p in supermarket, when you have to pay a fortune to get anti biotics when you have an abcess on your tooth from a nhs dentist.

please dont get me wrong, i think they work hard and is a brilliant idea/service, but i think they went off the point a bit..

angelfruit · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

Okay - I'm going to stick my neck out ....

IMHO I would like to think that all treatment is available to a country's own nationals free of charge. I think that dental, opthalmic, chiropody and other charges should also be completely free for those under 18 and over 60.

I have no problem with anyone having any form of cosmetic treatment done on the NHS, as in many cases - this prevents much more serious surgery through self-harm/mutilation, or costs of mental health treatment etc if this is not undertaken.

However, whilst I subscribe to the view that parenthood is a privilege and not a right. I believe that some form of assisted IVF should be available to couples meeting certain criteria. I think it should be offered on the basis that any other embryos that are fertilised and are not used should be used for the further progression of medical science to assist in all diseases, disorders, genetically predisposed conditions etc.

I have been extremely lucky and have four beautiful, healthy children - however, I have many friends that have been bankrupted by the fact that they needed assistance and lived in an area where IVF was unavailable on the NHS. In some cases they remain childless (but otherwise healthy) - having made no 'charge' on the NHS.

I believe that all emergency treatment should be free, as should all surgical treatment - but in the case of medicines (not critical to ones life/existence) I believe that these should be paid for on a 'sliding scale of ability to pay'. Why should somebody on £200k pay the same amount as somebody on £20k or less. The elderly and children should always be provided for unless their wealth is such (in the case of the elderly) that they could easily afford to be self-funding (and let's face it how many really wealthy OAP's are there out there?)

That said - I have every admiration for the NHS. I feel eternally sorry for those that work in the institution. Horrified that many of our own newly qualified nurses are having to emigrate to Australia and the like to get posts. I also find it an outrage that so much is spent on failing administration and not on frontline services.

Hospitals should operate in a local way and not nationally. They should have their own team of in-house cleaners and caterers. They should have proper nurses, whose career is a vocation and not just a qualification. Nurses that care about their patients and their well-being. Clerks can do the paperwork!

BRING BACK MATRON!!

Sorry - but you did ask x
_________________
Be who you are, and say what you feel ... because those who mind don't matter ... and those who matter don't mind.

http://anangelblogonearth.blogspot.com
http://angelfruit-myphotodiary.blogspot.com/
http://darlingbuds.myfreeforum.org

Davbro · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject: