Cat versus human a&e

Tell you what OP you pay for private healthcare see how fast they shove you at the NHS IF things go really wrong and I have heard that the waiting times are not always faster they just have....more comfy chairs and better food

Three cheers for the NHS!

Yes, and the drive to A&E took the same time as the journey to the vet's. So there could be a clear comparison drawn, as you say - coincidence.

This
NHS treatment is free for all, irrespective of financial status.
Complete contrast to other countries.
My family in USA pay extortionate amount of money for health insurance.

So you can pay and people who cant can just what? Die? Your privilege is showing

Can you just explain how people paying to be seen by doctors frees up doctor appointments for people who can't pay?
Surely you have the same number of doctors and people paying doesn't create more doctors, it takes them away from NHS work?

Well, you'll need to try to ensure that another Conservative government are elected, or probably Reform. Start campaigning.

The co incidence of setting off at exactly the same time.

the difference is the vets doesn’t have oeople queuing in A&E becausr they coukrn’t get a drs appointnent or its not urgent. The volune iof people using the setvice will impact wait times, you don’t have the same thing happen at the veta

you want to oay to skip the queue & override yhe priority levels

Vets are different to drs if a patient is too sick they are put to sleep rather than them spending countless hours working to keep the patient alive pets live shorter lives they are simpler to "fix" for example broken bones that are tricky fixes are removed in cats would you do that to your toddler? No you would expect your dr to repair the leg especially if you were PAYING for the service

Basically unless we are willing to euthanise people and chop of limbs vet based healthcare wouldn't work

When it last snowed we found our elderly neighbour wandering around, confused and freezing cold. We called an ambulance which arrived in 40 minutes. He was admitted to an incredible geriatric ward with amazing staff.

I work in the NHS on the front line, and tbh unless some funding is increased soon (at the moment all that's happening is cost cuts and service cuts, nationwide) then I actually agree that privatising would in many areas, provide safer care.
I disagree in principle, but in reality I'm looking into some form of private healthcare myself, as the state of the NHS at the moment scares me. Scares me shitless actually. The care my elderly parents can expect when they inevitably get more and more health problems. My 2 DC.
As a healthcare professional I've found I've had to push and stamp my feet for even the most basic of care, to be taken seriously and I've had to do the same for my parents. I dread to think how more vulnerable people navigate the system.
It should not be like this.

The answer is to push for more funding, write to your MP, but will it ever happen? I've worked in the NHS all my life and I've never seen anything being expanded or funded further in my area. Everything is just cut, cut, cut.

My husband had a terrible accident last year, within an hour of this he was in surgery. If needed to be seen quickly, you will be.

How much are the hospital staff paid in China? In the UK, salaries of cleaners start at around £20,000 a year. Consultants up to almost £200,000 in the NHS, or thereabouts.
Can't really compare China with the UK with such a difference in salaries.

I already pay in the form of taxes and have done since I was 16. If I have to pay again then I expect to be seen as a priority and not have to wait behind those who have never contributed a thing, Unpopular opinion no doubt but there it is!

Rhymes with ✅️ and 🛏

totally agree with portsalut above.

So more like an out of hours gp appointment than A&E.
And yes, you only pay your excess but your original point was about how much the appointment cost without insurance, £350.

A human could access a private OOH GP and antibiotics for £350.

I don’t disagree that there are problems with the NHS but it’s just not a fair comparison.

When we thought we were going to have to rush the dog in for emergency surgery I had a similar thought as my child was in A&E for a badly broken bone last year. I had the passing thought that I was worried about how much the dog was going to cost / what amount our insurance tops out at / how much we could spend over that. I was thinking how lucky that in an emergency situation we just rushed to hospital with no thought of finances. But equally that I would have (obviously) paid the money for my child but felt a big guilty that there would be a ceiling for how much I’d spend on the dog.

Thank you, @PortSalutPlease . Summed up well.

Personally I'm glad you can't pay to jump the queue at A&E. Can you imagine, poor children die while the worried rich pay to be seen first.
A friend of mine is a consultant who does some private work. He says he loves his private patients as its dead easy as there's never anything wrong with them.

😂😂😂

A vet is a business. They will take your money in exchange for a service. A hospital triages based on need, not on budget.

A&E has a a number of issues -

• tourists and time wasters. We get so many people coming to a&e who should be seen by primary care.
• An ageing infrastructure in many hospitals, which aren’t designed for the flow of the numbers we now see.
• And the absolute biggest issue - a severe lack of beds. Most A&Es at any given time are bottle necked with patients who need to be admitted but there’s nowhere for them to go as all the beds are full of patients who should be discharged but can’t be. These are overwhelmingly the elderly being delayed by social care issues, and mental health patients for whom a tier 4 bed can’t be found. Acute hospitals, meant for illness and injury, are absolutely stuffed to bursting with frail old people who aren’t medically unwell enough for hospital but are being refused by social care, and mental health patients who are physically well but in crisis. It’s catastrophic.