The hypocrisy of the 'train our own' narrative on the NHS | LBC

[@conalcorbally3001]

I used to be a consultant in the NHS and following Brexit I got the "could a British person not be doing your job?" question a few times. I'm Irish. Don't think my old dept is fully staffed now so I guess No was the answer to that question!

[@terryyakamoto3488]

Come on youtube, can't we have British people commenting on here

[@davepangolin4996]

Things that didn’t happen

[@ThomasKing19933]

I genuinely don't understand how the Tories can look at this country and still not feel that they are the ones responsible for the terrible state of things.

[@kanedNunable]

they would need compassion, empathy and a conscience. none of which any tory has.

[@joe50111]

they know they’re responsible - but they’re making money off all their private ventures and dodgy contracts, and at the end of the day that’s all they care about, lining their own pockets

[@thejuiceking2219]

they want the nhs to be privatised, the way to do that is to run the nhs to the ground, making people dissatisfied enough that they decide a private system would be better, everyone caught up in it is merely a cost, a means justified by the ends

[@czgibson3086]

They know what damage they're doing. They simply do not care.

[@johnrussell3961]

They wouldn’t be Tories otherwise .

[@Sylindria]

In 2012 we celebrated the NHS during the Olympic Games, and in 2023 it's been shattered

[@chatham43]

...it's shattered and needs to be reformed......absolutely agree.

[@stevejam767]

2012 was still White Britain. Now it's Brexit Britain.

[@MrHsox]

I think Danny Boyle knew the writing was on the wall so made a bigger thing of it in the opening ceremony than he might have otherwise

[@SteveeeeeeeeeeeeeFB]

I'm currently watching from in Hospital. The staff on the ward are great. The nurses and doctors are superb. The government however.... They're not....

[@lawrencecuthbertson8539]

Get well soon mate

[@laurence2824]

One of the things which really sticks in my craw is my GP and hospital staff apologising that my hip-replacement is now more than a year overdue. It's not their fault; they're doing their best to swim against this government's hateful tide and certainly shouldn't be apologising. I'm pretty sure this government's step-by-step evisceration of the NHS is part of a conscious plan to establish a US of A-style healthcare system in the UK. Simply disgusting and deeply distressing!

[@stewie7338]

Reminder - James 'Silver Spoon' O'Brien supported shutting down the NHS for 2 1/2yrs for Covid.

[@apemoon1731]

I'm sure the strikes have made your wait shorter 👍🏻

[@laurence2824]

Actually they made it longer. My initial pre-op meeting happened to fall - quite coincidentally - on the first strike day. It was then re-scheduled to fall on what turned out to be the second strike day. On both occasions I reassured the NHS staff with whom I dealt that I wholeheartedly supported their strike-action and that they shouldn't worry. I actually think the NHS staff strike-action was very important and the staff's distress at having had to take such drastic steps was both affecting and troubling - these were clearly people at the end of their tether who hated doing what they felt they had no option but to do.

[@johnlewis9158]

NHS docrors played their part by gaslighted us all over the severity of the covid virus. Indeed doctors were as a matter course putting cause of death the virus on death certificates when the virus was not the cause of death. As one doctor put it yes people were dying with Covid but not from the effects of covid. Anyway it was subterfuge like this that forced the government to take the sort action they need not have taken.

[@chatham43]

...if that's what you want to think...doesn't necessarily make it true though.

[@dapfordvondappington8306]

There needs to be more than James calling this out. Imagine a world where the press holds people in power to account. Down with Murdoch and their ilk.

[@richardlewis7498]

well there has never been a press like the one you are talking about

[@dapfordvondappington8306]

@@richardlewis7498 About time we had one then!

[@zackbosher104]

James obrien is controlled opposition. The fact he headlines LBC and calls for MORE left wing policy tells you the direction the tories WANT to go.

[@aleph8888]

All the NHS strikes are destroying the NHS by the very people who claim to love it. How manipulative and malign. The country is stuck with a third rate healthcare system which is on strike for more 💰. So much for patients.

[@anthonyclarke4016]

forever blowing bubbles

[@JMHM3170]

Here in France, I fractured my Hip, late on a Sunday evening & had a replacement 3 days later. It would have been 2 days, but the Surgeon apologised, explaining that they'd been busy!

[@cmsacademy1673]

I travel to the continent often. Generally EVERYTHING is better there. Those who want to come to uk either don’t know the reality (when they do they go home) or want the equality of opportunity for work, the actual British values that once made us great. But the tories are committed to end that

[@bearnecessities9568]

So a trauma fracture isn't the same as waiting for an elective procedure. Gold standard time frame for a Neck of Femur fracture repair is 48 hours max pretty much world wide.

[@davidedwards1476]

Was there a cost for your treatment and operation to you ?

[@nullnull7495]

It's the same in the UK. 36hrs

[@chatham43]

....nice try...😊

[@ThomasKing19933]

Why won't the Tories take responsibility for the mess they've put us in?

[@kanedNunable]

why would they when they can lie and 25% of us believe them

[@PastaSauce.]

That would admit they are wrong. It’s impossible for them.

