The brilliant NHS

bobmac

bobmac

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Last Wednesday in Fife between 2 and 3pm, my brother (a very fit 64) had 3 heart attacks.
By tea time he was in Kirkcaldy hospital.
On Thursday, the blood tests confirmed they were heart attacks.
On Friday he was taken to Edinburgh to see the specialist who examined his heart with a tiny camera and fitted a stent.
On Saturday lunchtime (yesterday), he was back home recovering.

And to our overseas readers, the total cost of treatment, accommodation and transportation.....
£0.00

NHS (y)
 
drdel said:
You'll not find any better emergency treatment anywhere IMO.
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I'd agree with that, and I've been the recipient of similar treatment; they were absolutely outstanding.

What I don't agree with is the cost. Whilst it is free at the point of service, I and anyone else that has paid income tax and national insurance payments has paid for it over the years; we are effectively shareholders in a healthcare scheme & are just exercising the benefits of the membership payments we've made.
 
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We need to look after it and not abuse it.

Some of the experiences with the NHS being described to my Mrs on the cancer helpline she works on suggest a system on the very verge of, if not in the process of, collapsing...as someone who worked in and was dedicated to the NHS for 40yrs what she is hearing at the moment worries her hugely.

And when we have a local GP practice emailing and texting those registered telling us that the GPs are exhausted - what are individuals with niggling or more significant worries supposed to think and do. What one of our friends has done is go private for a consultation as the wait she was given for something potentially significant was just too much for her to bear.

The NHS is great when it works for you. At the moment it is struggling to work. So when some say the hospitals will be able to cope with any surge of covid patients that might come about as a result of a further wave, they are rather missing the point. The NHS may well be able to cope with a surge...but it may very well not be able to accommodate one in addition to new non-covid load and trying to clear the massive backlog of potentially significant conditions that has built up over the last year.

And there of course is the huge early-mid 1980s cohort of now very experienced nurses about to retire...many now exhausted by working through the pandemic and wanting out ASAP, and many have NHS pensions that enable them to retire from their mid-50s.

Very worrying times for the NHS I’d say, and for all of us who value and cherish it. And that’s what my Mrs is telling me.
 
bobmac said:
I don't know why I bother posting positive thoughts on here.

:mad:
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Prob would have got the more positive reactions from things that gladden the heart, opening a thread on the NHS is like opening a political thread .. Pandora's box is open


Great news about your brothers treatment tho
 
Great opening post Bob, and I hope he’s up and about very soon. It’s amazing what health services can achieve now.

If I was a Spanish National, or working here, or of pensionable age it would be free. I pay €82 a month for private healthcare for the next 3.5 years, then it’s free for me too.
 
Every time I have needed anything on the NHS they have been outstanding.
Some people just don’t realise how lucky we are.
Well said Bob.
 
They are generally magnificent, but like any organisation there can be errors and incompetence.

The vast majority of people who work on the front line are the former.

You will always get people talk it down. Especially where they have had a poor experience. And of course those who constantly complain the NHS is on the brink of collapse. It has been on the brink of collapse as long as I can remember.

I will point out that the cost of treatment wasn't £0. It was more likely man thousands of pounds. Lets not confuse free at the point of use with free!
 
bobmac said:
Last Wednesday in Fife between 2 and 3pm, my brother (a very fit 64) had 3 heart attacks.
By tea time he was in Kirkcaldy hospital.
On Thursday, the blood tests confirmed they were heart attacks.
On Friday he was taken to Edinburgh to see the specialist who examined his heart with a tiny camera and fitted a stent.
On Saturday lunchtime (yesterday), he was back home recovering.

And to our overseas readers, the total cost of treatment, accommodation and transportation.....
£0.00

NHS (y)
Click to expand...
My dad, living in Manchester, had a heart attack.
An ambulance was called and he was being treated in the emergency room within 20 minutes.
They fixed him up and he lasted another ten years.

