NHS Wales Prescriptions
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Posts
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The NHS in Wales is under pressure for all sorts of reasons and if we want it to continue it will have to be looked at very closely. It seems that very soon, control over revenue raising will be devolved across the UK and it will be up to we in Wales how to set about ensuring the NHS principle survives.
Whilst it might make us feel good to blame the austerity situation on the usual suspects, this line will not help us over time, especially with an aging population. Tax raising powers in Wales will have to be used very shrewdly and we don’t want a France scenario here (with the economy going backwards under the tax burden). W will have to encourage enterprise in Wales and already we have very few large companies operating here.
On a practical basis, we need to look at the range of things that are actually funded free by the NHS in Wles. Already, dental charges apply for many dental matters, and the free prescription idea has to be debated. I am surprised that the Car Parking question hasn’t had more debate because free Car Parking was not something that Aneurin Bevan meant when he talked about the NHS free at the point……Personally, I don’t think that the NHS ought to be stumping up for drink and drug fuelled excess (and the aftermath) when Cancer patients are not allowed key drugs, whilst the non-attendance question ought to be aired more vocally. I would like to see more Skyping of Doctors on routine questions and I am sure that there are many other matters that could be looked at without abandoning the NHS principles
@Alunh 17025 wrote:
The NHS in Wales is under pressure for all sorts of reasons and if we want it to continue it will have to be looked at very closely. It seems that very soon, control over revenue raising will be devolved across the UK and it will be up to we in Wales how to set about ensuring the NHS principle survives.
Whilst it might make us feel good to blame the austerity situation on the usual suspects, this line will not help us over time, especially with an aging population. Tax raising powers in Wales will have to be used very shrewdly and we don’t want a France scenario here (with the economy going backwards under the tax burden). W will have to encourage enterprise in Wales and already we have very few large companies operating here.
On a practical basis, we need to look at the range of things that are actually funded free by the NHS in Wles. Already, dental charges apply for many dental matters, and the free prescription idea has to be debated. I am surprised that the Car Parking question hasn’t had more debate because free Car Parking was not something that Aneurin Bevan meant when he talked about the NHS free at the point……Personally, I don’t think that the NHS ought to be stumping up for drink and drug fuelled excess (and the aftermath) when Cancer patients are not allowed key drugs, whilst the non-attendance question ought to be aired more vocally. I would like to see more Skyping of Doctors on routine questions and I am sure that there are many other matters that could be looked at without abandoning the NHS principles
Whilst I don’t really disagree a lot with the end gain in what you are saying, it still comes down to choices and all the choices you are mentioning are down to sacrifices if you want to call them that of the ordinary person is expected to make, as I like to call them, for others bad judgments.
for e’g. I don’t know the exact specifics but apparently the NHS in Wales is and has been badly run for years, long before free prescriptions etc.What about all the choices that governments/councils/trusts or whoever make as to where to spend the money in the first place…
I go back to the deficit/financial crash did the ordinary person in the street cause that ? but he/she is expected to pick up the tab..
Good points AlunH. The car parking is a great example. In Shrewsbury they charge you, unfortunately it’s managed by a private company, it’s exorbitant and designed to extract the maximum amount from visitors. The machines are quite complicated, so if your not sharp, you get stung.
I would like to see charging at the Maelor, at a low level, so that it covers the cost of managing it, and allows profit to be re-invested. The problem is all the NHS Trusts seem to want to do is “Out-Source” stuff like this, it then becomes profit led and that really winds up the paying public..
The first 100 cars per day at £1 charge, pay’s for two persons to manage a simple pay and display….and so on. The rest is profit.
@MP1953 17026 wrote:
Whilst I don’t really disagree a lot with the end gain in what you are saying, it still comes down to choices and all the choices you are mentioning are down to sacrifices if you want to call them that of the ordinary person is expected to make, as I like to call them, for others bad judgments.
for e’g. I don’t know the exact specifics but apparently the NHS in Wales is and has been badly run for years, long before free prescriptions etc.What about all the choices that governments/councils/trusts or whoever make as to where to spend the money in the first place…
I go back to the deficit/financial crash did the ordinary person in the street cause that ? but he/she is expected to pick up the tab..
