4 ms·

The reason for that is around 30 - 50 years of continual gutting of the NHS, aggressive implementation of perverse incentives and anti-targets (e.g. "hospitals

by fao_ 2y ago

The reason for that is around 30 - 50 years of continual gutting of the NHS, aggressive implementation of perverse incentives and anti-targets (e.g. "hospitals get less money if they fail to meet X standard of care, because they do not have enough money"), and overloading of staff duties to reduce costs (e.g. Physicians now performing duties that receptionists used to handle, the lack of work force meaning they have to work long amounts of overtime on the weekend, the lack of rest contributing to bad decision-making, and so on).

sweeter 2y ago
typical austerity measures. The US and the UK power holders have massive incentives to privatize healthcare and schooling, so they de-fund and starve the beast with the sole purpose of trying to get people to support laws that turn public institutions into private ones. "a government small enough to drown in the bath water" With healthcare this is especially disastrous. In the US for example, most smaller towns don't have a hospital and many don't have any doctors whatsoever, they have to drive a hundred miles or more to get care, and we spend a fuck ton of tax money medivacing (air lifting) these people to major city centers. These places used to have hospitals, but they weren't profitable. Then these people get disillusioned with the system, are sold the lie that private healthcare will fix all of their problems, and politicians and health corporations runaway with the bag while we citizens in the US pay more for basic healthcare than any OEC nation while also having the worst health outcomes of OEC nations on par with so called "3rd world" countries. Its genuinely pathetic.
- nradov 2y ago
  The US healthcare system is generally terrible for cost effectiveness but efficacy is very good for certain things. For most types of cancer, our 5-year survival rates are at or near the top worldwide.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  > The US and the UK power holders have massive incentives to privatize healthcare and schooling This is quite a wide brush that you paint with here. Fifty states in one country, and another 60M people in the UK across its four countries. This feels like classic HN overreach. Speaking only about US public schools, as long as your community is mostly middle class or above, your schools will be fine, as most funding comes from local property taxes. Note: This is different than almost all other highly developed nations that fund education from state or national level.
throwaway2037 2y ago
> 30 - 50 years of continual gutting of the NHS The date range feels a bit arbitrary here. The difference between 30 and 50 years is enormous. Also, I will get no love for this comment: Highly developed nations have no one to blame but their own democracy for failing to stop the slide. Why hasn't the same decline happened in Denmark or Japan or most other highly developed democratic nations?
- fao_ 2y ago
  There are multiple places that you can point at and go "this was the place where the NHS started getting gutted", it's entirely dependent on where you draw the line. There was an interval where it wasn't entirely obvious that this was happening, as well. Hindsight is 20/20.

by fao_ 2y ago

sweeter 2y ago

typical austerity measures. The US and the UK power holders have massive incentives to privatize healthcare and schooling, so they de-fund and starve the beast with the sole purpose of trying to get people to support laws that turn public institutions into private ones. "a government small enough to drown in the bath water" With healthcare this is especially disastrous. In the US for example, most smaller towns don't have a hospital and many don't have any doctors whatsoever, they have to drive a hundred miles or more to get care, and we spend a fuck ton of tax money medivacing (air lifting) these people to major city centers. These places used to have hospitals, but they weren't profitable. Then these people get disillusioned with the system, are sold the lie that private healthcare will fix all of their problems, and politicians and health corporations runaway with the bag while we citizens in the US pay more for basic healthcare than any OEC nation while also having the worst health outcomes of OEC nations on par with so called "3rd world" countries. Its genuinely pathetic.

nradov 2y ago
The US healthcare system is generally terrible for cost effectiveness but efficacy is very good for certain things. For most types of cancer, our 5-year survival rates are at or near the top worldwide.
throwaway2037 2y ago
> The US and the UK power holders have massive incentives to privatize healthcare and schooling This is quite a wide brush that you paint with here. Fifty states in one country, and another 60M people in the UK across its four countries. This feels like classic HN overreach. Speaking only about US public schools, as long as your community is mostly middle class or above, your schools will be fine, as most funding comes from local property taxes. Note: This is different than almost all other highly developed nations that fund education from state or national level.

throwaway2037 2y ago

> 30 - 50 years of continual gutting of the NHS The date range feels a bit arbitrary here. The difference between 30 and 50 years is enormous. Also, I will get no love for this comment: Highly developed nations have no one to blame but their own democracy for failing to stop the slide. Why hasn't the same decline happened in Denmark or Japan or most other highly developed democratic nations?

fao_ 2y ago
There are multiple places that you can point at and go "this was the place where the NHS started getting gutted", it's entirely dependent on where you draw the line. There was an interval where it wasn't entirely obvious that this was happening, as well. Hindsight is 20/20.