[@Kwippy]

For the last 13 years the British people voted Tory. You get the government you deserve.

[@JottoHearthStone]

@@Kwippy unfortunately our voting system is massively messed up, so we've had minority rule for over 100 years. At no point have the majority of british people wanted this gov, but our system means that we have got them over and over again.

[@raphaelsainte-claire4861]

what did they do wrong?

[@birdinthebush]

Three months I waited for a hernia op, which then was cancelled due to Covid (fair enough) then cancelled again and then was told that because I had been in the waiting list for "too long" I had to start the whole process again by going back to my GP to book another meet with the surgeon. I was a Spanish front line health professional until then. I decided to give up work, give up UK, retire and come back home. I went to see my Spanish GP and was operated a month later. Tories have turned Britain into a third rate unlivable plutocracy. 😢

[@aleph8888]

In the US you would have had surgery within a month. The Brits are just jealous so they have lie and lie about US healthcare.

[@blueband8114]

No not fair enough, part of the problem is we basically came to a halt for 2yrs.

[@birdinthebush]

@@blueband8114 the pandemic was Global. We had the pandemic in Spain too.

[@TrevorSturman]

I've now been waiting for my surgery for over 3 years (originally was going to be in March 2020). I've had multiple consultations though as they keep running out before I have my surgery. But apparently as I have had at least a consultation, I am not classed as being on the waiting list. If 7.6 million are on the list, how many more are in my situation

[@adriankirkwood1785]

Recruitment and Retention. How many times have various conservative government ministers told the UK public that the leaders of banks and financial institutions DESERVE their obscenely huge salaries and bonuses because it is the only way to (a) attract people of an appropriate calibre and experience and/or (b) stop current incumbents from moving abroad to take up better paid positions? That logic doesn't seem to be applied to medical staff .... in fact, quite the reverse.

[@bigjo66]

You see, to the conservative mindset financial incentives for the well off must always mean ever bigger payouts, because they already have the power. But for the Poors the incentive is to leave them as close to the breadline as possible so they don't dare speak out, and be grateful for the pittance they are given.

[@seanusmcmaximus]

I had a uretic stent put in last september because i had a kidney stone blocking the ureter to the bladder from kidney. I was told 3 months and then i would be back to normal. This required laser stone treatment and also another session to remove the stent. It took over 8 months in the end. I had to ring up over and over and chase up my own operations. For months i couldnt walk more than 30 mins without peeing blood..constant pain..no heavy lifting..couldnt really relax. Now im past it i see the whole world differently. I dont want to but i hate everyone now.

[@dandan3045]

Remember when they say, at least it’s not Jeremy Corbyn! Yeah, it’s much much much worse.

[@Joe-og6br]

Corbyn was deeply unpopular. He came across as a complete joke and you can't blame the media for that.

[@swanchamp5136]

​@@Joe-og6brwould that be the media that savaged him every chance they got because he said he wanted yo tax non doms like the media barrens?

[@Pushing_Pixels]

@@Joe-og6br He came a lot closer to winning than anyone expected him to, or that the other leadership candidates could've, so not as unpopular as commonly claimed.

[@shaunwarren8042]

I had an urgent referral from my GP to the hernia clinic, have been waiting 7 months to see the consultant have another 3 months to wait now if they don't postpone it again. When I was. living in Japan, it took 2 weeks to get my hip replaced. once they decided it needed to be done. That was also at the height of covid. The Japanese health system did not collapse

[@Loneman_OG]

It's outrageous, isn't it?! The thing is, it hasn't collapsed; it's been purposely run into the ground by the Tories. Their mission to finally completely privatise the NHS will soon be handed over to Sir Kid Starver and his Shadow Health minister, Less Treating, along with a few other Shadow Ministers who've been wined and dined by the US "Healthcare" industry.

[@owenokane9643]

The English were warned about electing the Tories, time and time again, but they still gave them an 80 seat majority. Reap what you sow.

[@middleman9183]

well the alternative was Corbyn - what do you expect

[@frobo223]

​@middleman9183 you mean the man who wanted to better the country, yeah, made your bed lay in it.

[@nigelbenn4642]

yep agreed

[@middleman9183]

@@frobo223 No, I mean the man that was seen as weak, indecisive, lacking in patriotism, had "apparent terrorist sympathies", failed to deal with antisemitism, was "excessively left-wing" and unsuitable to lead the country.

[@jonlinin9682]

Remember - the majority of voters opposed the Tories in the last election.

