An unusual letter from King's College Hospital

[ImpetuousVrouw]

People shoved kids up chimneys and down pits for hundreds of years too - doesn't mean it is something that should be brought back just because it's not been the way things have been done for less time than the period in which it was commonplace. We have a world class healthcare system because it is funded through general taxation.

Any acceptance that the NHS should not be funded through taxation or make up short falls in funding through charity will make it easier for the the Tories to break up and destroy the NHS.

I am actually against the need for fundraising in the NHS. I think the time spent trying to get patients to make donations after they have received treatment, should be spent lobbying the government and organising willing patients to lobby their MP's for the funding.

Getting people active and fighting for their local hospital is far more useful in the long run than guilt-tripping them into putting their hands in their pockets.

[mycroft]

Go on then.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

I'm working too hard to pay my taxes that fund it already mycroft, but if the hospital was under threat, then I probably would get involved, because that's what I do if I give a shit about something. And sometimes it works.

[mycroft]

Or would you rather just sit around criticizing people who are trying to do some good, getting all self-righteous whilst not actually caring enough to do anything about it yourself?

[mycroft]

"probably get involved" say it all really.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Wishy washy piddle ipetuousvrouw

If you were involved in running the budget of that hospital you would see that no government can give all the money every hospital needs. Your stance is just posturing.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

Not sure if I was being self-rightious, I was expressing an opinion and as you don't know me, don't presume I don't do anything about things I care about.

[mycroft]

So much that you'd "probably get involved" in something thatctwo posts earlier you were trumpeting a call to arms for.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

It's something I believe in Sean. I don't agree with the idea of moving the funding of the NHS from taxation towards charity.

If we want to talk about specifics, I'd also look at cutting NHS funding for treatments that are not fundamentally necessary if the NHS is in crisis. Not sure what they would be, but maybe IVF, sex change, breast implants, homeopathy etc could be looked at.

Also I would look at the prices charged by drug companies and see if there was a cheaper way to look after the Nation's health including more use of generic medication, more preventative work, such as gym prescriptions or free exercise classes. Ban cigarettes maybe and a ban on disgusting crap being marketed as food to children. More allotments, less pollution spewing out of cars.

I said probably, because I'm being realistic. I've been involved in a lot of campaigns for a lot of issues I cared about in the past and am feeling less inclined to donate my time nowadays because I'm more cynical about what can be acheived and the people who make the decisions. If things got really bad, then I would not be able to sit back, but wasting my energy before that point is not something I think I would do anymore.

Not that I have to explain myself to you.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Lovely ideals but impractical. Back in the real world...

And you are saying there is a move from funding to charity. There isn't. Not yet anyway. With the most Nhs committed left wing labour govt there would still be a need for extra funds

[Marmora Man]

With the most Nhs committed left wing labour govt there would still be a need for extra funds

Which I agree with absolutely. However, my suggestion of a part tax payer funded NHS supplemented by local fund raising efforts would mean that the quality of the local hospital would depend upon the quality of local support - which could become a virtuous circle. Thus the ImpetuosVrow types would have to either bludge on others efforts, and I hope be embarrassed into doing something to match their rhetoric.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

And poor areas where most of the people work too hard to have time to do anything else would have crap local hospitals - widening the already big gap between the health and life expectancy of the poor and their middle-class or wealthier neighbours.

['bout now]

>

> You have a point PR...you went to the trouble of

> attending the meeting. I fully intended to go but

> never actually got around to it. I guess I didn't

> care enough. In that respect you are a bigger

> person than me.

Kind of sums this thread up for me. Everybody wants something but really can't be arsed to do or pay anything for it.(and don't start on the "I pay MY tax cobblers, would you pay more?)

Thank god the CEO of this charity is a little more pro-active.

[Ladymuck]

You have taken the quote out of context.

[DJKillaQueen]

And still no-one gives a toss for those that don't want to receive such a letter...sigh......

[Ladymuck]

Some do give a toss, but many of those who don't (and they are entitled to their opinions) appear to be completely missing the point. It's bizarre.

[DJKillaQueen]

I agree. So what if some old granny with a bit of dementia gets such a letter and feels she must donate something.

[Mick Mac]

more than 6000 people in the nhs earn more than the prime minister at ?142k.

this suggests the nhs may not be short of money - until it pays all these salaries. And then it will be short of money and will write another load of letters.

[Ladymuck]

That could be us in a few years!

[Ladymuck]

X-post...my last post in response to DJKQ's last post.

[DJKillaQueen]

Exactly Mac.....there are areas that could be trimmed without having to beg from the public or to cut front line services.

[Ladymuck]

Exactly Mac.....there are areas that could be trimmed without having to beg from the public or to cut front line services.

Careful with your language now...

The letter wasn't a request for money...remember?:))

[DJKillaQueen]

*cough* I didn't mean beg, I meant putting the idea into the head of recent patients that Kings does fundraising and not for one moment expecting said patient to go from thinking 'I had treatment recently' to 'I could donate as well'......errrr that's why they target recent patients....doh

[Ladymuck]

hmmmmmm...

[intexasatthe moment]

and cue a post from someone who hasn't read this thread ,or the letter , to express outrage that low lifes are slating Kings for fundraising ....