What’s the point in the NHS?

Nobody asked if it was magical, the statement was there is no point to it!

NHS worked well for you, but it doesn’t work for a majority of people. I’ve had a lot of experience with the NHS over the last couple of years with family, and I can safely say your experience is probably the exception rather than the norm. And of course it all depends which health trust area you live in. Service varies hugely.

The deserts are increasing as are the iquarter struggling to pay out of pocket costs. The French system is in no way vastly superior.

Comparing the French healthcare system and the UK's NHS involves weighing different funding models, resource levels, and patient experiences rather than a simple designation of one being universally "better".
Funding and Access

• France: Uses a hybrid social health insurance model where patients generally pay upfront for appointments and prescriptions and receive a 70% to 100% reimbursement from the state health plan (managed via the Carte Vitale). Most residents purchase a low-cost supplementary private insurance policy called a mutuelle to cover the remaining gap.
• UK NHS: Operates on a fully state-funded, tax-based model where care is largely free at the point of use.

• Spending: France spends roughly 21% to 26% more per person on healthcare compared to the UK, translating to higher per capita investment.
• Capacity: France provides more resources per capita, averaging about 5.8 hospital beds and 3.4 doctors per 1,000 people, alongside greater availability of diagnostic equipment like MRI machines. The UK NHS operates with roughly 2.5 hospital beds and 2.9 doctors per 1,000 people.
• Wait Times: France generally offers faster access to specialists and shorter elective wait times, though it faces growing issues with rural "medical deserts" and doctor shortages. The UK NHS provides better protection from upfront out-of-pocket medical costs but struggles with chronic waiting lists and underfunding pressures.
• Outcomes: Both systems achieve strong life expectancy and health outcomes, with France performing slightly better on certain avoidable mortality indicators and the NHS scoring higher on financial equity at the point of delivery.

I’m sure if we upped investment into the NHS so we spent 26% more per person as the French do we’d knock them into the water on resources and the slightly better outcomes for those that can access healthcare.

NHS worked well for you, but it doesn’t work for a majority of people
It did what it had to be done for OP though.

Theres plenty that can be done for torn ligaments.

I'm understanding that OP thinks this NHS advice for potentially torn ankle ligaments is wrong. In the first 3 months after you recover from this injury, What do you want to be done for your ankle OP? Is it just a pair of crutches you want or else what, in next 3 months.

A reason they don't rush to surgery is they need the injury to settle, see how much self-healing happens, before 'they' try to intervene.

Nope. It’s better not to have them here at all. NHS is over used, over subscribed and under funded. Stay where you are and get treatment there, rather than come here to put even more strain on a health care system which currently isn’t fit for purpose. Try use some critical thinking here……

Well, as someone with a long, complex medical history, I have received a lot of care that I and (when I was a child) my parents probably wouldn't have been able to adford. It's not perfect, but it is far from pointless either...

It’s not the exception. Every second of every day the NHS is saving lives and is free at point of access for everyday single person in the UK. We are beyond lucky and like Brexit until it’s gone some won’t realise that. Interesting the anti NHS spiel is another ignorant Reform hobbyhorse.

Yes, let’s put up with shit service because it’s free…

What did you actually want to be different.

You were seen and had an x-ray to exclude a fracture. You were correctly diagnosed with a sprain.
The evidence for physiotherapy for grade 1-2 sprains is quite poor.
Theres no evidence showing all ankle sprains should receive a CT scan.
No evidence for surgery at this stage.
Theres some evidence showing an ankle support might be of benefit, but it seems reasonable for patients to purchase their own. They’re generally less than £20.

Ive sprained my ankle in the UK and in Aus. The management was identical.

I'd rather have something similar to Dutch or German system

I would never vote reform and I think it should be privatised with the European model. It’s not fit for purpose

But the poster implied it is working, when many of us know it isn’t. You can’t say something is universally brilliant just because you’ve personally had a good experience. I’ll admit the nhs is pretty good for cancer treatment. I have two friends who have had exemplary treatment for breast cancer, but I can still see that overall, the NHS doesn’t work for a lot of people.