[@EGF1000]

*The 9 waiting list waiting list.* For orthopaedic procedures, (1) you first need to get a GP appointment. Two weeks. Then you need to prevail upon a GP paid money not to refer you to refer you to physio. (2) 7 weeks. (3) Then you need 6 weeks of physio appointments doing exercises, generally spread over 3 months. After this obvious fail, the physio needs to refer you to (4) a senior muscular-skeletal person. If you're lucky, a month or two. This individual needs to refer you for (5) an MRI. 6 weeks to two months. (6) Then you need to wait for a diagnosis. As the scan will most probably be done by a private tory chum's business, you could get your diagnosis in three weeks. After this, the individual that referred you for the scan needs to (finally)refer you to (7) an orthopaedic clinic. This could take months... As a new patient, you will be seen by a registrar. The registrar will decide if you need a procedure. At this point you will go on a waiting list to see (8) a consultant. The consultant will then (hopefully) put you on (9) the waiting list for a procedure. After 14 months of agony with a shoulder injury that keeps me awake at night, I will finally see the surgeon about the procedure. And then I will go on the real waiting list. No wonder the outcomes are so bad, and the NHS is the worst health service in Europe. Then I have had bad stuff too

[@Pushing_Pixels]

As a country with public healthcare, you get what you pay for. Public, universal healthcare is by far the most efficient and cost-effective way to provide healthcare. But it still comes with a cost, and if the government fails to invest in it properly it will fail. The Tory's pathological hatred of any service being government run, as opposed to putting profits into (their mate's) private hands, is the reason they have deliberately chosen to underfund healthcare for over a decade. It's blatant sabotage, and all of this unnecessary suffering is their objective, not a side effect. Run it into the ground in order to "discredit" public healthcare. Hold up your hands and exclaim "Nothing can be done!... unless, of course, you don't mind paying more out of pocket, in which case our friends in the private sector will happily speed things along for you". They are paving the way for a "hybrid-system", in which public healthcare is reduced to a residual arrangement, solely for those that cannot pay. For everyone who can pay, expect to pay through the nose.

[@darrenengland6269]

£350,000,000 a week to the nhs should have meant better pay for Doctors. But because £350,000,000 a week extra to the nhs was actually a complete lie, it is the nhs' staff fault that the waiting list is now so high. I suppose it will be everyone elses fault but Rishi's if the next headlines are Doctors who are starving and homeless. While the economy is failing because nobody has enough money to spend any.

[@stookful]

​@@jimmagspanton669nonsense. The budget has only increased by 240 million. Most of this has been taken up by inflationary pressures, government incompetence and dodgy deals. There is less spent per capita than before brexshit.

[@blinkin78]

@@jimmagspanton669are you honestly trying to claim the nhs budget has gone up by 350 *a week* from where it was?

[@richardlewis7498]

​@@blinkin78yep definate

[@sisuguillam5109]

​@@jimmagspanton669oh, dear.. seriously?

[@sisuguillam5109]

​@@richardlewis7498What does that word mean?

[@TheBillaro]

I am a Canadian with British parents and a British passport and I love the UK dearly, but it's in such a state that I will not return. I live in Asia and the people here who used to want to work in the UK don't anymore because conditions are far better out here. if I have any problem medically, I can see a doctor within minutes. If I need a heart scan, or let's say to check a mole for cancer, I can do it on the day or the next day. medical care is so fundamental. why would I come back to the UK to raise a family?

[@TheBillaro]

@JwW-zt2dj your comment? tis indeed.

[@pimketss]

Where in asia? Its a big place with vastly different healthcare systems of greatly different quality. If you live in Japan or Singapore sure i bet healthcare is better but it was better 15 years ago aswell, if you live in the jungle of celebes or rural Iran, no its not gonna be even close. Let alone you being able to see a docter in minutes (i think we both know thats an exageration anyway)

[@TheBillaro]

@@pimketss 1. no exaggeration. 2. Taiwan. 3. ........

[@TheBillaro]

@@pimketss you wait 8 hours in emerg. im seen in ten min max. i've been. i know.

[@terrencehook2031]

Pre Covid, my wife needed an urgent infusion for a serious problem. The consultant told us there was 3 to 4 week wait. I told him I would appreciate information on how to get it done quicker by paying. The same man did it 4 days later in a private hospital.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

Shame on him, but more shame on the government.

[@TAG-DOMINATOR]

Why don't you buy your mum a bungalow to save her struggling up/down the stairs? Are you poor? Why are you letting your mum struggle?

[@AliceWatts-d3v]

How anyone can say the tories haven’t decimated the NHS is beyond believe-thank-you for saying it how it is

[@johnrussell3961]

The waiting list started to climb in 2012, after the Tories introduced the market that year. Tory policy in so many areas was failing that by 2015 they decided to distract us with Brexit. And the failing policies continued to fail. Now waiting lists are back to those in 1997.

[@jamescole8771]

I Will Never Vote For The Labour Party

[@chatham43]

......the NHS has been struggling for decades...it's an outmoded model which desperately requires reform...the disastrous lockdown compounded the problem....politicising it demeans the issue that we all must face...throwing more taxpayers money at the NHS will make negligible difference.

[@johnrussell3961]

@@chatham43 . The issue is the biggest generation we have ever had needs its help how. Reform should have happened in the 1980’s when they where still working and we had oil money.

[@richardlewis7498]

so its nothing to do with the top heavy box ticking management in the NHS. well if it is govt fault then get rid of the higher levels of NHS bosses which could be used for more care assistants porters and nurses

[@daveb9551]

Listening to Sunak's comment, blaming the GP's and nurses strikes for the mounting hospital waiting lists, one can only assume that there was not any waiting lists before the strikes, just when you think it could not be any worse after Johnson and Truss, Sunak turns up.

