Aye - all Nurses are callous, selfish bastards who care only about feathering their own nests at the expense of the taxpayer.  For what it's worth - I'd have voted against a strike, but it's going to last for 4 hours, not all staff are going to be involved, and the ones that are will be replaced by agency workers for the duration. 

 

And while you're comparing humans to animals, you might want to consider that your average man or woman tends to vocalise about pain and ill health much more coherently than your average pet.  We also tend not to euthanise humans when they become unwell towards the end of their lives.  You might also want to consider the fact that you won't get charged £200 if your human pal requires an x-ray and more if they require any medication.

 

You have taken my point about pets just a tad far. My point is that the veterinary industry shows that competition seems to do wonders for waiting lists. The amount we are willing to spend on our pets indicates that the idea we'd all die untreated if healthcare were privatised is nonsense. Not that I am in favour of privatising all of it. But the NHS lacks the discipline and drive towards excellence and sensible spending that the free market demands. Hence anyone who can afford it goes private. The NHS is quite good by European standards but well short of what it should be capable of considering what it costs.

 

Again, I never referred to nurses as callous bastards but perhaps similar terms might be fitting for people with a moral responsibility towards the vulnerable - a role for which they volunteered - which they are prepared to abandon for the sake of a political point. You're right, it is only four hours. So why bother?

You have taken my point about pets just a tad far. My point is that the veterinary industry shows that competition seems to do wonders for waiting lists. The amount we are willing to spend on our pets indicates that the idea we'd all die untreated if healthcare were privatised is nonsense. Not that I am in favour of privatising all of it. But the NHS lacks the discipline and drive towards excellence and sensible spending that the free market demands. Hence anyone who can afford it goes private. The NHS is quite good by European standards but well short of what it should be capable of considering what it costs.

 

Again, I never referred to nurses as callous bastards but perhaps similar terms might be fitting for people with a moral responsibility towards the vulnerable - a role for which they volunteered - which they are prepared to abandon for the sake of a political point. You're right, it is only four hours. So why bother?

I live where it’s a free market and what you take about is bollocks, you go to A&E here and it’s the same wait time as the UK but will cost you $2000 plus for the privilege, just because you have insurance it’s still not free after that.

Aye the American free market health care is a brilliant system

http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2014/09/louisiana_rape_victims_often_b.html

You have taken my point about pets just a tad far. My point is that the veterinary industry shows that competition seems to do wonders for waiting lists. The amount we are willing to spend on our pets indicates that the idea we'd all die untreated if healthcare were privatised is nonsense. Not that I am in favour of privatising all of it. But the NHS lacks the discipline and drive towards excellence and sensible spending that the free market demands. Hence anyone who can afford it goes private. The NHS is quite good by European standards but well short of what it should be capable of considering what it costs.

 

Again, I never referred to nurses as callous bastards but perhaps similar terms might be fitting for people with a moral responsibility towards the vulnerable - a role for which they volunteered - which they are prepared to abandon for the sake of a political point. You're right, it is only four hours. So why bother?

The NHS is world class. It was recently proclaimed as the best healthcare system in the world by an independent US report, despite spending roughly half the amount of money per head that the US do (who came last by the way). It scored highest on quality, efficiency and not surprisingly access. It's not perfect, but no organisation on the scale of the NHS is - and it is constantly striving to improve. It's easy to knock it, but for the vast majority of people, when the shit hits the fan, it's there for you.

 

I don't know what the point of a 4 hour strike is. You'd have to ask somebody who's striking. Presumably it's so that they can at least make the point that they're unhappy without having a negative impact on patient safety?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10907823/Britains-NHS-is-the-worlds-best-health-care-system-says-report.html

Went to Addenbrooke's in Cambridge. Wow, the place is like a small town. I went for a coffee, expecting a crappy machine and discovered a full shopping centre - M&S, Costa, clothes shops, Burger King.

 

I'm assuming it gets a lot of independent funding from the University.

Went to Addenbrooke's in Cambridge. Wow, the place is like a small town. I went for a coffee, expecting a crappy machine and discovered a full shopping centre - M&S, Costa, clothes shops, Burger King.

 

I'm assuming it gets a lot of independent funding from the University.

Manchester royal isn't far off being like that.

Been told the grounds of the manchester central hospitals on oxford road are bigger then the Trafford centre.. boring fact for the day

The strikes about pay. Health workers are getting shafted they've had their wages frozen for the last few years and are finding their jobs tied up in red tape and box ticking pointless exercises. Not massively keen on the strike though as the rest of the country besides the usual suspects are being shafted as well. The police seem to be getting an even shitter time at the moment for instance. There were strikes in Australia apparently that helped pay and working conditions but I'm guessing they were in richer times.

Went to Manchester Eye Hospital yesterday. Impressive place all round that, seemed really well organised and specialists excellent too.