Comments by "TJ Marx" (@tjmarx) on "Nurses describe pressures that prompted unprecedented strikes" video.

  1. "people think it's about pay, but it's really about conditions... people need to put food on the table and the cost of living crisis has affected so many people. I think that was the breaking point" ...so it's about pay. "I earn above average pay and I can't afford to turn on lights and I can only heat my house for an hour a day." Above average pay, demanding even higher pay. Completely ignorant to the reality of what they'll do to inflation. Completely ignorant to the reality that the UK is bankrupt and can't be funded with anything additional. I don't think when Chris Hopsin says he knows they need to transform the NHS that he means in the same what the bipartisan politicians know it needs to be reformed. Reforming the NHS in the way it needs to be will mean jobs, fewer rights for employees and cut services. NHS reform is about making the NHS affordable to try to fill in some of that £500M p.a hole in the national budget.
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  2.  @franciscouderq1100  I'm sorry but no. Your meme reply is an embarrassment. The people at the top aren't the problem. The entire system as it's currently set up and the services it provides however are. A reformed NHS will mean the average citizen will pay an out of pocket fee to see a GP. Some services, such as dental, will need to be scrapped altogether for all but those on the lowest income bracket. It's going to mean a complete restructuring of how hospitals operate. But amongst all that, with a few exceptions, the people at the top aren't going anywhere. They're at the top for a very good reason, they need to be there to make things work. It is untrue that they're "all financiers". None are. Some are business/economics people, but others come from healthcare and facilities. Running even a small medical clinic isn't just throwing endless money at people's problems until they get better. It's using a finite amount of cash in the most efficient and effective way possible to achieve the best outcomes possible in that funding level. Currently the NHS is stretched too far for the funding it receives to provide quality care. However that funding is already several hundred million pounds too much and in a context of a bankrupt economy that is aging. The country has a £500M deficit in the annual budget, that means the country has to borrow money just to pay for existing services. That's happening in the context of an aging population, that means there's more older people whom need health services and far fewer young people paying taxes than necessary to finance it. Those people whom are paying taxes are paying exceptionally low tax rates too. The reality is the UK in it's current state cannot continue. Regardless who gets in at the next election reforms across all services and the tax code are coming, they have to in order to avoid economic collapse. That's going to mean higher taxes, services delivery in very different ways and some services either no longer available or user co-pay.
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