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.

Completely disagree I have had some extended spells in hospital and they have been shocking experiences.

As I say this though I'm texting a friend whose medical parents (thank god) are removing their daughter from hospital as there is no doubt the hospital will kill her through lack of nutrition (BMI 11 and they keep 'forgetting' to get feed in for her and an elderly neighbour (both on tube feeds) :(

OP here. I think the DOTD subtitle has given this thread a slightly different slant which wasn't my intention. I didn't ask if people were proud of the NHS, I said that I was glad to have it despite it's imperfections.

And despite it's imperfections, I am very proud of it.

Actually, you know what Spero, I AM proud that we have it!

My GMIL had a fall a couple of weeks ago and she broke her hip. She had it replaced within two days and is currently recuperating in a home after a short stay on a ward. She is 101 and has been treated with absolute respect.

I am not discounting the bad experiences on here as I myself have had them but I would still rather have the NHS than not.

I want to praise the NHS but really I can't. This year has seen my family endure health care at its worst (whilst acknowledging it is at least some sort of healthcare). The systems in place from seeing GP to being referred to specialists to being treated are unbelievably lengthy and bureaucratic and in my family's case have caused immeasurable distress and poor health outcomes.

Some individuals within the system are outstanding but even more are not. Some departments are great once you finally get under their remit but the getting there can be horrendous.

It is embarrassing having to describe the care that my family get/have got to my german side of the family and when they visit us in hospital they are appalled.

And my last rant is about the great palliative care that supposedly makes euthanasia unnecessary here. What a joke.

I work for the OOH service.

I would say the system is used an abused by the 'walking well,' people who could easily wait to see their own GP, visit the pharmacist for advice..

It's never the 92 year old lady who is having dizzy spells and is vomiting while on the phone who complains.

It's always the 36 year old man with earache or a sore throat who rages because they have to wait for a three hour callback. It's usually after you've called an ambulance for an elderly person who ' didn't want to bother you.'

I think it's fantastic that we have access to healthcare 24 hrs, but it is soooo taken for granted.

I am extremely proud of being part of the NHS. Yes it's not perfect but it's a fantastic service around here. I am currently on a Return to Nursing course and have just completed 200 unpaid hours - and I'd do it again if I could afford it! I loved it. Nursing has changed, some for the good, some for the worse (paperwork!!!!) but the care on my ward is really impressive.

I have used the NHS as a patient and as a relative and again no complaints.

DH is a GP and the hours he works are incredible and when he's not working he spends a lot of time studying! He is wiped out when he gets home but he loves his job.

Positive - treatment of DS last year after he presented at A&E with what he thought was a sports injury and turned out to be a form of leukaemia. I can't praise the hospital's oncology unit more - lovely kind people looking after him and DH and me. DS now back enjoying student life and receiving £30k worth of drugs per year at no charge to him.
Negative - death of DF last year where the first we knew that he had actually died was a message from the ward "when can we move the body to the morgue?" Fortunately, the admin person at the morgue was very kind and helpful, but the indifference of the ward staff was deeply hurtful especially as DF had contracted C-diff whilst in their ward!

I am sorry to hear some people have had horrible experiences. Of course, it happens and no one is blind to that or thinks it doesn't matter.

But the concept of the NHS - the way it saved my parents because they didn't have to take the burden of my care all by themselves, the way it has quickly and efficiently removed the cancer that would have killed me. Without demanding that I put the money up front or pay for years into very expensive insurance policies.

The concept is fantastic. I do not understand why you can't be proud of that, while working all the time to be more efficient etc.

im not sure.

I am glad its there,but in other countries,for instance Japan,you pay health insurance through your work and you get a much better service,and its tailored to you.

We both have private health care(through dh at work else we wouldnt of bothered)and the difference in how you are treated is amazing when you are a private patient,which is wrong!We do pay for it even on the nhs,our taxes pay for it!

Well thats lovely for workers in Japan - what do the self or unemployed do?

But it's free at the point of delivery - that's the best bit about it but in some ways also it's downfall.

well theres certainillnesses and diseaes where the government pays 70 per cent.

the thing is over here we are used to things being the wayy they are,in other countries where there isnt free health care they have to work or find spme way of making money,and they know this,so people do.

we definitley have a sense of entitlement in this country.

No they don't. Please see what I said upthread about how many Americans have to declare bankruptcy due to not having a high enough level of insurance.

Desperate I'm so sorry for your loss - your post made devastating reading.

OP YABU. I get pretty annoyed that the NHS is treated like some revered national treasure. We are allowed to say it's crap when it's crap. Just as we can say how lucky we are that we don't get a bill for £30k when our child has an accident.

The NHS can be amazing. My GP was today, and I told her as much and thanked her for making extra effort on my behalf. But she had to make that extra effort because I went to see her because my MWives didn't do their jobs properly.

"and they know this,so people do" no they don't! my god no they don't, and you don't have to travel far off the tourist trail in the USA to see it

and to the poster that mentioned japanese workers paying through work, Japan has a REDICULOUSLY high unemployment problem! far far far worse than here! (with a suicide rate to match) so that's nice for the lucky few workers hmm?

Let me say I live in Ireland and If I want to see a GP today I can - for the cost of 50e, same cost for my DS(10) and anyone else.
I have private insuance which will pick up half of that cost.
Prescriptions are full cost. I had a kidney infection whilst pregnant and the antibiotics cost me 96euro!
So whilst the Nhs is not perfect it is superior to the service available in other countries.

oh right so just beecause you say they do that means they do?my husband lived in america for years and most people there make it a priority.

if they dont,then its their own fault.

Dye er, I've also said that the NHS can be bad AND good. Where did I say that people aren't allowed to complain about it?

show your thread title implies we don't have the right to slag off the NHS. Apologies if I've missed when you've qualified this. Because I think we do have the right to be critical of the NHS and that we can complain about the NHS which is why I plonked on the YABU side of the fence.

Amber, I suggest you Google: We are the 99%.

I am basing my knowledge on reported facts such as from Newsnight, articles in papers instead of just the experience of one example.

So are you saying the minimum waitress who gets injured and then afterwards has a pre-existing condition which means that her insurance premium is too high for her to afford has brought it on herself and it's "her fault"?

FFS Amber, everyone who finds themselves in poverty or unemployed "deserves" it?

Dye, there was a very important "some" in the title.

I'm a firm believer in constructive complaints as only then can things improve.

That's fair!