Or. at least they’d like for them to be:
In Socialized Medicine, Everyone Is A DoctorPosted 1/3/2008
Health Reform: The British have found a way to shorten those long, annoying waits for care and lower the rising costs of their universal access system. They’ll let patients take care of themselves.
The London Telegraph reported Tuesday that the British government has a “plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget.” But it won’t come without enormous pain.
“Instead of going to a hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out ‘self-care’ as the Department of Health tries to meet Treasury targets to curb spending,” the Telegraph explained.
So when is a universal health care system not actually universal? When Britain’s 60-year-old National Health Service can no longer support the weight of its clamoring clientele….
The NHS, though, is hoping to cut down on more than frivolous visits. It’s looking for patients with “arthritis, asthma and even heart failure” to treat themselves, the Telegraph said.
I am a tremendous advocate of people taking care of themselves, and taking control of their own lives and destinies. I wonder, though, if these are the target populations that are overutilizing the system, or if this isn’t a relatively subtle way of rationing care a little more for those with chronic conditions, the ones that modern medicine can keep alive (in the most basic meaning of the term) for longer and longer times. For instance patients with CHF used to die relatively quickly (18 months comes to mind), but now with modern medications and AICD’s these patients can live for years.
Color me skeptical.
The problem is , so much money has been pumped into hospital administration , there`s no money to treat patients .
Jim UK
Just when I think that socialized medicine might be the answer to many in our country I read something like this and it starts me thinking all over again. My mind (at times) tells me that letting everyone have insurance is a good thing but my gut (at times) tells me that if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
I believe in patients taking care of themselves. The politicians of the U.K. are setting policies to fine hospitals. I hope this isn’t the wave of the future for U.S. hospitals.Politician wants to fine hospitals if patients contract infections during treatments
A leading U.K. politician wants the government to fine hospitals for each patient who contracts an infection during their stay. In a speech, David Cameron, a member of Parliament, said English hospitals should lose part of their yearly government payment for each patient if that person contracted MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or another infection, Clostridium difficile, according to a report by the BBC.
By Gene Koprowski, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.care-mates.com/blog/?p=54