Let's turn the ( usual) NHS negativity around with your positive experiences

[Tiredallthetimeneedsleep]

Fed up with the latest negative NHS 'headline' so I thought I'd start a thread to share my positive experiences.

Had MRI booked within 2 weeks of seeing DR. Was seen on time and the staff were brilliant.

What are YOUR NHS positive stories?

You didn't need to come on THIS thread to do that. Go and start your own thread.

I’ve literally never had one 🫠

I'm going to turn my positive review into a negative. Turns out the registrar never completed the necessary electronic onward referral so DH hasn't even been put on the waiting list for surgery.

GP surgery runs consults now, a doctor calls back the same day and either phone consults or arranges a f2f appointment, usually within a day or 2. It's so much better than before.

My DD has IBD and the specialist team are fabulous and so responsive. She went into flare late Nov, saw specialist Jan, had bloods same day, then iron infusion within a fortnight and ultrasound, and colonoscopy scheduled mid March. I think that's not bad.

‘So responsive’? Really?

She waited 6 weeks to see a specialist and will have waited another 6 weeks for a colonoscopy. 3 months all together

I’d hardly call that responsive. We’ve come to expect and be glad to receive the bare minimum - it shows.

The "so responsive" comment is based on the fact that you get a call back from the team within 24 hours of contacting them.

She was actually offered a cancellation slot two weeks ago for colonoscopy but unfortunately I was scheduled to be delivering a training session to 80 people that day and it was too short notice to rearrange. Her original colonoscopy at diagnosis took place within a fortnight of seeing the specialist, she was diagnosed there and then and began medication the next day.

I am happy with the wait as the iron infusion has stabilised her and she is symptomatically much better.

I don't feel unhappy at the timescales.

@Tiredallthetimeneedsleep

You didn't need to come on THIS thread to do that. Go and start your own thread.

No, why should I? you posted a thread basically bullying everyone to be positive about the NHS. Well, some of us don't feel uniformly positive about the NHS and we have every right to talk about about it, critique it and seek to improve it where we think its failing

I fundamentally support the NHS and really want it to thrive but I hate being told I have to worship at its alter and can never discuss its failings.

So you can have as much toxic positivity as you want but we don't all have to clap along with it.

Has it not occurred to you that this is part of Thatchers long term plan to destroy any labour initiatives?
The alternative “American “ healthcare insurance plan is a disgrace. Replace one of the best systems with one of the most divisive, yes that’s definitely the Tory way

Does it not occur to you that the NHS and the American health system are two absolute extremes? It is not the alternative and this sort of thinking is part of the problem.

Look at the blended model offered by many European companies like France and Germany. Nobody is sitting there waiting for an operation for years on end (the UK way) and nobody is going bankrupt to pay for their treatment as in the US. Win win

The NHS is no longer fit for purpose nor is it one of the best healthcare systems in the world whatsoever. As treatments advance and the population ages it needs more funding and whether people like it or not it has to be paid for somehow.

The NHS was one of the reasons I was glad to leave the UK.

I now live in a country with pay at the point of use insurance style healthcare which I have been found to be VASTLY superior.

And before you ask, it is not the US, and neither is it a US style insurance system. I can be in and out of the doctors having been seen in barely 90 minutes. MINUTES!!!!!

My experiences of the NHS have been excellent - for minor and serious things. A recent example of something minor - I was recovering from Covid and started to feel I was going downhill again. Called my doctor and they saw me with 2 hours.
An example of how they dealt with something serious. I had some symptoms which might possibly have been cancer but much more likely to be something harmless. It was treated as an urgent issue. I had an ultrasound scan within a week. This showed something suspicious so I had a CT scan the very next day which more or less confirmed cancer. I saw the consultant 3 days later and had surgery within 4 weeks. My follow up was excellent with regular scans and blood tests. I was referred to a genetic counsellor to look in to why I got it so early. I suffered post-cancer anxiety and was referred to a counsellor who specialised in treating those with a history of cancer. All treatment was very quick, effective and free.
I can share similar anecdotes on the excellent service received by my loved ones, including my son who had surgery last year but this post would be an essay!

@Tiredallthetimeneedsleep You can’t police how and what people respond to on AIBU.

I for one have paid over the odds for private healthcare since 2019 because the NHS is utterly inaccessible for specialist treatment and considering I pay an exorbitant amount of tax for a service I can’t easily use, you will not get any, as one poster brilliantly put it, toxic positivity from me either.

The myriad of negatives outweigh any basic positives, and basic yes, as much on here is extolling the virtues of the very the minimum you’d expect from a service such as the NHS.

