Government Health care

[kcowgergmm]

so i live across the pond in the colonies and I'm not to fond of the health care bill that Obama is pushing not that i spent the time to decode 2500 pages of legal crap. So the question since the UK has a socialized health care system what do you think of it? Should i be in favor or opposed just wanted some insight from people who have it.

[Mr Speirs]

Why on earth would you be opposed to a government funded health care scheme? You'd be bloody bonkers to.

[Bri w]

You're asking the converted.

I feel that social support, whether it be for health or other domestic issues, is an indication of a supportive and caring community. Invariably those that don't want to pick up the tab are from the wealthier side of the tracks, and in truth could possibly afford to "spare a little change."

That said, I feel, the UK has gone beyond reasonable support to the extent that some feel there is a good enough life available even if they don't work/contribute. It would appear they feel that the Gov will support them whatever comes their way. Sadly, they lose sight of the fact that it is the ordinary working man/woman that is supporting them. The Gov only manages the money taken in taxes, it isn't a producer in its own right.

Healthcare to a level for what ever is needed, yes. Social support to a point where many don't see the need to get of their ar5es, no.

[shonadoll]

I think it's totally dependent on whether or not it's available to all, or dependent on where you live, like in reality our NHS is.

We have private health care on top of this, because of the disparity of available treatment.

[the_lone_wolf]

Don't let the UK administration's abysmal handling of the NHS put you off publicly funded healthcare as an idea...

[Red Herring]

In the day when the majority of the population believed they were expected to work for a living, that they had a responsibility to support themselves and their family, and that it was morally wrong to take something you were not entitled to then the national industries, including the NHS, worked just fine. Now that we have entire generations who believe in something for nothing, be it benefit, healthcare, compensation or even their rights the system is much closer to breaking point. The problem now is that there are a fair percentage of such people running the show, and they are more interested in what they can get out of it than what they provide for the population.
The children folks are running the school.

[ArtyLady]

I don't know how your healthcare system works over there exactly, but I do know that if I had had to pay to fund my own healthcare that I've needed so far (quite a bit in the last few years!) I'd be bankrupt! I certainly wouldn't be able to afford my daily medication!

[Alpinestarhero]

I think the NHS is a great system. You pay your taxes, and when you need the op, its essentially all been paid for. No nasty bills afterwards or no painfull agonising beforehand.

The only problem is the abuse of the system, and whether or not people who have been responsible for their illness (i.e. morbidly obese people, cancer caused by smoking, livers failing due to alcohol abuse, that kinda thing) should receive completly free treatment. There are also some long waiting lists, although these have been coming down.

[Von Teese]

I agree that it's a good thing but have seen it used more by the abusers of the system than the genuine taxpayers who have contributed all their lives.

I think the private system works better, I grew up in South Africa and you got healthcare as a benefit of the job, that encouraged people to actually have one (plus not having the dole etc).
+1 to Alpinestar and Red Herring's comments!

[phi-dan]

The major difference with a social healthcare system is that it is free at the point of delivery. All the funding is from taxes, so you don't pay to see your general practitioner, you don't pay to see the consultant (or his minions) if you are referred to hospital, you don't pay for the x-rays / scans / whatever and there is a fixed tariff for prescriptions which is affordable.

As well as the excellant points made by Bri and Red, there are also problems with the funding models. The government sets targets and priorites centrally, but has devolved responsibility to each hospital trust to spend it's own funds the way it sees fit to meet these targets. This does then mean that different hospitals provide different levels of service. The funding also does not take account of the needs of the population served by each hospital. Where I live there is a higher than average elderly population, which has increased healthcare costs, and we have a huge influx of holiday makers every year (the population almost doubles during peak periods), as well as a large migrant workforce, and all this takes funding away from providing the full range of services required locally - some services have already been transferred to a neighbouring hospital (I say neighbouring - they are about 45 mins apart by road, less by air ambulance!).
At the end of the day, whether healthcare is funded socially or by private insurance, there will people who benefit more from one scheme than the other, and there is still the option of private healthcare should you want it (and this will still be there under Obama's bill iirc)

[Dicky Ticker]

I like it because without it I would be dead------------simple

[timwilky]

The UK health service is budget sensitive. There is a reluctance to initially use expensive diagnostic tools and as a result life threatening conditions are commonly misdiagnosed.

My sister in law was complaining of headaches and visiting her doctor weekly. In the end he wanted to refer her to a psychologist for her hypochondria. She wanted a second opinion and went privately to a neurologist. 5 mins into his consultation she badly failed a test and an MRI was performed. Brain tumor identified. Her general practitioner was full of apologies. But she never went back to the guy.

Hospitals, tend to be dirty, overcrowded and fail to provide decent 20th century standards. I had to take my mother to the local hospital 2 weeks ago. She was told to wait in a reception area. Somebody incontinent behind a screen on a trolley was defecating. The smell in the waiting room was awful, faeces was thrown on the floor under the screen and you could hear the nurse telling him not to put his hands in it etc. His dignity, our dignity were through the floor.

