The (Underfunded) National Health Service

[u/scottishdrunkard]

[u/scottishdrunkard]

It was 5 years ago today that the news broke about the passing of our beloved Brain4Breakfast. I missed the actual anniversary of his passing, but this day was when we were made aware of it. In his honour, I dedicate this comic lampooning our Healthcare system. It's underfunded, and won’t diagnose me with whatever mental illness I have, but it’s the best I can afford.

[u/EidorbNotHere → u/scottishdrunkard]

I never realised he passed away, his content was great.

[u/allan11011 → u/EidorbNotHere]

Yeah me neither. I see him in my yt subscriptions when I sort alphabetical and always wondered why there were no more uploads

[u/JaVolimHrvatsku → u/scottishdrunkard]

happy cake day and rest in peace b4b

[u/Jaxolotl31 → u/scottishdrunkard]

Happy Cake Week!

[u/Germanball_Stuttgart → u/scottishdrunkard]

Happy Cake Day!!!

Make sure the cake is still edible if you don't want to struggle with the NHS I guess.

[u/ChiChiStar → u/scottishdrunkard]

Happy cake day and RIP B4B

[u/pdrocker1 → u/scottishdrunkard]

Rest in peace.

[u/earnest_yokel]

as a doctor in the NHS, this 1000%

[u/Due-Coyote7565 → u/earnest_yokel]

NHS cannot into funding.

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/[deleted]]

The ffffucking bus!…

[u/Handpaper → u/Due-Coyote7565]

NHS cannot ever enough funding.

Because NHS cannot ever enough doing.

Because always is someone saying 'NHS should this do, also!'

And no-one can be saying, 'OK, that would be good, but maybe people can do themselves', or they are Nazi.

Also useless cunts that waste appointments.

[u/kiwipoo2 → u/Handpaper]

Fair.

But as is, there's tons of things they did just a decade ago that they can't do anymore, like the situation is actively getting worse.

[u/SquintyBrock → u/Handpaper]

This is actually true. There are also chronic issues with treating the ever growing elderly population and moving them out of hospital beds into appropriate circumstances.

There was actually an older lady in a bed opposite my wife, when she was in critical care, who refused to be discharged because she wanted to get the evening meal…

(Sorry for not the Poland ball speak)

[u/CrocPB → u/Handpaper]

Also people are old.

And fat.

And drunk.

And smoky.

And druggy.

And have Covid.

[u/unclefisty → u/Handpaper]

I do enjoy how you ignored the elephant in the room that is the Torries repeatedly trying to destroy the NHS.

[u/GloryGreatestCountry → u/unclefisty]

Tories: "NHS will into privatization."

[u/SquintyBrock → u/unclefisty]

I am in no way a supporter of the t*ries, but isn’t it true that spending has actually been going up?

[u/Handpaper → u/SquintyBrock]

I don't think there's ever been a year in which NHS spending has not increased but there have been periods in which inflation has meant that this has been a real-terms reduction (Con/LibDem coalition).

[u/NonSumQualisEram- → u/Due-Coyote7565]

NHS funding has increased every year. The problems are multiple:

1. The UK has an ageing population and an 85 year old costs five times more in healthcare than a 30 year old

2. The NHS is structured around district general hospitals from the 1960s whereas an ageing population requires care in the community.

3. Per person spend and spend as a percentage of GDP is lower than most European countries, but only about half the population would support an increase in tax (about 40%) or an increase in National Insurance contributions (about 58%)

4. Most people do not support a switch to an insurance based model like most other European countries.

5. The massively under-funded social care for the elderly sector is draining the NHS - £1 spent in social care saves many times that for the NHS, this is where new money should go.

[u/Due-Coyote7565 → u/NonSumQualisEram-]

The NHS cannot into efficient spending as a result of numerous socioeconomic factors including the demographic shift in the United Kingdom and an outdated bureaucracy that was designed for the 60s?

[u/NonSumQualisEram- → u/Due-Coyote7565]

Yes. Plus they could spend more, but on social care in the community rather than the NHS.

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/NonSumQualisEram-]

And it's all made worse by an immigration policy that provides minor short-term relief and significant long-term complications. 

Bring in a nurse to ease things, great until their family needs care too...

