To be so glad we have the NHS.

[Manchesterhistorygirl]

Well am I?

Background: ds2 was fine yesterday, not ill at all. He went of to bed happy as larry, but woke at about 8:30 ish screaming and burning up with a nasty pinprick rash and rolling eyes, cold hands, feet, etc. called ooh who said 999 immediately. We were at hospital by 9:30 after a ride in the ambulance and home by midnight after he came round and seemed fine again, sent home with high dose call pol and Brufen to keep his temperature under control.

He's doing ok now.

So here's to the NHS. Thank you.

In most other countries in the world, my mother would have had no choice but a home birth as she could not have afforded hospital. She would have died & so would I. I was in the exact same position last year with my DD. The care was far from perfect but my mother, I, and my DD are alive and perfectly healthy due to the NHS.

I'm also not uncritical, we actually had reason to complain to the same hospital earlier this year, but last night when the chips were down my son was looked after and treated in an appropriate medical setting without me having to worry about whether or not I had insurance or the wherewithal to pay. I absolutely agree that the admin side needs streamlining and the ridiculousness of postcode lotteries needs ending. The NHS should be just that, National. Scales of economies would vastly improve the costs per patient/drugs, etc also it desperately needs a proper IT system putting into place that has immediate access to all your medical records and can cross reference with any treatment/admission you may have. I believe that would also help staff identify those at risk.

However my point remains, the NHS is for the most part bloody great and the staff, I feel, are also for the most part wonderful. I'm so grateful for what we have, rather than the alternative.

YADBU,

Firstly, it does not sound as if, in this instance, the NHS actually did anything for your child. It sounds like a horrid experience but also that he would (fortunately) have been fine without the ambulance round trip. The NHS has actually saved one of our children from a potentially life threatening brush with illness. However, the idea that the choice is no paediatric care or the NHS is nonsense.

I am profoundly grateful for modern medicine and those who practise it. However, that is equally true in the U.S, France and any other modern society. You do not need an NHS to provide modern lifesaving healthcare. If we had another system, you would still have ambulances, doctors, nurses etc all working their utmost to save lives using the most modern equipment.

I think in an emergency the NHS is fabulous.

YANBU. We are lucky to have the NHS. But it fails in so many ways, I'm only moderately thankful. I'd rather be given a healthcare voucher each year to put towards private treatment tbh.

I am hugely thankful for the NHS. When DD had a blockage in her airway she had a tracheostomy at 9 weeks. At no point during her care were we made to feel we were wasting NHS resources or anyone's time.

I joined a US based forum for carers of children with tracheostomies and most of the carers had to go back to work full time and pay a nurse to look after their children so they could benefit from the health insurance through their jobs. They also had to re-use loads of disposable equipment - cannulas, spares trachys, whereas I had single use only and getting new supplies was no problem. Many children had to undergo what would have been considered unnecessary procedures in the UK simply because the doctors could make money.

I am extremely cynical about the healthcare system in the US and supremely grateful to the NHS.

YADNBU. Glad your child is ok now

My dh complained about having a lump in one of his testicles in Jan of this year. The lump, which turned out to be cancerous, was taken out within 10 days of seeing his gp, seeing the consultant and having a testicular scan.

He had a ct scan within 7 days afterwards, followed by the results, to see if he had the all clear and was referred to Christies as a follow up. He had a single dose of chemo as a preventative measure since.

May I take the opportunity to thank our GP for referring dh ASAP, and to Booking and Scheduling, who booked him an appointment and booked his admission into hospital, to North Manchester General Hospital ward C6 for looking after him and the urology team for whipping his cancerous tumour out, and to Christies for giving him the dose of chemo to (hopefully) prevent his cancer returning. Phew.

Being thankful for our NHS is an understatement in our eyes. Hope its still here for many more years to come.

YANBU. DS2 contracted meningitis when he was 10 day old (the viral version luckily) and the speed/quality of care he received was amazing.

Infamous - really glad you've had a good overall experience. I have too for the most part.

But I am very wary of gratitude as it encourages people not to think about the negatives, and the negatives aren't a nurse being rude about someone's weight, they are mid Staffs and they are that lady I know whose treatment is being stopped.

Also, I think the US system is deeply deeply problematic but I am grateful to American drs. American paediatric oncologists saved my sister's life. They told my dad not to worry about the bill until the surgery was over. The US medical system is not full of cash-counting robots who will perform any op for the right price. My experience of American medical care was consistently excellent, fwiw.

I love the nhs- it has saved my boyfriend's life and treated my au t's very nearly untreatable cancer. I tutor American politics and thank my lucky stars I am British and in the uk as I go through the corruption and hysteria that surrounds American healthcare. My favourite stat is that Americans spend more per capita than any other nation in the world but is sliding (currently below Latvia) way down the international measures for health and longevity.

Aunt's...

Several years ago (in the US) I took DH to the emergency room with stomach pain. We arrived at the ER a shortly after midnight, he was diagnosed by 2AM, the op was at 7AM and he was in recovery by 8AM. BTW, he recovered in a private room with an ensuite. We paid $0 and we aren't by any means well-off.

