Isn't it funny how folk never seem factor in the free doctors' appointments for their entire lives, subsidised, or free prescriptions, subsidised dentists ,Ā free ambulances and hospital appointments/ treatment.Ā
The NHS look after us from conception til death, not just when we're paying taxes.Ā
I wish the folk who complain about it would tell me which system, from anywhere in the world they'd like it replaced with, whilst protecting the weakest, sickliest and poorest in society.
My wife has had cancer six times plus a brain aneurysm. As such, she has extensive experience of both NHS and private hospitals and, indirectly, so do I.
Making broad generalisations she would say the technical expertise of the doctors has been excellent though just sometimes the same could not be said of their interpersonal skills. By contrast she has been very unimpressed by many NHS nurses. Too often she was left untended with infected operation sites not treated.
The worst experience was with the MacMillan nurse when she had mouth cancer. That was a horrible procedure and the night before the operation the nurse was there being very reassuring and telling my wife she would be with her every step of the way. She wasnāt seen again at the bedside for 4 more days though she was on duty throughout. While the tracheostomy tube was in place my wife obviously could not speak but the MacMillan nurse said there was an app that could be used on an iPad specifically to circumvent this. I went straight out and bought an iPad. What a waste - as I said, the nurse was not seen for 4 days.Ā
There was a lighter side to this. The woman in the next room had had the same procedure. When her husband visited of necessity she communicated by means of notes. He started writing notes back. āIāM NOT BLOODY DEAFā was her reply.
In the private hospitals the standard of nursing care was noticeably better, understandably as they have, I presume, a smaller workload. That said, we could not fail to notice that nurses in the NHS hospitals seemed to spend a lot of time at their station engaged in what seemed to be idle chit chat.
As far as the general hospital experience goes, private hospitals win hands down. The rooms are bigger and fresher, the waiting areas calmer, the administrative staff less stressed and more helpful, the parking better, the queuing time at out patient clinics much, much less.
Isnāt our NHS wonderful? Iām not so sure. I think it needs a major cash injection and I for one would have no objection if basic income tax levelsĀ were raised from 20 to say 22 or 23% to achieve this.
It's always worth speaking to an American before criticising the NHS. I've heard stories of people having genuine health concerns but don't want to go to the doctor for a checkup because of the cost. People who have to wear a wrist band or similar telling people not to call an ambulance if they have a fit because they end up thousands of dollars in debt for something that just needed basic first aid. People being charged rediculous amounts of money for basic over the counter medication on top of their hospital bills. Even people with insurance don't always get a full payment to cover the bills. Imagine losing a child and having a debt collection agency chasing you for the outstanding medical bills for years afterwards.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
True, wild edges, the American system is rubbish but that does not mean our system could not be improved. If I have a meal at a restaurant and find some aspects of the experience wanting, I do not want to be told that the restaurant down the street is even worse.
As a doctor I was lucky to work in Holland, the USA, here and a few other places, and without doubt for what we pay our system is the best. America is wonderful, but only if you can pay. An insurance based system, such as America encourages escalating costs, not always associated with improved quality.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
True, wild edges, the American system is rubbish but that does not mean our system could not be improved. If I have a meal at a restaurant and find some aspects of the experience wanting, I do not want to be told that the restaurant down the street is even worse.
True. Perhaps the true lesson is that paying more into the NHS would still be cheaper than everyone going private. I would still like to see higher taxes being charged from nightclubs that fuel the binge drinking culture. Things like that which are a huge drain on NHS and police resources every weekend should have to help cover the costs more.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Husband paid Ā£thousands for a hernia operation at the Nuffield in Guildford . The food was so bad he called me and asked me to bring some with me.Ā When it went wrong afterwards, they just told him to go the The Royal Surrey ( NHS ) along the road.Ā
The NHS isn't perfect and the sometimes make mistakes, clearly the same can also be said of private hospitals.
I agree, Hosta that private is not necessarily better. OH had a private hip replacement pretty young, due to a childhood injury compromising the hip joint. It was a Birmingham metal on metal joint. She got blood poisoning from, as it turned out, a too big a prosthetic wearing badly and releasing metal micro-particles into the bloodstream and causing serious deterioration of the hip joint and a fair amount of pain.
She had to undergo another operation within three years to replace it. They hacked her about so much to get the old one out, she lost a lot of blood. They refused to give her a blood transfusion, even though she naturally has low blood pressure. They refused to listen to her weak pleas or my strident demands. After three days, when she had deteriorated so badly, they finally agreed to give her blood after I really blew up, but then had to wait another 2 days for a fresh batch of blood. By which time she was dangerously ill. The nurses were negligent, couldn't fit a canula, let the colostomy bag feed drop out, left her thirsty. If I hadnāt been there to look out for her and give them hell god knows what would have happened.
Spire private hospital in the UK, btw.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Posts
The NHS look after us from conception til death, not just when we're paying taxes.Ā
I wish the folk who complain about it would tell me which system, from anywhere in the world they'd like it replaced with, whilst protecting the weakest, sickliest and poorest in society.
Making broad generalisations she would say the technical expertise of the doctors has been excellent though just sometimes the same could not be said of their interpersonal skills. By contrast she has been very unimpressed by many NHS nurses. Too often she was left untended with infected operation sites not treated.
The worst experience was with the MacMillan nurse when she had mouth cancer. That was a horrible procedure and the night before the operation the nurse was there being very reassuring and telling my wife she would be with her every step of the way. She wasnāt seen again at the bedside for 4 more days though she was on duty throughout. While the tracheostomy tube was in place my wife obviously could not speak but the MacMillan nurse said there was an app that could be used on an iPad specifically to circumvent this. I went straight out and bought an iPad. What a waste - as I said, the nurse was not seen for 4 days.Ā
There was a lighter side to this. The woman in the next room had had the same procedure. When her husband visited of necessity she communicated by means of notes. He started writing notes back. āIāM NOT BLOODY DEAFā was her reply.
In the private hospitals the standard of nursing care was noticeably better, understandably as they have, I presume, a smaller workload. That said, we could not fail to notice that nurses in the NHS hospitals seemed to spend a lot of time at their station engaged in what seemed to be idle chit chat.
As far as the general hospital experience goes, private hospitals win hands down. The rooms are bigger and fresher, the waiting areas calmer, the administrative staff less stressed and more helpful, the parking better, the queuing time at out patient clinics much, much less.
Isnāt our NHS wonderful? Iām not so sure. I think it needs a major cash injection and I for one would have no objection if basic income tax levelsĀ were raised from 20 to say 22 or 23% to achieve this.
I read once that over 80% of bankruptcies in usa are due to medical bills
America is wonderful, but only if you can pay. An insurance based system, such as America encourages escalating costs, not always associated with improved quality.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
The NHS isn't perfect and the sometimes make mistakes, clearly the same can also be said of private hospitals.