Spot-on again Leah. One of the most egregious examples of privatised public heath is the USA, where their National Institute of Health estimates that 20% of all adults and 15% of all children are uninsured. But the ever-increasing costs of medicines and treatment have resulted in many insurance companies capping payouts to claimants and in some cases excluding certain medical conditions. The result has been that some people find out the hard way that they aren't covered although they've been paying for it. There's also clear evidence on a per capita basis that combined costs (public and private) are significantly lower in UK's NHS than in the US System.
A number of years ago a specific case caught all the headlines: a Scottish-born and -educated surgeon was leaving the hospital in California (if memory serves me) where he worked, when someone staggered into the lobby with a knife sticking out of his body. Hospital security would not admit the victim because he couldn't prove he could pay for treatment and were trying to dump him back onto the street. The surgeon intervened and said he personally would pay for it and carry out all the necessary procedures. He went back up to theatre, rounded up nurses etc to help, removed the knife and carried out all the procedures to make the patient safe. Once that was done and he was sure the patient would be properly looked after, he went back to Reception and wrote a resignation letter. His reason was that he no longer wanted to live in a country where profit came before human life. Once the patient was successfully treated and released, and once the surgeon had completed his contract, he returned to Scotland and worked in the NHS in the Glasgow area.
We must not permit our NHS to be sold off, like so many of our other public assets, for private profit. Once dismantled, it could never be reinstated. Privatised medical companies have financed Tory and Labour MPs as well as the parties themselves with very substantial funding for many years. In their eyes they've already bought the NHS. We mustn't let them complete the purchase and most importantly, we have to make our views very public and very clear; by taking to the streets if necessary.
Sorry, Leah, I don't remember but think it was probably in the 1980s or 90s as I was working intermittently in the USA in those decades and taking an interest in US stories in the papers here when I was back home. In those days my daily read was the Glasgow Herald, so I suspect its archives should have something. I'm aware that Paisley Central Library has been doing some work on indexing Herald (and other West of Scotland newspaper) articles in its Heritage Dep't. I'll ask my wife if she can shed any more light on it as she was aware of it at the time.
EngLabCons, the party of PFI scams, plunged Scotland into £billions of debt with their scams when at helm for TEN years at Holyrood, still having to be paid by Scotland to this day and in some cases far as I know the buildings, some not built well at all, will still be private owned! They really are the biggest CONS in the UK aren't they, and god help us if Scotland votes more than one of them in on Thursday. EngLabCons will take Scotland back decades and they will remove even some of the minimum powers from Holyrood, also one of first things Starmer will do, sign away our childrens' lives by forcing them to fight in a proxy war, that's my prediction I hope I am wrong.
Thanks Leah, so much to keep up with even aside the GE.
Rabbie Burns must have been able to see into the future. LabCons branch office operating in Scotland, really are a 'parcel of rogues' aren't they.
Spot-on again Leah. One of the most egregious examples of privatised public heath is the USA, where their National Institute of Health estimates that 20% of all adults and 15% of all children are uninsured. But the ever-increasing costs of medicines and treatment have resulted in many insurance companies capping payouts to claimants and in some cases excluding certain medical conditions. The result has been that some people find out the hard way that they aren't covered although they've been paying for it. There's also clear evidence on a per capita basis that combined costs (public and private) are significantly lower in UK's NHS than in the US System.
A number of years ago a specific case caught all the headlines: a Scottish-born and -educated surgeon was leaving the hospital in California (if memory serves me) where he worked, when someone staggered into the lobby with a knife sticking out of his body. Hospital security would not admit the victim because he couldn't prove he could pay for treatment and were trying to dump him back onto the street. The surgeon intervened and said he personally would pay for it and carry out all the necessary procedures. He went back up to theatre, rounded up nurses etc to help, removed the knife and carried out all the procedures to make the patient safe. Once that was done and he was sure the patient would be properly looked after, he went back to Reception and wrote a resignation letter. His reason was that he no longer wanted to live in a country where profit came before human life. Once the patient was successfully treated and released, and once the surgeon had completed his contract, he returned to Scotland and worked in the NHS in the Glasgow area.
We must not permit our NHS to be sold off, like so many of our other public assets, for private profit. Once dismantled, it could never be reinstated. Privatised medical companies have financed Tory and Labour MPs as well as the parties themselves with very substantial funding for many years. In their eyes they've already bought the NHS. We mustn't let them complete the purchase and most importantly, we have to make our views very public and very clear; by taking to the streets if necessary.
Do you know who that Scottish surgeon was? What a testimonial it would be if he could speak out now.
Sorry, Leah, I don't remember but think it was probably in the 1980s or 90s as I was working intermittently in the USA in those decades and taking an interest in US stories in the papers here when I was back home. In those days my daily read was the Glasgow Herald, so I suspect its archives should have something. I'm aware that Paisley Central Library has been doing some work on indexing Herald (and other West of Scotland newspaper) articles in its Heritage Dep't. I'll ask my wife if she can shed any more light on it as she was aware of it at the time.
EngLabCons, the party of PFI scams, plunged Scotland into £billions of debt with their scams when at helm for TEN years at Holyrood, still having to be paid by Scotland to this day and in some cases far as I know the buildings, some not built well at all, will still be private owned! They really are the biggest CONS in the UK aren't they, and god help us if Scotland votes more than one of them in on Thursday. EngLabCons will take Scotland back decades and they will remove even some of the minimum powers from Holyrood, also one of first things Starmer will do, sign away our childrens' lives by forcing them to fight in a proxy war, that's my prediction I hope I am wrong.
Thanks Leah, so much to keep up with even aside the GE.
well said Leah