Things the NHS doesn't do

[Silverclocks]

In the last couple of months I've spent the following on necessary (?) treatment and I'm not even ill!

• ear syringing £65. I was in lot of pain, drops weren't helping, but GP surgery told me it's not done on NHS, although I now understand it can be where there's a medical need, they obviously didn't want me to know that.

• Dental hygienist £95. Apparently essential to protect the health of my gums, but not available on NHS. I'm supposed to go 4 times pa....

• Eye test/check up £70

• £50 podiatrist. Infected ingrown toenail. GP prescribed antibiotics, but told me it would keep recurring without being seen to, but the NHS doesn't do podiatry. So they're prepared to prescribe anti biotics every few months forever, but not treat the cause.

• £50 x 4 Osteopath to treat a slipped disk. All fixed now. I might have been able to get it treated on the NHS eventually, but the first step was a telephone consultation with a physio and and the wait for that was 6-8 weeks. I was in agony and unable to work.

Thankfully I was able to have all these things done, but it must simply be out of the question for so many people. It makes me want to cry.

PT. I really do think you should at least get a referral or help funding a PT.

I think the benefits of having access to someone who can help you exercise safely and correctly would be hugely beneficial to a lot of people. Not just the weight loss, but for anyone who has difficulty with movement for whatever reason. It can be life changing.

I pay £330 every other year for custom orthotics (3D printed) I see a physio who is a foot specialist and I chose her based on recommendations.

I don't begrudge paying for it because I know I am seeing the best person at the time i need it, for something that is not life threatening or life limiting, but it's bloody uncomfortable and impacts on the sports I can do and therefore my overall fitness and happiness. Should the NHS pay for this? I don't think it should, or expect it to.

Should the NHS pay for this?

But not everyone can afford it. What about those people who want to exercise and have the same problem? They wouldn’t be able to do anything

Irrigation has no evidence base of safety and effectiveness, irrespective of anecdata.

IMO there is no trajectory to the Western European model of healthcare in the UK, partly because people wilfully ignore the absolute level of long-term funding which IMO is the major issue and people seem tp focus on structures.Once that door is open, the millions currently being spent on lobbying to a willing recipient isn't coming from the lovely third sector providers who have no interest in delivering in the UK anyway, rather the for profit providers and beneficiaries of a system that appears to incur more in transaction costs than the UK's under-funded system spends on total health care delivery and a system in which is it c600,000? become bankrupt annually which isn't by accident. Those lobbying millions won't lead to improvements in health care, just a corporatised system that embeds political donations and NEDs and shareholdings of interest to the recipients of the millions of annual donations.

FWIW, I suspect HCPs would personally benefit from a US-styles system though actually are one of the parties acting against their commercial interests, IMO because they suspect it won't be in the interests of patients.

I suspect the results of the Daily Mail's reporting of unhappiness with remote consults with hokey statistics will be that more patients get to enjoy remote consults but to an offshore provider. FWIW, we never closed our doors and have offered more appointments than pre-COVID and always offer F2F.

Charge you.

I’ve just paid 8k for private health insurance for myself.

£45 a week for physio every fortnight for six months after complicated ankle surgery. Nothing on the nhs. I genuinely don’t think I’d be able to walk if I hadn’t paid.

We couldn't get an nhs dentist nearby - would have been right across the other side of the city and a long waiting list even then. So we pay private - it's about £70-80 for a check up I think, and almost that again for the hygienist. Only tend to go once a year these days. Luckily my teeth seem pretty healthy.

I was never entitled to free eye tests/glasses on the nhs after becoming an adult. Used to cost me every time I needed an eye test, contact lenses and glasses. I paid around £4k to have eye laser surgery so not needed any for the last few years.

I have arthritis, low iron and hypertension (latter two were a lovely side effect left since my first bout of covid, and which is not diet based before people suggest healthier eating, etc again) and pay for all my medication, albeit subsidised by the NHS. I have an annual pre payment as take so many tablets/injection each week it was costing a small fortune each visit!

I have also benefited from the NHS for other medical help though too, so feel for me the benefits have outweighed the negatives (delays, waiting lists, etc)

My GP surgery is still struggling though - not enough doctors and not open to patients full time. Difficulty getting appointments and not invested enough pre pandemic re online/phone call appointments so really struggling since covid on that front. I see what other surgeries can do online/virtual and we have nothing like that locally at all.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Should the NHS pay for this?

But not everyone can afford it. What about those people who want to exercise and have the same problem? They wouldn’t be able to do anything

No, not everyone can afford it, but their are a certainely a lot of people who could prioritise is over a holiday, or nights out. Going private for physio and other care which doesn't require a referral as it would within the NHS also frees up GPs.

