NHS funding

Guest · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject:

A whole can of worms indeed!

I do think that the (UK) government needs to put its sensible head on for a while (OK, so it'll probably need to find such a head first, but that's another debate

). Maybe the first thing to change should be the automatic right to free welfare (heath and social care) for immigrants and migrant workers. That would plug quite a big hole, I'd have thought.

It is also important to think back to the beginnings of the Welfare State as we know it; the idealism that brought about its inception. It was believed that if people were offered free healthcare, people would be fitter and therefore need less healthcare; in fact, healthcare is a bottomless pit, and however well you care for folk, they get sick and they have accidents etc etc. The other problem to add into this little melting-pot is that medical science has advanced so much in the past 60 years, which has pushed costs up-and-up.

Similar problems face the Old Age Pension scheme - 60 years ago, men were only expected to live a year or two beyond the retirement age of 65; thereby only claiming pensions for a very short period. Now, people are commonly living into their 80s and 90s, thereby claiming OAP for 15, 20 or even 30 years! This inevitalby stretches the funds available.

I'm not sticking up for the government, past or present; but it's not a problem I'd like to have the personal responsibility of solving, either

I do feel that elective cosmetic surgery should be on some sort of clinical basis; Hec's ops were NOT purely cosmetic - the boob-job was, in particular, necessary to protect her back due to the weight-balance problem. I think that IVF on the NHS should have some sort of similar criteria for deciding; a long-established, stable and loving relationship as a minimum, plus X number of years trying to conceive naturally. Of course, those undergoing cancer treatment young should be given the opportunity of egg or sperm-harvest and then free IVF - a real clinical need there.

I strongly agree that there are lots of "parentless" children around, and that perhaps simplifying the adoption process for couples unable to concieve naturally might be a better answer.