NHS and resources.

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In England our health care system is called NHS.

I asked my former psychologist (who works for the national health service) why the NHS is not as good as it could be and she said "we have not got the resources". My brother thinks little of the NHS because they didn't treat his elbow very well when he injured it.

What did she mean by the lack of resources?

What she meant by lack of resources is lack of adequate funding from the government. The NHS is funded by the government but the current government has made such deep cuts to the budget allotted to NHS services, that there literally isn't enough money to go around.

At point of service -- meaning when someone shows up needing help from their doctor or from the Accident & Emergency department, what will really happen, in real terms, is that although they have a duty to give you care and treatment, they will try to give you the least amount of care and treatment. Or not bother to refer you to a specialist to look further into a problem if, say, writing a pain prescription will send you home happy. Or indeed not give the best of care to an injury as your brother experienced. Limit x-rays, skip ordering an MRI or other expensive exploratory method even though you might need one, that kind of thing.

Not enough money is currently allocated to the NHS and other public services we used to feel pride in, in the UK.

Lack of resources starts with lack of funding. Without proper funding:

- The best people go elsewhere for better-paying jobs.
- Damaged and obsolete equipment is kept in service.
- Only the cheapest, most generic medications are available, if they're available at all.
- Out-dated diagnostic and treatment methods are used.
- Disposable medical tools are sterilized and re-used.
- Support personnel lose their enthusiasm for their jobs - they "burn out" and turn into bureaucratic zombies.

"NHS" seems to stand for "No Help, Sucka!"

Yes to all the above, sad to say!

Shouldn't the doctors warn you that the equipment they use to 'diagnose' you is not a hundred percent accurate?

Last year the hospital failed to spot something (don't want to go into detail on what it was) with the equipment they and it was not until during the operation that they spoted the problem that they missed.

If they did that, then you might go elsewhere for treatment and take your money with you.

It has been said that the NHS is built upon the needs of the person in charge not the patients

The mental health funding is absolutely struggling, there's barely anything available around here, I asked my gp if I could go on a therapy waiting list as I feel I can delve into counseling again now I have figured a lot out over the last couple years and he basically said there's no point because there's a huge waiting list and everything is limited to a couple sessions which would be no use long term for me. I remember the tories took out 500 million or something at the start of their first term then recently put 500 million back in claiming they've 'boosted' the mental health coffers.

ALL medical corporations - public and private - were built to benefit the investors first, and the patients last, by exploiting the medical needs of the patients, as well as the financial needs of the medical practitioners. As long as there are illnesses and accidents, there will be income for the investors; as long as the medical practitioners keep the paying patients coming back, they will be valuable to the investors; and as long as the investors see profits rolling in, they couldn't care less about patient care and employee satisfaction.

Sure, there may still be a few idealistic nurses and doctors trying to make a difference on the positive side of patient care; but eventually, even their idealism will burn itself out in the face of the bureaucratic hoops they must jump through, and the only thing that will matter to them will be getting a big enough paycheck to support them now and a big enough pension to support them when they retire.