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by sjwright
2731 days ago
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Sounds like NHS could open more local surgeries and save a lot of money. Or at the very least, add a wing to every A&E to allow stupid stuff to be handled by nurses and trainees. In Australia, ambulance rides are not free unless you have a membership plan or private insurance. It is absurd that the UK could not at minimum issue fines against abuse of ambulances. (Not to mention abuse of 999 calls!) The fact that this was an issue for more than five minutes is absurd and cannot be used as an indictment against public systems. And even if the ambulance issue was unsolvable (ha!) it would still represent a fraction of a percentage of the waste occurring in the American system. |
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We also have issues with prescription abuse, such as people getting prescriptions filled who no longer need them, and don't take them anyway. The NHS tried to fix this by printing the real cost of the drug on the label, so people would be aware of the waste. But they had to stop because it was making people who genuinely needed the drugs feel guilty about how much it was costing. No easy answers to this, but something will need to happen because as I say, it is simply taken for granted by so many people.
Unfortunately, the NHS is something of a "sacred cow", any criticism no matter how evidence based of it is seen as a heinous blasphemy. Which means its problems are always brushed under the carpet and will never be fixed. "The envy of the world", we're told, but I doubt the French or the Germans or the Canadians or the Japanese or any number of other nations are envious of it!