Free at the point of care.
Comment on Why do European Leftist call their government's right wing despite having free healthcare?
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 3 days agoAll fair points - but the fundamental point about people getting access to free healthcare has remained so far.
starlinguk@lemmy.world 3 days ago
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 3 days ago
You’re unfortunately very mistaken there. That fundamental was shattered in 1993 when social care was separated from the NHS (free at point of use) and instead given to local government (means tested pricing at point of use). Ever in search of savings for their limited budgets, local governments promptly privatised and outsourced their services. We went from 65% of care home spaces being publicly funded at the end of the 1970s to 6% a decade ago. At-home care went from being 95% publicly funded in 1993 to 11% in 2012.
This sector of healthcare is beyond breaking point, with over 100,000 unfilled staff vacancies in care homes alone. This creates a backlog as NHS hospitals can’t discharge patients who need residential care that doesn’t exist.
If you’re expecting a free-at-point-of-use care home later in life, think again. That is gone. Unless you have a large accumulation of savings to burn through things don’t look rosy.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I don’t disagree, but I wasn’t really talking about care homes, I was talking about treatment, operations, maternity care, etc.