A typical dog xray costs around £370.

Consult with an ANP would be another £80-£120.
£50 for investigations & care OP got is not enough.

Not free. Did you read her post? She works and therefore pays taxes to fund NHS for everyone.

The service is free at point of use and the amount we pay on average is way less than most people around the world need to pay

your service might have been better if we paid the equivalent of the EU average but we would rather pay money to banks and landlords than taxes

and also / they only use a boot and crutches for the most severe sprains and that’s been the case for decades. If the sprain isn’t that bad then it’s better that it isn’t restricted that much

It’s better not to have them here at all. NHS is over used, over subscribed and under funded. Stay where you are and get treatment there, rather than come here to put even more strain on a health care system which currently isn’t fit for purpose
You can't be real! Get treatment there...yeah ok. You're right, the NHS should continue to treat all those whose poor health is the result of poor lifestyle, who gave not paid a penny into the system as a priority, that's the moral thing to do.

I'm sorry your GPs are so poor.

Mine are excellent. I like the fact that a lot of things can be dealt with by a telephone appointment, which is usually the same day or the next day. If they need to see you in person, you usually get an appointment within 2 working days. You don't even have the hassle of hanging on the phone, you can tell them what the problem is via an online form and they do what's necessary without seeing you if they can.

Last year, I got a next day appointment for a sudden onset severe pain in the side of my head. I was a bit surprised to see a physio, not a doctor, but he explained that it could be temporal arteritis, prescribed the high dose of steroids which is the treatment, and referred me for an urgent neuro appointment, which happened the next day. Two working days later, I was having a biopsy, results came the next day and confirmed the diagnosis.

I thought that was fucking amazing, frankly. Although the year on steroids was bloody unpleasant, I didn't have a stroke or go blind, which can happen if temporal arteritis isn't treated promptly.

How odd. I fell over and severely injured my ankle 20 years ago. It swelled like a balloon, couldn’t work etc. they couldn’t xray it straight away due to the swelling. Once I got it down a bit it was found to be severely sprained, not broken, was sent away to rest it etc.

Advice was given but there certainly wasn’t all the follow up you’re talking about, or even physio, not just for a sprain. Now 20 years ago the NHS already wasn’t what it had been for the baby boomer and older generation, eg the weeks stay in hospital for broken legs and after birth had already gone, but most would say it was functioning better than now.

There seems to be an odd dichotomy at the moment between the very real issues of big delays in ambulance response, corridor care which all the staff hate, genuinely third world stuff: and on the other hand a small minority expecting some truly luxurious personal care that has never been possible except for a few aristocrats, maybe even people like King Henry 8th with his army of carers and bearers himself!

Pretty sure stalking someone and bringing up posts they made from other threads is against talk guidelines. HTH

Hav3 you had occasion to actually use it recently? Usually, people who spout this are just quoting something without actually having experienced it themselves. No one is saying it doesn’t work, sometimes, but we need it to work for everyone, and it really doesn’t. My mil died on a trolly in an A&E side room where she had laid for 12 hours as there were no beds. She didn’t die because of it, but her last hours should have been lying in a proper bed on a ward being cared for by nurses, not in a side room which was used to store equipment with chaos around her in A&E, where we had to track down someone to give her pain relief. Or my bil who had an alcohol problem, who displayed all signs of having had a stroke, who was admitted and his condition assumed to be alcohol related, with no tests for a stroke until 48 hours later. He was then deemed to have had a stroke, but we all know delays in diagnosis means the condition worsens. I could go on. The NHS is dire, and people trying to tell us ‘nothing to see here’ are not helping get the issues in the NHS sorted.

In America, sometimes people don’t even get treated for cancer if they don’t have adequate insurance.