[@greamespens1460]

I know of an ex nurse who would like to go back into nursing but cannot afford the training. Why can't they be trained?

[@AnthonyBarry-q1i]

I still can't understand why so many people still want to see the Tories in government nearly all people will have some member of their family who will want some NHS help at sometime and yet people are still prepared to allow the Conservatives to trash out best asset the health service free at the point of delivery.

[@chatham43]

...they are aware of the horrifying alternative...

[@wephilips6651]

Because the tories hate or at least pay lip service to hate all the people they hate

[@wephilips6651]

@@chatham43lol

[@swanchamp5136]

​@chatham43 the people telling you the alternative is worse just happen to be the ones making things worse right now. It's like you are being robbed and you believe the robber when he tells you if you trust the policeman trying to help you it will get worse.

[@emtaylor597]

​@@chatham43Your that guy who has three biscuits and believe Rupert Murdoch (who has a box of biscuits) when he tells you that the disabled person or the refugee with one biscuit is trying to steal one of your biscuits.

[@TheCricketumpire]

I've been put on a waiting list for Orthopaedic surgery. 1 1/2 years for ankle surgery and a year for hip surgery.

[@brekerr]

I'm a teacher and I just found out what I would be earning in Aussie. I'm startng the paper work.

[@barbarahalkyard1901]

And everything is double the price.

[@Silver-st2zq]

​@@barbarahalkyard1901Less morons and better weather?

[@neilm3955]

​@@barbarahalkyard1901Just back from a trip to Oz. Trust me, Aussie teachers have far more disposable income.

[@kedzior1991]

Don't even get me started on mental health care

[@joemulhall5202]

Interesting piece James. Live in Ireland but spent 10 years working in the UK in the 1990's. Here in Ireland we have waiting lists for medical treatment too, have trained doctors and nurses in our own colleges for well over 100 years and a fair chunk ended up working in the UK health system in that time...not unusual to see the role of a nurse in a UK hospital tv drama played by an actor with an Irish accent as testament to that ! However I had reason to be admitted to my local hospital in Kilkenny and was cared for by a nurse with an English accent who had moved to Ireland from London. Could be a one off exception, but I wonder if our HSE (Irish health service) is poaching disenchanted NHS staff ? With the Common Travel Area arrangements no visa needed for a UK citizen to live and work in Ireland.

[@ozzya9977]

Youre not imagining it. They are. The recruitment ads we get sent from Irish headhunters is very real. And fair enough for anyone who wants to go, it's getting tough here now, so why not go where you're treated with a bit less disdain

[@roc7880]

Those Brits taking Irish jobs...

[@garyminton8415]

"When I was at boarding school" Sit on your privileged pedestal, and tell us plebs what to think.

[@JohnSmith-ji6lu]

Gary you appear to be one of the brightest and the best. Would you like to meet up with me sometime?

[@kennethvenezia4400]

It pains me to say it, but the tory government has been third-worlding Britain for 20 years. My British cousins, you truly deserve better. I know it doesn't help, but my heart goes out to the poor and the working class bc those are the only classes that shoulder the austerity. At the rate things are going, there will be more austerity put upon these people.

[@chatham43]

...not helped by the disastrous lockdown I'm sure you would .agree....which fuelled inflation and disproportionately affects the poor....

[@chatham43]

...obviously never been to a third world country...they would love to live in a country like ours...

[@lezdrake3629]

Labour will do the same they're all part of the same UN agenda 2030 club the decision in which direction the country goes have already been made, neither party will do anything for the people it's all about the 1 world government headed by unelected bankers, we signed onto it in 1992

[@spencer2721]

They have only been in power 13 years, how does your 20 years work? The slow decline of this country happened 25 years ago when Mr Tony Blair got in power goaded by his wife to exponentially increase our population without any planning at all because they equated this to economic growth. GDP may have gone up by the rich are the only ones who have benefited & the standard of living for most people has decreased dramatically!

[@Pushing_Pixels]

More like 45 years.

[@BigAlCapwn]

10 years ago my mum had a hip replacement...[brain kicks into gear and reminds him the Tories were in power in 2013].....No! It must have been about 15 years ago

[@ollyglenday6561]

Why has mp’s pay risen £20000 in the last 10 years I’m an electrician my pay hasn’t, my daughter is a nurse hers hasn’t, my partner is a nursery nurse hers hasn’t, why don’t our jobs have a independent pay review

[@GraemeRoberts]

Throughout my life, I've needed successive surgeries to correct a complex disfigurement. I'm 37 now and have been having surgeries since the age of 16 (my total number is well into double figures). I've been treated under both Labour and the Tories and had to wait too long under each, but it's getting worse, not better. For the most recent procedure (June 2022) it got to almost 2 years of waiting before they operated on a Sunday - no doubt this was to ensure I didn't become part of an unwanted statistic. I can't fault the actual care of the NHS at any stage - always professional and doing their best with increasingly limited resources. My extensive experience as a patient tells me the NHS desperately needs more funding. You simply cannot treat more patients with fewer doctors and nurses. Sure, there are some "efficiency savings" you can make but it doesn't change the fundamental fact that you need staff and available beds to treat patients, especially those who require surgery. Thank you, NHS - you deserve so much better from our inept politicians.

