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On an unrelated note I went to view one of our Tyrone championship games that I had previously purchased this season and it's asking me to pay for it again. Seriously?

I can login to beosport and watch all the games I purchased in 2020 and 2021.

Even if you'd try to watch it a week later it would have asked you to pay again. A f*ckn joke.

I know, I went to the cinema one week and the next weekend they wouldn't let me in for free to see the same film again. A joke.

You see, if you'd bought it on a steaming service instead you'd have had it to rewatch whenever you wanted...

Depends. Alot of them are 24 or 48 hours. It's a rental you're purchasing.

USA have been the better team.

ITV have an unrivaled ability of picking the wrong game to showcase. They just couldn't see past the name Brazil, even though every man and his dog knew they'd rest most of their team.

Serbs are right up for this.

Bit of a snoozefest thus far.  Hopefully it livens up.

Other game is decent

[The issue occurs when they try to do this is that some auld doll from Belfast goes onto the Nolan show or something else and is like oh I'm not fit to go to Dungannon for the operation causing a massive storm in a teacup.]

My problem with the health service here is that we all know it's failing and failing badly but we do nothing about it. Reports are commissioned that recommend that changes be made, like closing certain hospitals. All parties agree but once push comes to shove they won't do it. They hope that London makes the hard choices for them so they can, sit back and be like we opposed that.

Another issue is a hospital like Dungannon should be used as a surgical hub as fairly central to the North and okay roads to it. The issue occurs when they try to do this is that some auld doll from Belfast goes onto the Nolan show or something else and is like oh I'm not fit to go to Dungannon for the operation causing a massive storm in a teacup.

Looks to me like a system like the South with private health insurance may be the only way out of this.

This made me laugh because ive heard someone from Belfast complain about being sent to Dungannon for an ENT consultation. They were horrified at the prospect.

I see Gary Lineker is back to loving the world cup again.
"This world cup just keeps giving."

Tbf the matches this week have been great.

I cant remember a better last round of group matches. So many groups going right down to the wire.

I see Gary Lineker is back to loving the world cup again.
"This world cup just keeps giving."

I often wondered. We have prescribing pharmacists in GP surgeries now. These are well educated highly trained medical.professionals could there not be some bridging course for a year or two to train them  to be GPs?

Unfortunately not. There's alot more to a GP. Diagnosing being the big thing. Prescribing pharmacists focus on one area eg. Asthma, type 2 diabetes, hypertension.

Incidentally I looked which constituency our last 5 health ministers were from:

Robin Swann - North Antrim
Michelle O'Neill - Mid ulster
Simon Hamilton - Strangford
Jim Wells - South Down
Edwin Poots - Lagan Valley

4 of these are from rural constituencies which would be hard to sell the centralisation model to. Like I said, career politicians....

[The tories have run the NHS ragged and NI being the distant relative was always going to finish up worse off than everywhere else.]

The NHS in NI is not at breaking point, it is downright broken at all levels right now.
Doctors, nurses, GPs have so much pressure on them they can't cope and so are leaving their nhs jobs.
The private sector allows them to work with less pressure and get paid more....who wouldn't want that?

The tories have run the NHS ragged and NI being the distant relative was always going to finish up worse off than everywhere else.
I don't know what the answer is.
I'm lucky to have private healthcare for my family through work, something I probably couldn't afford myself.
Mrs. tbrick has recently had multiple surgeries through it, which on the nhs have a 5 year waiting list.

At the minute, any other system of national health care would, in my opinion, be better than what we have today in NI.

People keep blaming the Tories and yes they haven't helped but Health is a devolved matter and we have had no government for the best part of the last 10 years. Reform is badly needed and it simply hasn't been delivered. Blaming the Tories for every ill exonerates the absolute abdication of responsibility from Sinn Fein and the DUP. And when they last had the chance to take the health portfolio they wouldn't go near it leaving it to Robin Swann and the UUP. That's the leadership we have locally. We voted them in and we have got exactly what we voted for.

I have private health insurance for me and my family. I suggest everyone gets the same as the NHS will not be fixed anytime soon either by the Tories or local MLAs.

This. I think people need to look at how career politicians here have been unwilling to take the steps recommended by Bengoa, because they are more interested in parish pump politics.
"We need to close remote centres and centralise our services" doesn't buy many votes, but it is what is needed.

I think people in the north have this taboo about paying for healthcare. It's even something unionists love to use as a stick to beat nationalists with on Irish unity.
I would rather pay a fee to see a GP instead of the current lottery with phone calls.

I see another GP surgery in the north has handed in its contract. It will close unless a replacement GP can be found. That brings the total number of surgeries to at least 6 by my count in the last few months (Flax, Glen road, 2 in Ballymena, Trillick, Shantallow, there may be more im forgetting), with tens of thousands of people affected. This will then of course have a knock on effect for the surrounding surgeries who will have to take on these patients, compounding their own problems and stretching their resources.

My understanding is that its not a nice environment to work in. Growing waiting lists in the hospitals has led to people being managed by their GPs for years when they really should be under a consultant. This leads to a huge workload for the surgery and less time to deal with the day to day traditional GP stuff, leading to people being frustrated/angry and GPs getting fed up.

I cant remember the exact stat but a large percentage of GPs are over the age of 55. More and more young doctors choose to go into hospital instead. This is a ticking time bomb as GPs tend to retire before 65.
What do people think is the solution to this crisis? Do we have a recruitment problem?

Unfortunately this is just capitalism doing what capitalism does. When something is successful, expand, expand, expand. Bleed every last artery, fill every last orifice, then blame anyone, anything else when things get so overwhelming and confused, that the heart can't cope.

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If they're going to go to 48, they should go to 64 straightaway. That's where they're going to end up and it makes more sense. It would allow 4-5 host countries to be granted byes to the finals. It would mean 127 games that have to be organised, but it would also mean only one extra match for the players than in the current system, and as long as people can get onboard with concurrent games being okay to the world, and starting midweek not being the end of the world, it would see a tournament that's only half a week longer to play out.

Can't wait for Saudi Arabia-UAE-Bahrain-Qatar-China 2034

https://twitter.com/stoolpresidente/status/1598436283675824155?s=46&t=WkOzFrs2MOSOYe6ei6TBZg