To worry about not being able to see a paediatrician on the NHS?

[RevoltingPeasant]

Okay, so talk some sense into me, please.

I grew up in the US with private health insurance (obv). My sisters and I saw a paediatrician until we were in our late teens - in fact our 'family doctor' (GP) would not take patients under 16. I think this is normal in other countries as well - my German friend says the same.

We also got check ups really regularly, at least once a year but often more, and especially when we were babies. In fact, my younger sister's extremely aggressive abdominal cancer was first spotted when she was still pre-verbal, just during a routine check up. A few more weeks and it probably would have been untreatable - we are super lucky she lived.

DP and I are planning a family now, so I'm looking into these things, and have been told by friends that it's not normal to take DCs to a paed in this country (except in serious cases in hospital) and that check ups aren't regular if there aren't obvious symptoms. I find this worrying in a general sense, and also because with my family history, there is an increased chance that any baby of mine will develop that form of cancer.

Am I just being extremely precious?? Suffering from culture shock? Or this is genuinely a real gap in the NHS? It just seems.... negligent to me, not to give children routine preventative medicine, especially when they are too young to verbalise properly.

Our docs offer phone appointments between 1 and 2 and 5 and 6. They can issue a perscription over the phone to collect. Obviously probably not for serios things.

I have recently had two private operations, one for complications after the first. I had very short waits for the ops (but the second one was an emergency haemothorax so would have been quick on the NHS TBH). Getting MRIs, Angiograms, ultrasounds etcetc was without delay.

My parents have put in a formal complaint about the nursing care on the day shift over the weekend when I was left in such agony I couldn't talk, couldn't feed myself, needed to wee but no-one answered the bell to put me on the bedpan. The night shift nurses were angels and treated me with such respect and care in comparison.

This from a hospital that is meant to be one of the main private hospitals in London from one of the biggest providers.

I really value the NHS and esp the care that it gives for children but I know that for me and my rare condition, I eventually got operated on quicker than the NHS as would have had to wait such a long time for the tests.

No I don't, by thyroxin works fine for me, so can't help - sorry.

The American system for treating thyroid disease is very different and after a lot of reading on the system in the UK and the States I came to my own conclusion that neither are particularly good as here you tick boxes and over there in the US they want to make as much money from the thyroid drugs as possible - with over active, hyperthyroidism you have the thyroid removed and are put on thyroxine for life as this generates the drug companies a lot of money. What you are not advised to do is take anti thyroxine drugs to see whether your thyroid will go into remission - which happens in 50% of cases if the drugs are taken for 18 months.

Box ticking & targets are a problem that stems from parliament rather than from Drs. Nursing care has deterioirated since nursing began to be a graduate profession rather than one which stemmed from on the job training. My mother was an Army nurse & although she didn't nurse for her whole career, she constantly despaired of the new nurses who could write essays for England but couldn't give a decent bed bath.

OP I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, there may not be "regular checkups" with paediatricians in this country but once DC comes along I think you will find yourself at the gp/hv quite regularly. Apart from standard appointments and checkups I have taken DD to the gp four times and sought advice from nhs direct about the same number, and been referred to paediatric a&e once (a gp overreaction thankfully), so she has been in constant contact with healthcare professionals. As a first time mum I like to err on the side of caution and I have never been made to feel like I'm wasting nhs resources. As DH is from the continent, we are going to find a paed privately to give checkups when we are there visiting family but personally I feel like we get perfectly good care here (all pct's are different though!).

You do go for regular check-ups here and many GP surgeries have a GP specialising in children you can ask to see. The regular check-ups are not as frequent as in many other northern European countries; Many people in the UK also opt for private health insurance or simply pay as they go when they want to go private (probably the cheaper option - as most things are handled just fine by the NHS).

Are you serious?

If you are concerned, go private, as you would have to do in the US.

I lived abroad for 10 years and DS1 was born abroad. Did have the paeds. DS2 born here. No discernable difference.

Can't believe you are complaining about free healthcare. Unless this is some bizarre neocon wind up

The NHS is pretty rubbish at preventative medicine. But you can go too far the other way, e.g. taking blood regularly from healthy babies. I would like to see more preventative medicine in our system. But I would say that for most serious diseases our recovery rates are not a million miles away from those of the most expensive healthcare systems (and we have better rates for some things like maternal mortality from memory). But there is definitely room for improvement in our system.

You can always pay to see a paed privately. These consultations plus what you pay in tax for the NHS might even work out less than you would have paid in the US for your health insurance. I have a major family history of breast cancer - I only have 3 female relatives and 2 have had it, one (my mother) pre-menopause. I have very lumpy breasts and can't really tell what I am feeling from self-exam. So sometimes I pay for an examination by a leading oncologist (who was also my mum's surgeon). He has found lumps worth ultrasounding before so I think it is worth doing. That sort of thing is always an option if you have the funds.