[@jamespaul6315]

Its funny as well they talk about looking after “our own” first…but ask those same people what they think of people here on benefits. See how that community spirit just overcomes them

[@evolassunglasses4673]

What evidence of this?

[@evolassunglasses4673]

Old Labour is anti immigration and pro community

[@DCDPM]

Correct

[@IndigoWhiskey]

evo, you're on about a country where benifits street is a tv show, the suffering of those systematically abandoned by sociopathic dismantling of society's infrastructure made public viewing for entertainment purposes. its almost as sick as the Colosseum when you actually bother to think about it. what? you think apathy to those less fortunate is new? you were so apathetic you need more than a cry for help to acknowledge a problem. even if a cry for help its really about what they say it is that doesn't mean it isn't a cry for help. some Samaritan you'd make.

[@tednindo6761]

100%

[@Bushwacker-mb6hw]

Exactly train our own not rocket science

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

Offer adequate pay and free scholarships to the worthy!

[@johnwelch5132]

‘I had immediate NHS treatment. I was lucky from A&E. NHS. I’m genuinely pleased about your mother. ‘James O’Brien’s Mum’ sounds like a Half Man Half Biscuit song, but in all seriousness this was great to hear. I was lucky, but would’ve been happy to wait. I’m on the side of the nurses and you James. Thank you as always for educating listeners.

[@peter9162]

In an aging society, you're ALWAYS going to need migration to fill vacancies in essential services. There aren't enough people being born in the UK to attend to our increasing care needs. By all means, offer more training in the UK, but anyone arguing that we need to stop or deter migration into the UK either doesn't live in reality or is making an argument for a longer waiting list and lower quality care.

[@BOZ_11]

that's abject BS, since the backlog was much smaller under labour, back in 2010, which is not even a generation ago

[@perrystone879]

That’s an AWFUL waitlist. Thanks for a Tory government!

[@TheLampini]

People forget so easily that a few years ago it was our OWN homeless who were being scapegoated - ask a homeless person - THEY remember!

[@Philip5478]

They just cycle through minority groups.

[@basher5013]

As a retired person who worked in the PFI contacting industry, and previously a NHS hospital Engineer I pass on a few points. A large number of PFI contracts are coming to an end and I think as the NHS takes control of the hospital infrastructure we will see a big decline in the maintenance of the facilities, due to diverting maintenance budgets. Previous to pfi our hospitals in the main were not maintained to the standard they should have been, that is why a number of them were in a deplorable state.

[@nicbobags8241]

True - same for schools

[@cosmos237]

The task destruction of the NHS bashan with the pivot to PFI. A brilliant wheeze for diverting public money into the private sector. This something else to them pony Tony for, that and millions dead in the middle East...

[@Pushing_Pixels]

Long-term, chronic underfunding will do that.

[@JohnSmall314]

"train our own" in other words young people who didn't vote for Brexit and don't want Brexit should be made to do the jobs that foreign citizens used to do before Brexit. Young people did not vote for Brexit, young people do not want Brexit, so forcing them to do the jobs that EU citizens used to do before Brexit is not going to appeal to them. The other problem is the phrase "our own", who is "our own"? Does that include Scottish and Welsh people who want nothing to do with the English Brexit?

[@johnrussell3961]

That brexiteers for you. We voted for it, now it’s down to those who didn’t to make it work.

[@sueyourself5413]

The Welsh voted for it at least.

[@johnrussell3961]

@@chrisj9700 .Why did those older vote brexit in protest expecting the young to vote in larger numbers for remain?

[@Iyerbeth]

@@sueyourself5413 This is still not true. Wales voted against it. English voters just over the border are not "the Welsh", but they are provably the reason the Welsh vote came back for leave.

[@sueyourself5413]

@@Iyerbeth In that case, Scotland should already be independent.

[@Gitskreig]

We DO need to train our own. That doesn't mean we need to stop bringing people and their expertise in, it means we shouldn't have spend decades slashing training and pricing people out of learning because it was cheaper to import. We need home grown talent AND newcomers, each enhancing the talents of the other. But thats hard and requires actually funding the means of doing it, which doesn't help the tax dodgers.

[@lukaszzaremba7642]

Eh, how many EU citizens started to work in the NHS since 2016. In numbers please.

[@petertownley7296]

cheaper to import but only some can cope with fleuent egnlish medical school has long route with low funding no busary like nurses

[@sisuguillam5109]

​@@lukaszzaremba7642your point?

[@TheNDofUO]

​@@lukaszzaremba7642Who said EU?

[@kM-ij2ly]

Train your own in every area grown your own Do your pen

[@danellis-jones1591]

Also it's worth knowing that at least Australia is actively, aggressively, promoting health professionals to move to Australia as we have huge shortages in our hospitals. But we pay literally double the wages here. Mostly with far higher conditions and better technology. Other countries will be doing the same. Imagine. Beach. Big house. Double pay.

[@randyvalantino6850]

The uk for years has been addicted to cheap European workers this means wage supression this means less tax paid this means less money for doctors . The uk doctors are saying they are losing staff to Australia why Australia have control of borders this means better pay for all more tax paid more pay for doctors .

