Is the NHS still "Fit for purpose"

Trained care navigators - are you being serious Keith?

Crabby really awful and I do hope things get sorted and as soon as possible.

There are too few doctors, too few nurses and too few doctors who have received the highest possible training in the UK.

I also think we should get rid of free at the point of use. No, I don't mean going to a fully private system like in the US. But a system where those (like doctors for example) who can easily afford to pay a contribution do so - particularly for things like GP appointments. We should also learn from our neighbours like France, Germany and Belgium - how does their system work? I have heard it works better than ours and also isn't always free at the point of use.

I would happily pay £20 or £30 if I new I would get *up to* 20 minutes with a doc. In general if the NHS really was "world class" with highly trained specialists working in modern hospitals with the latest kit there's no doubt I would pay a bit extra. I'm not talking about lump sums like the 4K mentioned - that should be free (national insurance anyone?) IMO but GP appointments is a really obvious start.

yes that is what they are referred to as "you will soon be put through to a trained care navigator who will direct you to the right person" basically they decide who you will see, I seriously think it's a major flaw, one issue is that some ( and I have a friend in the group ) know what to say to get an urgent appointment he got one same day recently because he'd got pain in his thumb that had started that day, meanwhile I waited over a week with knee pain that was making it almost impossible to walk and I'd already waited 2 weeks in the hope it would get better without intervention.

So, has the new government made the system worse? or just some people got some paid rise working in the NHS?

Doctors are overpaid and there are not enough of them.

That graph would be more interesting if it actually showed their pay over time vs the pay of the poor sods like trained care navigators who get peanuts. Even nurses are paid very little compared to the fat cat doctors.

Doctors are so overpaid there is a recruitment crisis in the NHS

Because the BMA has for years limited the number that can be trained, thus ensuring a shortage and enabling it's members to demand higher wages

No, the BMA want the number increased. The last government refused.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62594141

BMA reaction to the temporary Covid increase: www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/bma-says-increased-medical-school-places-are-welcomed-but-funding-must-be-found-for-extra-clinical-placements

The last government also did all they could to make foreign-national doctors unwelcome, as well as make many UK-born doctors leave the country as soon as they could, hence a skills drain at both ends...