My sister is on the frontline. She's just finished a bunch of night shifts in an ITU as a HCA so I'll text her later, and if it's anything like recent weeks she will be exhausted, scared and frustrated.
She will be exhausted because there aren't enough staff.
She will be scared because she is working with Covid-19 +ive patients and is a single parent - she notes on ITU that PPE supply is actually OK, it's when she gets shifts on general wards it becomes more of a lottery.
She is frustrated because politics, economics and healthcare have collided in horrible ways in the last 25 years or so in the UK that has left us very much on the back foot in our ability to deal with a sudden emergency.
She won't be alone in those feelings. There isn't a nurse or doctor in the country who doesn't experience those things in some measure at least some - if not most - of the time.
The first time the clapping happened, she cried. It was recognition of thanks for the tiredness, fear and frustration that she and her colleagues go through.
It's OK to be pissed off at the Tories AND clap. It's not mutually exclusive.
The problem is when we are asked to be pissed off OR clap, and we choose to clap, and then trot down to the polling station and ask for "more of the same please!"
We need to remember this at the ballot box. If you clap and you then vote for this shower of pillocks, well, you'll go to the grave aware of your hypocrisy, and let's just hope the NHS is still there to make it as painless as possible.
This Thursday go out and clap. If you have kids, get them to paint a rainbow.
And then vote when you get the chance.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/02/nhs-doctor-f...
There are definitely people in health services that deserve praise, but praising the institution in this way is a bit different...
I didn't realise it was either/or.
From 1970 the amount of money the UK spent on healthcare per capita bobbed kept bobbing around between 90% and 100% of 1970 levels (when adjusted for healthcare inflation of all G7 countries) until 1992. There was then a slight increase until 1998, large increases until 2004, then it dropped until 2012. It jumped massively in 2013, then dropped slightly in 2014, remaining steady through 2017.
Since the 2007 financial crash, UK health funding dropped in 9 years, and increased in 3 years
(figures from OECD total health spending per country)
I have shown how it has, 9 times in the last 12 years.
Either way, yes you are 'technically correct' that you didn't mention per capita. Hope that gives you the warm fuzzy feeling you're looking for. Well done!
- What is medical inflation compared to overall inflation?
- What do other countries spend?
- Are we getting value for money?
- Are key statistics getting worse despite increase budgets?
- How does population factor in to spending?
etc
In the G7, per year
1970-1980 13%
1980-1990 8%
1990-2000 5%
2000-2010 6%
2010-2018 4%
Far more than the UK
> - Are we getting value for money?
A notoriously difficult question with healthcare
> - Are key statistics getting worse despite increase budgets?
That depends on how you define the statistics, which is massively subjective
> - How does population factor in to spending?
Older populations lead to more health spending
The only real way to compare is to create a healthcare inflation index on a per capita basis from a group of like countries and look at funding that way.
Why is he not allowed under your set of values to give thanks?
The UK media is owned by the very rich. They don't want to pay for the NHS, they want you to clap, and no more.
I have nothing against this post, generating a rainbow, no problem. My reply is about the general UK scene of clapping but not funding the NHS.
It's not just to "propagandise" - it's to show, for a brief moment, that we appreciate their effort. We can then go back 2 minutes later to hate the Tories as much as before. Having a clap in no way makes me think I've "done my bit for the NHS" any more than voting left each and every time.
Another cynical look about the hero worship of the NHS is that heroes often die, if I were running a government that failed to supply PPE to doctors and nurses, I'd cheer on the idea of making them heroes because then their deaths would become something honourable and somewhat acceptable...
Though I do agree that the NHS should be better funded.
He did the walk in support of NHS Charities Together, an umbrella organisation of independent charities that support the NHS, and their publicity team contacted the media.
I had to look up if the charities came because of Tory austerity, they aren't. But well, please read this article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/22/giving...
This is like saying donating to teachers so they can buy school supplies doesn't mean it's helping fund the school...
The Government's current drive to propagandise their ongoing failure to fund essential public service should not be tolerated.
(For those who are unaware, in the UK we are currently being asked by the powers that be to take part in a "clapping session" on the streets weekly).