Barely.
NHS=Negligent Health Service
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Barely.
Having good healthcare coverage in the USA isn't that much different to having great private healthcare coverage in the UK. If you're poor in the USA, you'll get government health insurance coverage, and if you're in a more fortunate position, you'll have very likely have good insurance coverage from your employer. It's the folks in the middle that get screwed, although if you're in that position, you could perhaps work for the state or federal government, where there is low wages but usually good health insurance provision.
In the UK, if you're stuck in the middle with a rubbish/overstretched NHS Trust, you're screwed all around because your job doesn't give you private health insurance, and you cannot afford to buy it yourself.
That's pretty much how all insurance works. The cheap(er) many pay for the expensive few.Thanks for the clarifying. So someone who is obese is being subsidised by those who maintain a healthy lifestyle. Almost sounds socialist.
Soldato
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Some wouldn’t be missed
Not just other EU countries, it's below what the USA spend on their public healthcare.
Sadly since 2010 the Tories have reduced NHS funding by almost the same about the previous Labour government increased it by >.>
It is a strange situation, I like thee NHS and I think the principle of free at the point of delivery should be preserved, but what is delivered needs to be restricted. Recourses in NHS are limited, independent of the budget, lets stay Steve Barclay, Rishi and Hunt , get drunk and increase NHS budget by 50% tomorrow. The resources will still be limited to deal with a theoretical unlimited demand from population.
The other unintended consequences of free unlimited access is deskilling general public regarding self care. If access is free why not ask advice for a paper cut ? for a sore throat you have 1 hour? for a 30 minutes pain in the knee, argument at home, the girlfriend dumped you and you are not happy etc ? Why wouldn't one just ask the GP / Nurse, physio / mental health about the above issues? is free and available , why not ?
The only way to ration limited NHS resources vs virtual unlimited demand is the queue at the moment . I am sure there are other ways to do that but we need the GBP to actually decide what it wants from NHS- to be everything for everyone is a ridiculous staring point
Other interesting noted from the public is the view of primary care / GP. They are in the same breath useless/ incompetent , but in the same time they should not dare to be closed or not open for face2face all the time
The other unintended consequences of free unlimited access is deskilling general public regarding self care. If access is free why not ask advice for a paper cut ? for a sore throat you have 1 hour? for a 30 minutes pain in the knee, argument at home, the girlfriend dumped you and you are not happy etc ? Why wouldn't one just ask the GP / Nurse, physio / mental health about the above issues? is free and available , why not ?
The only way to ration limited NHS resources vs virtual unlimited demand is the queue at the moment . I am sure there are other ways to do that but we need the GBP to actually decide what it wants from NHS- to be everything for everyone is a ridiculous staring point
Other interesting noted from the public is the view of primary care / GP. They are in the same breath useless/ incompetent , but in the same time they should not dare to be closed or not open for face2face all the time
Sorry but in my opinion GPs are adding to the pressure of Hospitals. This was a month or two back. Empty GP practise! It took many phone calls before a GP would agree to see me. Before COVID this room would be full at all times of the day.
I arrived 35 minutes early and no-one else sat down at any point.
I arrived 35 minutes early and no-one else sat down at any point.
Soldato
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.Why are some GPs still reluctant to see patients face 2 face? Saw a GP face 2 face in May 2020 as they needed to feel and see a lump on my neck, which cannot be done over the phone!
With my practice, which the building is shared by another practice and do a few visits from specialists from hospital depts, such as mum sees the audiologist there. Probably does a day once a fortnight or similar., the seats are about 40-50% used in the waiting areas.
With my practice, which the building is shared by another practice and do a few visits from specialists from hospital depts, such as mum sees the audiologist there. Probably does a day once a fortnight or similar., the seats are about 40-50% used in the waiting areas.
And you are entitled to your opinion. It is wrong and uninformed but this is a different point. It has been explained in the thread previously why is it wrong if you are willing to change.
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That's his experience it's different to yours but it's not wrong or uniformed. You sound extremely narrow minded and arrogant.
