I've been saying the NHS doesn't exist for a long time. People whine about it going private, but private is better than nothing. I've had to use private healthcare for years anyway, usually get it via work, and the dentist has never been free at the point of use.
I'm sure private is great if you can afford it* or get it through work. People working minimum wage jobs in supermarkets or as cleaners are unlikely to fall into either of those categories.
Christ all the hyperbole around privatisation there aren’t just two health care systems in the world. It’s not a decision between NHS and ‘murica. Get a grip. This reactionary crap is the reason the NHS is still a terrible dinosaur. It’s a political religion and anyone who wants to change it (for the better!!!) is blaspheming. Go look at the best health care systems in the world, they’re not like the NHS and they’re not like America.
Was about to post this - nothing wrong with a hybrid system where you pay a nominal fee - something affordable, but enough to act as a deterrent to misuse, e.g. if you had to pay £10 up front to see a doctor, I can guarantee you the number of of missed and unnecessary appointments would plummet overnight.
I've always thought this was a pretty terrible excuse. Not the paramedics' fault, but more the call handling / dispatch system.
I get that some people lie about being seriously injured when they aren't just to get an ambulance out or whatever and you can't really do much about that. However some people ring up and tell the truth about what s happened. If 999 (or more likely 111) decide to send an ambulance for someone with a minor injury then that's on them. Simple answer is that if someone rings up with an injury that doesn't need an ambulance then don't send them one. Tell them to get the bus or a taxi to the nearest urgent care centre.
I think the 111 service can be part of the problem. From anecdotal evidence, people often seem to ring up 111 with a minor problem not necessarily wanting an ambulance (in many cases after being unable to get a GP appointment) and then it's the 111 service that decides to send them an ambulance because their software tool says so.
I think the problem here is that 111 staff only have the most basic of medical training, like you say, they put your symptoms into the system and computer says "send an ambulance" because even though 9 times out of 10 it won't be necessary, they can't risk missing that 1/10.
The problem is do you rely on it or go private? Private is expensive as I guess it isn't mainstream in this country, I genuinely don't know if letting it all go private would be better, obviously for some it would not.
Quite the opposite. Private is cheap in this country because even if you have private healthcare, the vast majority of treatment is done on the NHS. If you're injured in a car crash, you don't call Bupa - you call 999. If you have a funny lump on your arm, you don't call Vitality - you go to your GP. If you then get a referral,
then you go to your private healthcare provider.
Comparing costs of UK to the US.
When I got a quote with Vitality a couple of years ago, it was just over £1200/year for a family plan - 2 adults, 2 kids.
Results of a quick search for average health insurance cost in the USA vary between $3-$7k for an individual, and $10-20k for a family plan.
* until you can't because you had to make a claim last year and this year's premium has trebled.
