Health Services in Scotland

[Justpassingtime1]

This is going to be a main concern when we move up there.
It seems to depend on the area in rest of the UK but in general
things seems to be deteriorating. (despite Covid)
Any experiences or tips would be greatly appreciated.

My experience is that rural villages can be under-serviced; the strain on GP services hits hard- it’s harder to get Drs, nurses etc. If you go to the islands you could be some distance from the nearest hospital.
Right now things are declining where I am (NE). GPs only doing phone appointments; most clinics at the hospital the same; COVID seems to have them frozen in time.
That said in the last couple of years I had to have hospital treatment and it was excellent, timely and effective. Pre-COVID of course.

Very many places are over an hour from an A&E dept which often seems to be used as a measure.

What sort of health services? Where will you be living?

Completely depends on where you live. I'm in a large town, which has a hospital that covers most of my region but only 40 minutes from bigger hospitals in Edinburgh and Dundee. Central belt you'll be fine. I've had mainly good experience with my limited interaction with the NHS.

It's more centralised I think so if you require eg Cancer treatment, you would travel to the central belt hospitals for treatment.
I am happy with this as you are treated in a hospital with much more experience rather than a smaller one with little.

But GPs in rural areas can be thin on the ground.

As others have said, it depends where you live. Here in suburban Glasgow we have a great GP, no problems getting a NHS dentist, orthodontics round the corner, biggest hospital in the country 20 minutes away.

My parents who live more rurally struggle to get a GP's appointment, have to pay privately for dental care, and resources are spread very thinly across a huge geographical area.

Even more rurally - like Wester Ross, Caithness, lots of the islands - an out patient appointment at hospital involves a VERY long journey to the nearest big hospital.

There is a decent sized hospital in Wick so no need to travel far for an outpatient appointnment if in Caithness!

The Scottish NHS is the best performing in the UK. (A and E / operation / cancer treatment waiting times). We have more GPs per population also.

I wouldn't worry if you're looking at Scottish vs English NHS but if you 're movibg somewhere v remote you'll need to travel but I'm sure you'll have realised that yourself!

In South Ayrshire dentists are advertising for NHS patients.

Longest wait for a GP was 3 weeks but that was because he went on holiday.

The NHS is okay though like everything else under Sturgeon it is going downhill due to incompetence coupled with a desire to centralise things.

Indeed, @Scotslassie1 - it's the remoteness which is the issue rather than a Scotland/England difference.

i'm thinking of the community I know quite well in Wester Ross. There's a health centre in Gairloch and Ullapool, but if you need a scan or A&E you have to go to Dingwall or Inverness, across by Loch Glascarnoch in the winter isn't much fun. And the islands are even worse - we regularly see helicopters landing here in Glasgow probably with patients from the highlands and islands.

But without knowing what sort of healthcare the OP is on about, and where she's thinking of living, it's impossible to advise.

In my experiance its much easier to get a GP appointment in Glasgow than London.
Also: we have dental care! On the NHS! Unheard of.
Waiting lists for specialist services used to be a little shorter as well. Thats gone out of the window with Covid though.
God knows how long it'll be now before I have my gallstones out or find out difinitively that Ds has autism.
I expect thats much the same in England though.

Central belt (Glasgow) but we never have any difficulty getting GP appointments (although they're now telephone triaged first) although you might have to wait a wee bit longer if you want to see a specific doctor.

My NHS dental practice is also still taking patients.

Dh didn't have to wait too long to see the orthopaedic physiotherapist after his MRI and X-ray. She confirmed he needs a hip replacement and referred him on to the orthopaedic surgeon (now all delayed because of Covid ) but it turns out the GP had referred him on to the surgeon back in January anyway.

My dad still gets the BMJ (although he's now retired - was a paediatric radiologist) and says that from what he reads, our NHS is in better shape than England's. Not perfect by any means though That is also what our neighbours say (both GPs).

A lot depends on where you are and what you need.

DS was approved for plastic surgery for facial scarring. The only consultant in the central belt left and there was no contingency plan so they just threw everyone off the list (can't fail to treat in the timescale if there is no list ) and sent them all off and told to start the process all over again a year later. So that means back to GP, back to dermatology, back to specialists for photos and mental health assessment which all takes around 18 months, then back on queue and in the meantime DS away to Uni and with a new GP and covid happens.

However, we do have an NHS dentist ( but it's just about someone different every time we go) and can usually get a GP appointment in a reasonable timescale if you are willing to take anything or anyone. If you want a particular GP you might have to wait a while. They were great with DS when he came home from Uni with accute tonstilitus though.

I suppose most of can't compare because we only have our own local experience or apocryphal info that may not be representative.

We will either be near Edinburgh or on the borders. Not sure yet.
We have family in Edinburgh

Agree with other posters that in the central belt you should be fine. I’m in Edinburgh and I’ve had excellent experiences with both my GP, orthodontics, hospital referrals and cancer treatment for various people in my family, including some in the last few months. I rarely hear of anyone talking about having to wait a long time to get appointments etc.