Doctors strike in Great Britain...

[Tez3]

From a purely personal anecdotal perspective, having made use of hospital services on both sides of the Atlantic, I will say the service I received in the US (some years ago) FAR surpassed what I get here in the UK. Having said that, I do not know what I would have done had my employer not covered me for hospitalisation in the US whereas here I do not directly pay for it and get a poorer service..

All I know is that I would not want a car that was built by the government here.. it would look like a Trabant! so why must I have surgery provided by the government here? then it is ME who ends up looking like a Trabant.. anyways.. anecdotal..

To say that the whole NHS is poor is unfair to say the least. The British people like and want the NHS, if you don't like it you don't have to use it, no one is forcing you to, take out insurance and go private. If you chose to use our free service then go throught the proper channels if you want to make it better. there's commitees that the public are invited to be one and public forums for the NHS.

For every complaint about the NHS there's thousands of satisfied patients whose lives have been saved and/or improved by the excellent service here, that includes my mother, brother, daughter and myself.

 

[Sukerkin]

I have to say that my treatment when I had my bike accident was excellent but standards have dropped terribly when it comes to the day-to-day things. Nursing care is particularly noted on that score - the days of nurses being so highly skilled that they guided the doctors are long gone (indeed many of them went to America for the much higher wages they could get for less responsibility).

 

[Sukerkin]

K-man, how are you trying to link your images? The code you are using at present directs the focus to a Page Not Found error. If you have them uploaded into your Martial Talk storage area you should just be able to past the code in for the picture in question (use the second code string rather than the first).

 

[Jenna]

To say that the whole NHS is poor is unfair to say the least.

I did not say this.. I think you had mis-read.

If you would like my opinion, the NHS will be better operated in private ownership. If you do not like my opinion, that is also fine

 

[Tez3]

I did not say this.. I think you had mis-read.

If you would like my opinion, the NHS will be better operated in private ownership. If you do not like my opinion, that is also fine

You think that because you are too young to know what the UK was like in private hands. Frankly it was horrendous, people died for lack of the money to pay for care, infant mortality was high, children died of preventable illnesses, to wish us back to that....?

The problem with the NHS is that under Thatcher she tried to make it private, that's what has been eating at it, now we have another Conservative government who are trying to sell it off.

Only the 'horror' stories reach the media about the NHS, no newspaper prtints the good stories however try watching the programmes about the Great Ormand Street Hospital or read up on the work doen by our leading hospitals, you'll be surprised. The nursing problem, look to the Tories for that, they created the problem and serve only to make it worse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/18/nhs-best-free-access-healthcare

Like the crime figures ( which are falling not rising) the NHS is the subject of the greatest generalisation and the worst perceptions, are standards actually falling or is the media just more accesssible and persistance, no news sells like bad news. Of course there's things wrong, there always is in any organisaton, however the majority of British people are satisfied with the service they get and sadly they keep quiet about it. The problems are political rather than medical and because the government is trying to turn it as a business this problem is common to businesses...the need to cut staff to save money, the need to cut costs and the need to earn revenue. Get the Tories out and let us have a government that cares about the people's health, then you'll see a proper working NHS, one fit for the people. Put the blame firmly where it belongs...on the Tories and let us have the NHS we deserve.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I am sure there is good within the UK's health care system. However, having been involved in the medical field for quite a while and around doctor's and nurses regularly the ones I have met that came from the UK had nothing good to say. Not a thing! Now this may be a relatively small sample and of course a biased sample because they left the country or fled it as they refered to it for a better situation. (ie. here in the US) The picture they paint is bleak from the doctor's and the nurses perspective and frankly they did not have other good things to say about overall quality for patients compared to here in the US. In the UK it sounds like it might be advantageous for the doctor's to strike!

Now in regards to the strike thing here in the US there is simply no incentive for doctor's to strike here. They simply lose money and a lot of it. That money believe it or not is what keeps their business afloat paying quite a few employee's. They simply have no incentive to strike. None!

