What’s the point in the NHS?

But she didn’t send you to ChatGPT for medical advice, just for physio exercises to save a long wait for an actual physio. I’ve had a few similar injuries and what happened to you is par for the course. It will get better on its own. The ankle support and crutches will help you hobble around until then. Take the NHS physio if it’s available but private physios are much better if that is affordable.

You did! Stop being a drama queen trying to waste NHS services! Youve sprained your ankle thats all

That’s true but the politicians like Farage etc who would like to get rid of the NHS want the USA model because it makes a LOT of money for some people.

In the last 12 months I’ve had a cardioversion for my heart, a knee replacement, gynae surgery and a scan of my sinuses (it’s been a bit of a year). Mostly, the service has been very good. It’s cost me hospital parking and a couple of taxi fares. I don’t begrudge the tax I’ve paid to fund this.

In other countries you have insurance and hospitals want to collect as much money as possible from them by sending you for unnecessary tests and treatment. Additionally these countries (America obviously) can be extremely litigious so doctors do more tests than might normally be necessary just in case so that they are protected.

The benefit of the NHS is that you don’t have to choose between feeding your children that week or visiting a doctor, you don’t die from something because you could afford treatment, and you don’t have your home repossessed because of medical bills.

Alternatively you can get yourself private medical, often through a workplace for a small additional monthly fee, then you won’t need to complain here about a wait for a physio when all you have is a sprain.

That’s awful. But part of the reason she would be waiting is people like OP who have sprained their ankle but they’re taking up valuable time by demanding all sorts of unnecessary things

How do you know they didn't do "proper investigations"?

They diagnosed you and offered advice to help you get better.

You wanted them to waste time and money on unnecessary tests because you didn't feel they looked at your ankle thoroughly enough?

If it looks like a dog, and barks like a dog, chances are it's a dog. No need to do genetic testing to determine if it is, in fact, a dog.

The point in the NHS is the same as it's always been, equal access, free at the point of use.
Your problem is not with the point of it, but with what you perceive as shoddy service and care.
The nurse you saw likely almost laughed at you because your very-minor-in-comparison medical problem is a drop in their hugely underfunded ocean. If you have ever voted Conservative then you have no right to complain, go and get private medical insurance and continue voting for a party that would like to dismantle it altogether, goodness knows they came close. Yes, I know people don't feel they should pay for the NHS and also have to pay private but you'd need to put up with that for a while if you genuinely believe that privatisation is the answer. If you haven't ever voted to the right and you want an NHS, then yes, I hear you, it is struggling, but it can and would work comprehensively (I believe) with the proper funding and management.

Well if i am unable to afford it privately well i will be no worse off as we are uanble to get treatment now with nhs but least i would get to keep my national insurance contributions, plus we would just fo to a county hospital where its cheap /free or the free clinics that would be set up to treat the poor

I’m a Brit living in the US and my god I wish I’d appreciated the NHS when I had the privilege of enjoying it. The healthcare system in the US is brutal and terrifying. I spend $5K a month on insurance for my family and every time I need to claim for a procedure I face a Kafkaesque process of trying get it paid for. The evil insurance companies make billions by denying patient’s their treatment. I regularly spend hours on the phone being point blank denied coverage. The price of drugs and treatment here is stratospherically expensive, I take a drug that costs $40K per dose, in the UK it is free but if you paid privately it’s less than $1K. The NHS clearly has it’s faults but it could be much much much worse.

Come to America! You can get such service plus medical bankruptcy to boot!

Just be glad you were seen and reassured. There's not much more to be done, your body will heal naturally, just take it easy for a while.

If you were in America you wouldn't have been seen without first showing evidence of insurance or ability to pay.

France isn't like that, nor are many European countries. Don't judge every country by US standards.

My daughter's broken hand cost my insurance €680 in total. That is for A&E, xray, two times plaster cast and a specialist doctor checking her over. It cost me 0 as children are added to their parents insurance for free in the Netherlands.

It's just America that has all these crazy charges.

How long do you think the OP asking if she could get a scan and physio actually took?