You can lambast me all you like for your views, but comparatively (my first hand experience in several different European and beyond locations adult and paed) the NHS is an unmitigated clusterfuck.

Caveat, it wasn’t like this many many moons ago.

@SallyWD don’t tell anyone where you live or we will all be moving there 😅

My GP is brilliant and the whole practice is responsive. We're very lucky.

The local hospital is more challenging, though, because of the long waits and discharge issues.

I'm sorry for bringing up an older post, but I felt that I wanted to share some of the great care I've had from the NHS recently, and which is still ongoing.

I was sexually abused and raped when I was a child, which given my age now in my early thirties was very difficult to admit back then, so I never discussed it with anyone including my family.

Partially the reason why I never discussed it was because I was quite severely physically abused by my father, and had numerous visits to hospital for things like a broken collarbone etc. (Even when we were on holiday, so I got to experience the Cypriat medical system too).

However the safeguarding wasn't as good as it is today.

The misogyny present in the prevailing culture meant that it was extremely difficult to admit - the concept of "man up" was alive and well sadly.

After trying to address this niggling thought in the back of my head for so long, I went to a local therapist. Sadly she opened wounds that my physician thinks she wasn't capable of handling, and that's when I completely broke down.

I was able to access a female physician who I could discuss what happened with confidence, as there was no way I'd open up with a male - as like many of you, I just find it very hard to trust them.

She has been an incredible Doctor, and extremely understanding even with the shame I still carry. The Doctor has prescribed me some medication, is seeing me at regular intervals, and just genuinely seems to care about my mental health and well being.

I couldn't ask for more, she is instrumental in trying to help me build myself up again to who I was.

Then why comment?

Why would anyone assume it was the States when many posters love to moan about how horrendous the system and country is.

Ive had many good experiences with the NHS, they saved both me and my babies life. In addition to this they have saved many of my families lives too.

I had an abnormal smear test and called to ask how long I’d be wait for colposcopy. I was in the next day, thankfully due to a cancellation!

My daughter had to have an MRI, this was done within 2 weeks& results just over a week later.

Each and every single staff member I have encountered has been absolutely amazing.

Because it seems like a lot of people think the only options are free at the point of use NHS or offensively expensive at point of use US style healthcare. :(

I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with the NHS involving pregnancies and a female issue but I had a really great experience with my last pregnancy. I was in a different county with DC3 and when I went in for a sweep, the midwife was concerned about baby positioning. To be on the safe side, she sent me over to the hospital. If she hadn’t sent me over, I wouldn’t have known about the baby changing positions on a whim that it could have caused issues during labour. When I did go into the hospital and they discussed things with me, they talked to me like an adult, listened, allowed me to ask questions. In the end, I decided on an elective c-section after a thorough talk of different risks and possibilities for the safety of baby and myself. It was done same day within a few hours (had eaten something before my appt so had to wait before they could start). I was alone and the team was all lovely and I had a midwife there that I had seen before and who knew my history with my last pregnancies. I saw her again for 5 day check and I asked her about a postnatal issue I was having and she sent me straight back to the hospital, a possible DVT or post-eclampsia (despite only having one symptom of it), both being quite serious and possibly fatal. Upped my meds and an ultrasound later and sorted. She called to check up on me during and came by after to make sure the issue was sorted.

I’ve been dismissed, ignored, lied to, and had things done to me without my consent in my last pregnancies in a different county so to have the opposite experience was wonderful.

Unfortunately true, which I find weird since many seem to forget Europe is much closer than the States and has several different healthcare systems that are in between the two.

I did say on a thread on a different topic that many seem to ignore the grey/middle and rather jump to the extreme ends.

Based on the amount of health problems I have the nhs have been great as to what it would have cost me money wise and indeed most of the staff I’ve encountered have been great too. However if I was paying for it properly I would have gone elsewhere.

I live in Japan and cannot fault the healthcare here! So much quicker to be seen and taking prescription costs into consideration, actually works out cheaper than the free at the point of use NHS!!!

That was my guess actually, Japan or South Korea! Two American friends of mine lived overseas (one stationed in Japan and the other South Korea) gave both systems high praises.

@phoenixrosehere thats because the Japanese are one of the healthiest societies in the world- they have one of the lowest rates of obesity. So their healthcare system is not struggling with demand like we are.

Food prices are substantially higher in Japan, but the traditional Japanese dietary habits, although changing, are also healthier. The Japanese are also far more physically active than Americans, but not because they do more planned physical exercise. They walk more as part of their daily lives.