 

[Sukerkin]

As I noted earlier, Brian, a lot left for more money and less responsibility. I can't say as I blame them as the staff really have been put through the ringer over the past thirty years - there is a reason why an awful lot of our medical people are no longer British in terms of the land of their birth.

The problems lie in the bureaucratic oversight more than anything else tho' - too many layers of non-effective management eating away at resources. When my father was in for his heart operation a couple of years back you might recall my comments on how far the NHS had fallen from when I was in getting my arm done?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

No doubt Sukerkin you are much closer to how the system operates in the UK than I or anyone else who has not experienced it. I can only relate what I have heard from doctor's and nurses that have come here to the states.

I might add that being close to the medical system here in the US that there are a lot of problems with how the system here works. (a lot)

 

[Tez3]

One of the problems not just with the NHS is that it's far easier to whinge about it that actually praise it. It's human nature to talk down something rather than say well actually someof it's pretty good. We all do it, look at all the Americans here who tell us everythings thats wrong about their country, who posts up saying well I think this is good or that is. The perception given by people who only see the cup half empty is that the NHS is falling apart and we are all dying for lack of care, this smears all the good work done by hard working people in the NHS who are busy saving lives evreyday. I just get really tired of people who choose to only see the black side of everything and don't lift a finger to actually try and make things better.
Ofc ourse people who have gone to work in America will tell you how bad it is here, they won't say it's good will they, they won't say well actually I left because I want more money.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...sfaction-with-NHS-even-among-Tory-voters.html

"Prof John Appleby highlighted figures showing that two-thirds of people are now either very or quite happy with the state-run health care, the largest proportion since the in-depth British Social Attitudes study began in 1983.

In addition, 80 per cent of those questioned said they were satisfied with their GP while the public perception of A&E and outpatient services in hospitals has risen over the past decade as spending tripled under Labour.

A separate survey published on Tuesday found that 90 per cent of women who had surgery to treat breast cancer rated the care they received as excellent or very good.

It comes after ministers were accused of “burying good news” by failing to publish another poll showing record satisfaction with the NHS, in case it undermined their case for radical reform of healthcare"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/19/nhs-andrew-lansley-healthcare-reform

 

[Jenna]

You think that because you are too young to know what the UK was like in private hands. Frankly it was horrendous, people died for lack of the money to pay for care, infant mortality was high, children died of preventable illnesses, to wish us back to that....?

The problem with the NHS is that under Thatcher she tried to make it private, that's what has been eating at it, now we have another Conservative government who are trying to sell it off.

Only the 'horror' stories reach the media about the NHS, no newspaper prtints the good stories however try watching the programmes about the Great Ormand Street Hospital or read up on the work doen by our leading hospitals, you'll be surprised. The nursing problem, look to the Tories for that, they created the problem and serve only to make it worse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/18/nhs-best-free-access-healthcare

Like the crime figures ( which are falling not rising) the NHS is the subject of the greatest generalisation and the worst perceptions, are standards actually falling or is the media just more accesssible and persistance, no news sells like bad news. Of course there's things wrong, there always is in any organisaton, however the majority of British people are satisfied with the service they get and sadly they keep quiet about it. The problems are political rather than medical and because the government is trying to turn it as a business this problem is common to businesses...the need to cut staff to save money, the need to cut costs and the need to earn revenue. Get the Tories out and let us have a government that cares about the people's health, then you'll see a proper working NHS, one fit for the people. Put the blame firmly where it belongs...on the Tories and let us have the NHS we deserve.

You would forgive me for not quite understanding what you are saying and but as I read your reply.. your tone you are implying that I am too young to hold my own opinion that differs from yours? pffft.. well so you are older and wiser and have more experience than me that is fine and but my opinion it is as valid as yours. I had typed a reply outlining my experience of hospitalisation in UK and USA and but there is no point to it.. I am glad your hospital experience is positive.. I wish you well..

 

[Sukerkin]

I think you might have taken that to heart in a way it was not meant, my dear friend. I don't believe it was intended to be taken as anything other than a face-value observation of chronology and experience .

