howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
12 August 2009
19:1527052motormouth himself daniel hannan has been at it again.
today he was on US tv telling our cousins over there how useless our health service is.
reference to long waiting lists and illness survival rates were two of the subjects referred to.
how much time on his hands does he have?
what is an mep doing spouting off on a transatlantic programme?
how long is the holiday in the european parliament?
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
12 August 2009
22:0527058As 'useless' as our Health Service may seem to a Conservative MEP there is still treatment available for all. The US lacks this basic provision and in some areas - notably those inhabited by Hispanics - health care is only available if charities provide it.
I know where I'd rather be if I was ill.
Mark
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,698
12 August 2009
22:4827059My partner has had fantastic service from the NHS over the last 2 weeks, including a CAT scan, a MRI scan, X-Rays, blood tests etc. this has been coupled with truly wonderful staff both at our local GPs surgery and at WHH in Ashford.
As for me I have always had good service form the NHS.
Oh it has its faults, too many form fillers and bean counters, too few front line staff, resources wasted on policy rather than healthcare etc. but that is often the regular plight and failing of the state sector.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
12 August 2009
23:0627061ross
when push comes to shove, the nhs stands out.
from personal experience i know that the staff at the sharp end give an excellent and dedicated service.
of course there are many malingerers in the background.
i find it very dissapointing that one of our top mouthpieces goes abroad and slags it off.
the whole issue is over president obama,s plan to provide a health service to the less well off.
maybe mr hannan does not have to worry about small things like that?
Guest 658- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 660
12 August 2009
23:3527064Why cant they stop rabbiting and sort it out.
beer the food of the gods
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
13 August 2009
06:1227070The USA is having a debate about how to 'improve' their health service. Dan has a point, the NHS model is not one to copy, indeed no country has copied it since it started. Our NHS is desperately in need of reform and it is right to warn the Americans about the problems of such a system. The American system may need changing, I cant disagree with that, but not our way.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
13 August 2009
06:5827083I don't think Danial would go to the USA and just slag off the NHS, I'm sure this has been taken out of context.
I think we all agree that there are problems with the NHS that money itself will not cure and these are the things that do need changing.
A small example, is when Jean went into hospital in December '03 for her kidney transplant and stayed there, more or less, till the end of the following July because she kept getting "Hospital Acquired Infections".
The infections were so bad they killed the (new) kidney and so it had to come out again.
You could see the wards and toilets were filthy, but no one seemed to care; Consultants would check open wounds without wearing gloves, or cleaning their hands etc.
There must be many other examples of where improvements are needed, including funding.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
13 August 2009
19:1827147the conservatives have distanced themselves from the comments of mr hannan.
saying that he is merely giving his view, not the parties.
maybe it is time for boy dave to have a clamp down?
Ross Miller- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,698
13 August 2009
21:1827158Frankly I am sure he did just slag it off
I thought it was fantastic this afternoon, following some truly offensive comments about the NHS by Sarah Palin, so many UK people posted supportive tweets on twitter in response that their servers crashed. Shows that despite everything else the Brits actually like the NHS and will not tolerate foreigners slagging it off.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Sid Pollitt
13 August 2009
22:3827166How was this Daniel Heinous representing his constituents? Does he ever? But he'll misrepresent our country yet again.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
13 August 2009
22:4327167I dont Howard - I agree with Dan.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
14 August 2009
07:2927186BarryW you are way out on a Conservative limb on this one. The health debate is raging in the US as Barack Obama tries to introduce some sort of wider social health care there, as their system is abysmal. It needs reforming and it was one of Mr Obama's pledges to do something about it for the poorer members of society. But alas he cannot get the entrenched dinosaurs to move out of their comfort zone. Our NHS is a magnificent model of social medicine for the masses. As Ross said above about his partner, it gives great service when the chips are down, as Howard said too.
We all have experiences of how the NHS saved the day within our own families and that should not be forgotten. To hear it slagged off in the height of the American debate is very bad...now the stories abound thick and fast in the US about how awful our health service is, how we pull the plug on the elderly to save money and stuff like that, misrepresentation has hit the airwaves. All thanks to Daniel Hannan, who continues to spout very extreme and unfortunate stuff about the UK, as he does about his representation in Europe.
We all know the NHS is good, but we all know its not perfect. But when was anything ever perfect.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
14 August 2009
07:3727188Hooray barryw been found out again!!
Iv spent a lot of time like others within the NHS over the past year and have to say it is far superior to many countries.
It does need improvements in some areas, but its not a BAD model, but needs improving, with that can come cost!!
On ROGERS post about the Doctor I hope you reminfded him to wash his hands???
Soimetimes its about speaking out.
Good old DAN does it again, if you take the other posting regarding what other nationalities canb wear or do in Australia, then if Dan don't like the UK he could move abroad!!!!
I think everyone wants to see the NHS supported and improved thats the way forward
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
14 August 2009
11:2527204barryw,if you dont like the NHS try the medical services on the continet [europe] i am told you can replacement surgery 2 for the price of 1 over there,yes its commonly known as a bogof.
Sid Pollitt
14 August 2009
11:2727205I did say a while ago that Cameron would slap down the nasty members of his party, maybe this is the start. This Daniel Hangman has done our country a dis-service and it'll be interesting to see if he zips it as it seems that he uses his role as a platform for this showboating and little else.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
14 August 2009
12:1627207i think that mr cameron must be getting a bit cheesed off with his self publicising colleagues.
he has the next election in the bag if he can shut them up or get rid of them.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
14 August 2009
17:2727220Dan Hannan is a conviction politician who speaks the truth as he sees it, far too many are cowed by the system and political correctness. I find it amazing how people say they want honest politicians who speak the truth and as soon as one says something from the heart with which they disagree we see personal attacks on him.
We have to get away from this overreaction to anyone who critisises the NHS. It is this kind of over reaction that leave the NHS fossilised and inefficient. Any suggestion of radical reform or critisism and they are castigated and it is used as a political battering ram. It would be better for the UK health system if we had a honest debate about the NHS and listened to people like Dan and have an intelligent discussion.
I do agree with him. If we were in the USA's positon we would not have the NHS system now if we had any sense and as I said other countries were not foolish enough to copy what we did in 1947. Yes, Brian, I do have experience of the French system and it is excellent. We can learn a lot from how that works. It offers a far better service than the NHS and provides better results.
Sid - once again rather than participate in a sensible discussion you resort to the kind of pointless diatribe that I,mostly, these days just ignore. You just make a fool out of yourself with the way you are writing.
Sid Pollitt
14 August 2009
17:4827223What did you do in 1947 BarryW that was so foolish? The point I was makiing was that the new tories of d cameron said this week that they are the progessive party and they have been embassed, yet again, by the thatcherite nasty wing of the party that are far from progessive. Cameron has slapped d hannan down today for his unpatriotic comments on the nhs, that was formed in 1948 for those that dont know, and cameron descibed his backbench mep as having some quite eccentric views.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
14 August 2009
17:5227225hardly political corectness here.
this is the second time, to my knowledge he has slagged this country off abroad.
if he is a conviction politician why does he wear the blue colour?
why not stand as an ndependent?
silly me, he would not get elected and get access to huge wads of money.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
14 August 2009
18:1927228This debate on the NHS is a bit like the debate on immigration - as soon as you mention reform of the NHS, you get called names like unpatriotic etc.; the same as if you mention immigration, then you're called a racist.
Just because we differ on what should be done, doesn't make us unpatriotic or nasty - surely ?
Open up the debate, say what should or should not be done; most of us haven't got a real clue about how to run a bath, let alone a hospital.
Roger