What does the NHS mean to you?

[NettleTea]

Last night I worked out how much my daughter benefits from the NHS.
Her 'basic' (assuming no infections which need treating) drug bill comes to just short of £15,000 a year.

She has 6 appointments a year which include a consultant and 3 specialist team members, lasting about an hour
She has 2 appointments a year which involve 2 consultants and 4 specialist team members, which last about 2-3 hours
She has 1 yearly 'MOT' which includes a whole day of meetings with specialist consultants, X-rays, Lung function tests, bone scans, CT scans and liver scans.
She has an 'on call' dedicated children's nurse
She has physiotherapy on average every 3-4 weeks.

This year she has also had a diagnostic assessment which I know cost over £3000, plus around 50 appointments related to that - again with consultants.

An inpatient stay lasts 2-3 weeks and needs theatre time. She has to have a private room.

This keeps her healthy, so that if you met her you probably wouldnt even know she had anything wrong.

All of this is free at point of use. She receives the same treatment as any other child with her condition, my income or lack of, is no barrier to her getting the best ongoing treatment available.

If the government succeeds in its privatisation by stealth, if we end up with a system such as in the US, I doubt very much that she would have access to the same level of care. Children in the US are often refused medical cover, or their cover has a maximum payout which doesnt go near a lifetime of treatment. Life is literally dependant upon income. The well off will survive, the poor will be denied drugs they need. Wealth should not be a measure of worth when it comes to the lives of our children.

We are so lucky to have the NHS in this country, a service that was set up by a Labour government, at the end of WW2, when the financial state of the country was far worse than it is today, but definitely not as unequal.

Support the NHS, IT IS SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR

Professor

The way you refer to someone matters because illness is a matter of chance. YES you have more risks of illness if you are overweight but it isn't a given fact that you WILL develop poor health. My Nan was obese all her life and died in her bed at 92 having cost the NHS very little. I would have been extremely pissed off had you or anyone referred to her as "a fatty".

It's horrible terminology to discuss a HUMAN BEING.

And it says a lot about YOU as a person....none of it good.

grimbletart I feel the same as you do that it is not fair to stereotype old people and complain about their costs. Some Pensioners do work! Pensioners pay taxes on their earnings, pension and investments Many pensioners do work in my neighbourhood. I pass them when they work. Some are doing gardening and maintenance and redecorations. Moms of friends get pension and work as well part or full time even though they are disabled and arthritic and have other chronic conditions. Older people even if disabled can and do work and pay taxes, and sent a self assessment to the IR. In order that older disabled can work they have to get the right medication and treatment.

Alfiei You are right. Doc prescribes and tells you if there are effects discontinue and notify us to change the med. The medication brochures write exactly that if effects arise you must stop medication. But people who have rarely seen a doc would not know this detail. You never know. After age of 50s people in UK are given general tests breastscans for instance or later they have blood tests routinely. Docs tell some of their their patients in certain conditions they may have to change medications before they find the one that works. I see many cashiers and carers in their late 70s. Musicians and artists work for very long as well and last year an Art exhibition showed sold works from all ages and some under 30s and some over 80s - not cheap ones!

I think the NHS is one of the best things created. However, it is severely underfunded and understaffed. When it was set up life expectancy was so much lower and there have been a lot of advances in medicine which unfortunately are costly (I'm not comfortable with the amount of profit made by the pharmaceutical companies mind).
Myself and my immediate family fortunately haven't needed it too much but it's there. My FIL however has needed it a lot. He has quite a rare condition and regularly is a "patient" at drs exams or will go to lectures etc for medical students so he feels he is giving something back and he quite enjoys it.
I think some changes need to happen to ensure the NHS survives but no cuts just improvements! Oh and for the government and public to value NHS workers.

I'm sorry you didn't get a good diagnose until stage 4 but, to damn ppl for being over weight isn't fair. Not everyone can workout and keep the weight off. I myself was also, diagnosed with stage 4 after over a year of steroids then a high dose Dailey I gained 100 pounds.. Not bc I sat around and just ate. Dr orders I couldn't workout. With Sarcoidosis in my lungs, asthma, neroosarc, skin Sarcoidosis, it's also on my sinuses and They think it may be in my heart bc my HR says 125 plus all the time that's why I can't work out.. So, before judging ppl know everyone isn't the same and can't help but to gain the weight....I pray you get better and God changes your negative attitude toward ppl.. God Bless

I think the NHS has become a bit of a sacred cow, and needs an overhaul. I was reading on another thread that someone had to wait months to see a cardiologist in UK. I am in Belgium. My GP gave me the number of the local clinic that does cardiology and other procedures, and I got an appointment in a week. Same for the gastroenterologist. Yes, we pay in Belgium, but the whole thing just hangs together better.

We need a discussion on how we fund the NHS, how it is structured, what is essential and what isn't in terms of treatment, and how we go about recovering costs from those who are not entitled to treatment.

All you're saying, scaryteacher, is that the Belgian system is better funded. The NHS has been systematically ground down, funding falling in real terms, the same way the post office was, the same way schools are being run down, so that our elitist excuse for a government can continue smothering themselves in champagne while inferior poor people - well, die, basically.

I know the Belgian system and it runs on a state-mandated insurance scheme. Insurance is compulsory and what is provided by the insurers is compulsory. Doctors costs are not that extreme and most of the cost is reclaimed by the insurance. It is essentially a public scheme.

Who trusts the British government to set up a scheme like that when they can copy the US privatised free-for-all and make billions for elites. And why bother when we already have a system which is potentially far more efficient.

I don see that it has to be the U.S. system or nothing Flowering. Even if we just adopted the Belgian system of a central registration where you can establish how you pay, or not, if you are eligible for free treatment, we could save money, or at least stop being an International, as opposed to a National health service.

If our own system is potentially more efficient, why aren't we seeing it?

The NHS is great but people now expect it to be all things to all people no matter the cost. Anyone who even suggests ways to improve it is decried as trying to privatise it.

We need to rethink what it does, it cant provide every very expensive cutting edge drug, extend every life as much as possible no matter the cost, or even allow people access to A&E for minor ailments.

Why do we still not have an opt out organ donor system like Wales does. Why can't we require people to take some responsibility for their own health. Why aren't binge drinking patients charged for their treatment. There is a lot more we can do but for some reason everyone is very blinkered when it comes to the NHS.

I'm grateful for the NHS for looking after a very dear ill relative.
I'm grateful for them looking after me through my miscarriages and the births of my babies.
I'm grateful for them seeing my ill children on the same day and prescribing them the right medication to help them or referring them to the hospital for a deeper investigation.
I'm grateful for getting free contraceptives.
I'm grateful for my job 😉.

I don't support the NHS.

For me, personally, I get nothing from it. I have a smear test every three years and that's it. That's not worth the £13,200.00 income tax and £4,533.20 that I pay every year. I know not all my tax and NI goes to the NHS.