The other day I went to to our local hospital for some minor repair work at Crawley’s Day Surgery unit. Arrived at 7.45am, general anasthaetic at 9.00am, recovery room 9.30am, reception ward 10.30am, picked up and driven home by The Lovely Mrs P at 1.00pm (with an assortment of drugs, dressings etc) – everything courtesy of our National Health Service (NHS)
I know a lot of my American friends, in their battle against ObamaCare, wield our UK NHS as a cudgel to beat up the enemy, using highly selective anectdotal “evidence” to highlight the shortcomings of a state controlled medical system. Now I, as a fairly cynical English version of Edward Abbey, would be the first to admit that the NHS (which ranks alongside the Chinese Army and Indian Railways in terms of employee numbers) can at times be unwieldy, inefficient and bureaucratic. But as a consumer my own personal experience has been predominantly positive both at my local doctor’s practice and hospital.
At my day surgery I treated with care and respect by all staff, given a full explanation of procedures, contantly reassured and everything possible was done to maintain my dignity without compromising the need to deal with my private parts.
Because the service is “free” (I know, I know I subsidise it via my taxes) I did not have to wade through mountains of documents trying to persuade a cost conscious insurance company to pay the price of my treatment. Of course the NHS is cost conscious as well and there are certain procedures and drugs that have to be weighed against some sort of cost/benefit analysis (by the same sort of “faceless bureaucrats” who presumably also operate in US insurance companies) but in the vast majority of situations we don’t have to worry so much if a normal, everyday procedure uncovers the need for further treatment.
As I once said to my friend R A Mansour let every country decide for itself how it runs it’s own healthcare. Good Americans I respect and admire have fought hard against ObamaCare and I would be the last to advocate that the NHS is a model for export. On the other hand our system, for all it’s faults, has the support of the vast majority of people in the UK, whatever their political persuasion – which is why I get a little irritated when it is dissed from across the pond.
BTW – two factoids that are worthy of note:
- Private health insurance a la USA is alive and kicking in the UK and many employers include 100% premiums in their job packages (used mainly to jump the queue for routine procedures although NHS waiting times have reduced over the last few years)
- % of GDP spent on healthcare (admittedly from 2004 but still useful as a bench mark)…. USA 13.9, UK 7.5, weighted average across western world 8.3……issues here of value for money?
