The Excellent Dr Laurence Gerlis.

 
... appeared on GB News on the 2nd of October stating, in effect, that the NHS does not work systemically.

He pointed out that, ironically, the many Drs who emigrate to Australia, in the main, actually oppose curing our own NHS and violently oppose the NHS using a pattern proven to work. Their chosen Aussie system is one such!

Incidentally, Germany, Spain, France and Australia all have health systems which may involve small payments by working patients and none by; children, the long term sick and pensioners.

I studied the French system in depth a few years ago and discovered that patients have 90% of their care subsidised by government. The healthy with jobs pay the balance - others do not.

Patients liable for these small payments are offered affordable insurance plans to cover.

Thus, if working persons in their fifties need, say, a hip operation costing £15,000 - they are liable for just £1,500 which is then covered by a cheap insurance.

Put any form of plan like this into our NHS and it simply will not work. Why would it?

HOWEVER, these successful systems do work elsewhere because, I believe, none is solely top funded.

In the UK, our top-funding hospitals have been disincentivised from treating patients; getting rid of waiting lists; having prompt cancer treatments and, of course, performing operations.

Our sickeningly bureaucratic hospitals wallow in a chaos of their own making and additionally, the simple cowardice of politicians such as the Tories as well as the 'protect the sacred cow' thinking of Labour.

The Tories know what needs to be done but also know that attempting to cure the problems could prove to be the ringing of their death knell. 

Introduce a bottom funded system wherein the government monies FOLLOW THE PATIENT and are not just chucked at hospitals - we could cure the whole problem.

But, if the Tories try this - the entire left will scream "This is just the Tories with their first step to privatisation - coz that's what they want. Stinking capitalists!"

The unthinking part of the population will be up in arms.

So. What do I mean by 'monies following the patient'?

Imagine that there are four hospitals. Let us call them A, B, C & D.

Patient above goes to hospital A which is privately funded. The patient pays the £15,000 and the operation is completed in a very short time.

Hospital B is not private. Patient is put on waiting list and has to endure extreme pain and inconvenience for 20 months or worse.

Hospital C takes 18 months and Hospital D takes 15 months.

All of that changes when the money follows the patient. Hospital D gets the money from the operation as they are the fastest. The others get zilch.

Shortly afterwards, you will find that B & C are offering the operation in markedly less time as all are now competing against each other until ALL hospitals are taking just a few weeks to complete this operation.

Strangely, this changeover will attract huge amounts of extra funding to B, C & D as the old system is replaced. This is because more hospital activities which actually matter will have been taking place.

Some years ago, in Spain, government monies supported 24 hour operating theatres to savage their waiting lists which compared to ours were not all that terrible. I believe that Spain is now on top of its relatively minor problems. Efficiency brings huge benefits and naturally - will lead to much healthier salaries for those at the sharp end.

It sounds ridiculous until you examine what has occurred to make this happen. ALL hospitals will have become motivated to be wholly efficient. They will have had to have stopped all the practices which have led to our current mess in order to survive:

1) The primary source of funding will always come from Doctors being face to face with patients and for necessary ops and procedures to be performed promptly.

2) Bureaucracy will be the biggest casualty - Hallelujah! Bureaucracy will no longer be defensible. (Please do not confuse bureaucrats with proper technical and office staff.)

3) These complex systems with a veritable plethora of assorted managers at a variety of levels will have to be cut by a huge %.

4) The purchasing systems wherein a strip of Paracetamol costing 40 pence in Home Bargains will be bought in for a tenner a packet will have to be abandoned.

5) Non patient centric jobs in 'diversity' and the like will have been amongst the first cuts of non-essential employment. Looking at pay - you can have more than two hospital porters for the sacking of one 'diversity officer' - and certainly more than one nurse.

There are so many more that could be added to this list.

2022 Best Health Systems:

1. France
2. Italy
3. San Marino
4. Andorra
5. Malta
6. Singapore
7. Spain
8. Oman
9. Austria
10. Japan

Er. Where are we? - Ha, ha!

There have been years when the UK has struggled to get into the top 30 in recent times. Note that Germany's health system - which leaves ours trailing - is not in the top ten.

Why is there this belief that we have 'a health system envied by the world' - when it is actually a laughing stock?

The Aussie system pays more to doctors and nurses because IT IS EFFICIENT!