Last night I worked out how much my daughter benefits from the NHS.
Her 'basic' (assuming no infections which need treating) drug bill comes to just short of £15,000 a year.
She has 6 appointments a year which include a consultant and 3 specialist team members, lasting about an hour
She has 2 appointments a year which involve 2 consultants and 4 specialist team members, which last about 2-3 hours
She has 1 yearly 'MOT' which includes a whole day of meetings with specialist consultants, X-rays, Lung function tests, bone scans, CT scans and liver scans.
She has an 'on call' dedicated children's nurse
She has physiotherapy on average every 3-4 weeks.
This year she has also had a diagnostic assessment which I know cost over £3000, plus around 50 appointments related to that - again with consultants.
An inpatient stay lasts 2-3 weeks and needs theatre time. She has to have a private room.
This keeps her healthy, so that if you met her you probably wouldnt even know she had anything wrong.
All of this is free at point of use. She receives the same treatment as any other child with her condition, my income or lack of, is no barrier to her getting the best ongoing treatment available.
If the government succeeds in its privatisation by stealth, if we end up with a system such as in the US, I doubt very much that she would have access to the same level of care. Children in the US are often refused medical cover, or their cover has a maximum payout which doesnt go near a lifetime of treatment. Life is literally dependant upon income. The well off will survive, the poor will be denied drugs they need. Wealth should not be a measure of worth when it comes to the lives of our children.
We are so lucky to have the NHS in this country, a service that was set up by a Labour government, at the end of WW2, when the financial state of the country was far worse than it is today, but definitely not as unequal.
Support the NHS, IT IS SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR
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35 replies
NettleTea · 12/02/2016 08:31
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