A few weeks ago (in the UK), I was driving to pickup DS1 from nursery. As I was queuing slowly due to traffic, I saw an elderly women sitting on the curb, obviously injured. Several people were attending to her and someone was standing in the street looking for an ambulance. About 45 minutes later I drove past the exact same spot and that poor lady was still on the curb waiting for her ambulance. I just hope she was okay.

Sure the US system isn't without its faults, but we also don't pay 20% tax (it was 4.9% where I last lived). I haven't had anything but positive experiences with US healthcare. But to be fair, so far the UK private healthcare has been pretty good as well (obv not eligible for NHS since not a citizen).

.....By the way, I meant to say I work for the same Trust who looked after my dh, and used to complain about certain depts as sometimes things do go wrong, but having been on the receiving end of it with dh, I haven't complained since...

We've had several things that the Nhs dealt with amazingly in the last few years. I may tend towards the gratef end of the spectrum, but the only things that were a pain for us were to do with waiting when weren't a medical emergency. And that happens because otherwise at some times, operating theatres or beds would be empty, increasing inefficiency. Only this week I've had mastitis and despite coming down with it in the early evening, by nine I'd seen a doctor and been prescribed antibiotics. Very grateful.

Many of us moan about the slowness of NHS

But we are lucky to have it

We get the best treatment for free - not counting the ni we have paid over the years

Enjoy it while you can as it won't be around very much longer given that it's been privatised but few people really realise it as the BBC didn't report it.

As it turned out yes I didn't need to take him by ambulance to the hospital, but are you going to question ooh when your 2.5 year old has a non-blanching rash, temperature of 40 degrees and assorted other meningitis symptoms? I'm bloody not and I did say that I was glad I didn't have to think about insurance or cash flow. That point remains. When the paramedic arrived his SATS were 87. I'm bloody glad that I had specialist help in the house in under 15 mins from my initial phone call. I was on my own with both kids last night, as I am more often than not and let me tell you it was bloody frightening to be in that situation, I was fully ready to be told by ooh to come on down, but they said 999.

As I have also said I'm not uncritical of the NHS, but its something we should be profoundly grateful for, free at the point of delivery healthcare is not so,etching we should take for granted.

I've just arrived home from a day surgery to have my tonsils out on the NHS. Free (at point of care), excellent, compassionate care.
A big thank you to the staff of the Day Surgery Unit at Heartlands Birmingham- you are ace.
Here's to the NHS.
P.S. can the tramadol start working soon please, I'm really sore.

I have lived in the US and the co-pays on ds's equipments nearly bankrupted us, plus begging for needed treatment the doctors recommended but you had to clear with some clerk at the insurance company. Then paying for every feeding tube etc.
So pleased we are here.

YADNBU. I started a very similar thread in Chat this morning having spent 24 hours in hospital with DD. The treatment she had was quick, thorough and kind. I couldn't speak more highly of the staff on the children's ward at our local (small) hospital. Like you OP, I'm aware of the failings in some parts of the NHS but am profoundly grateful to have received the care we've had.

The more my children travel and live abroad, the more I am grateful for it.

It isn't without its faults but then nothing is, however, i am grateful that we have it.

my brother and i compared our children's immunization both of which was the same. The difference, my child's was free whilst he had to pay for many of his - this was in another European country.

an American friend's brother had a serious accident requiring extensive treatment, this maxed out his insurance limit and would not have obtained the ongoing treatment required apart from the fact they had very rich parents who could pay.

larrygryllsHowever, the idea that the choice is no paediatric care or the NHS is nonsense.

That comment is nonsense. Many families will have no paediatric care without the NHS. Many can just about manage to feed, clothe and pay their day to day bills without having to pay health insurance and a hefty bill after care too.

A friend recently went private as she was frustrated with the waiting times. She was seen and diagnosed quickly and promptly booked in for a procedure under GA. She suffers from health anxiety so booked another appointment to talk to a different consultant. Turned out her problem was missed diagnosed and she didn't need an op after all. She just needed a change of medication. As we live in Wales, she can get this on free prescription from the NHS.

She paid just over £400 for the private appointments, would have been a lot more if she'd had the op and after care.

Even private can fuck up. In her case, NHS was better.

Aren't people confusing "the NHS" with the simple fact of having a modern healthcare system? Lots of great stories here but you cannot condone the operation of one of the most sprawling bureaucracies in the world simply because sometimes people get better.
It does some good work, and has some amazing people - but it could be much better.

Also, a discussion I was having with my ward manager no so long ago about when, not if, the NHS is gone.
Our ward is geriatric medicine. It is very, very expensive to run. Who is going to pay for our elderly patients to have treatment. They can't work, have illnesses that will last for the rest of their lives. They may have years, thanks to modern medicine, people are living longer with complex health issues.

Some people think the NHS don't give a shit about the elderly. And the private companies will??

My aunt, who has breast cancer, was sat in clinic last week next to an elderly man around 80 years old. He was saying how grateful he was to be having chemo at his age. We have had many elderly patient having chemo or other life saving/prolonging treatment on our ward.