To be annoyed at how some people slag off the NHS?

[snowtunesgirl]

No it's not perfect but I'm still grateful that we have a National Health Service where if you need an ambulance, they don't first check you for Health insurance.

A friend of mine wasn't feeling well and had a bad experience with his local GP where he's not registered and for some reason they wouldn't let him temporarily register as an emergency. Therefore, he had to go the Walk-In Centre which was about an hour away.

It turns out that he has an ear infection and tonsillitis so felt pretty rotten but he's making out that he was on death's door and is banging on about how the NHS is shit because the first doctor wouldn't see him. He's also saying that lots of people die on the NHS every day due to neglect. I'm not saying that this doesn't happen but surely it's more of a rarity than the norm?

I've had some shitty experiences with the NHS but on the whole a REALLY positive one. I think it's a shame that all the bad bits of the NHS gets reported in the papers and somehow all the good stories never do.

[baublesandbaileys]

p.s. it's actually not free for all, its free for all at point of contact (a&e or gp) but if further inpatient treatment is required it's not free for non UK residents!

[Sirzy]

An even better way we can save the NHS is think twice before using its services. Don't do what so many do and run to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle, or go to A and E because you have a little cut on your finger. Don't call 999 because you haven't got money for a taxi etc etc.

[baublesandbaileys]

plus prevention is better (and cheaper) than cure, obesity, alcohol/drug misuse, smoking, diabetes etc costs so much!

[scottishmummy]

the NHS is fantastic,we are v lucky to have it
yes it has flaws, yes could do better
but overall amazing and free at point of use

[piglettsmummy]

I am one of the nhs slaggers!! But I had very bad experiences over 2years and still. Continue! Basically my dd stopped breyhig as a baby, every doctor, midwife, Hv I saw turned me
Away saying its normal! I had rows on the phone with emergency doctors, kept taking her to A&e even told to "take her home stop being paranoid and enjoy my baby" eventually one nurse took pity, the one paediatrician agreed to see her! After running tests we found out her condition was so serious he was
Shocked she was still alive. He told me to my face she shud have died of SIDs! This doctor now has my most downright respect!!y dd is a miracle child! And nhs put her at such a dangerous risk because
They wudnt believe me! She has vigorous treatment now but the damage is already done when she is stable and I have the strength I will pursue my case further..... If I had the money I would move somewhere where I did have to pay medical insurance
As mandatory, atleast we wouldn't be in this situation ATM and treatment
Could have starter sooner!

[thebitchdoctor]

Grovel. Thatcher and her ilk nearly destroyed the NHS. Labour did a lot for it but spent money is the wrong places.

I think if we had a government who knew what they were doing, the NHS would be amazing.

I tell you though it's demoralising seeing people slag it off and slag it's workers off. I work my backside off for my patients as do a lot of my colleagues. Yes there are some lazy bastards in the NHS as there are in other jobs but I've worked in 7 different hospitals and 4 GP surgeries and the vast majority of my colleagues are bloody amazing and are working to above and beyond in very constrained circumstances.

The NHS isn't perfect. I've been on the receiving end of some shit antenatal and postnatal care. But you know what I did? Instead of bitching about it I complained to my consultant (although it was a midwife issue).

[purpleraindance]

baublesandbaileys - did you watch the documentary last month??!! all non uk residents atm are entitled to any free treatment and anyways, for £100 you can bribe a gp to put you on his patient list to get free treatment. also, why should the nhs pay for people who have no will power and demand a gastric band followed by tummy tucks, breasts done, lipo + smokers ect......

makes my blood boil that the nhs waste so much money on people who dont deserve :-(

[wonkylegs]

Oblomov - you are forgetting that large section of the population who cannot get insurance even they can afford it because they have a pre-existing condition.
I was diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis when I was 19. I cannot get health insurance, believe me my company tried. Even on a group risk policy the exclusions are so huge I cannot claim as I cannot prove that any problem I had wouldn't be linked to the RA or the treatment I get for it (risks include heart/blood/kidney/liver problems, cancer to name a few) but actually that would be less of an issue as I would be unable to afford the treatment anyway and it wouldn't be covered as it's pre-existing.

[baublesandbaileys]

purple yes all get free gp treatment, but if admitted beyond first contact, say to a surgical ward, they will be charged if the hospital gets wind of them not being a normal resident!

[Alisvolatpropiis]

YANBU.

I criticise what the government is doing to the NHS.

I feel the same as you OP. I am profoundly grateful to live in a country with an NHS. The thought of it being privatised worries me deeply. I think NHS workers do a hard job that's being made harder through paycuts and government and media propaganda against it.

[baublesandbaileys]

TBH purple if people are living in our community, do you really want em NOT getting treatment for things such as TB? because that's what happens in america if you wander off the tourist trail, you see a lot of people coughing up blood!

herd immunity/protection protects us all!

[AuntieMaggie]

Ditto what carling said...

I'm so sorry for your experience desperate. I don't mind people moaning about such bad experiences - its the people that moan about the trivial stuff that annoys me.

I've had bad experiences too but IMO they are attributed to certain individuals/departments rather than the NHS as a whole which has also saved my life more than once!