"Can't believe you are complaining about free healthcare.Unless this is some bizarre neocon wind up"

actually, i think it is more a neocon position to say that the masses should be grateful for what they are 'given' and not complain. the NHS is a service that we pay for indirectly through taxation. also, many of us believe that decent healthcare is a right. (ditto to 'free' education - people are still entitled to question and criticise and demand better!)

obviously there are people who are dissatisfied with NHS care, and others who are perfectly satisifed. but come on - are we really going to tell people to stop complaining, because after all, it's free?

Agree brdgl. Although I find in real life many people who complain about the NHS won't countenance paying more tax. Our NHS costs far less than many better European systems. Of course some things can be better without more money - but we really can't expect the same healthcare as countries that pay much more for their healthcare through taxes.

fair point. personally, i'd be happy to pay quite heavy taxes, if my government would use them for stronger services! :)

I'm American who has lived in the U.K. for a little over a year now and have had nothing but a fantastic experience so far. In fact, my NHS doctor went above and beyond "basic" care and managed to diagnose a few problems with my blood pressure and thyroid that had gone undetected/unsuspected by my previous doctors in the States (to be fair, I also never went in for yearly well-checks in the US either). These tests were offered to me. I did not have to ask at all. I've never had that happen with any doctor in the States.

My son (3.9)has yet to be to our GP. He's up to date with his vaccinations and has been otherwise healthy since we arrived. I never understood the point of biweekly appointments when he was an infant. They were stressful and pretty unnecessary.

Now, if only NHS were more pro-epidural and c-section...then I might sign up for Baby #2 here. ;)

It's a bit late to join the discussion. I just pop in. But I totally agree with revoltingpeasant. In Spain, France, Germany and Italy, your child will have WEEKLY checks by a paediatrician the first months and then monthly. For me it's surreal that in the UK, the NHS doesn't provide that service. Instead you get the health visitor who's someone who gives advice like my mum would do or a friend with kids or you have to book an appointment with the GP which is not a baby doctor, and if you convince the GP to book an appointment with the paedrititian, it will take weeks or months. I had my child in a"top" public hospital in London and I found its quality really poor compare with Spain or France. I was told by my midwife I was ok and the results of my test were ok too and then, 2 weeks later, my Spanish doctor saw those results and confirmed that I have preeclamsia. That was one of many mistakes that I had encounter with the NHS. I know they're cutting budget but they're cutting too much. For a baby not to be seeing and having regular checks by a paediatrician is dangerous.

Just like everything there are good and bad points.
I've had bad experiences of the nhs yes, however for preventative care it's been good.
I have a risk
Of cancer due to my family, gp sent me for tests straight away, twice.
I also have a genetic blood disorder.
Befofe they were certain i had specialists putting me on medication to prevent clots forming in the time i got my results back.
My gp is amazing.
I suffer with severe health problems.
I research new drugs that may work for my condition and she is always happy to try me on them and support me.
Unlike other doctors and specialists, doesn't try to fob me off with genetic medication.
At the moment i am on two preventative medications, soon too be three.
Do agree though that there are not always good gps!

its because its the NHS.....free at point of service....if you want monthly health checks, get private healthcare....if every single person had a free at point of service healthcheck every month as a preventative thing the NHS would cease within a week....you can see a GP....also free at point of service, and they will refer you if needed.....some of you need to work in the NHS for a while to see what its really like....all the countrys mentioned dont have an NHS.....so if you dont like it, go back to the super (where you need insurance) hospitals that you came from!

I had my first baby in the UK, second in a country where we have private health care and therefore a pediatrician. The difference has been huge.

Here I had weekly visits with the pediatrician post birth, then monthly. The appointments were an hour long! My pediatrician is on Whatsapp and encourages me to keep in touch (which I don't because I'm too English and scared to bother her). The difference has been absolutely staggering.

The NHS in comparison felt stretched, and an ongoing health problem my DC1 had was never addressed despite me pushing for a specialist - only when we got here did we get a diagnosis.

I don't blame the health care professionals we saw in the UK, they were great. They were just stretched. Long waiting lists and tired GPs.

YANBU! I come from a country with a very similar set up to the U.S. and found it a bit confusing when I moved to the UK (with a 6 week old) that I couldn't find a paed Dr. The health care here is fine and if you are worried you can go private but generally speaking that seems to lead you through the NHS anyway.

I think the culture shock has something to do with it as I was used to GP for general ailments, on/gyn for smears and thru pregnancy etc and generally had far more contact with ob/paed than you would ever have in the UK.

Definitely make sure you find a GP surgery that you're comfortable with as (like in any country) they vary.

mariajuarez "It's a bit late to join the discussion"

4 years is a LOT late! Why on earth find and resurrect such an old thread?

Doctors in this country have loads more training than in the US, specialism training in the US takes about half the time than the UK, so you really can't compare.

Pay what they pay in the US, and fill your boots.

This is what confuses me about the NHS. People talk about not paying for it, but I thought you paid in taxes for it. I pay $218 per month for my private health insurance in the US. Seeing the doctor costs me $20 at the point of service. For what I get, I think that's a great deal.

Whoops, I didn't realize this was a zombie. Sorry. :/