Since I moved here to England, I thought I'd discuss my dealings so far with the much maligned (by Republican Americans) British National Health Service. My son had symptoms of appendicitis. So I called the NHS hotline, they got my phone number, and said they'd call back after they talked to a doctor. They then called me back and gave me a hospital I could arrange to take my boy to. I didn't realize I wrote the hospital address down wrong, so on the way to the hospital I called the number again, but my cell phone cut out. 5 minutes later the NHS called me back and apologized that the call got disconnected (it was definitely my fault.) It was a different person, but they had that shit down. I was pretty impressed at their ability to recover from my incompetence. We get to the hospital, and they immediately take my son in for triage. They determine the appendix isn't blowing up immediately, so they tell us to wait in the waiting room. We sit there for 3 hours. It kind of sucked, but the nurse said there wasn't any point in taking us up to an office because there wasn't anything anybody could do anyway without more symptoms. Finally they decide to put us in a room, and they tell us to spend the night. Me, wife and kid spend night in pretty nice room. Kid gets a free breakfast in the morning. Doctor comes in, looks him over and decides to send us home and that it's a false alarm. (No symptoms in two months since, so I guess he was right.) We leave without signing anything or paying anyone. Just walk out. It was weird. Never got a single scrap of paperwork over the incident since. Zilch. I keep waiting for the months of insurance forms and bills to show up, and it just doesn't. It's just how it works here. Since then both my sons have seen doctors for colds. I thought they could tough it out, but the wife insisted. We got them in to see a doctor within a few hours of me phoning up. Again, no paperwork of any kind as they have our records. No filling and re-filling of anything. Weird. The doctors facility we took them to was also odd. There were three young women behind the counter (looked like maybe 20 or so) taking calls, and that was it. No nurses anywhere. But there were 6 doctors on staff and it was busy. We wait maybe 8 or 9 minutes, and when it was our turn to go see a doctor, we escort ourselves down a hall and walk right into a tiny room with a bed, a desk and a bona fide doctor who smiles and leisurely discusses things with us. He tells me one boy might need a stool sample if symptoms persist for a few more days, but he smiles and says he hopes not because the doctor will be the one taking it. I think he was serious. It was just oddly efficient to see so many doctors and so little overhead. No paperwork. No nurses transcribing symptoms onto charts. No billing people. Mostly just doctors and a couple girls handling appointments. *shrug* When people complain about the waste in the US health care system, I kind of get it now. I know the NHS has its problems, but man, here in England it's all so simple and streamlined and worry-free. It all just worked.
Can you pick your doctor? BTW-sounds like a great system. What about more complicated medical conditions (joint replacement or sever condition) . . . what do you hear, good medical care in that situation?
No MRI's done, no specialists consulted, you're being shoveled a shit level of service and are happily swallowing it. Was either of your children checked to see if they needed a 3rd kidney? A 2nd heart? "Cold symptoms" could be almost anything and just about all of them are bad. You could have got a more accurate diagnosis by reading WebMD. You got lucky. We'll pray for you.
It's a shame that in the industrialized world, we're more concerned about the profits of the big businesses (who don't actually hire more if they profit more) than we are about the health of our citizens. And whats amazing about the whole process you described? You're not a citizen of the country.
It's too late. He hasn't posted since, so I guess the British Death Squads got him. Poor Mook. Take the kids to the doctor one too many times, and they just put the whole family to death. barfo
I'm not a citizen, but both boys are. (They have dual citizenship. Still weird seeing their faces on British passports.) I am entitled to the same level of care, though.
Heh, yeah. Funny thing though was of the 5 doctors I've talked to, 3 of them were from other countries. A British friend speculated that the good English doctors probably go to America to make serious money, so that creates space for the British to siphon away from other nations. In the parking lot at the clinic there were parking spots designated for doctors. I didn't notice any that looked like they cost much over $40k US. A couple were clearly under $10k. If money is no object, I think the best doctors are still in the US.
lol. That's quite a filter to put on this post. Like I said, the 3 hour wait was going to happen regardless, because they were waiting to see if he became more symptomatic. From a purely cost/reward analysis, it makes more sense to have somebody wait in a waiting room than anywhere else. I was annoyed, but I get it. In the US I suspect we'd wait in an exam room or ER so they could bill the insurance company and me much more. I also suspect in the US they would have operated "just to be sure," removing a perfectly good appendix for no reason other than to prevent a possible lawsuit and again run up bills. As for doctors, yep. If you had the choice of being a GP in the UK making $90k, or a plastic surgeon in California at $750k, it's a pretty easy choice for some. I don't know that the doctors I saw were "third world," but they seemed competent. (As a layman, I have little knowledge to judge them by.) Still, though, like I said, if you want the very best doctors in the world and can afford it, USA can't be beat.
I'll take your word for it, don't know if you've ever been in a hospital for an extended amount of time but nurses are the backbone of the health care system and they are there to answer questions, over a two week period I spent in a hospital I saw them every day and the doctor once a week for 5 minutes. The nurses are more interesting. Was that a veiled Clinton joke or something?