Cat versus human a&e

[catmummy22]

My cat was a bit poorly last night so I took her to the out of hours cat hospital. I called them at 8 pm and within 1 hour, I had booked the appointment, had her checked over and was back home.
My friend’s mother also took a turn for the worse last night. They drive to a&e at the same time as I went with my cat, but had to wait to be seen until 4 am. Suspected heart issue so quite serious.

I paid 350 pounds for my cat to be seen. I have pet insurance. I really wish I could pay £350 to be seen if I needed a&e too. I rather pay that than wait a. Ight to be seen.

My AIBU is in the different health care offered to pets versus humans in this country. As a human you can’t even pay your way to be seen in an emergency. Brits seem to think as long as it’s free, it’s good, but is it time to start thinking about charging in the NHS too? I think so!

What is right wing tropes? It’s true that a&e is full of people who are there because they are not able to access primary care or mental health care or who need care, but not a&e care. It’s also true that when people don’t have to pay, the threshold to go to a&e is lower and people go for minor complaints. Why is that right wing to say exactly?

You really can't compare to two. Animal care in general receives no government funding, so somebody somewhere is paying for it universally. But also there is in general a lot less demand for pet A&E because most pets don't:

Get drunk and have related accidents or fights
Beat each other up on a regular basis
Have drug addictions
Have smoking related conditions
Get kept alive if they have terminal illnesses
Struggle to get a GP (ie vet) appointment for non-emergency issues

The people waiting in a and e are usually waiting for beds.

The people who don't need tp be there are usually sent home within the 4 hours or quickly transferred somewhere else like acute medical or surgical units.

It's the ones that have something serious wrong with them and need admission that are left waiting for days on trolleys on the corridors.

Actually I have made 3 emergency visits with my cat recently due to her being in a fight, so that’s not fully correct. Can’t blame it on her being drunk I don’t think, but yes they do fight a lot my cats.

So, the rich get good quality instant care, and the poor are left to suffer?

That's what you're proposing @catmummy22

We already have rich and privileged people having private medical care because they can afford it, isn't that enough?!

Simply not true unless you live somewhere really amazing.

No then you misunderstand my posts and need to read the thread again.

It is true, you just need to look at the data. We hear disproportionately about the delays, not where it works well.

Wait time in a&e in DDs hospital last night was 10 hours. Also for urgent cases yes. She had one patient die with a bleed on the brain, because there were more than one emergency at the same time and no one to attend to this patient. Might have died either way of course, it point is no doctors to attend to him. This is just example from last night. A lot of the horror stories are never even published I. The newspapers. It’s worse than we think I have learnt.

You said drunks and time wasters, didn't you?

Does that mean if it’s right wing that the left champion the drunks and the time wasters.

I suspect it was a little less clear-cut than your daughter is making out.

My areas published waiting time at the moment is 48 minutes.

If in Cornwall right now, for example, A&E has a wait time of 1 hour 19 minutes. A nearby urgent treatment centre is 2 hours 14, and none of the minor injury units and more than 2 hours.

Milton Keynes is a 36 minute wait.

Queen Elizabeth hospital in London is 43 minute wait.

Waits are often longer in the evenings though.

Have a look at https://waitsmart.co.uk.

There are some very long waits, but for most people, most of the time, it's not what you are suggesting it is. That's just right wing propaganda, propped up by very sad stories which are outliers and should be considered as such.

I disagree with the statement that A&E is mostly full of those people. I've attended 3 times in the last 10 years and couldn't see anything that indicated such. Nothing to do with "championing" anything.

So why is it a left or right thing.

Yes , many of us do get fantastic service from the nhs. My daughter’s cancer treatment was excellent.
Yesterday we had to email her epilepsy specialist with a problem at 2pm. They called back within the hour, prescription sent to our fabulous GP practice, who communicated with our equally helpful pharmacist, we had the tablets by 5pm to start today which was so reassuring.
If you’re a practice and pharmacy in a Scottish village beginning with K you are amazing. Thank you.

One problem I see with charging for seeing a doctor is that the biggest users, by far, would all be exempt from paying anyway so what's the point.

Sure, pets need emergency treatment for being in fights sometimes but my point is that overall, demand is lower for pet A&E than human when you combine all the examples I have given.

But we are paying for the NHS. Those of us that pay tax are paying for the NHS. And the NHS hire lawyers to persecute a female nurse in Fife who wont get changed in the same room as a male doctor.

My daughter has sadly been through very similar and has the same experience. I think they get gold treatment though, like being able to email their specialists, direct access to the children's ward etc. The only gripes are waiting times for scan results and people lacking common sense occasionally.

But even family that don't have ongoing issues have decent and prompt treatment treatment locally.

Hospital trusts in those areas need a targeted information campaign explaining that it's GP first here, unless it's an emergency.

I've never come across that, even when I lived in a part of London that was very ethnically mixed.

I had a little look at that hoping it would be informative.
Unfortunately not all hospitals are showing data.
Certainly if it were it would show a truer picture.
My local hospital is usually rammed, having also taken in those patients where 2 other local hospitals have been closed down, without the massive increase in population in the last 15/ 20 years during that time in the area.
I’m not sure why you are trying to assert its right wing or any wing propaganda.
Facts are facts.
Most people will have been aware of the long waiting times at their local A&E.
It is what it is, there is no trying to claim any political propaganda which is what you are doing.

That would be really tough on people whose income takes them just above the threshold for means-tested benefits, which is invariably the cut-off for things like free dentistry, prescriptions etc.

There have been plenty of times in my life when I couldn't have afforded to pay to be seen at A&E, even taking inflation into account.

The private hospital we have used has an urgent care centre which we’ve used like an a&e previously. We didn’t have to wait so definitely worth the money if you have it.

My local hospital is not on there at at all. They are often posting on social media about only going to A&E if you really need to you because they are packed full. 12+ hour waits are not unusual.

No mine isn’t there either.
Have also seen the same “only go if you really need to” postings as well.
Someone was actually complaining their elderly relative spent many hours outside in an ambulance before even being admitted.
At least there were getting care.