The NHS in comparison to Spain is unfit for purpose . . .

[Lineofconcepcion]

My partner was taken ill a couple of weeks ago, we're on an extended holiday to Spain and Portugal. We went to the nearest public hospital in Oveido. Within 5 minutes he was triaged, examined within half an hour, given iv painkillers within 40 minutes, seen by an a & e doctor within the hour. Diagnosed, put on an iv drip for antibiotics within another half hour. Completed this, had the cannula removed, discharged with a prescription all within 2 hours. I was allowed with him during the whole of the treatment/examination. Treated amazingly well, faultless, lovely staff, who uploaded Google translate, to communicate better. All this on a GHIC card.

If it had been the NHS we would have waited 12 hours to be seen, denied my entry to be with him and generally be pissed off by the lack of care.

Where has it all gone so wrong?

Does anyone else think that NHS orthopeadics is becoming a bit like NHS dentistry? Its very hard to get anything done, even scans, unless you are very bad or an emergency and more and more people are having to pay to go private in order to resolve their ongoing pain and loss of quality of life.

SucculentChalice considering that dentistry, chiropody and optical services have already been largely privatised, I see no reason why it shouldn't spread into other areas - even orthopaedics

And Cuck00soup I said 18 months ago that this could be used as "to introduce privatised GP care" and got roundly blasted for it, especially when I mentioned my own previous GP who was using NHS telephone appointments to tout for private trade ... funny old world isn't it?

@Franklin12

We would not get a US system. Stop being ridiculous. We need to reform the NHS. It’s not fit for purpose.

We are getting a US style system. More and more people are taking out private health insurance or paying privately for one-off treatment. The government is not funding the NHS in line with health inflation, it's not tackling g the skills shortage, and it is most definitely not considering a Spanish-style healthcare system. Please wake up.

@Cuck00soup

unless they can stop GPs leaving

Or they could increase the numbers of training places, build additional medical schools, etc to increase the supply of new doctors coming through. We've had a shortage for decades, which used to be made up by immigrants, but even that's not enough now. It didn't help that the BMA used to be against increasing the number of training places and against the building of new medical schools!

@Hotheadwheresthecoldbath

We have less GPs,Hospital Drs nurses and carers per patient than most other countries and then people wonder why there are waits. Outcomes, however inost area are comparable. If community care was better funded and staffed we could reduce many,many hospital visits. But without investment in this isn't going to happen. I've been a nurse now for 42 years and this is the worse it has ever been with moral at rock bottom And canjust ask all of you to not criticise staff and care unless you took the time to write an official letter of complaint which is all management will respond to.

We have more Drs. per capita than Spain does.

@SVRT19674 Yes, when all this was happening I did some Googling and everything said the same regarding treatment of minors. I agree it was very strange.

@NumberTheory the stats I looked at show the UK has 3 doctors per 1000 people and Spain has 5.

[quote Badbadbunny]@Cuck00soup

unless they can stop GPs leaving

Or they could increase the numbers of training places, build additional medical schools, etc to increase the supply of new doctors coming through. We've had a shortage for decades, which used to be made up by immigrants, but even that's not enough now. It didn't help that the BMA used to be against increasing the number of training places and against the building of new medical schools![/quote]
As with all healthcare degrees though there needs to be enough placements, mentors and everything else in addition to the university part. That's why although the NHS is horrendously short of midwives loads of people don't get a place on the degree.

[quote Badbadbunny]@Cuck00soup

unless they can stop GPs leaving

Or they could increase the numbers of training places, build additional medical schools, etc to increase the supply of new doctors coming through. We've had a shortage for decades, which used to be made up by immigrants, but even that's not enough now. It didn't help that the BMA used to be against increasing the number of training places and against the building of new medical schools![/quote]
How does that help when there were 700 medical graduates unable to get FS1 placements this year?

[quote Sarahcoggles]@NumberTheory the stats I looked at show the UK has 3 doctors per 1000 people and Spain has 5.[/quote]
The WHO put us at 5.8 and Spain at 4:
data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MED.PHYS.ZS

The US system delivers amazing healthcare and freedom of choice to the wealthy and insured and neglects everyone else

The thing is it doesn't though. Stories abound from the US of people who thought they had "good" insurance discovering when it comes to the crunch that insurance refuses to cover certain procedures because they disagree with your doctors about what's necessary, and you certainly don't get freedom of choice since insurancers won't cover treatment from doctors who are "out of network" (ie don't have a contract with them). Even with insurance you can find yourself with an unexpected medical bill running into the hundreds of thousands and no help to pay it. And even if they will cover you, you'll likely have to pay a big excess. The system is just fundamentally broken from the ground up, the poor obviously get screwed completely but it's not actually a good working system for anyone. Even if you're lucky enough to be able to afford to pay a huge bill upfront, you're still getting screwed because medical costs in the US are vastly inflated above what the procedure actually reasonably costs.

We have big signs around A&E basically stating what I said. In other words, is it an emergency or an accident.