To think the NHS is wonderful and on the whole does a marvellous job?

[mrsruffallo]

I had to go to a&e yesterday for a bad wound. Had 2 xrays and eleven stitches within 2 hours, and had a wonderful nurse and several visits from a kindly doctor.
I know it gets a bad press but day in day out I think it is an institution that we should be very proud of.
My only bad experience has been maternity services, I concede that.

what's bnf?

I'm no medic but British National Forumlary or whatever its called? the drugs book.

On the whole, I've found the NHS excellent and been very grateful.

On the whole, my experience of NHS staff has been very good. They have been professional, caring and a credit to their profession.

I have a myriad of horror stories from my NHS treatment over the years, but only very rarely has that bad treatment been because the staff were crap.

Why is no one publicly saying how lucky we are to have this institution?

Well, DD was seriously ill a few years back and was referred to Great Ormond Street. I bow down in deference to its hallowed corridors. She received fabulous treatment, and this is the NHS at its very, very best. I acknowledge that the hospital benefits from large donations, but even so. We're very, very lucky to have these sorts of facilities available to us at no personal cost.

I'd love to hear jeremy Vile say it! Instead of all his moaning.

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God that sounds awful lennygrrl. And i agree. If you're not going to potentially die from your condition chances are the service will be crap. Disabled children waiting 18 months for a wheelchair that fits is not good enough, disabled children being unable to access SALT is not good enough, people with one leg having badly fitting prosthetic limbs that cause further damage to their limbs is not good enough and so the list goes on.

Would agree with Suebaroo that often the staff are doing the best they can, but I don't feel 'lucky' to have it. We've either had to pay or wait years for every service ds1 has needed from it. He doesn't have years to wait.

Actually my dad had to wait so long for a scan for a potentially cancerous condition that he ended up paying for that himself. So sometimes the service is non-existent even when delays could cost someone their life.

there's been a few comments about it being free and no personal cost, but that's what national insurance is, isn't it? And this is actually a big (possibly hidden) cost. It ain't free. not by a long chalk.

No it's not free. But we need to contribute more if we want to save the NHS. It's not possible to run it to the standard we want given current funding levels. Every other country in developed Europe manages it, why can't we?

Just look at the 'health & beauty' thread on here. People are prepared to pay £20-30 for make-up. Why should they expect to visit a doctor for free? Wrong priorities in imo.

As I said below, I'm not advocating an American model; contributions should be means tested, with the elderly, those with special needs, those with chronic conditions, those under certain income levels receiving free care. I'm just trying to challenge the assumption that medical should be free, even for those who CAN afford to pay a little.

Agree with the OP - in my (limited, thankfully) experience, it is wonderful

oops - that should be - 'medical' care ...

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I think the NHS is an amazing luxury. Having experienced healthcare overseas, we are very lucky. Dh as a dr is an even more passionate advocate of the NHS having worked in overseas healthcare in terms of the totality of care for patients. There will always be nightmare stories of where it goes wrong but I do believe that we hear many more of these as a percentage than the day in day out regular fantastic treatment that people receive, free at the point of need.

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The NHS is a wonderful institution its just that with the increasing elderly population requiring evermore advanced treatment and surgery etc that it cannot cope. The patient numbers rise continually, however, the amount of people contributing NI to pay for these advances has declined over the last 50 yrs as people tend to have less children, so there are less young people to make NI contributions. With increased life expectancy the situation will get worse. There are limited options to correct this.

1. Increase tax and devote so many pence per pound to the NHS.
2. Privatise services so everyone needs private health insurance.

Neither will be popular and are unlikely to be done by any government because of the back lash.

YANBU! A French friend of ours currently living in London has nothing but praise for the NHS for its continuing treatment of his daughter who has been paralysed by a mystery virus and this from a man who comes from a country with possibly the best medical service in the world.

I agree with a 'non-profit' care system but that is not incompatible with a system of mandatory health insurance.

I think the comment about midwife v ob/gyn care largely refers to pre-natal services rather than the actual birth. During my pregnancy I saw my ob/gyn exclusively for every pregnancy check/scan/test once or twice a month and she delivered dd too.

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My mum had a stroke over Christmas and was in hospital for 3 weeks, on the whole the care was great and the after care is fantastic.

I am in a different city. My maternity experience was absolutely fine as well, in hospital pre-birth, labour, cs and recovery.

dh is from the US and I've lived there as well and there definitely are sacrifices I would make so that everyone has access to healthcare. The NHS is fucking fantastic.

However, I do know there are issues with it that do need to be addressed.

There have been times I've said 'Ugh, bloody doctors' or complaned about the wait at clinics etc, because I'm only human and I'm used to being able to expect high standards from the NHS.

Not as high as private care of course, but always perfectly high enoguh for me, when I have moaned and whinged it's normally about something the managers or receptionist or other non-HCP's are trying to deal with to meet 'targets' whilst trying to cope with doing the job at the same time.

I think the NHS are blardy great