The NHS: ain't it marvellous

[policywonk]

DS2 poked me very hard in the eye today (so if you've ever imagined poking me very hard in the eye, you're in luck).
So I took myself off to my local walk-in centre and was seen within 20 mins by a nurse who was skilled, fast, kind and funny.

This is on top of having two other kinds of outpatient hospital treatment in the last six months, which between would have cost me thousands of pounds.

Without exception, the staff I've seen have been fantastic, the treatment has been swift and effective, and the waiting times have been minimal. The worst I can say is that the premises won't be featuring on 'Grand Designs' any time soon.

Admittedly I live in an affluent area and I'm sure that helps - but I was thinking on the way home today how lucky we are to live in a country that provides us with such a fantastic service.

Bless you my children.

Yes. They have always been fantastic to me and beyond the call of duty - which makes me a bit when I hear other people's horror stories.

Yes, the NHS is wonderful. To be free for all at the point of need is truly wonderful.

It does however have its faults, like all public services. And unfortunately the faults often cloud our views and dominate our opinions of such services.

But I agree with you, the NHS is wonderful. It has prolonged the life of my dh, saved the life of DS1 and given thousands of pounds worth of treatment to all of my family infact. That doesnt mean that there have been times when I have been tearing my hair out with it though through perceived 'incompetance' lol!

Yes, you're right - some people do have terrible experiences. And that shouldn't happen.

I guess my point is that my recent experiences just don't tally with the picture that we're constantly being presented with of a crumbling, inefficient service with undermotivated staff. I can't help thinking that the constant sniping at the NHS is politically motivated.

yes you are right - the media is driven by the public, who are influenced by politicians, whose remit is to get the best possible service for the public - and therefore whichever party is in opposition will be constantly driving for better services and thus highlighting the 'flaws' and not the successes

Thanks!
I had a hard day today but you've just cheered me up.

I would agree. We're lucky to be served very well - it's a rural area so the staff are usually familiar, but always polite and kind. I have had a few times when I have felt fobbed off (but then I was a new mum with an eternally screaming baby, and I am sure they get really bored of seeing new mums with screaming babies), but other times I have had incredibly prompt and thorough care.

On the whole, we forget how very lucky we are in this country.

I had excellent care from the NHS when we had a car crash 6 months ago, I week HDU where we were on hols and one week at local hosp.
I've subsequently had depression as it dawned on my befuddled brain what had happened and the potentual consequenses, my GP has been great. When I got really bad and saw the crisis team that was OK, now things have settled I feel abandond! keep taking the pills and you'll get an appt for phycological therapy in about 3 months.

it is a great service ideally and in some areas

but not great working on a seriously understaffed ward-not great for the patients either

I love the NHS. I've been very ill over the past two years and they have been fab. My experience of private healthcare has been shocking. Yes things have gone wrong in the NHS but the vast majority of it has been great. The biggest problem is the bloody bureaucracy due to the sheer size of it.

As an American who's been here for 12 years and had two babies on the NHS, I love the NHS, especially for medical and emergency care. I still think they're severely underfunded in the area of mental health, though, especially children's mental health.

Agree - I think it's extraordinary. I've had complicated pregnancies etc etc, and have been treated spectacularly well, with kindness and personal attention that money just can't buy. And my GP practice is great.

BUPA, otoh, appear to be shooting themselves in the foot with their ad campaign - the woman who felt a bit tired and it took them practically the whole day to diagnose anaemia?

Have nothing but praise for my doctors surgery and maternity wards

It seems like my family are in contact with the nhs almost every week at the mo. We have had great service and it makes me so grateful that we live in a country where we don't have to worry about the cost of being ill.

As an ex-NHS worker, I champion it whenever I can at grassroots level - I despise the management structure and the Govt white paper that put all the current pressure onto the hospitals what with waiting lists, cutbacks, more management and fewer proper staff, outsourcing cleaning staff and carparks, etc. etc.

And yet, it is still an amazing service - and that is largely due to the hardwork and goodwill of the ground level staff who mostly go the extra mile and do the job for the sake of the job and not for the (still relatively poor) pay.

During the last 8 months I have felt as if I have lived in our hospital - DS has had 4 operations, countless clinic appointments, and numerous support appointments such as physio. We have been in children's wards, day surgery, clinic, x-ray, A&E, community health centres - and we have had many physios visit at home.

I am astounded at the non-slip level of professionalism, skill and sheer kindness and commitment that has been shown. I have never seen so many people work so hard, so consistently.

