NHS now saying stuff is free.

[MixMaxChop]

Dear Mrs Chop

Welcome to NHS breast screening. We would like to invite you for your free mammograms. We have made you an appointment in a hospital that is not local to you in the arse end of a city that does not have any access from the railway station and parking is strictly limited and none of your previous mammograms have ever been in this city before but that’s not the point.

Free??

A) it isn’t free. My NHS contributions have paid for this many times over.

B) Surely “free” is the whole point of the NHS

C) are they craftily prepping us to have to start paying for services now in a stealth move to privatise the NHS?

Agree. I had quite an advanced breast cancer only found on routine mammogram. Got a call back within two days and from then on it was like a well oiled machine had swung into action. Prompt treatment plan, clear explanations of next stages and what to expect, and support and advice at every stage.

I think part of the problem is that with routine, non urgent conditions the priorities are lower and the wait time is longer, patients tend to get passed around, appointments are cancelled/rearranged etc, so the perception is that the service is below par. I think that’s understandable, but we need to remember that we can only work with what we have and we can’t prioritise everything. In general the UK taxpayer wants excellent service from the NHS at all levels, but doesn’t want to pay what that will actually cost.

It’s a shame that the poster didn’t write to PALS then, instead of writing directly to the service provider with a pathetic nit picking and ill thought through complaint.

Oh, that well known luminary, eh...? We're shaking in our shoes....

Edit for spelling.

Anyone with any interest in UK politics knows who Tice is. I’d be embarrassed if I were you.

Actually, the OP contacted the hospital only to change the appointment. They just raised the issue of the wording on here for discussion; or this is as much as her posts state.

Essentially, any communication needs to be clear to achieve its intended objective. This one evidently isn’t. As you can see on here, everyone has their own interpretation of why that piece of information is included, what the motivation is, what the meaning is. If a letter is provoking discussions that are not relevant to its objectives, then that is distracting and it is not a good communication and PALs/Health watch should know.

You're not, though, but thanks for the concern. Don't look at me in my local or you'll be absolutely affronted, especially if it's karaoke night on a Friday.

What’s that got to do with political ignorance?

Still not true.

If you have a baby or you have serious complications at the Portland you will still be transferred to an NHS hospital because they don't have the ability to cope with such cases.

Nice try but this ignorance shows up a problem of saying 'oh well you have a choice'.

No you do not. We do not have comprehensive private healthcare in the UK.

And why do you think private hospitals transfer complicated cases of all kinds to the NHS? Because ITU care costs a fortune and is unaffordable for private healthcare providers.

It’s not ignorance anyway. If you want private maternity care it’s available, you may have to travel to access it.

You said you'd be embarrassed if you were me. I advised you not to be. Political ignorance is quite different from not caring about that which is irrelevant.

There were no mentions of 'NHS Death Panels'. Remember that ludicrous shite from her?

Yeah. And some people like to split hairs over whether their pension is a ‘benefit’. Just be glad we get it!

In what way was the message not clear?

It was an appointment for a mammogram, not an analysis of the funding of the NHS.

The OP got a clear message about the first when she seems to have wanted the second.

If "free at point of use" had been used there would have been a raft of people thinking that meant that there would be an invoice along later in the post. Anything else would have required a paragraph of unnecessary text about something that everyone already knows, the NHS is funded from tax.

I wasn’t referring to the OP. My comment was in respect of the poster who said she wrote back to the service responsible for sending the letter to ask why they used the word ‘free’. And in my opinion the use of the word ‘free’ actually is intended to be clear and achieve its intended objective. Because, as has been pointed out numerous times, there are many levels of comprehension and understanding - wrapping up the intended objective in complicated language means not everyone will understand, letters will end up in the bin, important screening will be missed as a result, and people will die. But hey - what the hell. At least the nitpickers will have got their way.

Absolutely this. I’ve been trying to say in the gentlest possible terms that these communications have to be couched in terms that everyone will understand - not just the seemingly super intelligent MN users who can’t seem to understand that, to put it bluntly, not everyone is as bright as them, and that ‘free’ makes it clear there is no upfront charge. It’s a ridiculous, nit picking non issue.

In what way do you think Reform is irrelevant, given the recent local election results ?

Are they anywhere near power in any area? No, they've virtually no influence anywhere.

But this isn’t just true of maternity services is it ? It’s true across the board where private medicine is concerned. Anything goes wrong, any complications need sorting out as a result of botched private surgery and it’s the NHS who sort it out. It’s not because they don’t have the ability to cope - it’s for the same reason as there are no private accident and emergency services. The cost is simply prohibitive.

I hope you’re right come the general election.

Mind you, they gained 17 Parliamentary seats in Scotland, though...

She’s too busy shooting wild pigs from a helicopter !!

The clearest message would have been one not mentioning ‘free’ at all. Sufficient for this to be an NHS communication. I have received no communications from the NHS with this on ever. That is why many suspect an agenda. As I’ve seen no evidence that this framing is part of any sort of ‘nudge’ theory driving attendance, it seems odd. Indeed, with no evidence that women are missing appointments because they are concerned they will have to pay, and no clear motivation for this information, you might argue that it creates a lack of clarity around other similar letters/services from the NHS that are also ‘free’ but don’t come with that reminder!

They are in control of several councils and are making changes! So, yes, they do have influence, certainly at a local level. And the way the polls are going, they'll get a lot more MPs and a lot more influence at the next GE. (Unless Labour and Tories get their fingers our of their arses and start listening to people, their wants and feelings rather than their superior attitude of "we know what's best for you").

Nail on the head. As you say, it's why many believe this is an "agenda".

Nope. It’s been explained multiple times why the word ‘free’ makes it clearer for those whose comprehension doesn’t meet MN standards. The only agenda I can see, coming at it from the perspective of one who has had a recent breast cancer diagnosis and treatment (as the result of mammogram - an advanced cancer I didn’t even know was there and had it not been discovered I would be dead by now) I personally don’t give a flying fuck how the letters are worded as long as women know that this scan won’t cost them anything and can potentially save their lives.