 

[Tez3]

Jenna you have indeed taken it the wrong way, I'm too young to remember the time before the NHS, however my father isn't and his and others stories of the unnecessary deaths and suffering before the NHS are heart rending. My father's best friend died at the age of 14 from diphtheria, when I was three there was a huge outbreak of polio in this country, the polio vaccines wasn't introduced until the 1960s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/nhs_at_50/special_report/123511.stm

You wish me well, however I'm not, I suffer and have done for a number of years from relapsing and remitting MS, I have entensive experience of hospitals all around the UK. My brother had liver disease, the extent of the treatment he had was amazing, my mother had a heart condition again her treatment was good, my father's treatment also.
I'm not alone in thinking that while there are problems with the NHS it still has a lot to be proud of.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...icas-hospital-stars-NHS-So-did-best-care.html

We have several cutting edge hospitals here, John Radcliffe, Morrfields Eye Hosp, University College, the leading ENT hospital, Newcastle Hospitals where they recently performed the first heart transplant on a baby here as well as having a leading neuro role, of course Great Ormand Street, Aberdeen and of course Birmingham http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Militarymedicine/Pages/Newhospital.aspx. Leeds is a huge centre for cancer and cardiac care.

Jenna you didn't say in what ways you thought that the British care was less than the American care, we don't have the single rooms, the 'luxuries' that perhaps Americans expect when they go into hospital and they pay for. Did you receive sub standard care from the doctors and nurses? Did they botch treatment? In which ways did the treatment fall short of the American equivalant? Or was they way we do things different here, we rarely get to chose which drugs we have, I've seen ads in American magazines telling people to ask their doctor for specific drugs. We tend to have less invasive surgery, we have more 'natural' births as you can't elect to have either a Caeserian or an induced birth to happen when it suits you, you do however have 'gas and air' while in labour. You do have free emergency care in accidents and emergencies from some of the best paramedics going, you will airlifted to hospital by helicopter if necessary, not just to the nearest hospital but to the best specialist hospital.

People complain of waiting times in A&Es but what they don't say is that they were seen by the triage nurse and they had to wait because a sprained ankle takes a lower priority than a head injury, it's a shame if you have to wait for treatment but if it's a minor injury the place to go to is a minor injuries unit not the A&E.

 

[billc]

She may be older Jenna but that doesn't mean she is wiser, and your first hand experience from receiving medical care in both countries is interesting to hear. Could you elaborate on what you experienced? It would be interesting to hear exactly what you found so different, if it isn't too personal. Thanks.

 

[oftheherd1]

Employees of the federal government may be prohibited from joining unions; may be allowed to have unions, but not strike, or be a member of a union and allowed to strike. It all depends on the conditions of employment which will be spelled out as part of the hiring process, and usually in the job announcements. Even for those not allowed to form unions, or join one, they have protections through EEO. Not a perfect system perhaps, nor a promise of every complaint being taken care of to the employees satisfaction, but a system that seeks to prevent supervisors from taking action not based on well documented poor employees. Like any system, it depends on the people involved, on both sides of the issue.

Well, two out of three ain't bad. :uhyeah:

Well, I won't be able to double check that until tomorrow, since I will have to talk to some people I know, You may be right. I will let you know if I am wrong when I get that clarified. I mostly stated that out of the knowledge of how powerful some government job unions are.

Well, it took me longer than 'tomorrow' to find the person I wanted for an answer. But... see below.

5 USC 7311
[/LIST]

While some positions are bargaining unit and others are not, I've not heard of any Federal employee or agent able to strike. If you can point to a specific PD that can strike against the Federal Government, I'll gladly admit my mistake.

Thanks for the link you provided. It is quite clear. As well, I talked to the person I wanted to, got directed to another, and talked to that person. They both agree, you are quite correct. Strikes are not allowed by US government employees. I was mistaken.

 

[shinbushi]

As long as there is no strike of the Doctor. that would be just wrong :dalek:

 

[JWLuiza]

I can't wait for the next season!!! Bowties are cool!