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Let's not forget that approximately 20% of all UK COVID cases were caught in hospital. Not exactly the envy of the world. FWIW, I think we should keep the NHS

Let's not forget that approximately 20% of all UK COVID cases were caught in hospital. Not exactly the envy of the world. FWIW, I think we should keep the NHS and have it free at point of use. However, I don't really care how that service is provided - government employees, private, whatever - as long as the service is good.

cranekam 6y ago
> Let's not forget that approximately 20% of all UK COVID cases were caught in hospital. Not exactly the envy of the world. Do you have a source for this? How does it stack up against other countries? Is it possible a greater share of people were hospitalised and thus the number of infections at hospitals was higher as a result?
- gadders 6y ago
  https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/the-ongoing-problem-of-hospital-acquired-infections-across-the-uk/ https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/the-ongoing-problem-of-hospita...
pydry 6y ago
It's been getting steadily albeit very slowly worse for years. The Conservative government has been following a variant of the privatization handbook for over a decade now: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/tsa-as-example-of-privatization-playbook-make-an-agency-perform-badly-by-underfunding-it.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/tsa-as-example-of-pr... Overall costs have not been going down much but various parts of the service are given to contractors who do a worse job at a higher price and take a fat cut. Richard Branson notably has done this. The PPE fiasco that caused much of the spread of COVID was largely because of this - much of it was bought and didn't arrive: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/ppe-scandal-procurement-law/ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/ppe-scandal-procur... Nonetheless people's emotional impressions of the service tend to have a lag. Your Mother's cancer treatment from 9 years ago will have a much bigger effect on your impression of the institution than statistics about how well it is doing now. Eventually it will be privatized entirely as a "fix" for the problems caused by privatization and the costs will skyrocket. Just like the cost of my railway season ticket to London or a trip to the doctor in the US.
- gadders 6y ago
  The key principle of the NHS is "free at the point of delivery". I don't really care who provides the service. And let's not forget Tony Blair put in place some internal market reforms as well.

cranekam 6y ago

> Let's not forget that approximately 20% of all UK COVID cases were caught in hospital. Not exactly the envy of the world. Do you have a source for this? How does it stack up against other countries? Is it possible a greater share of people were hospitalised and thus the number of infections at hospitals was higher as a result?

gadders 6y ago
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/the-ongoing-problem-of-hospital-acquired-infections-across-the-uk/ https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/the-ongoing-problem-of-hospita...

pydry 6y ago

It's been getting steadily albeit very slowly worse for years. The Conservative government has been following a variant of the privatization handbook for over a decade now: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/tsa-as-example-of-privatization-playbook-make-an-agency-perform-badly-by-underfunding-it.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/tsa-as-example-of-pr... Overall costs have not been going down much but various parts of the service are given to contractors who do a worse job at a higher price and take a fat cut. Richard Branson notably has done this. The PPE fiasco that caused much of the spread of COVID was largely because of this - much of it was bought and didn't arrive: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/ppe-scandal-procurement-law/ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/ppe-scandal-procur... Nonetheless people's emotional impressions of the service tend to have a lag. Your Mother's cancer treatment from 9 years ago will have a much bigger effect on your impression of the institution than statistics about how well it is doing now. Eventually it will be privatized entirely as a "fix" for the problems caused by privatization and the costs will skyrocket. Just like the cost of my railway season ticket to London or a trip to the doctor in the US.

gadders 6y ago
The key principle of the NHS is "free at the point of delivery". I don't really care who provides the service. And let's not forget Tony Blair put in place some internal market reforms as well.