NHS (y)
 
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IanM said:
But, without it? Wow, life would be so different.
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As long as we all recognise this when our taxes have to go up to pay for the services it provides. I am simply noting that from what I am hearing all is not rosy at the moment in the NHS and so we cannot be complacent about the ability of the NHS to cope with further significant surges in patients suffering COVID-19 difficulties.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
As long as we all recognise this when our taxes have to go up to pay for the services it provides. I am simply noting that from what I am hearing all is not rosy at the moment in the NHS and so we cannot be complacent about the ability of the NHS to cope with further significant surges in patients suffering COVID-19 difficulties.
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Nobody in this thread is abusing or being complacent about the NHS.
It's about the brilliant service they gave my brother over the last 4 days and how they saved his life.
Why don't you take your negativity elsewhere, it's not welcome here.
 
Another bug thumbs up for the NHS
Ok 3 years ago they nearly killed me after a stomach polyp removal went wrong and caused an artery to explode 12 hours later.

But the moment I entered Stoke Mandeville hospital, I felt safe, dozens of people saved me, surgeons, doctors, nurses, anaesthetists, healthcare assistants, blood donors (23 units in 12 hours)
Huge operation, touch and go, 7 days in ITU and 4 days on a ward.

Eternally thankful to the NHS for keeping me here ?❤️
 
Blue in Munich said:
I'd agree with that, and I've been the recipient of similar treatment. they were absolutely outstanding.

What I don't agree with is the cost. Whilst it is free at the point of service, I and anyone else that has paid income tax and national insurance payments has paid for it over the years; we are effectively shareholders in a healthcare scheme & are just exercising the benefits of the membership payments we've made.
Click to expand...

Whilst I appreciate the underlying point here I, personally, think its a massive positive that we have provision within our taxation system that allows us to have the NHS. We would still pay taxes without the NHS and the money would just go elsewhere, look at how many countries have paid for access systems whilst still paying taxes.

The beauty of our NHS is that, yes we pay in to it via Tax and NI but we, and for me this is the important bit, would still have he same access of we hadn't paid in or were, for example, unemployed temporarily and unable to pay in.
The system would still be there for us.

Now liken that to a system where you need an insurance of some form and what would happen if that insurance were to lapse...

I've been both private and NHS for care over the years and despite the billions the private providers make through policies and charges, the treatment (and the treatment, if you catch my drift) was not any better than what the NHS provides.
 
GreiginFife said:
Whilst I appreciate the underlying point here I, personally, think its a massive positive that we have provision within our taxation system that allows us to have the NHS. We would still pay taxes without the NHS and the money would just go elsewhere, look at how many countries have paid for access systems whilst still paying taxes.

The beauty of our NHS is that, yes we pay in to it via Tax and NI but we, and for me this is the important bit, would still have he same access of we hadn't paid in or were, for example, unemployed temporarily and unable to pay in.
The system would still be there for us.

Now liken that to a system where you need an insurance of some form and what would happen if that insurance were to lapse...

I've been both private and NHS for care over the years and despite the billions the private providers make through policies and charges, the treatment (and the treatment, if you catch my drift) was not any better than what the NHS provides.
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I couldn't agree more that it is a massive positive that we have this provision, and that it is free at the point of service. And as a recipient of a similar service to the OP's brother, I am extremely grateful to them and can only endorse what a fantastic device they provide.

I just can't agree that it is a free service.
 
Blue in Munich said:
I couldn't agree more that it is a massive positive that we have this provision, and that it is free at the point of service. And as a recipient of a similar service to the OP's brother, I am extremely grateful to them and can only endorse what a fantastic device they provide.

I just can't agree that it is a free service.
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Which is where I can see the point you made, the question would be if we paid the same taxes but didn't have the NHS...

Bit of an unknown granted but as a facility thats available to those that don't pay tax too it depends on your point of view.
 
GreiginFife said:
Which is where I can see the point you made, the question would be if we paid the same taxes but didn't have the NHS...

Bit of an unknown granted but as a facility thats available to those that don't pay tax too it depends on your point of view.
Click to expand...

Regardless of who pays or doesn't, & the level of individual contribution, the cost is not £0.00; it's a service that is paid for, just not at the point of use.
 
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