The cost of medical services.

[Doc Vernon]

Indeed Rodney , we were taught that Nose Job Punch in the Unarmed Combat while in training with the French Foreign Legion as well, its was a sure thing if you knew how to use it properly to Kill an opponent! A very Hard strike at the Base of the Nose upwards , would drive the Bone into the Brain. Very effective and very dangerous!
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

James, most who now enter the medial profession do so because they want to help.
Yes some will complain, go on strike but the GENUINE ones do not.
For most it is a calling more than just a job or career and we must be greatful there are those who will dedicate themselves to the betterment of others.

[James Curry]

Yes John, it is a calling for some, perhaps but there is an element in health care it is more about money.

The UK government has accepted the recommendations of an independent pay review body and has offered a pay rise to NHS doctors in England, including doctors in training and consultants, backdated to April 2023. The pay rise for junior doctors in training is 10.3%, with the average junior doctor getting 8.8%12. The base-level pay for junior doctors in their first year has gone from £28,274 to £32,398 1. The pay rise for junior doctors is effective from this month.

Junior doctors in England are are demanding a 35% rise.

[happy daze john in oz]

James, good news at last.
But in general hospital staff of all levels are not paid nearly enough for what they do.

Here in Oz an unqualified builders laborer holding up a stop/go sign on the side of the road during traffic work can earn up to $100 per hour, almost four times what some nurses are paid.

[Johnny Kieran]

I think the trouble with our UK NHS is, that the bosses don't want British junior doctors to earn too much, in the hope that once fully fledged they'll bugger of abroad like they usually do. Then of course the NHS can encourage foreign doctors in and pay them less.
While our jnr docs are out on strike, they are normally replaced by senior docs for a couple of grand per shift.
I was talking to a young Dr a while back, and she thought the pay was OK, especially as it was only for the first year, then it started rising each year, plus overtime was paid for working extra hours.
It seems strange watching them on the news, or driving past them on the picket line outside the hospitals. They always seem to be happily singing and dancing, waving to the passers by, but of course it's only for a day or two, not like strikes of the past, where 'out' meant 'OUT' and no making up for it over the next week or so.
It's a bit like an apprenticeship, you work and learn for a few years, then get the full snatch.
I bet if you got figures from the NHS relating to wages not paid out, therefore money saved, the results would show that even more money was paid out.
I personally know of a private Dr that gets well over 2 grand for a days stand in from the NHS.
I believe the NHS is bent at the top, and all below are shafted, including us plebs that finance it all.

[James Curry]

#14 Agree John , there are those who are not paid enough. Then there are those that make £££££££ doing private work and using NHS hospitals to carry out treatments and operations. Yes they do pay the hospital for using the hospitals facilities. NHS administraors will argue that those fees also help fund the NHS, they may well do? But the fact is that Fred Smith who is waiting 2years+ for a hip replacement on the NHS will get bumped if Mr Moneybags the surgeon can get £15k for a private job or only NHS salary for Fred Smiths hip replacement. And that is what is wrong with the NHS today. A consultant earns £93k /£125k a year . They have settled there strike and agreed 6%/12.8% increases, so basing the increase on a pay scale of £93k that is £5,580@6% or £11,904@12.8%

I think nurses got 4.5%. UK consultants say poor pay scales will force Consultants to work abroad. Well it would appear the expected exidous is not happening as UK Consultant salaries are earning a lot more than Spain, Portugal Italy, Germany pays better but not by much.

Fact is the BMA are not telling the whole truth about Doctors salaries, yes we have all seen the protesters £14 an hour fact it is anywhere between £20 /£30 when they add on shift allowances etc!!

[Johnny Kieran]

My Mrs went to see an NHS specialist a while back., he recommended she had an operation and would let her know when. She got a letter telling her to go to a certain private hospital in 2 weeks to have this operation, the doctor doing the business was the same guy. He told me he does his NHS hours, then over to the private for more work.
We were glad to get it sorted so fast, and in the better place, but the NHS (us) paid for it, and they all get rich quick.
Do I blame the doctors? no, but if a doctor makes a buck, then some NHS bosses, along with other fatcats, are making loadsa bucks.
The NHS is flawed, and always will be until some decent politicians sort it, but where the hell do you get one of those from?

[James Curry]

Johhny , the last honest man to enter Parliament was Guy Fawkes.

[Johnny Kieran]

There was a bit of a stink a few years back, with a bloke that ran the NHS ambulance service in a certain part of England. He and another bloke started a private ambulance service in the same area, but he stayed on as the NHS boss while the other guy ran it. People would call for an ambulance and the NHS service was stood by, while the private lot were given the work. I think this goes on quite a bit in the NHS.
I can't remember the outcome of the scandal , but I do believe there was not a big fuss made over it, under the carpet probably.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I think like the Medicare here the most money made is by people in the offices, When my wife worked as a ward Clerk in a big hospital, the office managers where on big wages compared to the people doing the hard yards, there were more on the bridge than on deck.
Des