NHS now saying stuff is free.

personally I don't mind people criticising their experiences of the NHS - there is a lot that isn't right. The thing I find objectionable are the sweeping statements.... "the NHS is crap" ""overfunded" blah blah blah. Don't do the hard work for the parties that want to dismantle the NHS & then let their best friends make a shit ton of money from health care (see covid mask & PPE farce which Johnsons friends making a killing)

I thought Sarah Palin had wandered onto the thread....

absolute nonsense. Another Daily Mail reader who has been fortunate to have good health I assume

Agree it's to boost uptake. A useful example of why that's a good idea.

My friend's husband from a SE Asian nation with very limited healthcare recently kept quiet about bloody poo for months. When he finally admitted what was happening he said he'd delayed seeking help as he was terrified the treatment would bankrupt the family.

It's so ingrained in his mind that you pay for healthcare. Poor guy has been through surgery, they've now discovered secondary in two other places.

That's why it's a good idea to be explicit that you don't pay.

No. They are not just for ‘complaints’, they are there to actually avoid this as complaints ARE time consuming, costly and don’t help the person in the moment. They are there to improve patient experience and feedback is part of this. They can take feedback,
acknowledge in a quick mail and pass it on to the group/department who can action it - if they choose.

now, this will really flabbergast you and all the others who are happy to bow and scrape and be ‘ever so grateful sir’; there’s even a publicly funded group called ‘health watch’ whose whole raison d’etre is do exactly that, take feedback on the nhs. One of the recent topics they have been investigating is hospital parking but they will also accept feedback.

The NHS works to its own mythical agenda. It’s a overfunded inefficient monolith. 🙄

They are for real complaints. Not silliness like this. But by all means clog the service with this rubbish.

In the case of Europe most countries cost the taxpayer more as well as being part funded by co payments. It’s a funny definition of affordable.

Oh rubbish. There’s a whole service called PALs who invite feedback on services. There’s no need to doth your cap. It’s fine to have an adult communication.

Ah yes! The old tripe about the only alternative to the NHS being the USA system. No mention of Australia, Canada nor European systems that work perfectly well and are affordable.

You are making an almighty fuss about absolutely nothing. The time to complain is when the service is poor, not when a perfectly clear and polite communication is sent out in a timely fashion.

Dear Lord!

PP is single-handedly causing the NHS to collapse with her letter?

The art of letter writing is clearly not lost!

I want my taxes to deliver optimal services, affording every individual the dignity they deserve. I also expect a huge organosation such as the NHS to ensure that all communications are both correct and transparent. Which bit of the NHS not being a free service don't you understand.

You are self important. Do you really want your taxes to pay for someone to answer your petty letter. I don't. I'd rather use the money for extra nurses.

You are the reason we will lose the NHS.

“literally everybody” knows the NHS is paid for by their taxes but simultaneously women are so stupid they need to have the word “free” added to the unrequested mammogram appointment?
The same women who will also be criticised as time wasters if they don’t turn up at that unrequested appointment rather than being sent an invite with a link to make their own appointment?

That use of the word “free” does matter because it underpins the whole culture of “you must be grateful” for even shockingly bad care. That is bad for the NHS - if you want to retain it you should be encouraging patients to be willing to feedback on poor treatment and poor service, not promoting “its free, accept what you get and be grateful”. Women in particular have been very poorly served by the gratitude culture. Our maternity services are shocking in the UK.

This thread on what by any standards is a piss poor way to serve patients has endless posts telling the OP and other women that they should be “grateful” that her dignity and comfort is just too much hassle for the “free” NHS to trouble itself with:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womenshealth/5503592-aibu-to-expect-a-gown-and-privacy-during-an-early-mammogram?

This wasn’t an unusual thread - it was the default response when anyone posts about a bad NHS experience. How can a service improve when such low expectations are set?

Reform aren't in yet. Then it will be fully privatised and a quarter of your wages will go on health insurance like in the USA.

Nail on the head. It's a national religion that people aren't allowed to criticise however crap they/their loved ones are treated.

Maybe they've found some people think they have to pay, and it's a barrier to use? It is free though, free at the point of use - you would get it even if you're not a taxpayer.

I received an email a couple of days ago (I suspect a lot of people also received it), offering me an "immediate", "no waiting list" MRI scan, the fact that it was a private medical service you had to pay for was right at the bottom. Surely the first line should have read "if you've got a spare £500 we can give you a scan that you almost certainly don't need, it will really help us out because the CEO's bonus isn't looking to good at the moment".

@Imdunfer I meant to add that the letter I received was from the NHS and the mammogram was delivered at one of the hospitals in my NHS Trust. It was delivered extremely professionally, confidentially and with absolute dignity - far better than experiences in mobile units. I also gave a five star review to make that clear.

Sadly, I think in the UK we have ended up with the NHS we deserve because for generations people have put up with poor standards because they feel grateful or feel they need to be because the NHS is sold as "free".

We will never know how true that is unless there's more transparency about the cost of NHS care received.

There was a time when HMRC provided broken down tax statements setting out broadly the proportion of one's individual tax that contributed to: Defence, NHS, Welfare, etc. Around 2014/15 I think. Then ot stopped. It was helpful.

I suspect that people who always were able to afford healthcare prior to 1947, pay significantly more proportionately nowadays because they are subsidising everyone. And that's fine and as it should be but nobody should ever be made to feel grateful because the NHS likes to convey it is providing a free service.

How many times have posters on here laid into new mothers expressing upset over rude midwives, poorly managed labours sometimes with injury arising, and despicable post natal care, because they should be grateful for free midwifery services and having delivered a live baby and to have survived the ordeal.

Lots of other countries have better public services. Lots of European countries have far better healthcare at low/no cost because they have state backed insurance/copay systems. We could learn a lot from them. Likewise things like local council services, utilities,waste etc are far cheaper and better in some European countries. Also Canada and Australia have good systems. We need to stop thinking of a binary choice between the nhs or USA - most countries have systems between the two extremes often working far better.

Just proves you can't please everyone

YABVU

Frankly that's pathetic pedantry and anyone writing letters about it taking up NHS time to open, read and discard are even more pathetic.

Everybody, literally everybody, knows that taxes pay for the NHS, they don't think it's funded by some benevolent quadrillionaire somewhere.

I haven't seen the reply to my question but I expect the service has been contracted to a private scanning centre and it was important to let people know there wouldn't be any charge.

And I expect making clear that a mammogram is free at the time increases the takeup wherever it's done, especially given how many people we have living in the country who are used to being asked to pay for medical services.