What’s the point in the NHS?

The OP's ankle is damaged now and she's complaining about the treatment she received now. So I was suggesting that she could get private treatment for herself now if she felt the NHS was not working for her.

I wasn't comparing the NHS to the USA

What other European countries do or what we might do in the future is totally irrelevant.

The OP is in need of treatment now, which is why I suggested she might think about paying for the type of private treatment we have in this country at the present time.

You sprained your ankle - all the treatment you needed was rest

Youve asked if it boy emergencies are treated on the NHS…..what about all the knee and hip replacement surprise or gall bladder removal surgeries or TURPS. Not emergencies but required and carried out

A sprained ankle is annoying and will take time but that’s all it is

I am an nhs fan- I work for it and I have had treatment on it for over 60 years. However, this year has been horrific for me health wise and I was waiting for an appointment for so long for something pretty important that I paid for one private consultation with the senior person for my issue.
Half an hour with him, one test and a conversation cost £350. Any further work would have been in the thousands.
The procedures and life saving treatment I've had and am in the middle of still, although slower than I'd have liked would be eye wateringly pricey and yet the treatment is incredible.
We genuinely don't appreciate what we have..

We have some crutches, MIL had them and they didn't want them back so we have them now after she died, rather than throwing them, be handy if I twist an ankle. Most people have a nice family heirloom, we have a pair of NHS crutches.

If it’s the thread I’m thinking of the child was showing red flags for type 1 diabetes. There were a few posters who thought a trip to A&A was ridiculous. Were you one of them?

I have incurable cancer. Honestly, I cannot fault the NHS care I’ve received. If I need something, they almost always get me in within hours. My nurses ring to check on me. I’ve had huge amounts of support. My consultants have been top notch and absolutely lovely. I grew up outside the UK in a country with largely privatised healthcare. My mum had cancer there. I absolutely would not have preferred to be there than here. She faced all sorts of delays due to insurance and it has been stressfully expensive, for care that has been no better. I feel very grateful that I had moved back to the UK as an adult and got sick here. I’m not sure I’d be alive if that hadn’t been the case. There is no way I could have afforded the level of care the NHS has provided me.

Same with us @mindutopia. I hope your care continues to be excellent. 💐

Nonsense.
I did the same thing 12 years ago. Immediate X-Ray reassured me nothing was broken. I followed the doctor’s advice of Rest, Ice and Compression. Probably bought a bandage from Tesco not Amazon. An MRI scan would nowadays cost £400 and would not impact on your treatment or recovery, just a waste of money and time.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here 3 days after a knee replacement operation which would have cost £20,000 if done privately.
Words cannot express my gratitude to the NHS surgical and hospital team.

The arthritic conditions this poster is describing are not minor. They are autoimmune conditions that can cause significant disability and sometimes need very expensive immune-modulating injections just to manage the pain. At least look them up before commenting....

It’s sometimes done brilliantly, and I am happy that your partner has had such good treatment. My father was diagnosed with liver cancer some years ago, he walked into hospital and died five weeks later having had no treatment and very little information.

He was booked for an MRI scan which was cancelled as the scanner was broken, and rescheduled for 2 weeks ahead. When he had the scan, he discovered that it had never been broken at all, he had been on an outpatient list instead of an inpatient one, so they cancelled him that day instead.

After his scan, woozy from a sedative, he received no help or attention, and fell over breaking his arm. He basically just gave up from that point, helped along with amounts of diamorphine that we weren’t entirely happy about.

So it’s not great for everyone, and this ridiculous cult like worship of an institution that consumes vast amounts of tax payers money and is the fifth-largest employer in the world does nothing to bring about better healthcare for everyone.

My husband had a stroke on Weds. Ambulance was here in under 10 minutes and he was whisked off to a major stroke unit where he had an op to remove a blood clot on the brain. He has spent three days in hospital and been seen by physio and speech therapist. He has now been given 4 different medications.