Whatever country that you look at and whatever system you note, you will see errors being made and waste. Unfortunately, we are where we are. We need to concentrate on the future and people have the opportunity to vote and change where they feel necessary.
On your broader point…..yes. The ordinary person in the street did cause the deficit…..not in any malicious way. I lost count of the amount of times I heard people say that the bubble would burst, yet the man in the street has demanded more and more from government for years, all without trying to work out where it comes from. The man in the street was borrowing to the max, multiple credit cards, expecting public sector pensions that would have been unheard of a few generations ago, and so on. On another thread, I note that Benjamin was trying to make a reasonable point about Car Parking charges (where shoppers run over their time). Have we got to the point where we expect to park for free on a Car Park that is run by a private operator and merely flout the rules (which are designed with the convenience of the genuine shopper in mind). Surely it is time that we accept, if we want great things like the NHS that we have to run things properly, levy charges where necessary and collectively get real.
@Alunh 17029 wrote:
Whatever country that you look at and whatever system you note, you will see errors being made and waste. Unfortunately, we are where we are. We need to concentrate on the future and people have the opportunity to vote and change where they feel necessary.
On your broader point…..yes. The ordinary person in the street did cause the deficit…..not in any malicious way. I lost count of the amount of times I heard people say that the bubble would burst, yet the man in the street has demanded more and more from government for years, all without trying to work out where it comes from. The man in the street was borrowing to the max, multiple credit cards, expecting public sector pensions that would have been unheard of a few generations ago, and so on. On another thread, I note that Benjamin was trying to make a reasonable point about Car Parking charges (where shoppers run over their time). Have we got to the point where we expect to park for free on a Car Park that is run by a private operator and merely flout the rules (which are designed with the convenience of the genuine shopper in mind). Surely it is time that we accept, if we want great things like the NHS that we have to run things properly, levy charges where necessary and collectively get real.
Ummm I would love to see you go on a soap box in Queens square and tell everyone there that they were the cause of the deficit :) with regards to parking as has been discussed on here before no wonder Wrexham town is where it is today, sadly I might add …
That figure in the news is in England though, and has no bearing on the number of prescriptions handed out in Wales.
@BenjaminM 17002 wrote:
In the news today, 50% of women and 43% of men nationally, are on long term medication. That goes some way to explaining why the figure for prescriptions is high.
As far as English people coming over the border to have a prescription filled, that is unlikely as prescriptions issued in Wales have a small dragon printed on them, England obviously doesn’t.
On several occasions, I have presented a script issued in Birmingham and although I live in Wrexham, have been obliged to pay.@justjojo2011 17036 wrote:
That figure in the news is in England though, and has no bearing on the number of prescriptions handed out in Wales.
Unless we are of a different species here in Wales, I think that it is eminently reasonable to assume that those figures are highly likely to be reflected in Wales.
Or perhaps, on the other hand, it could that more people are on long term medication considering prescription medicines are free at the point of delivery. You know the old saying, ‘owt for nowt’@BenjaminM 17040 wrote:
Unless we are of a different species here in Wales, I think that it is eminently reasonable to assume that those figures are highly likely to be reflected in Wales.
Or perhaps, on the other hand, it could that more people are on long term medication considering prescription medicines are free at the point of delivery. You know the old saying, ‘owt for nowt’I don’t think anyone on prescription drugs would choose to be taking them.
@thunderbirdskid 17027 wrote:
The first 100 cars per day at £1 charge, pay’s for two persons to manage a simple pay and display….and so on. The rest is profit.
I’d love to know how you came to that figure. Even if you forget about the usual costs such as Employer’s NI and maintenance costs for the machines, you’re going to be paying those 2 people far less than minimum wage.
@AMA Express 17045 wrote:
I’d love to know how you came to that figure. Even if you forget about the usual costs such as Employer’s NI and maintenance costs for the machines, you’re going to be paying those 2 people far less than minimum wage.
OK 150 then…the point is the charge doesn’t have to be exorbitant. Especially as there is a constant source of visitors throughout the day.
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