USAMomma
Member
- Jul 14, 2010
- 287
- 52
- 16
Are the doctors really going to be able to treat We the People, the normal non-government worker class citizens any better? Are the insurance companies going to limit our ability to get Quality CARE?
I read this in the news this morning about the National Health in England. Got me to thinking about this mandated health insurance and what the future may be like for us "average citizens".
Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment.
In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced.
The moves are part of the NHS drive to find £20bn efficiency savings by 2015.
The government said performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers.
Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel". Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings.
"We've started to get reports over the last nine months that access to these services are being restricted."
"GPs were told not so send as many patients to hospital, maybe to delay referrals until the end of the financial year while perhaps introducing thresholds for surgery."
He says that simply delaying surgery by one means or another does not improve the outcome for patients as their condition can deteriorate.
"The double jeopardy is that patients wait longer in pain, and when they have the operation, the result might not have been as good as it otherwise would have been had they had it early. "
Read more here:
BBC News - Surgeons raise alarm over waiting
This may be news in England, but National Health it is and is this something we get to look forward to?
I hope not!
I read this in the news this morning about the National Health in England. Got me to thinking about this mandated health insurance and what the future may be like for us "average citizens".
Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment.
In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced.
The moves are part of the NHS drive to find £20bn efficiency savings by 2015.
The government said performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers.
Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel". Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings.
"We've started to get reports over the last nine months that access to these services are being restricted."
"GPs were told not so send as many patients to hospital, maybe to delay referrals until the end of the financial year while perhaps introducing thresholds for surgery."
He says that simply delaying surgery by one means or another does not improve the outcome for patients as their condition can deteriorate.
"The double jeopardy is that patients wait longer in pain, and when they have the operation, the result might not have been as good as it otherwise would have been had they had it early. "
Read more here:
BBC News - Surgeons raise alarm over waiting
This may be news in England, but National Health it is and is this something we get to look forward to?
I hope not!