I work as a paramedic, it is horrendous at the moment in front line emergency care which is what the NHS should be good at, this is where money needs prioritising, people are dying waiting for ambulances or queing (outside) of a&e not even in the waiting room. People need to start taking more responsibilty for their own health and making it a priority in their budget.

People need to start taking more responsibilty for their own health and making it a priority in their budget

And that’s going to happen in the current economic climate. People can’t afford to heat their houses!

How can they ‘afford to budget’ for healthcare? They can’t afford basics.

And if that is to happen, people need to be made aware of it.

People need to start taking more responsibilty for their own health and making it a priority in their budget
Which is fine if that’s the society you’ve signed up for, born into, agreed to.

You can’t change the goalposts now

You can't see an osteopath on the NHS for the same reason you can't see a reiki healer: it's quackery/pseudoscience.

Maybe prescription charges should be revisited. Free to millions of people over 60 regardless of ability to pay? Ridiculous! Long term it wouldn't be more expensive to means test, or simply raise the age.

They've stopped doing surgery for gynaecomastia. So I had to pay £3200 so my son didn't have the indignity of living with one breast.

I got custom orthotics twice over lockdown. I'm not diabetic, still saw the Podiatrist.

I've had steroid injections both in joints and in soft tissue, rather than have to pay for a private physio to do them.

I've had four courses of physio and I'm currently waiting upon hydrotherapy following various scans over the last year and a bit.

I also get medication delivered to me free every month that costs the NHS over ten grand a year. Not even a prescription charge.

Last time I saw the dentist, she did a full scale and polish when I expected a quick scrape and to be told to book for a hygienist appointment.

I get free eye tests due to family history.

It's not perfect, obviously, but I think I'm doing pretty well out of the NHS for things that are deemed essential.

The occasional podiatry appointment £65
Eye test is £20 but I can claim it back from my employer because I use screens a lot.
My glasses cost £350+
£60 for a proper dental hygiene. I get it done twice a year, plus the NHS charges.
Last year I had to pay £25 a week for a suitable wheelchair because the NHS provided one that wasn't appropriate. I also paid £10 a week for a "knee scooter" whilst recovering from a broken ankle.

My Dad's paid £££ on private hearing tests and hearing aids because of delays and because the aids provided are too bulky.

Same with education, I've shelled out on exercise books, art materials, and "contributions" to school day-to-day running.

Creeping privatisation.

Microscopic urine testing as nhs tests can miss up to 50% of uti's meaning they become chronic and you have to go privately to get treated rather than being fobbed off by urology as having IC.

Chiropractor for pretty much any muscular skeletal issues.

Chiropody to remove verrucas that were making it incredibly painful to walk.

Ear syringing for blocked ears. My 7 year old ds needs this too but no one will privately treat this age group and nhs waiting list is ages.

@Worrysaboutalot

I had to buy my own stair lift, wheel chair and wheelchair ramp. None are provided on the NHS here.

In our area you are offered an inside manual wheelchair, if you can not pull to standing at all, your house is already wheel chair ready (widen doorways, you have enough space to turn chair around in every room) and if you promise not to use it outside!

Further criteria for powerchairs.

And for all those people who will say my uncle got one and he only limps, good for you. But in our area you self fund or stay house bound.

Generally it is the responsibility of social care rather than the NHS to fund adaptations. This is means tested via a disabled facilities grant. The NHS does do wheelchairs (with strict criteria!) but social services will do a lot of other equipment.

My friends little boy has just been told he needs a helmet to treat severe plagiocephaly. He has a very flat spot at the back, a bulge to his cheek and forehead and his ears are no longer aligned. NHS says it's cosmetic and will sort itself out (without even looking at him). It won't. What it will do is affect his ability to wear glasses, safety equipment i.e. hard hats and possibly his mental health in the future. So about £3000 later hopefully it will be better for him.

@Esssa

My friends little boy has just been told he needs a helmet to treat severe plagiocephaly. He has a very flat spot at the back, a bulge to his cheek and forehead and his ears are no longer aligned. NHS says it's cosmetic and will sort itself out (without even looking at him). It won't. What it will do is affect his ability to wear glasses, safety equipment i.e. hard hats and possibly his mental health in the future. So about £3000 later hopefully it will be better for him.

This is terribly sad. I’m so sorry for this boy and his family

It outrages me how often the NHS claim illness and ailments are “cosmetic” and therefore not treated

It’s a disgrace and I’m so tired of hearing how privileged we are to have it. It’s seriously lagging behind systems in many other European countries and yet I still hear so many people harping on about it “being the best in the world” 🙄

You can’t see a chiropractor on the nhs for the same reason as an osteopath as above - it’s pseudoscience