C_J Awwww, we where having a proper discussion and you went for the cheap shot. As it happens, yes I am unemployed, but no, I’m not claiming any benefits,

    Ok, so to recap - in a thread where we are all (correctly) annoyed by the fact that NHS workers have been only awarded a 1% pay rise, I make a post about the NHS itself needing to reform and post one example of how it is not running as efficiently as it could / should.

    Wally completely misunderstands / misinterprets what I am saying and then pretty much tries to call me a racist for saying it. He then asks for evidence of how much the NHS pays out in unrecoved costs it incurs for providing healthcare for people who should have the costs of their healthcare recharged to their own countries as agreed within national agreements.

    We seem to have agreed that the sum comes somewhere into the figure of hundreds of millions (lol). Wally dismisses this figure as chicken feed in the grand scheme of things. What business can afford to write off hundreds of millions of cost recovery? There will be none - if there was they would have gone out of business a very long time ago.

    This is what I mean when I say the NHS needs reform. I have worked in the public sector and loosely aligned to the NHS on a number of occasions over the last 20 years.

    I for one feel great that the NHS is so flush with cash that it can afford to write off hundreds of millions of taxpayers money yet only give our Drs and nurses a 1% pay increase after all the shit they’ve been through this year.

    This is merely one example of the organisation being wasteful / not business-like enough. How many others will there be?

      You read what you like into it mate. Any accusation you feel I made was, like, totally correct and not you projecting.

      Also, you seem to think public services are similar to private businesses in how they are financed and that they have to turn a profit. You are mistaken. That’s not how it works at all. Tax being compulsory and all that.

        Old-Dutch Wally dismisses this figure as chicken feed

        It is to Wal of Wall St, he made £38.50 off Tesla last month

          I have to say, as an impartial adjudicator, I think Wally’s gone off the deep end here.

          Irrespective of whether nurses deserve it, you offer them more than 1% and the teachers, police and armed forces who are swallowing a freeze get the hump and their unions start making threats too. Before you know it, you have lost control of the public purse amidst a £350bn deficit that needs servicing. The spectre of inflation and rising interest rates is what keeps this government awake at night, not angry nurses. Nurses notwithstanding, anyone that has managed to keep working full time and escape furlough can feel fortunate in the current climate

            Old-Dutch to be fair to @Wally its not the first time this week you’ve been called out for racism, after you saying you don’t want anyone drinking in pubs unless they’re vaccine certified, knowing fine well that the BAMErs are terrified of the jab.

            i’m only joking of course. Wally is an absolute fuckwit.

                C_J Wally is an absolute fuckwit.

                Oh now that’s rich. The irony is palpable.

                I joke. Just trying to get everyone at each other’s throats.

                    Old-Dutch I believe this is commonly known as the ’Facts are disproving my bullshit so I’ll resort to playground insults’ approach. Top work.

                      jonattonyeah peace and love to all my good man.

                      The day I allow any of the mongoloids on here to wind me up so I’m at their throats is the day I hang myself.

                      Until that time, peace and love to all….

                        Step back needed, Wal. Have a beer, chill out.

                        Very chilled mate. A most relaxing day, other than Newcastle being shit but what else is new?

                          Wally Newcastle being shit

                          Dave likes Stella so I wouldn’t bother discussing beers with him.

                            Wally Personally, I think Dutchy has a valid point, if only that it’s how can the NHS let the budget run out of control in some areas yet deny staff more than a measly 1% pay rise?

                            I think the fact that the example concerns foreigners stoked emotions. His overall point is reasonable.

                                bosstrabs The budget is not out of control with regards to foreigners. That is simply not true by Dutch’s own figures. It really is the daily mail talking. Blame ‘the other’ (punching down on immigrants is always a winner), blame each other or blame whoever you like as long as it’s not the actual people responsible.

                                The NHS don’t decide pay rises. The government do by allocating the additional funds for said pay rises to them. Again, public services are not financed or run like private businesses.

                                    Wally Again, public services are not financed or run like private businesses.

                                    But there has to be some control of finances, otherwise how do you finance a budget black hole?

                                    Tax rises? Have other countries buy our treasuries?

                                        bosstrabs the spectre of inflation running out of control and rising interest rates would be hugely damaging

                                          bosstrabs Public service fund allocation is based on what people have spent in the past and what they say they need. The NHS says ‘we need X’, the gov says ’you’re getting Y’.

                                          The NHS is chronically underfunded by Tory design.

                                              Wally Public service fund allocation is based on what people have spent in the past and what they say they need. The NHS says ‘we need X’, the gov says ’you’re getting Y’.

                                              Fine, but everything has tradeoffs. So what would you do if you were in power, raise NHS funding?

                                              If so, cuts come from elsewhere - education, infrastructure. Or you raise taxes to pay for it. Or you print money and get inflation. Or you persuade financial institutions and foreign governments to buy our treasuries (in which case they then have leverage)?