If I have a heart attack or a stroke, I'm highly unlikely to get prompt medical attention, because of long waits for medical treatment. By the time an ambulance arrives I could either be dead or much more seriously ill.
Significant numbers of people are dying unnecessarily because of long waits for medical treatment. It's estimated that there were almost 300 deaths a week associated with long accident and emergency waits in 2023.
Neither the British government or the Northern Irish government show any sense of urgency in getting the NHS back to its former high standards, the standards that were once seen as the envy of the world. Now the healthcare systems of many other countries are seen as better than the NHS.
We oldies and our multiple medical issues are often blamed for the parlous state of the NHS, but of course that's nonsense. The problem is a much more general one - lack of staff, lack of money, lack of up-to-date equipment, lack of efficient organisation.
More and more people are resorting to private healthcare as the NHS fails them. People who've been waiting absurd lengths of time for surgery, scans, physiotherapy or other procedures, people who've been in agonising pain for months or even years, are having to fall back on private provision to get the immediate attention they need. But of course many people simply can't afford to go private, they just don't have the spare cash.
And the situation isn't going to improve any time soon.
As much as people complain about the state of health care in the US, we do not generally (I'm sure there are exceptions) wait for necessary care, especially if there is an immediate need. Our biggest problem for the average citizen is trying to find a primary care physician. They have left in droves and the remaining ones are not taking new patients. Some of them have started going into concierge practices, which do not take insurance, but you have to pay a prohibitive yearly membership fee for their services.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: We not only have a shortage of primary doctors, you may have to wait weeks for an appointment. Concierge membership is interesting, we don't have anything like that here.
DeleteNick, I know nothing about the NHS , but what you describe is quite similar here. I think it's not only an organisation
ReplyDeleteproblem, but hospitals are asked to make profit. Not enough nurses and caring employes , young doctors working at the.limit and in the urgency department you will wait sometimes a whole day. If you pay of course a private doctor ,you will get an appointment very quickly. I'm against it because persons with not much money have no chance to get a quck appointment. Health is a right and normally a doctor must help. It's an ethical question.
Hannah
Hannah: Not surprising that Germany has similar organisational problems to the NHS. And yes, there's always private provision, but how many people can afford it? As you say, health care should be a basic human right.
DeleteYes, seeing a doctor in the US can be a prolonged wait. I think serious emergency care is likely prompt, but you need to be able to afford it. Healthcare here is a for profit industry, private equity groups have been buying up clinics and hospitals, so it comes down to money.
ReplyDeleteSandra: Private equity groups are a menace, buying up failing businesses and asset-stripping them to increase profits - slashing salaries, increasing "productivity" and so on.
DeleteMy clinic in the USA is under new management that is so profit oriented that the lab techs now simply stick a needle in you where the vein should be rather than checking first to see if it there. Time is money you know.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: Not checking for a vein is shocking but not surprising given the endless drive for greater profits as you say.
DeleteYep, I dread the same.
ReplyDeleteSx
What kind of society are we now living in when millions of people (and not just oldies) dread the thought of going to hospital?
ReplyDeleteI am very thankful, Nick, that for our senior ages we have no serious health issues at least none that were are aware of now. We switched from a medical doctor to a nurse practitioner years ago, both in VA and now in NH. In our experience, the care has been excellent.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Some of my other blogmates also have high praise for nurse practitioners. We have something similar here, nurse associates, but people still prefer fully-qualified doctors. Nursing associates have limited training.
DeleteReturn the NHS to a central body, abolish the trusts, give hospitals autonomy to order basic maintenance equipment, set up NHS drug production and ensure operating theatres are in full use.
ReplyDeleteFly: I'd totally agree with all that. And also an upgraded social care system so patients aren't stuck in hospitals with nowhere to be discharged to.
DeleteI try not to think about needing hospital treatment.
ReplyDeletePolly: Very wise. The situation isn't getting any better.
DeleteI thought the single payer system was the solution for health care. From what you say it isn't. My one fear is I get quite ill & the system runs the family broke.
ReplyDeletePaula: A single payer system is fine as long as it gets adequate funding and adequate staffing. But the NHS has been starved of both for about 15 years.
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