High rates of hospital acquired infections through large communal wards, with poor cleaning.

My then 16 year old daughter had an infection that required emergency treatment/investigation. The only available room for her was a side room on a mens ward. far from ideal.

The UK health service has improved. But there is a damm long way to go yet.

[Alpinestarhero]

Tim, miss alpinestarhero has had to go on mental health wards in her old job, and I think she does in her current job too. Anyway, she always said how they were horrible, dingy places. Prison's are better furnished apparently.

What winds me up about this is, how can someone get better from a mental illness or at least have an improved condition when the environment they are in is so depressing

Again, the NHS is great, its there and its ready. Like many things, the treatment given is only as good as the person(s) who diagnose and treat the problem. My sister in law had her appendix removed due to stomach aches, when it turned out it was actualy IBS.

[Owenski]

Likes:
* When something goes wrong, people fix it and you dont get a huge bill.
* Going to the GP for consultation doesnt cost so your more likely to get check up and therefore a diagnosis if you have a problem

Dislikes:
* Big chunk out of salary for tax due to NHS
* Long waiting times on Op's
* Long waiting times in Hospital
* Been in a waiting room surrounded by people who dont work and therefore dont pay but still get the same free treatment that I'm essentially paying for.

Detest:
* That when Im given some pills anit-biotics or what ever, the nurse will ask if I work or not. If I work (and therefore pay tax) I have to pay for the meds. If I dont work (and therefore dont pay tax) I dont have to pay for the meds. It just further backs up why I think I'd be better off I didnt bother with a job and instead just binged off the tax payer.

If there was a choice between NHS and Private healthcare, I'd stick with the Private healthcare and get insurance anyday. Technically I do anyway, me and the misses are looking at getting BUPA. After seeing a close friend have a knee op on the NHS been done so badly he couldnt walk properly, after claiming against the NHS he went to BUPA who re-did the surgery and he is now back playing football less than 6months on.

[yorkie_chris]

Well if the alternative is being checked for insurance before you get any treatment then I know which i prefer.

[kcowgergmm]

see this is half of what concerns me overall the service and care here are excellent it is just come as a cost and health insurance is expensive. if you are hurt and dont have insurance you still will get care even though my guess is second rate when it comes to doing extra test. so it doesn't completely give no help to those in need i just half to ask when is the last time the govenment made thing more efficient.

[Warthog]

I grew up in Belgium. When I needed to have an operation, I was in and out 2 days after I had visited the doctor! It is incredible service, but I have to say, I am not sure how it is funded, I think my parents had medical insurance, so I suppose although I might have had great care, other people in Belgium might have no healthcare.

[kcowgergmm]

my ultimate concern is i don't have much money hints why i have an sv650 and not two bmws. I'm analyzing the ultimate cost out of my pocket. I don't go to the hospital unless i'm dying i dont go to the doctor unless i really need something and i try to make it a cost effective visit. I also go with the theory of paying for myself even if i can't. and lastly i don't want the government to have access to my medical records with out a warrant because in that bill it allows them to dis-enroll people

[600+]

I grew up in Greece and have now been living in the UK for 10+ years. Both countries have public healthcare systems. Both work in a very similar way and both fail in the same way!! That is urgency is not something they know about!!! If you are not in a very poor state then they let you get in that state and then take action.

In both systems the benefit is that you can have access for minor things like colds etc and then you either know how to play the system and get access faster OR have private care which you pay yourself.

Now here in the UK I have private medical cover AND know how to ask for a referal from my GP so that I can get the specialist care I might want to.

As with all public systems you just need to know your way round it. Obviously if you are unemployed and cannot afford private then public is better than nothing.

[Red Herring]

The UK health service is budget sensitive. There is a reluctance to initially use expensive diagnostic tools and as a result life threatening conditions are commonly misdiagnosed.

My sister in law was complaining of headaches and visiting her doctor weekly. In the end he wanted to refer her to a psychologist for her hypochondria. She wanted a second opinion and went privately to a neurologist. 5 mins into his consultation she badly failed a test and an MRI was performed. Brain tumor identified. Her general practitioner was full of apologies. But she never went back to the guy.


Unfortunately GP's also have to live in the real world. Statistically one in 10,000 patients who go to their GP complaining of a headache actually turn out to have a brain tumor. Usually it's stress related or transferred pain from elsewhere (arthritis of the neck for example making you tense up) in which case it can be treated a whole lot cheaper than sending you for a scan. In fact if the GP did send everyone for a scan who wanted one the system would clog up and those that really did need one wouldn't get seen until it was to late. GP's act as gatekeepers for the NHS, they have to make judgement calls and yes, sometimes they get it wrong. It's unfortunate, and at the moment still relatively rare, but don't expect it to get better. All the time we are increasing our expectation from our health service without increasing our investment in it it's only going to go one way. And by investment i don't mean more administrators, more targets, or more power for untrained and inexperienced staff.

