A new NHS?

[JBR]

As the nurses and junior doctors are determined to ruin their future careers, one option for the government would be to stop financing the NHS completely.

Offer the money to private hospitals and general practices (which are already heading toward independent organisations anyway), for taking over the work which NHS hospitals presently do - or used to do.

An expansion of private healthcare companies, financed directly from government, could be the beginnings of a new national health service.

Of course, what the army of NHS administrators would do then is anybody's guess. They could all 'work from home' permanently, and for free!

[Cassandra]

I'd sell both the NHS and the BBC cheaply to Elon Musk, he seems to be rather good at clearing swamps!

[GrannyMac]

My daughter was approached some time ago to work for an Aesthetics clinic. Botox, fillers etc, she said no. She's fairly senior, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) who prescribes. She hasn't been on strike, and she's not quite ready to give up on the NHS, although she doesn't think it can carry on without big changes.  She could earn more in the private sector, but she really likes her job.

[Cassandra]

My daughter was approached some time ago to work for an Aesthetics clinic. Botox, fillers etc, she said no. She's fairly senior, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) who prescribes. She hasn't been on strike, and she's not quite ready to give up on the NHS, although she doesn't think it can carry on without big changes.  She could earn more in the private sector, but she really likes her job.

People like your daughter are the very pillars of the NHS. I had one, 'Julie' back in the UK, who was a real gem!

[GrannyMac]

Thank you Cass, she held off from management for a long time, because she didn't want to stop treating patients. So many senior staff in the NHS are non clinical.  She runs a team now, teaches her speciality to nurses and junior doctors, but still gets out to the wards some of the time.

She wasn't particularly academic at school, but she's worked so hard for the qualifications necessary to her job. Very proud of her.

[Michael Rolls]

and rightly so