For those that don’t know, the NHS is our
National Health Service, set up in the wake of WWII, state-owned and funded by
taxes.
Many US Republicans (and some Democrats
too) point at our NHS when arguing against many of President Obama’s planned
health reforms. A lot of what I read today was woefully inaccurate at best, and
rantingly offensive at worst.
Our health service *is* free at the point
of delivery. There is no ‘gaming’ it. We do have a private health sector, which
is thriving. So, if you have the money you can choose to pay rather than use
the NHS. You get treated by the same doctors, sometimes in the same hospitals.
But you get treated sooner.
All emergency treatment is via the NHS –
from heart attacks through to car accidents, shootings, stabbings etc.
The use by people in the US of the term
“socialized” health care means nothing to us. That simply is not what it is,
not what it feels like. It is a
hollow ideologue’s term to defend their distaste for providing health care for
all members of society.
It is my belief that the true test of a
society is how it regards the less fortunate and those in need of help. But I
keep that opinion to myself. I would never stoop so low as to lecture people in
the US, for example, on what their health system lacks – because I don’t live
there.
The UK’s NHS is far from perfect. The
waiting lists are too long. There is too much emphasis on measuring the wrong
aspects of patient treatment and not enough on actual patient care. Some
hospital governing bodies (it’s done regionally) have run out of money. The
quality of care you get is often due to how much the people you are treated by
actually care about what they are doing.
My father died in early 2011 and was
treated very badly in hospital during the last week of his life. My mother’s
cancer wasn’t diagnosed, despite many warning signs, until it had advanced to
the point where it was declared inoperable. My oldest son was left with a
ruptured appendix for almost two weeks before one particular doctor realised what
was going on – he dodged a one-in-a-thousand bullet.
Most people in the UK know someone that’s
had a bad experience at the hands of the NHS.
Most of us also know someone who received
life-saving treatment, or life-changing care at the hands of the NHS.
It’s always fascinating to read what people
overseas think of our country. But, mostly, you are all speaking from positions
of varying ignorance. The opinions I value most are from those who caveat their
comments by declaring themselves onlookers, not behaving like experts.
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