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!

No one goes to A&E for hoarding. It is often a sign of deeper issues, mostly MH related.

So by lumping it into the 'MH' category it becomes the NHS's job to sort rather than the hoarder getting off their backside. By calling so much an MH issue the NHS is overwhelmed. The solution isn't just to continue to throw money at it, there needs to be investigations into where the money goes, especially where it is not related to patients' illnesses.

Rather that than die at home because I can’t afford to get treated at all.

Say you know nothing about hoarding without saying you know nothing about hoarding 🙄

It’s not right wing propaganda. I am picking her up from work can see the wait time every time I pick her up. It’s usually between 6-8 hours. This is evenings and weekends mainly. South London hospital.

Ok I rather die at home than on a trolley, but my presence is to get treated and I am happy to pay for it as currently the die on trolley scenario is too real.

But doesn’t that just mean all the poor people wait even longer because you’ve paid to jump the queue??

A&E already triage very quickly and then prioritise based on how sick you are and NOT how much cash you wave at them.

Also, private healthcare like Bupa etc is a thing so maybe get yourself some private human health insurance and leave the NHS hospitals to the needy

Thinking the NHS should not be free is not the same as wanting to queue jump. I already have private healthcare. This is the point. Private is already here, but more people should be able to access it. There is such a massive focus on the NHs being free that no improvements can be made and in the meantime the private sector grows for the very rich.

But I don’t get what you mean then - do you want to be able to attend NHS hospitals but pay to be seen quickly? Or are you advocating for private A&E’s to be opened up to take pressure off the NHS for those wanting to pay to visit those alternatives?

I don't understand either.
What does OP want to have the opportunity to pay when in A&E for? What would be gained by paying if you still have to wait, and possibly be on a trolley in corridor.

I live in a European country where I pay 70euro to see my GP. 120 euro if I need to go to A and E , if I’m that unwell I need to be admitted I then am charged a nightly fee of 120 euro which is capped after 3 nights.
but that’s not the point. I literally can’t afford to get ill with those prices. Oh and my monthly meds cost me 86 euro.

I would kill to have the NHS again.

Exactly. If everyone had to pay because it will “weed out those who don’t need to be there really because they have a broken nail” it will actually just mean that A&E is overrun with rich hypochondriacs in the corridor and more people die alone at home because they’re seriously ill but can’t afford £350 to be seen in A&E.

And if the paying isn’t just to be seen sooner then what benefit is there to paying? Like a voluntary contribution?

Make your mind up, I thought the issue was people coming in with broken nails?

Is there to be any guardrails against bad service once having paid In this hypothetical situation? As, I very happily paid for my previous cat to have vet treatment which was insufficient and I fear this theory will be harmful to those who will pay for substandard services with all they have and not achieve anything beneficial

I live in a country where we pay to visit a GP. The only people who don't pay anything are children. People on a low income pay less than others, but they still pay.

Somehow the streets are not full of the dead and dying as UK posters seem to think would happen.

I mean we all need to pay for our appointments or for insurance. Most people can afford to. Most people pay for hair cuts, Netflix, take aways, expensive trainers, but somehow the NhS must be free.
If you had to pay £50 to visit your GP for a sore throat, most people would just drink some lemsip and ride it out at home too.
When I first moved here I was shocked how often Brits go to their GPs. And for the common cold too.

Exactly. Maybe we are from the same country?

But what about those who can’t afford to? Where’s their access to healthcare - it won’t always be a sore throat and a lemsip, some people will stay home with heart attacks hoping it’s indigestion because they need to feed their kids with the money you’re suggesting they spend on the GP.

I understand why you might think a private ALTERNATIVE would be a consideration so people willing and able to pay could go to a private hospital with an A&E wing but not why you think introducing mandatory charges for access to healthcare would be of any overall benefit to society generally?

Not having a hair cut or watching Bridgerton, however, won’t potentially kill you…. So what a useless analogy!

Some people go to the GP for colds because they have underlying health conditions where catching a cold can be dangerous.
How do you know the reasons why anyone is at the GP? People come in, sign in (either on a screen or at reception), and then wait to be seen.

Not having Netflix (a whole £6pm) and haircuts wont cause someone to become more unwell. Not affording basic healthcare can.

I'm in NZ

If you hadn't got insurance, and you now tried to insure your cat with a pre-existing condition, you'd not get that condition covered and insurance would be more expensive.

Thats the situation many people would be in, besides those who plain can't afford any insurance.

No insurance company is covering me, I have far too many preexisting conditions, any cover I'd get would be through the roof and cover next to nothing.

So in your private fee paying insurance based world, instead of everyone waiting 10 hours, some of us just aren't getting treated at all, and will therefore die.

Sounds great yes.

So quality healthcare becomes just for the rich? No thanks.

Let them have their own separate hospitals... that is fine. But flashing the cash to push ahead in an NHS one should never happen.

Private healthcare will never offer emergency services. It puts far too much pressure on the system and knocks into other health services too much. This is precisely why NHS hospitals with A&E services are profoundly worse performing than NHS hospitals without.

@Didimum Private healthcare will never offer emergency services. It puts far too much pressure on the system and knocks into other health services too much

They can though. It can be set up to work. Not in UK, but I worked A&E for decades (also worked many years over in your NHS and still keep in touch with friends working do understand the issues). My work was public A&E, however we have some private A&E’s as well associated with private hospitals. I’ve had my family treated at these when relevant. They don’t exist outside of major metro areas and are not set up to take major trauma or things such as arterial dissections. They don’t all have the same capabilities either, some are fine for stroke and cardiac events, in fact better than public as no ramping, others can’t handle those. They are all fine for things such as appendicitis, gall bladders, you can get these whipped out if needed often within hours, also a lot of orthopaedic stuff like complicated fractures requiring surgical fix. By using these if you can, you take the pressure off the public A&E system for this stuff.

Where I am, nearly half the population is covered by private insurance. With the private A&E’s as described above, the A&E visit is not covered, that is out of pocket, but if you need to be admitted, including surgical, your private health covers that aspect. Our mix of public/private insurance general works pretty well and it’s a shame people don’t consider such models when thinking about the NHS, it seems to be all NHS as it is (which is not sustainable by the way), or weirdly, the US system (which none would want for very good reason), people can’t stretch themselves to imagine the many other successful models in different countries.