My daughter has epilepsy and sees a specialist every quarter and is on two drugs, which she gets for free. When she was younger and her seizures weren't under control, we used A&E a lot.

So if you have a serious condition it's great. It is less great when you are on a long waiting list. Also they use NICE guidelines and it could be that treatment you expected for torn ligaments had been deemed unnecessary.

If the NHS weren't here you'd have got

• nothing for free
• the care you did receive for a few 1000 pounds
• better care like you seem to want for a few more 1000 pounds

If the NHS is so rubbish, why use it? No-one's forcing you to.

I'm similar.
I have to say that my experience in using private medicine has been pretty rubbish.

In comparison my NHS care has been excellent. Long waiting times mean I turned to private health care for a few things this year, but I can't fault the NHS for information and communication. Clarity from the NHS app to the admin staff.

In contrast my experience at the spire has been dogged by delay, miscommunication, buck passing and frustration. All dealings with consultants have been excellent but they're not actually employed by the Spire. All dealings with other staff from reception to call centre to website to med secs have been poor. Letters not sent , calls not returned, scans taking weeks to arrange then weeks for results. Whoever you speak to won't "own" the problem, it's always someone else's fault.
I havent got medical insurance but can afford to pay and they definitely don't like self funding patients, not sure why.

Sorry replied to wrong person

You were seen (pretty quickly I may add with current wait times)
my partner was in hospital a few weeks ago and there was someone next to him kicking off about a sprained wrist as they had been there longer. Had the doctors gone and seen him first my partner would now have no leg at all it was that close. They will prioritise and a Spain isn’t anything they can do much about really. You got seen, got an x ray and got advice. If you are that anti nhs then maybe get private healthcare as pray to high heaven you or no one you are close to needs them in an actual emergency!!!

I ruptured two knee ligaments skiing in Austria, seen in a kind of minor injuries clinic - Xray, examination, painkillers, knee brace and crutches

At least 15 million more people in the UK now. Less money in the bank. What do you expect?

After they've helped you initially.. AI and the internet in general can help you. Why waste more A&E time when you can help yourself personal responsibility and all that.

Were you insured or was it free on Austria?

To ask what is the point in NHS based on one experience with a minor injury shows you have a tremendous lack of perspective. NHS provides great care for serious ilnesses, perform world class surgeries and many people are alive because of them. If you think you can get better treatment go private, you will soon come back crawling to NHS when you see the prices in private. My husband went private (when I had insurance through work) and they billed him after every visit. Every MRI XRay separately and test was hunderds of pounds. Without the surgery he racked up thousands only on tests. The insurance paid but that is not the point. We lose perspective how expensive medical care is and we think we are entitled to it no matter what. Be thankfull for NHS.

I agree , the NHS is failing badly . If you’ve had a serious accident and somethings hanging off they are brilliant , anything else they do a patch up job and expect that they will see you again at some point when something goes wrong . Most people I know won’t visit an and e it’s just not worth it .

OP how much did you pay for the x-rays and doctors' time?

Have you ever used a GP on the NHS? How much dd you pay for your GP visits?

I've currently got severe tendonitis in one ankle, which is not unlike a severe sprain. While I haven't gone to either a GP or ChatGPT, I'm currently following the advice from NHS Lanarkshire, including video exercises available on YouTube. For non-urgent/minor injuries, there's a wealth of good information out there, especially the NHS.

It’s a cliche but it’s true, for most injuries, “time is the best healer”. THe NHS doesn’t have a TARDIS
Breaks, strains, sprains and cuts will generally heal on their own, especially if they’ve been set, stitched , confirmed not broken, or immobilised
Most viral illnesses are self limiting in seven to ten days. You don’t need a GP appointment if you’re a bit manky unless you’ve got an underlying condition or are known to be vulnerable , you’ll feel crap but you’ll be fine in a fortnight and there’s not a lot they can do apart from say take paracetamol, keep taking fluids and if you start getting sepsis go to A&E (you’re not going to go to the GP with sepsis)