Healthcare - NHS/Private

[psychocandy]

This is Pakistan.

Out of interest - how do you know its pakistan?

[psychocandy]

What is the logic of this? You are saying remove competition why? Is it so that poor services can not be held up against competitor providers and therefore delivered according to standards set by the providers? How can you say ISR is one of the worlds "great" railways when half the passengers have to cling on to the outside of the train?

Agree. Part of the problem with the NHS is that there no competition. And no accountability.

They know that they can do what they want and nothing will ever happen. No-one even complains about the NHS in this country!

[DodgyAgent]

This is Pakistan.

What about this one? Mind you if your railway system is to be judged by the number of passengers it can get onto a train then yes your railway is streets ahead of any thing in Europe

[wikramasingha]

Out of interest - how do you know its pakistan?

They are wearing Pakistani garb.

No respected Indian would sit in this crowded condition.

[SAPABAPLeeds]

As somebody who was first qualified in medical matters before enteting this security arena I feel I am qualified to comment.

If we wish to preserve excellency in our NHS we must all use its services and not to use privates.

If we are all using NHS they must serve our needs.

The model for this is Indian State Railways. There is no private option and as a result ISR has become the world's most great public company.

Thanks Wikramasingha, that cracked me up and made my day! Can you please explain the accident rate and the post-accident compensation of ISR? (without making yourself look silly, ofcourse!)

Coming back to the point, after some miserable experiences with the NHS I subscribed myself to the BUPA heartbeat level 2 cover and it is excellent. Never did I have to wait for longer than a day for appointment/medical diagnosis. The caveat however is that you have to use NHS A&E for anything urgent/serious.

[SAPABAPLeeds]

I've had several people close to me very badly let down by the NHS. One is permanently disabled due to the refusal of his GP to refer him for an MRI scan.

I've got basic BUPA cover in which I fork out for any private consultations during the diagniosis phase & I'm covered for all subsequent treatment.

Problem is, you still have to see an NHS dr to get a referral. My missus has been in agony with what turns out to be suspected gallstones. She rings drs surgery on Friday & they tell her nothing avalable until 13 Feb. If it gets any worse over the weekend, they say, go to A&E.
Simply not good enough.

There is however an option - Visit a BUPA GP (paying £60 or something for 10 minutes - Not costlier than delayed diagnosis !!) within a day's notice!

[Platypus]

I'm no defender of the NHS and the Times headline this morning that "No one is safe" is pretty worrying. The problem is that no one dare criticise it, it's more untouchable and holy than a deity.

Thank goodness when my daughter needed it recently (emergency admission for appendicitis) it all went very well. I was extremely grateful this did not happen at my local city hospital (which has a poor reputation) but in the city where her university is (which has a good reputation, anecdotally).

Back in the day, I dated one nurse, who used to boast about how much of her job was a doss which involved doing nothing and ignoring patients. I married another who was a very caring person and I'm sure a very good carer for her patients. How to weed out the dross though? Since all nurses are 'angels' ?

Like another poster, I have basic BUPA for the "bad stuff" and will have to rely on the NHS for run of the mill healthcare. What clinched this for me was hearing something on Radio 4, a woman cancer patient speaking about the care she received and who talked about cruel nurses who would literally inflict pain if she disturbed them by ringing her bell. I wish I could find the link. It was pretty shocking.

There's no point debating a solution to the problem because the NHS is so sacrosanct that it's untouchable. Several years ago I heard a wonderful piece (again on Radio 4) where a group of experts proposed their solutions to 'fixing' the NHS. Really well thought out well reasoned stuff. The programme concluded that although solutions can be devised, they can't be implemented. It was rather depressing.

EDIT: ah here ye go
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...h-7628092.html

[original PM]

recently had to have a few visits to minor injuries with my daughter.

in general not bad although we did not get seen for a 5.30 appointment until 7.30

also on days when there seemed to only be us in the waiting room still took 30 minutes to be seen - it was only for a 5 minute change of dressing.

in general it is free and better than the alternative but the problem potentially is that we expect more nowadays - and we feel we have a right to bitch and complain -- I wonder how much better the NHS would be if it did not have to spend 15% of it's resources responding to these issues..

[Platypus]

better than what alternative ?

[SAPABAPLeeds]

recently had to have a few visits to minor injuries with my daughter.

in general not bad although we did not get seen for a 5.30 appointment until 7.30

also on days when there seemed to only be us in the waiting room still took 30 minutes to be seen - it was only for a 5 minute change of dressing.

in general it is free and better than the alternative but the problem potentially is that we expect more nowadays - and we feel we have a right to bitch and complain -- I wonder how much better the NHS would be if it did not have to spend 15% of it's resources responding to these issues..

And I thought we are contributing to it ... ?!!!

Platypus has already asked you about the first bold bit!