A friend is a staff nurse , she says it's all about politics and getting em in and out . She wants it to return to as it was , nursing and caring for people. I think the n h s is a great service .

I do feel that people outside of the UK who come here and are treated should pay , possibly by taking out health insurance as we do when leaving this country .

I agree about not using the NHS as a political football. On a different topic slightly, I was just reading about a treatment centre for alcohol addiction in Manchester..
It's shocking to read that alcohol related issues are costing the NHS 3.8bn a year. That's about £145 per household. That is probably a conservative estimate. One in 3 A&E admissions is alcohol related and it can rise to 70pc at the weekend.
The treatment centre is doing a good job of preventing people being back in A &E within 3 months but it may close through lack of funding and I think it's the only one in the country where people are referred from Hospitals. For most alcoholics A&E is their main and often only source of treatment and they present with multiple and severe problems like liver failure.

Funding more of the centres would help.

If you add the alcohol issue to the issue of a rapidly ageing population you can see why there is a problem, I don't know any figures on drug abuse but that is there also.

Grumble wagon said :----More and more, I think there is a need for private healthcare alongside the NHS. If you have a serious condition that needs immediate treatment, or you don't mind waiting and/or being messed around , then stick with the NHS. If you want quick, convenient treatment for a minor condition, then go privately.

That is what I call queue jumping, you get no better treatment, the doctors are the same.
So the only thing I see you gain other than the queue jumping is a room to yourself,
Now my private room was terrible lonely, basic furniture etc.

I've worked for the NHS for more than 20 years and have seen many foreign patients, mainly Arabs who have flown in for private treatment and have been treated throughout the day and not after hours as some folk think

I also reckon that patients who miss appointments without a genuine reason should pay a fine to cover the cost.
Thousands are missed every week of the year, and it just isn't fair.

Now that's a good idea our surgery displays number of missed appointments and it's massive and growing. Only thing would worry me though is if you make an appointment over a month in advance and die or go to hospital or even get better it should be easier to cancel appointments. We make and cancel appointments using emis computer system it's not unknown (really common) not to be able to log in or it refuses to do what you want to do. They need to fix that before fining anyone.