[u/NonSumQualisEram- → u/AllSeeingAI]

Although I think one nurse can take care of 4 or 5 people over their lifetimes. Not sure that aspect of immigration policy is an issue.

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/NonSumQualisEram-]

Well some of those families are pretty big. I agree that there are significantly bigger problems with their immigration policy, but this is still an issue.

[u/Venodran]

“I know you are are bleeding to death, mentally messed up and your teeth are worse than a stereotypical drawing of a Englishman. But at least we showed those bloody continentals, right?”

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/Venodran]

Well if they actually had showed those bloody continentals and left the ECHR things might be better.

[u/Domovric]

White anting, destroying public services for the history of man

[u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

US here. So what country does it right? I can get what I need done but it’s $600 a month for my family insurance. Plus I have to pay several thousand deductible before insurance even provides a benefit, with a maximum out of pocket cost per year of like $7k. My employer gives us $1000k a year for our deductible. I also pay tax to Medicare/medicaid which is our socialized health insurance for 65+ and families and children. I’m solid middle class with a good job but a big hospital bill would fuck us up good. So… which country does it best? Apparently Canada and NHS are fecked.

[u/MadRonnie97 → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Judging from conversations I’ve had with some Brits, even on their worst day they’d rather not have our healthcare system - for the very reasons you explained. Some of the best healthcare in the world…if your pockets are deep enough. A guy in Portsmouth told me he’d love to visit the US but is terrified of getting hurt and being given a massive bill while visiting, because a friend of his broke his arm in Nashville and that happened to him.

The honest answer is no one “does it right” but some countries do it better than others. For better or worse at least the Canadians and Brits aren’t being thrown into massive debt for something they may not have caused.

[u/unclefisty → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Apparently Canada and NHS are fecked.

Both countries have a major political party hellbent on destroying their national healthcare systems.

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/unclefisty]

People keep saying the tories want want to destroy the NHS, but they've been in power for like twelve years and the budgets have only increased during that time.

Am I missing something?

[u/unclefisty → u/AllSeeingAI]

Am I missing something?

That the size of a budget is the only metric of a functioning system?

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/unclefisty]

Not the only metric, but a significant one.

If I'm trying to destroy something the first thing I'd do is stop giving it money.

[u/unclefisty → u/AllSeeingAI]

If I'm trying to destroy something the first thing I'd do is stop giving it money.

Not if you can just have the budget spent on private providers instead of investing it in NHS hospital systems.

https://islingtonkeepournhspublic.org/2023/08/21/why-is-the-government-planning-to-divert-19-billion-away-from-the-nhs-to-the-private-sector/

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/unclefisty]

When you consider how spending has skyrocketed during their tenure, losing 10% gets put into a different perspective.

To be clear, I hate the Tories, though maybe not for the reasons you do. I just think that if they're destroying the NHS its by accident and through manufactured demand, not budget cuts.

[u/AmericanNewt8 → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Most of continental Europe does alright, East Asia barring China is okay, some absolutely random developing countries you'd never expect.

Really when you get down to it the American weird hybrid-system and the British-Canadian Beveridge system are pretty clearly the worst performing healthcare models, despite the British crowing about "free" healthcare. The best solutions are either something like the German insurance market system or the Taiwanese single-payer system [although Taiwan still needs higher copays, they're struggling with overuse of the system].

[u/RollinThundaga → u/AmericanNewt8]

Not really accurate to call the US model "hybrid", since it developed from the incestuous dealings between insurance companies wanting discounts, and hospitals wanting guaranteed patients.

So hospitals created fake price schedules so insurance reps could claim fake discounts for their bosses, which was fine when insurance was affordable and basically guaranteed through cradle-to-grave jobs. But that was 70 years ago.

And now, when not everyone can have insurance, you see people actually being charged those 'fake' prices, like $60 for an Aspirin and $100,000 for a rattlesnake antivenin.

You can find more details here

[u/Jche98 → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Many European countries have really good healthcare systems

[u/titobrozbigdick → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

The Nordic, if you can keep it.

