Re: My Local NHS
Originally Posted by
JBR
->
Nothing to do with the population numbers vs. the available resources, then?
It's not the size of a population that matters, but the proportion of that population that is chronically sick and with complex needs at any one time.
The costs have increased because of an ageing population, new healthcare technology, and the massive cost of more advanced medicines/treatments. Diabetes rates are going up exponentially. Chronic conditions developing earlier in life. Poor social care, obesity, sedentary lifestyles. It's also a victim of it's own success. People are being treated for conditions that used to kill them so are using the system longer. For example, according to Diabetes UK, diabetes costs the NHS £10bn a year. They expect 5 million people to have it by 2025. It's more than doubled in the last 20 years. Every two minutes someone in the UK is being diagnosed with cancer.
It's also a two way street. I had to take my elderly mum to be fitted for a 24 hour blood pressure test today. The lady fitting her with the monitor (who incidentally was Brazillian) said she did not have enough of the monitors to go round because patients keep forgetting to return them. The monitors cost about £3k each. She said she has been ringing one lady for months and she keeps promising to return it but hasn't yet. They have even offered a courier but she declined. Crazy.
Anyway the sort of problems being described (GP shortages, waiting time increases) are down to professionals retiring due to political meddling. There aren't enough doctors and nurses. Who removed the bursary?