DS has had hundreds of thousands of poundsworth of treatment. I talk with American parents of children having similiar treatment and they all talk of having to make decisions about what can be afforded once they reach the limit of their insurance cover.

I think I am lucky to have a huge regional teaching hospital as our local - I have seen many people come in in ambulances in the middle of the night having been referred by smaller hospitals all over the S and SE of England -for things like a metal plate in a break, or undiagnosed abdominal pain in a baby (hernia of the bowel).

I also had a choice of dedicated home-birth midwifery team, birth centre or maternity ward.

"I think I am lucky to have a huge regional teaching hospital as our local" - yes, I think that's very true for us as well.

I think I am pretty lucky as well that my maternity unit had a gold star rating for 2006 (not sure about since but they were pretty damn good in 2007 as well!)

How do you know what star rating a unit has, thumb?

Mine had a certificate on the wall.

The NHS has been a lifesaver for us - literally.

They saved the life of me and DD2.

She had 6 weeks on NICU, then was discharged home with so much medication, oxygen, equipment. We had daily visits from a hugely qualified and experienced neonatal nurse.

She now is on injections that cost £116 per cartridge and a cartridge lasts us 8 days. That's £5300 a year just for one of her medications.

She also sees shedloads of health professionals and has equipment from OT and physio.

This is in addition to the routine stuff we use the NHS for eg GP services, contraception etc.

And all this without a penny from us (apart from taxes of course). I am on a listserve group based in the USA for DD2s condition - the parents that post on there have a continued battle with insurance services to get the medication and therapies their children need, and also have to shell out a fair wedge themselves. They are amazed at the provision we receive.

I do think people forget how lucky we are to have the NHS when they moan and drone on about what are actually quite trivial problems most of the time (although probably not to them) - I am not talking about major failures of care here, just the usual "oh my GP surgery is so bad, you can't get an appt there for at least 3 days"; or having to wait for 4 hours in A&E (no fun, I agree, but imagine being turned away because you have no insurance?).

I do object to foreign people coming to this country almost specifically to use our NHS - because they really haven't contributed to it in any way and are still benefiting - again, I am not talking about genuine visitors who fall ill while here, I am talking abot the ones who travel here while ill in the knowledge that the NHS will treat them.
In one of my nearer hospitals, there is a sign on the wall that tells foreign nationals that they will be asked to pay for their treatment if they are not resident in the UK - but they can't enforce it easily, because all the patient has to do is say they don't have any means of paying and then discharge themselves. They have still been treated!

I started this thread and then abandoned it to take my poor eye off for an early night. It's interesting reading all the messages, particularly those written with some insider knowledge. My DP worked in the NHS on the clinical side for ten years and I know he got really frustrated with some aspects of the bureaucracy and management structure.

Anyway I'm glad that so many of us have such positive experiences. I hope that those with ongoing conditions continue to get good support. I agree with those who say that the mental health services are often less than adequate - I wish there was a way to change this.

naswm, I take your point about the party political motivation, but I was thinking more in cultural terms. I think there are those in this country who object to the quasi-socialist ethic of the NHS, and want to undermine it. Broadcasting the supposed 'deficiencies' of the NHS without acknowledging how well it works for the vast majority of people is a rather effective way of persuading people that maybe we'd be better off without it, I think.

thumb, that's interesting about foreign nationals. I have no idea how big a problem it is. My lefty instinct is that it's better for a few people to get treatment to which they aren't entitled than for the NHS to ditch the prevailing 'free at the point of provision' ethic.

PW, up to a point I agree with you but there have been a few documentaries about the "NHS tourists" (I think that's what they call them) who travel here specifically to receive free treatment - that is really quite bad form because not only are they not paying for it but they are also ousting someone who lives here from their position in the grand list of treatment.

I think that when it really matters the NHS is fantastic. BUT I recent experience with dd getting plastic surgery has left me really irritated. Yesterday left work early, rushed around for an appointment, spend 40 min waiting (a long time with a 14mo) then consultant was very rude, dismissive, hadn't looked at the x-rays or photos we got done months ago. Essentially a complete waste of time, she seemed to be doing that 'I am so important I don't have to try to be polite' thing and I couldn't help thinking she wasn't really accountable in the same way a private doctor would be. I've found all of dd's consultation visits very frustrating.
That said, when dd had her last op the staff were great. People seem to come through when it really matters.

The Trust I work for has excellent provision for HIV/AIDS patients and we get a lot of 'health tourists' as a result. Not just from other countries but from other areas and other Trusts.