It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.
Honestly it’s gotten a LOT worse over the last 10-15 years, but it was pretty great especially during the Blair government.
Basically, the UK is fucked ever since David Cameron cut taxes and then was like “oh no we’ve got a massive deficit of the amount we cut taxes by, let’s impose austerity”. If you go to A&E now, you could be waiting up to 48 hours. Though I was seen in about 2/3 hours and out of hospital in about 5 hours when I broke a bone in my foot. That was just for an x-ray, and I was given a boot and crutches. But that was a weekday morning - if it had happened on a Friday night I’d have had a MUCH longer wait.
The NHS is underpaid and understaffed and getting an NHS dentist nowadays is next to impossible.
MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 2 months ago
It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
Serinus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
mirshafie@europe.pub 2 months ago
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
Serinus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oh, you think all that money goes to doctors and nurses now?
Photonic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I always heard the NHS was a totals shitshow
Charzard4261@programming.dev 2 months ago
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.
NKBTN@feddit.uk 2 months ago
Honestly it’s gotten a LOT worse over the last 10-15 years, but it was pretty great especially during the Blair government.
Basically, the UK is fucked ever since David Cameron cut taxes and then was like “oh no we’ve got a massive deficit of the amount we cut taxes by, let’s impose austerity”. If you go to A&E now, you could be waiting up to 48 hours. Though I was seen in about 2/3 hours and out of hospital in about 5 hours when I broke a bone in my foot. That was just for an x-ray, and I was given a boot and crutches. But that was a weekday morning - if it had happened on a Friday night I’d have had a MUCH longer wait.
The NHS is underpaid and understaffed and getting an NHS dentist nowadays is next to impossible.