BS: Brexit & other UK political topics - 2

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Nov 22 - 10:54 AM

It's an old problem, DMcG: Local optimisation is always easier than the global sort. If you can't measure the important thing, find something you can measure, which may or may not be related, and call that important.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: DMcG
Date: 18 Nov 22 - 04:15 AM

... have been more than paid for with faulty appointments wasting the time of many more, more expensive staff and equipment.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: DMcG
Date: 18 Nov 22 - 04:14 AM

One thing that is being under-remarked on, in my view, is the daily in the social care funding. In raw budget terms, it is understandable since it is a huge additional cost that we are not yet paying.   But: it is very well known that one of the big problems with the NHS 'efficiency' is the number of NHS hospital beds occupied with people who cannot be discharged as there is no person or organisation to care for them. If you really want to improve the efficiency of the NHS, one of the biggest single things you could do is invest in social care.

One more remark on NHS efficiency - and efficiency in general, come to that. A friend I had worked in NHS admin and part of her job was consolidating notes from various sources. She was hauled over the coals and eventually sacked because she was too slow and did not meet the daily average of others in the office, most of whom highlighted a section of notes and then copy and pasted it into the combined document. As a result they processed many times the amount she did.

Now to the related story. A friend of my wife broke her left arm and they decided she needed an MRI scan. After around three weeks she turns up and they are all ready to scan her left wrist. She objects, pointing out it is her right arm in the sling. No, the notes say they need to scan he wrist. If, however, she signs to say she is refusing treatment ... No way, she says, I am not having "refused treatment" in my notes.


What is happening here is that in the drive for 'efficiency' the wrong thing is being measured, and 'effectiveness' is being lost. The two are three seconds saved by not checking whether the notes were being pasted into the right person's notes (which is what I suspect went wrong)

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 18 Nov 22 - 01:26 AM

Our resident cap-doffing, forelock-tugging Tory-apologists are noticeable by their absence. Wonder why they’re not here explaining to the simple folk why the contents of *unt’s Autumn Statement will be good for us all? Could it be, perhaps, that even they are getting a little tired of taking it up the arse from their masters?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Nov 22 - 08:28 PM

I have nothing against freezing or bringing down the thresholds for higher earners. But freezing those AND the one that hits the lowest earners is what Tories do. All in it together, remember?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Rain Dog
Date: 17 Nov 22 - 05:45 PM

"The freeze on tax thresholds is nothing short of criminal."

All thresholds?

They were already frozen until 2025/26. Hunt has extended that freeze until 2028. That might well change of course depending on circumstances and/or a change of government.