Announcing our consumer agenda for government

Which? already has a campaign called ‘Freedom to Pay. Our way.‘ to which 163,783 people have signed up. If you go to the top of this page above the Introduction and click on “campaigns” in the boxes along the top you can read more.

The campaign is necessarily focussed on making sure that there is a satisfactory provision of cash machines throughout the country which might not suit everybody, such as Francesca, but ATM fraud is now a rarity and there are other ways to get cash not involving the use of a machine or under controlled conditions.

Add me to that list. I don’t use plastic and if I have to I check the machines and keep my eye on the Bank. I want to see what I have got in my pocket so to speak, know what I am giving out, how much is being taken as its there in my hands. There seems to be no ‘safe and secure’ way of keeping your plastic data from being stolen, copied, cloned or abused by the most honest of people, company’s and Banks who even seem to pass the buck in cases of people that have been wronged. There have been enough documentary programmes showing and logging these underhand ways which people really should take notice and be aware!

The Competition and Markets Authority [CMA] is carrying out a market investigation into the supply of services by funeral directors at the point of need and the supply of crematoria services. It is currently in full swing and has a statutory deadline of 27 September 2020. You can read all about it here –
https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/funerals-market-study

There can never be enough funding for the NHS. Demand will continue to expand to outpace provision. and new, more expensive, treatments and procedures will be developed that could improve care and extend life. Choices will always have to be made.

An NHS with too much money would be fair game for drugs companies and other suppliers, including consultants.

The NHS has already paid out $15 billion since 2015 to private enterprise John ,what is a human life worth ? not much nowadays when share prices and house-prices come first.
What isn’t being publicised is what will happen when its fully privatised or requires medical insurance to get medial/surgical help , just look to America for the answer.
A brand new private hospital was built in Clydebank it went bust even though it was a “Tory figurehead ” hospital , bought by Holyrood and is now providing good service to the west of Glasgow region.
Taxes are higher here to help with NHS Scotland but that’s acceptable to the majority of Scots.
The Scottish Ambulance Service works well I have used it –
Prescription charges were abolished in Scotland in 2011. Alex Neil defended the abolition in 2017 saying that restoring the charge would be a false economy, “Given that it costs on average £4,500 per week to keep patients in an acute hospital in Scotland, it’s actually cheaper to keep them at home and give them the drugs to prevent them going into hospital.”

Regardless of adverse publicity by the Tory dominated Scottish press the NHS Scotland is only one step down from God in Scots eyes I am not saying this as “alarmist ” most down south just don’t understand the fervour generated here at any thought of privatisation it would be fought “tooth & nail ” I am not making this up .
Big vote loser to any party up here who suggests “privatisation ” , forcing it down Scots throats would give a big separation vote for sure.

I don’t think any government would be stupid enough to try to privatise the NHS, Duncan.

Since the NHS is not in a position to manufacture the drugs it requires and the supplies needed to treat patients in hospitals it must buy them from private companies. It was ever thus from the earliest days of the NHS. At least it has rationalised its requirements instead of each establishment having its own specification, and set up a central procurement organisation which is relatively efficient and economical.

I am not sure what you mean by asking “what is a human life worth?” You cannot put a price on that, but so far as I can see the NHS provides the best of care and treatment that it can in the overwhelming majority of cases and I suspect its overall success rate is as good as any other example you could choose – especially bearing in mind that demand is completely unrestrained.

My concern is that politicians are promising more than can be delivered. Forty new hospitals? Only six have been identified so far plus a few rebuilds and extensions. Thousands of extra doctors and nurses? Where are the training places and educators to achieve that? One of the NHS’s problems is that it hasn’t been able to digest some of the additional money that has already been provided over the last few years. Providing more personnel is the bigger challenge.

The NHS has a never-ending wish list but it has to be funded from government revenues so choices are inevitable – and in a state system at least the choices are dictated by priority of need rather than of wealth, and that means that wherever possible the NHS should be free to obtain its requirements on the most favourable terms in order to keep the cost of treatment down while maintaining high quality standards.

. . . Only if combined with some control over the location of employment and planning controls over the development of residential property.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, purchases made on-line can be returned free of charge.

I have never come across the problem of retailer identity. I keep a copy of my order and check off the delivery. There is also an e-mail order confirmation. The date of the transaction will be a clue to the specific payment.

I am not sure how easy refunds should be; they come at a great cost to consumers generally. But I am glad that on-line sellers are required to refund or replace faulty goods and to accept the return of goods rejected by the customer. This narrows the gap between on-line retailers and the high street shops.

To find out more about consumers’ rights see –
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act