NHS Deficit Report

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Introduction and background to help reduce NHS deficit The NHS stands for the National Health Service, and was founded on the 5 July 1948, which provides healthcare for all UK citizens based on their need for healthcare rather than their ability to pay for it. It is funded by taxes. It is currently ranked 18th out of 190 countries for having the the worlds best health system. However, the NHS Scotland has a 15bn deficit that needs to be addressed as the service is over-stretched, underfunded and is having a negative impact on society. A Deficit means that an organisation outgoings are greater than its income. In the private sector, a sustained deficit would likely result in bankruptcy, however this doesn't happen in the NHS, instead a range …show more content…

A successful campaign should educated individuals about healthy practices, ultimately changing its target audience behaviour. Currently the Government has several campaigns covering health issues - Smoke free grounds, Alcohol Reduction and Eat better feel better. These push out a message to show how poor lifestyle choices affect the body. By rolling out these campaigns in schools, it should allow a knock on effect in future years. Decisions After careful consideration, there are many areas in the NHS where vast amounts of money could be saved and redistributed. It's my decision that Government should implement the following suggestions. Three positive courses of action to help reduce the NHS Scotland Deficit 1. Scrap NHS Free Prescription 2. Introduce a fine for missed GP or Hospital appointments 3. Implement more Health Campaigns 1.Scrap NHS Free …show more content…

It could be argued that if we sit back and do nothing NHS Scotland will collapse, without proper funding. One argument to support my recommendation can be seen in Source A which states NHS is wasting £31million a year on free drugs, with 2.7 million prescribed for paracetamol. This implies that painkillers can be bought from a shop or chemist for far less than the price the NHS pays when providing them on prescription. It is clear the the NHS has had to incur the cost of the drugs that would of otherwise been paid for by the patient, resulting in a huge increase in unnecessary GP visits, as patients make appointments for no other reason than to obtain a free prescription. This argument is supported by evidence from Source B which states On average it costs £4.04 to prescribe paracetamol, but can be bought over the counter for as little as 23p for 16 capsules. This emphasizes the fact that when the NHS is facing huge financial pressure, providing small quantities of these paracetamol on prescription is not an effective use of funds. Every time the doctor writes a prescription, the NHS incurs additional charges, through dispensing and administration fees, and if GP time is included the cost rises higher. From my own knowledge, by introducing a small charge for prescriptions would fundamentally allow us to fund additional 1000 nurses

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