Why I Love Blighty And The Nhs.

[PhonicUK]

A little story:

About 7pm this evening, a pain that my other half had had in her right ear for a few days became excruciatingly bad. Neither of us drive, and there where no GPs within a 3 mile radius that where still open.

We called up NHS direct to see if there was anything they could recommend or do. After a little back and forth, they suggested we call our GPs number.

Sceptical (As we knew our local GP was long closed) we called anyway. And where quickly transferred to a service called FrenDoc which we'd never heard of before. We told them the situation, so they sent a driver to pick us up.

Once we arrived at a further away GP a short while later, we where quickly seen by a very friendly doctor - who not only helped with the immediate problem, but took a few minutes to talk about some long standing issues and was of more help than a dozen or so doctors over the last year.

He wrote out a prescription, we where then driven to a pharmacy to get the medication and driven home again.

All we had to pay for was the prescription. Everything else, courtesy of the NHS.




So how does this relate to the Pandora you ask?

The doctor we saw...





LOOKED AND SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE CRAIG!
He didn't demand to know an order number though, so I could be sure it wasn't him.

 

[gaterooze]

Great story.

 

[(naw)mcx]

This. This is the best post about the NHS this forum has ever had.

Stand proud, PhonicUK.

 

[mali]

What is NHS?

 

[Richo]

What is NHS?

National health service in the UK

 

[PhonicUK]

What is NHS?

NHS = National Health Service. Its the universal tax-funded healthcare system that we have in the UK.

Edit: Damn, ninja'd.

 

[mali]

Oh, I see. "Krankenkasse" in Germany.

 

[craigix]

People complain about the NHS all the time, but imagine if we didn't have it.

I love it.

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

This. This is the best post about the NHS this forum has ever had.

Stand proud, PhonicUK.

Hear! Hear?

 

[verm71]

Confirmed: Craigix moonlighting as a doctor to fund the Pandora and help himself out of debt. But only temporary. The Pandora gig will soon pay off.

 

[Tom`]

People complain about the NHS all the time, but imagine if we didn't have it.

I love it.

I don't have to imagine it, I'm in the US.

 

[bce23w]

People complain about the NHS all the time, but imagine if we didn't have it.

I love it.

I don't have to imagine it, I'm in the US.

Yeah, have a heart, craigix. That's just cruel.

 

[michaeljustman]

I guess it comes down to whether you're paying money to the government to pay for health care (via tax), or a private entity for health insurance (via a premium). It's all really the same IMO.

 

[PhonicUK]

I guess it comes down to whether you're paying money to the government to pay for health care (via tax), or a private entity for health insurance (via a premium). It's all really the same IMO.

Except here, it's extremely unlikely that anyone in the UK could ever become bankrupt due to medical expenses because the NHS won't cover them...

Medical Bankruptcy is one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy in the US, and more than half of those people *had* insurance - but the insurer wouldn't pay up (usually due to existing conditions) or stalled too long.

In the UK, I can walk into any medical facility with a problem - and *someone* will do *something* to help regardless of my personal situation (wealth, medical history etc)

 

[craigix]

I guess it comes down to whether you're paying money to the government to pay for health care (via tax), or a private entity for health insurance (via a premium). It's all really the same IMO.

Apart from here everyone is covered and everyone gets the drugs/care they need no matter what without paying anything extra.

Before he died my dad had over $1,000,000 of treatment on the NHS. Totally free, inc bone marrow transplant.

I would find the prospect of having a serious illness in the USA to be an absolute nightmare. You just know you are going to be double fucked. I doubt you will find many people outside of the USA who think the for-profit system is a good idea when it comes to peoples lives.

I mean can you imagine if the fire service was private?

 

[gruso]

I love the fact that fire service used to be private.

The Great Fire of London, in 1666, changed things and helped to standardise urban fire fighting. Following a public outcry during the aftermath of probably the most famous fire ever, a property developer named Nicholas Barbon introduced the first kind of insurance against fire. Soon after the formation of this insurance company, and in a bid to help reduce the cost and number of claims, he formed his own Fire Brigade. Other similar companies soon followed his lead and this was how property was protected until the early 1800s. Policy holders were given a badge, or fire mark, to affix to their building. If a fire started, the Fire Brigade was called. They looked for the fire mark and, provided it was the right one, the fire would be dealt with. Often the buildings were left to burn until the right company attended!

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/history/

Good times.

 

[Dunny]

I mean can you imagine if the fire service was private?

Didn't Terry Pratchett explore that one? I recall it went something like this:

Fireman turns up at non-burning house... <sucks teeth> "ooh, yeah, this house looks dry... you know, like it could go up at any moment... Want to buy fire insurance?"

Anyhow. The NHS is my employer, and I love them to bits. Well, all of them below non-clinical management that is. Pandora related section to this post? Why yes!

I'm known throughout the hospital as the guy who has that "custom made miniature PC" on order. People keep asking if it's done - and they don't actually laugh... 'Cos pretty much all the doctors want to see it before they buy one from the second batch. The consultant I work under is a total gadget freak and is bitterly disappointed with his iPhone. He knows the Panda has the same power under the hood as the iPhone, and is much, much less restricted. I'll not be able to get it back if I let him play with it

D.

 

[Tom`]

I would find the prospect of having a serious illness in the USA to be an absolute nightmare. You just know you are going to be double fucked. I doubt you will find many people outside of the USA who think the for-profit system is a good idea when it comes to peoples lives.

I mean can you imagine if the fire service was private?

Yeah, I didn't really care about this until I was diagnosed with an incurable chronic illness last summer. I'm still covered by my father's insurance, but that won't last too much longer. So it's become a bit of an important issue to me, I guess. :rolleyes:

 

[michaeljustman]

I've only heard stories of Canada's socialized medical system. I'm not familiar with the UK's. I've a few Canadian friends who've told me that there's always a ridiculous wait time for any kind of health care in their system and there's no real incentive for doctor's to provide good service, so most doctors will give you a quick diagnosis to move onto another patient.

 

[fischju2000]

In a semi-related bit of news, http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h0QC7bditrEb3wYz_6_b-gsGGDxA "An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision."

Healthcare reform in the US needs to be done in a way that preserves the bit of cash in the system that goes for experimental and top of the line surgeries, many of which originate in the US. Most people here from the EU and Canada might not know what complete and unapologetic bastards the Republican party of the US has been the last year regarding everything to do with reform, it's bad. I speak as an otherwise perfectly healthy teenager without health insurance that is currently uninsurable because of a 'pre-existing condition.' Given the size of the US population, place in the world medical community, and many other factors, the effort to get a public (or at least severely reformed private) system in the US may be the most complex of any nation that has sought it, but it needs to be done soon. Oh how I would like to not worry about a $20000 debt if I were ever in an accident.

But to bring this all around: Confirmed, MRI program for Pandora?