[@Pushing_Pixels]

GPs in Australia are not as well paid as you probably think they are. The Medicare rebate for doctors was frozen for years, meanwhile inflation was still a thing. Not every doctor has patients that can afford to pay more on top, yet bulk-billing has become untenable for many practices. Nurses are not exactly living it up either. Our Tory-equivalents have been working hard to sabotage things here too.

[@theascendance]

What does 7 million people look like! Try 80,0000 Wembley stadiums!

[@hughbasham4389]

Why are such wealthy people as your family poncing off the health service you should go private and take the strain off the NHS

[@theloniouswu5090]

If you pay taxes and NI you’re entitled to use the service, simple as.

[@cosmicomic3473]

Gimme shelter (it's just a shot away).

[@bignosecrisuk5860]

Pay for her to go private James.

[@redsaints]

If she were even slightly overweight she would not get on the waiting list. My aunt needs both replaced but they won’t even put her on the list without her losing weight, and she is not clinically obese.

[@emtaylor597]

But they also work out your BMI very simplistically. Fatima Whitbread would have been classed as overweight when she was winning championships as a Javelin athlete. Because she has great muscles. And they weight heavier than fat.

[@tariqlear5172]

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within

[@evolassunglasses4673]

Agree, decades of hypa Liberalism and open borders Globalisation has hollowed out the West.

[@farokudahitam]

So sad that the Torries have brought the NHS so low. Nurses and Doctors should never need a second job,

[@romerosneck]

I dont know if people remember but we had a labour gov under tony blair and where did that get us? Like if labour ran the country it would all be unicorns and rainbows

[@vis7139]

The last labour government left us with the shortest NHS waiting lists in history.

[@romerosneck]

@@vis7139 and an invasion of a country that had no involvement with 9/11 for resources and thousands of Englishmen dead

[@Not00]

I live in Denmark. Went to doctor with pain in my thumb on the same day. Sent to x-ray department 2 days later. Assessed a week later. It was arthritis in joint. Had to have joint removed. Was offered a time 3 weeks later.

[@Silver-st2zq]

Foreign workers don't feel welcome and most of the rest of us don't want to work long hours on average pay for a NHS ran by a Tory government who would rather sell the NHS off, UK 2023 🤦

[@apemoon1731]

How do you know that they 'dont feel welcome'? It certainly doesn't seem to stop anyone coming here.

[@Silver-st2zq]

@@apemoon1731 Would you feel welcome after Brexit? and why is there such a shortage of staff in different sectors of work? is it because foreign workers left for other EU countries found they are better off and don't want to come back am sure i would not either.

[@chatham43]

...well they seem to be enjoying their Brexit experience in these 4 star hotels...😊

[@Silver-st2zq]

@@chatham43 How many are doctors and the like and those that have worked here before and how many will stop and take up jobs?

[@robinwhitebeam4386]

We need to train our own staff for the NHS and not import staff from other countries. Why do foreign health staff come here? Yes we pay more than where they come from!

[@stevemcgowen]

Medical school in the UK costs like, what, 10000 quid per year? In the Czech Republic, education is free. Higher education students who are studying in a field which is a national interest- like medicine, science, engineering… get stipends. This is the obvious solution to the problem in the UK…

[@GrayDogNowIDK]

Same in Germany, it's cheaper to study there than to pay tuition fees alone at UK universities

[@stevemcgowen]

If the current system in the UK works so great, why the lack of enough medical personnel? It has always been like this in CR. Education is a right and CR believes in investing in their future by educating their citizens...@@chrisj9700

[@TheNDofUO]

Not to mention if you're not from a well off background you'll borrow money for housing and food as part of your student loan. I'm a doctor with over 100k student debt.

[@TheNDofUO]

​@@chrisj9700International students pay crazy amounts to study here. I think close to 30k a year. They subsidise the uni. My friend is a lecturer and they basically advertise to international students so they can get that money. Only British students get the 9k tuition loan

[@robinwhitebeam4386]

I think it's more like £30, 000 per year!

[@darkghost4161]

More or less the population of Scotland and Northern Ireland combined.

[@PeterDriscollAndTheCruisers]

if the Tories get in,end of NHS.....simple.

[@rpx1979]

When doctors leave, they take their families with them. I'm a software developer and my wife is an eye surgeon. We are thinking of moving to Canada. I'm married to an eye surgeon and I'll be leaving too.

[@thylacinenv]

Draining foreign and in many cases fragile health systems of nurses and doctors to prop up your own failing health system is a criminal act of selfishness.

[@vincentblack7467]

Spop on 👍

[@DavidJohnson-dc8lu]

Double spot on!

[@GregOrCreg]

Agreed. But that doesn't mean we should actively stop foreigners who want to work in the UK/NHS from coming here. However, the 'brain drain' is a genuine issue which supposedly 'woke' and 'progressive' upper-middle class libs, like JOB, don't seem to account for. These people, much like the Tories at the other end of the spectrum, put political ideology above people. Moreover, the UK system has long made it difficult for people of working-class backgrounds to become doctors. We should be investing in those skills. Many young British people would love to be able to study Medicine, but the hurdles are too high for them to access medical schools, and it's become prohibitive for any Brit but the privately-educated and privileged (i.e. JOB's class...)