GPs are doing a lot of virtual and online stuff - where I'm registered the GPs spend about half the day going through stuff on askmygp rather than dealing with people in person. Mine are almost impossible to get through to on the phone any more - but if I stick a request in via askmygp I get a response within a couple of hours if it is higher priority and 1-2 days otherwise. Though my mum needed an in person appointment and they couldn't fit her in for 2 weeks and then put it off another week due to sickness/how busy they were.
What is wrong about it? Did I photoshop the picture?
My parents tell me it is almost in my impossible to get a GP appointment these days, and when you do it is at least 3 weeks to be seen. Apparently they are working part time in protest against the gov.
Shocking a stroke victim was left for hours. All the advice is act FAST to reduce stroke damage. I hope you make a full recovery.
I took my wife in last year for a suspected stroke, but thankfully was bells palsy. Still not good, but at least not a stroke.
Shocking a stroke victim was left for hours. All the advice is act FAST to reduce stroke damage. I hope you make a full recovery.
I took my wife in last year for a suspected stroke, but thankfully was bells palsy. Still not good, but at least not a stroke.
Caporegime
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When I had my medical done last year with a private semi retired doctor it is basically all the contractors who take the Michael. He even blamed his own daughter. Why work a full week when you can contract out 2-3 days a week and get 50k a year.
NHS is just basically a massive cash cow that everyone wants to bleed dry.
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I was diagnosed, operated on three times and treated for cancer during 2020/21. I can't praise the NHS enough although I'll be blunt, this was in spite of the GP being useless. I only got diagnosed due to an A&E trip in an ambulance, GP had refused to refer me to any services over the symptoms for a years.
It's funny you mention that but my aunt does the same with her daughter. Both are nurses. My cousin being some sort of specialist theatre nurse. What I've been told she does is if a shift is coming up that would be overtime for her, she'll not sign up for it through work. Instead she'll go through a bank/agency for the same shift so she gets paid more for it. Plus the agency then make a decent wedge on top. So let's say a shift would ordinarily cost the NHS £200 for her, instead it costs them something like £1500.
Soldato
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Says the 'private semi retired doctor' ?? I would guess this GP has retired early to avoid the huge tax bills for hitting his pension LTA. The government have had plenty of time to resolve this but kept kicking the can down the line.
The number of GPs wanting to only work only 'part time' is actually relatively small. The vast majority in my area and people I know work damn hard and are willing and wan to work full time but there are a multitude of issues which simply mean it's not possible.
The biggest issue is workload. I'm Oncall at a (small to medium sized) practice tomorrow. I'll have 300 repeat prescriptions to review and issue, 50+ patient contacts, another 50-75 patient and reception queries, 150ish lab result investigations, supervisor to 3 nurses and triage home visit requests as well as dealing with anything else that decides to happen on the day. I'm ultimately clinically responsible for the whole organisation that day. This'll be a 13 hour day for me without a break, and even though a contractor I'll only be able to invoice for 9. That's 4 hours unpaid good will) excluding a break time. What people are quite happy to ignore is the amount of admin GPs have to deal with. Even on days off we'll be getting sent tasks from admin/reception/nurses etc and typically return to a rammed imbox to sort through. Most is rubbish but takes time away from other work.
If the daily workload was more sustainable then you'd see more people working more sessions but as it stands the strain from lack of GPs and funding into primary care has caught up with this government. There are a whole load of other issues such as undervalued and underpaid salaried GPs, career progression challenges and at the other end, pension debacle for older GPs. Unfortunately we don't all work part time, drive 911s and play golf twice a week.
@shadow_boxer your last line is literally my neighbour 
Soldato
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I've got to admit when I had something wrong with my eye I got a private eye test at the optician next day who referred me straight to the eye hospital who saw me same day I didn't even attempt to book an appt at the GP
Soldato
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This is exactly what they should be doing, not sending back to the GP. Opticians can refer directly to ophthalmology, especially those that are part of the acute eye service. When they ask you to speak to your GP first they're shirking their responsibility and the GP becomes where workload gets dumped ultimately delaying your referral and taking time away from the GP getting on with other stuff.
What a load of rubbish