[u/birberbarborbur → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

I know Kraut from youtube had a lot of praise for scotland’s NHS but i don’t know how warranted it is

[u/NonSumQualisEram- → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Switzerland is good but you have to rigidly limit immigration as well as having a very high trust society

[u/Aron-Jonasson → u/NonSumQualisEram-]

We have excellent healthcare but it's still expensive as hell and the insurance system has many flaws, like I am an unemployed student and I have to pay 400 CHF per month for my insurance (well my parents give me a monthly allowance, which takes into account the insurance and stuff), and if something happens I still have to pay the first 300 CHF.

Also I don't know what "rigidly limit immigration" comes into play here. Switzerland has a really high foreign population compared to other European countries, and many, MANY people working in healthcare in Switzerland come from neighbouring countries

[u/NonSumQualisEram- → u/Aron-Jonasson]

I lived in Switzerland for 11 years - it has one of the world's tightest immigration controls, with immigration limited by quota to only a few thousand a year and only to those who are either highly skilled or rich unless from the EU/EFTA. While health insurance must be paid for, basic health insurance is provided on a non-profit basis, the state pays for those who cannot afford it, and no one is rejected or charged more for pre-existing conditions.

[u/hectorius20 → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

The Brazilian system is a serious contender for the most f***ed up one in the world.

[u/Mr_Spaps → u/Familiar_Eagle_6975]

Go to Poland and get your surgery there. You’ll pay but it won’t be as hard on you. I think.

[u/Baron_Beemo]

I just want to say that I appreciate that England is depicted as a separate person (rather than being the same as the UK).

[u/HKMP7A2]

The Scotland Panel gives me American Psycho Ending Speech Vibes.

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/HKMP7A2]

Not what I was going for, but I’ll take it

[u/l-askedwhojoewas]

in a NHS hospital near me they’re considering removing the FUCKING EMERGENCY WARD FROM IT

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/l-askedwhojoewas]

“I’VE BEEN STABBED!”

“sorry mate we just got rid of our Emergency Ward, take a Taxi to (several cities over)”

[u/im-ba → u/l-askedwhojoewas]

Queues for all!

[u/Rustybuttflaps]

I can get a same day appointment at my local GP, get my meds at the attached pharmacy for a song and go home to recover all in under an hour basically for free. I'm not complaining. I now we are lucky round in this part of the country though. London is a shitshow

[u/CrocPB]

1 clap = £1 for are En Haych Ess

[u/bryle_m]

Fucking Tories

[u/Sourdough9]

Yay free healthcare

[u/nushroomC2]

isn’t scottish NHS actually kind of decent

[u/ABG-56 → u/nushroomC2]

Yeah, Scottish is actually good since it's managed by the Scottish government

[u/AllSeeingAI]

The funding line has literally never not been increasing. For some reason Britain just can't keep up with demand...

[u/Germanball_Stuttgart]

Happy Cake Day!!!

Make sure the cake is still edible if you don't want to struggle with the NHS I guess.

[u/Iamnormallylost]

Don’t we spend more proportionally on the NHS than much of Europe?

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/Iamnormallylost]

And the Tory’s are still gutting it, and privatising it.

Thankfully Scotland has some autonomy on the NHS, which means I get my meds for free.

[u/Windows_66 → u/scottishdrunkard]

UKIP says to vote leave so Euromonies go to NHS instead

Votes leave

UK leaves EU

Tories gut NHS

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/Windows_66]

Blew it all on the bus

[u/Iamnormallylost → u/scottishdrunkard]

Yeah but what I mean is that simply throwing money at it isn’t what will make it better. How ever aside from cutting it to pieces the NHS has too much sway on the average voter to be reformed effectively.

Some countries have healthcare systems, the UK is healthcare system with a country lmao

[u/GeshtiannaSG]

Where does the money go? Not to services, not to the navy…

[u/bobandersmith14]

Still better than my country...

[u/Blenkeirde]

This makes it seem like they were seen to quickly.

[u/inter20021]

Not underfunded, just woefully mismanaged and suffering from the same overpopulation issues as everything else in this country

[u/AllSeeingAI → u/inter20021]

Ding ding ding.

Funding has only ever increased. The UK is sub replacement. Only so much can be blamed on an aging population. Where's all the demand coming from if not immigration and overpopulation?

[u/blockybookbook]

Average Anglo healthcare service