[@msa-tt4bg]

We should be training our own.

[@GregOrCreg]

@@msa-tt4bg We should, but that's not an argument for excluding foreigners from coming here to work in the NHS. That's an argument for not *depending* upon them.

[@woodysmith2681]

Sunak actually highlights the other problem: being a banker or financier or trader can make SOOOOO much more money that the best/brightest want those jobs. "Banking Should Be Boring" as a way to take the steam out of finance.

[@Michaelcj-m2d]

Capitalist health service like the USA. Great care if you have the money,medical debt for the rest.. made in the USA.

[@gullygullible9774]

In England political policy is made in The pub unfortunately If you is not in the Pub you don't count i don't go to pubs So i is out 😊

[@evolassunglasses4673]

Policy is made by the Bankers, international finance and the forces of open borders Globalisation

[@rachelhart3531]

Train our own is fine on the surface but are the people who keep saying that willing to pony up more tax money in order to fund it? Also if they need a vacancy filled they need it filled now not in three to five years time.

[@TheNDofUO]

Plus people think medical school lectures are the only way doctors are and nurses are trained. We need staff to train students. Right now staff have no much work we don't have time to properly teach students. It's all go go go in the NHS. Terrible learning environment

[@varlmorgaine3700]

They overloaded the NHS with work and lowered the amount of money the NHS had for the amount of things they had to do :/

[@LovelybitOfbugle]

Why don't you pay for a new hip for your mother?

[@yt_Ajay_]

Wait till you learn that the current Labour party is also in favour of privatising the NHS, meaning things wouldn't be much better under them either.

[@yusufmoore]

all the mess we are in is down to the tories and yet they blame the boats and anything else. you cant make it up they create it and put it on others.

[@Silver-st2zq]

Exactly.

[@gerardodwyer5908]

Unelected little Richi SoonSak. Small in stature and honesty, and light on competence.

[@edwardwilson7485]

At the hospital last year everyone in the waiting room apart from me was foreign and so were the staff!!! What do you expect with more than a million people coming in every year

[@chatham43]

...but these people are desperate to leave eu France and enter Brexit britain....😊

[@wephilips6651]

@@chatham43your comments on here make about as much sense as your grammatical choices

[@wephilips6651]

I’ll have stuff that never happened for £350 million pounds a week Alex

[@roc7880]

How do u know they were foreigners?

[@flyingdutchman3483]

At the moment they are called the Conservative and Unionist Party.... But now even if don't loose Scotland in near future there is a possibility of a united Ireland on the horizon... So they will have to change their name to The Conservative and National Front Affiliated Party.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

Spot on. It's happened courtesy of 30p Lee.

[@chatham43]

...I don't think the Irish are very keen on taking on the cost of NI unification.

[@flyingdutchman3483]

@@chatham43 I did not want to complicate things by mentioning that part of the problem, but I agree its not as simple as N.I. having a referendum for reunification and thats it, we must also consider what the Republic would wish.

[@hexusmexus6971]

I wanted 5 years to have surgery on my back they then said the pain was in my head and I asked for the mri of my back the picture turns out They did it on the wrong part of my back. I’m still waiting and waiting for the pain clinic.

[@mark861]

Hey O'Brien...why don't you move your mother in with you ?... answer that one

[@geraldstiling3735]

Sade , Dire Straits ,any more. "Your love is King ."🎶 Southmead Hospital in Bristol looks like an airport departure lounge. It was earmarked for sale to the private sector💵

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Constant hunger at boarding school? That was my experience too :(

[@Mar-enfrance]

Starving boarding-school students, quintessential Brit culture, is actually just to make more money off their backs.

[@scottconnelly9023]

Well said 👏

[@bankielass1]

7 years wait for a new hip here in South Australia. 😢

[@Officialnrb]

Thank heavens for the rationality of GB News.

[@hansr.9037]

whatever you say, geezer

[@jakef.7126]

This is mad. I live in France and waiting a year for an operation sounds like a joke. We have deep problems here... But we don't have anything anywhere close to this.

[@bren106]

I've been waiting 125 weeks to have a loop recorder with a dead battery removed from my chest.

[@User_Name00]

3rd world countries need doctors too. By taking medical staff from these countries you are directly leading to a reduction in life expectancy in these countries.

[@teddansonLA]

Interesting point. Apparently, many sub-saharan countries experience a net loss when training doctors (because they pay for the training and their doctors emigrate). A 2011 BMJ paper found the UK is apparently one of the largest beneficiaries of the brain drain, estimated at 2.7 billion US dollars in our favour (because we get trained doctors without paying for the training).

[@rFuzzyBearX]

Spot on

[@michaeloleary2248]

@@teddansonLA I have lived in Sri Lanka for over 20 years and have had positive experiences with the Sri Lankan health service. However, this will not continue for ever if the NHS poaches all our nurses and doctors.