[DesperatelySeekingSedatives]

YANBU The NHS isnt perfect but thank fuck we have it because it means no one gets left to suffer in pain or discomfort simply for being poor like in many countries.

Your poor friend sounds like he has had a really rough time (ear infection AND tonsilitis must be a shocker!) but he's wrong. Ok the first doctor wouldnt see him but the one at the walk in centre DID see him and treated him. Without that walk in centre he'd be even worse right now!

[MsElleTow]

I've lost the ability to walk unaided because of the NHS. I won't work again, my marriage has suffered, my children have suffered, I am in constant pain and need multiple hospital admissions every year because of the NHS!

So I will moan, I am afraid because those few doctors took my life, as I knew it, away from me and I will never get it back.

I am grateful to the NHS for the treatment I get now, but I shouldn't need it!

[KarlosKKrinkelbeim]

To read threads like this you'd think that other countries were full of people dying in the streets. Oddly, this is not the case. Most other developed nations manage to provide decent health care without funding a massively expensive behemoth which supports, in my experience, plenty of freeloading jobsworths alongside the committed professionals. Even the US, which is no paragon, does some things better than here. When my ds was DX'd with ASD - which DX I had to secure by going private - DH and I had to fork out £3K a month plus for the intervention he needed. In the US you would get 10 hours a week of the same intervention gratis.

[baublesandbaileys]

well how would you distinguish them from the many who move here for long term and then get ill before they have reached "normal resident" status?

actually its not non English people that are a problem in my local NHS, its Brits who moved abroad years ago, who didn't provide for themselves health care wise in the country they moved to because they thought the NHS would pick up the pieces even though they took all their equity out of the country and haven't lived here for years so paid no tax on purchases or earnings etc.
They get through gps and a&e fine then get a shock when they get to having in-patient treatment!

A lot of people are just not aware what "free at point of contact" means!

[LeftyLucy]

I am living in the USA now. I miss the NHS so much, while it's not perfect it is so much better than the disastrous healthcare system here.

I hate to think of the NHS being picked apart. I feel very sorry for HCP trying to work with bad management and lack of funding. It is a treasure and we should treasure it. I also feel very much for people that have had poor treatment but privatisation and breaking apart the organisation is not going to help that, when human beings are treating other human beings there is always going to be some failure in the system. I was shocked to hear yesterday that the training given to health care assistants working on the ward, who often do the bulk of the hands on care, is at the discretion of individual trusts and can vary from nothing to perhaps a weeks training. That is in England and Wales, Scottish hospitals have a minimum 3 months training for the same post. Everyone providing patient care should be trained!

Looking at a healthcare system here that is driven by profits for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and medical professionals themselves makes me really sad. The absolute inequity this creates in a nation with so much wealth is just tragic. I would hate to see anything like this happen in the UK.

Sigh...

[Tinymrscollings]

I can understand where some of the frustrated posters are coming from I suppose.

My son has a rare and serious form of epilepsy. He has lots of different HCPs involved in his care from a variety of NHS sources. They have all (bar a grumpy night registrar but we'll let that one slide ) been kind, empathetic and so professional. I have absolute confidence that he's in great hands when facing an uncertain future.

However, navigating the corridors of NHS bureaucracy is bewildering and very time consuming. I've not had an appointment for him yet where I've not made several phone calls to chase and check and confirm arrangements. I'm lucky to be a native English speaker, reasonably intelligent and comfortable with spending hours on the phone gently badgering the powers that be. I also have wonderful support from my DH and family. I can completely understand how anyone not as lucky as me would find themself lost in a system they aren't equipped to deal with, frustrated and angry during the worst times they'll ever face. The care is wonderful but getting to what you need can be really difficult.

The career whingers who are narked about their ingrowing toenail treatment I've a little less time for

[funkybuddah]

Wow re the 'non uk' lot

I have friend who is american, she has just moved here, she has just got a job.

Is she allowed treatment? She will be living here for the next 5 years minimum?

How about a heap of my eatern european buddies, all work, are they allowed treatment?

[funkybuddah]

And actually I dont want to live in country where we would leave someone in pain and at risk of serious illness or death because of status.

[Tinymrscollings]

oops, just noticed there was a big conversation about podiatry further up the thread. I didn't mean you about the ingrowing toenails, was just the first minor ailment that came to mind

[KateShmate]

IME, when things get bad and you really need the NHS, they are unbelievably amazing.

I have 5 DD's and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for their brilliant staff, none of them would be here.
Yes sometimes they mess up, and with one of my DD's our GP ignored many severe health problems, but ultimately when the shit hit the fan and she ended up on Paed's Intensive Care on a ventilator for over 2 weeks, her care was second to none - I genuinely cannot fault it.

[Oblomov]

wonkeylegs, I do understand. I am a type 1 diabetic since aged 1; my ds1 is autistic and my dh has had the whole of his large intestine and later small intestine removed. So I know all about pre-existing conditions.

[KarlosKKrinkelbeim]

But that is often the problem, Kate. Unless you are in acute situation, the people who are meant to focus on you aren't really bothered. And the result of this can be that an acute situation is created where there needn't have been one. Bad for patient, bad for public purse. And no-one ever seems to be required to carry the can for it.