How would a scan change your diagnosis or treatment? You have a sprain, the scan will tell you, you have a sprain. Treatment is look into physio exercises, the treatment wouldn’t change because you have a scan.
this is the problem with people who come in to A&E they expect a magic wand and to feel better instantly. You had an accident, you had diagnostics, you got a diagnosis and treatment. Stop trying to cost the NHS more money.

So you went to minor injuries - it can take a few hours, not always, but sometimes. It is what it is. It feels like you spend a lot of time being triaged between different things. I think an x ray to rule out a break is probably the best it will be.

MRI's are very expensive, try paying for one privately. The NHS seems to avoid doing them as much as possible. Because of the cost I think they tend to direct to physio.

Big waits are not my experience with physio but I think it's luck of the draw. I saw someone quite quickly after a broken finger and my GPs have a physio that comes in a couple of times a week and appointments tend to be quite quick. Appreciate not everyone has this. Some things you are better off paying for if you want speed, sometimes you might not agree with the cost vs risk weigh up (ie, it's quite unlikely this will be a severely torn ligament so we won't spend this much money till we know there is a problem).

AI is quite handy for basic routines and you can see the sources it's pulling from, so will be good in the interim at least.

I would also say, as you get older particularly, you injure yourself and it might not be totally realistic for it to mend so you would never know, and no amount of resource will change that.

15 years ago I had a nasty sprain to my ankle. I was seen in A&E, had an x-ray. Crutches, and physio appointment. No scan. Doesn't need it. Yes, soft tissue injuries are pants, but you only need a few physio sessions to show you the rehab. Seeing a physio does nothing - it's your commitment to rehab outside of a clinic setting. Ice, elevation, physio - motion is lotion.
You got seen, your got an x-ray and for the princely sum of whatever the car-park cost. If it's not getting better, see your GP for onward referral. You'll get your scan is after a few weeks of standard treatment there's still significant instability and pain hasn't improved. Clinicians have clear treatment pathways based on symptoms not patient preference and almost all sprains will resolve that way. Can you imagine the no of MRI scanners we'd need if every little sprain got a scan so the patient can feel special and not whinge on social media?

Same for me. As a clumsy child I frequently sprained ankles, and they'd strap me up and send me on my way. When I needed more support and equipment, I got it. This was last year, by the way, not in some fictional golden era.
I've seen private medics give disastrously wrong diagnoses too. The only advantage was that the patients paid to be given the wrong treatment much sooner than they'd have got it had they waited. Wahey.

The point is that your visit cost you nothing. In the US you’d have paid +$1000.

Granted this experience is 10 years old but my husband was told an 11 month wait for an initial physio appointment and that he wouldn't be referred for scans til he had the physio appointment. This was for a back problem that was so severe he couldn't work.

We went private and the doctor said only surgery would fix the issue.

It's such a postcode lottery.

I live in the USA and yes an MRI is at least $2K

I don't think you will ever get a balanced response on here @younknow . Most of the people on here are so unbelievably lucky that they have never lost anyone due to the incompetence of the NHS. I have, twice. The last time was the most horrific thing my family have gone through and resulted in someone we loved dying in pain, frightened, ignored and with not one shred of dignity.
The first time was equally as traumatic but we needed to try to forget, so attempted to stumble on. We didn't do that the second time.
Same hospital.

I do not know what the answer is but I know change needs to happen. It won't, because some people make alot of money from it running the way it does. They do not want things to change.

Nevermind though eh? Posters on here have been treated well so sod everyone else. Nothing to see, stop complaining. God bless the NHS.

Oh and stop using the USA as an example, it is stupid. There are other, closer countries that do it better than us, what are they doing?

Unfortunately the statistics show worsening health care in the the UK. The UK has the highest avoidable mortality among comparable countries, and more than 60% higher than Japan, Sweden and Australia. Infant mortality is higher than in most peers and roughly double Nordic/Japanese rates.
And on and on. So it's just not one employee, it's systemic and the numbers show it.

It is a postcode lottery. Sometimes even a GP surgery lottery tbh. Mine operates so much better than many other people I know even locally, the physio has come in over the last few years and I do think stuff like that probably eases up the out patient referrals to some degree.

Your husband's experience is insane. All for trying to do basics to ease the pain as much as possible but if you don't know what you're even dealing with how do you know you you won't do yourself more damage 🤯