[@terrysmith5168]

That doesn't fit JOB narrative unfortunately

[@dolmen6613]

@@terrysmith5168 -so right..like all liberal -Leftists he's obsessed with immigration being the solution to all our problems.. wonder what he'd say if all the punters coming over on dinghies were Trump voters from Alabama running up the beach waving bibles and shouting "make America great again!"

[@johnmorrison9424]

Train our own” and that is Starmers policy as well because he said it

[@jjboswell5043]

No one said he didn't

[@rexmundi1812]

There are not enough university places for students wishing to study medicine. The existing places are oversubscribed every year. This has been the situation for 30 plus years.

[@TheNDofUO]

The problem is hospitals aren't even set up for more medical students. Right now medical schools are struggling to train students properly because there aren't enough senior doctors to train them. Sometimes I get given a medical student (I'm still very junior) but I'm so busy and run off my feet I don't have time to properly teach them. They don't give me teaching time, they don't even tell me when the students are coming. Likewise I've sat in my first clinic in 2 years of being a doctor today. For the past two years I've heard "It's important you get to sit in clinic for your learning and to understand our speciality so if the ward isn't busy come to outpatients" ... the ward is ALWAYS busy

[@lindabastable3021]

Tories are the archetypal 'knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing'. They strain every nerve and sinew to not spend on all social areas. Their philosophy precludes understanding that societal benefits really do benefit a society. I have watched governments come and go for decades. Invariably the Tories leave every social organisation they haven't managed to sell gutted and impoverished. The only difference with the current crop is that Johnson's amorality enticed them into blatantly pursuing their cruelties rather than bothering to project a facade. And, England, you vote the Tories in. Scotland doesn't. Wales doesn't. Northern Ireland doesn't. But the English numbers impose right wing policies on countries which find their politics anathema.

[@mandiabrahams7824]

The best Catholic school in the country, surely not...

[@stephenmayers4033]

7.6 million is 7.6 million suffering, thanks to the Tories.

[@nigelbenn4642]

Welcome to brexit britain everyone. For the love of mercy DON'T EVER EVER NEVER EVER GET SICK.

[@markendicott6874]

It means me recieving a letter telling me my brain-scan - which was scheduled for Sept this year after an 8 month wait - has now been moved to July NEXT YEAR.........because it just has. There's no reason on the notification, just the info. Nothing i can do about it.

[@deepayne1930]

There is also a "campaign" or whatever to refuse Consultation Referrals. My GP agrees that this is a ploy to reduce Waiting Lists.

[@dolmen6613]

James - you have no problem stealing staff from other countries?.. Don't Nigeria, India etc. need the health doctors, nurses etc they've trained?.. The WHO has appealed to rich countries to stop pinching staff from poorer nations

[@bothellkenmore]

As an American, please figure this out.

[@jh2419]

Ah boarding school. That answers everything.

[@nigelmarchant9473]

Agree with you 10% I've been waiting 18 months.

[@wim2445]

Did you miss a zero, or are you just very slow at being persuaded? 😅

[@julieknights1238]

Honest Bob Jenrick alludede to what's happening here, though he was talking about the asylum system. "Speed up claims and more will want to come here." Same applies with the NHS. Make it work and people will want to use it.

[@taz09216]

I'm angry at what has happened to UK. I can't live here any more, I'm packing my bags to go and live in Sudan.

[@cmsacademy1673]

We got to train our own: well our own don’t want to do the jobs, the door has been wide open always! I came to London in 1999, at the time I worked in Pret. Literally the only skill you needed was to speak English (our own can!) but there was hardly an English person and half the workforce did not speak English at all. Why? Because work was hard and early morning starts. People did not want it! Simple

[@sisuguillam5109]

Why should people want to work in conditions that are as bad as they are? They deserve better.

[@sisuguillam5109]

Mate... this is your business account? Are you trying to advertise? And shall we take note that the services you offer are not in care? You are not working in a hospital either. You didn't take those jobs either.

[@JoeeyTheeKangaroo]

We do have to train our own. The people coming here on care visas are unable to communicate basic English to British patients.

[@anonomous8719]

Time to privatise James like your school.

[@NeedsaLift595]

14 years of tory rule, and still not responsible for anything bad that happens

[@vfury9686]

I think the solution for fixing the NHS is very complex. It was launched in 1948, when the UK population was much less, we had far fewer obsese people, and fewer elderly to treat as people didn't live as long. Forward wind 70 years and we have a larger population, 1 in 3 people obsese, and 60% of the population over 60 years old and an NHS that was basically closed down for 3 years. We wonder why it's failing. All previous parties have had their challenges with the NHS. The solution is very complex. Bringing qualified staff to the UK is fine, but nobody cares about the patients these people have left in their country of origin do they. Like I say it's very complex.

[@1Mutton1]

Ok, sure, give them more money. Where is it going to come from. The Gov is already in debt to their eyeballs. The problem is wasting public money in other areas, that I'm sure many of the viewer here support, that leaves nothing left for the NHS.

[@Silver-st2zq]

Blowing billions during Covid on unfit for use friend of a friend wink wink PPE contracts and a useless track and trace system sure did not help.