General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What Form Should US Healthcare Take? [View all]pnwmom
(108,977 posts)There is no perfect system, anywhere.
A few stories about the NHS, Britains national system:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/541740/NHS-plan-axe-brain-tumour-cancer-units-despite-growing-need
NHS England has launched a 12-week consultation on the proposals that could axe 19 of 25 units offering targeted treatment for tumours.
It claims this will eliminate excess capacity and improve efficiency and access to the service, which is expected to see a 50 per cent increase in demand over the next four years.
Last night the plans, published by NHS Englands Medical Directorate earlier this month, were branded shocking by Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt.
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/521575/Diabetics-lives-are-at-risk-due-to-NHS-failure
BRITAIN is facing a public health time bomb because thousands of people with diabetes are not getting vital treatment they need, new figures reveal.
SNIP
Barbara Young said, Test strips are the most basic of tools for day-to-day management of Type 1 diabetes and insulin-treated Type 2 diabetes, and so it is very worrying that so many people are telling us they are having their test strips rationed because of cost-saving measures.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10639798/NHSs-bureaucratic-failures-put-lives-at-risk.html
Meanwhile, another horrific story shows how bad decision-making could be costing lives. A total of 12 families are now taking legal action against Bristol Royal Hospital, where as many as 20 children died or suffered extreme after-effects following cardiac treatment. On Friday, Sir Bruce Keogh, the countrys most senior doctor, met parents who told him that sometimes there were so few nurses available to care for their children that they were forced to clean up vomit, monitor oxygen levels and administer medicine by themselves. In one particularly distressing case, a baby boys operation was delayed five times in one week. Only when he was deemed an emergency was he operated on. He died a few hours later, following complications.