The US version has it's advantages. You go into hospital there and it's in the doctors interest to give you every conceivable treatment they can think off because their pay is directly linked to it. Of course that's OK because the only persons getting the treatment are those that are paying into the insurance scheme that pays the doctor...

My wife's a GP. If it wasn't for her love and commitment to the NHS we would have emigrated somewhere where she can earn twice what she does here for half the hours. Yes, I'm biased.

[Gazza77]

After seeing a close friend have a knee op on the NHS been done so badly he couldnt walk properly, after claiming against the NHS he went to BUPA who re-did the surgery and he is now back playing football less than 6months on.

What people often seem to miss with this sort of issue, is that it is the same consultants doing the surgery, doing both private & NHS work. On that basis, the quality of the surgery is equally likely to be hit or miss.

[Bri w]

Nhs is underfunded, and don't believe the hype.

The NHS is tasked with making a 6% Cost Improvemnt every year, So when the MP's tell you they've improved the funding by 'x,' take off 6% then you have the true figure.

NHS staff increases, don't believe the hype.

When an MP makes an anouncement that the staffing levels have gone up by 2,000 nurses its a load of ....... In reality a number of posts are made job sharing. Same number of hours covered but by two/three nurses. The real increase is miles less than broadcast.

The NHS is a great thing, staffed by great people (in the main) but not always well managed or funded (hope that's diplomatic enough for the health professionals amongst us).

[Owenski]

What people often seem to miss with this sort of issue, is that it is the same consultants doing the surgery, doing both private & NHS work. On that basis, the quality of the surgery is equally likely to be hit or miss.

Your not wrong, it wasnt overlooked I chose not to mention it as it just made the NHS sound even worse. He actually saw the exsact same consultant for both procedures.
It was the pre-op investigation and post op care which made the massive difference. The NHS hospital had him back home within 48 hours with nearly no phys afterwards. The Bupa people had him in for nearly a week and returning almost daily for a the first month then it got more spread out.

[phi-dan]

What people often seem to miss with this sort of issue, is that it is the same consultants doing the surgery, doing both private & NHS work. On that basis, the quality of the surgery is equally likely to be hit or miss.

Yep - the consultants here commonly refer to the private hospital over the road as "the bank", as they pop over there every day to get some more money

[Quedos]

having never used private medical healthcare and always used NHS i'm biased. its has its flaws as every system. had we be private my mum would never have got the treatment she had her med's totalled near £2k a month and that nots inculding the scans and all the radio active treatment and additional injections she needed over the course of ten years. Our system never flinched - BUPA and all other wouldn't touch her. BUPA and the like won't even look at me due to a pre existing condition - bad back and anything and everything linking to it.
IP has it a perk of the job - in and out in the day and fanatstic surroundings but everyone else i've known has had poor service and invariably contracted infections while in these private hospitals..


Don't knock anything till you've tried it then make you own mind up is my advice

[Red Herring]

Don't knock anything till you've tried it then make you own mind up is my advice

Of course most of us are desperately hoping we never have to try it...:D

[ArtyLady]

Of course most of us are desperately hoping we never have to try it...:D

I used to say that...................:(

[Speedy Claire]

Yes our NHS needs a radical overhaul. The government can keep pouring money into it but it`s like a bucket full of holes. The government keeps coming up with it`s great "visions" but these "visions" cost money and unfortunately that money then has to be redirected from areas of great need.

For example money is taken away from staffing, the backlash is that staff become disenchanted and morale is low so staff leave. Then huge sums of money have to be spent on getting agency staff in to try and cover the wards. Hospital trusts are paying commission of up to 59% to agencies and some trusts have paid more than £40 million in the last 5 years.

Another great idea was to bring in foreign nurses.. no disrespect but in, for example, the Phillipines nurses are not taught basic nursing skills. Due to the private healthcare in the Phillipines the families will carry out basic nursing care in order to keep the cost down. As a result we have wards full of vulnerable people being neglected and developing costly pressure sores etc. The total cost of treating pressure sores in the UK is £1.4–£2.1 billion annually (4% of total NHS expenditure). Pressure sores are totally preventable so imagine how great it would be if the money spent could be avoided and put back into the NHS.

Unfortunately the "powers that be" that make decisions over allocation of resources and budgets etc have no nursing background.... they are managers, not leaders and as such ignore the opinions of the people who matter.

In response to the original question....... despite my grievances I think we are lucky to have our NHS. No it`s not perfect but not everyone can afford private health care so I think we need to consider ourselves lucky to have it.

[the_lone_wolf]

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person who had steller service from the NHS...

Fracture on Friday afternoon, after waiting for a couple of hours on a busy Friday night a lovely nursey with a thick Dudley accent patches me up with humour and a smile, walk into A&E of local hospital Saturday, consultation on Tuesday, "we'll call you with an operation time" - Wednesday "can you be here by 10am" - home Wednesday evening with K-Wire installed, another handful of consultations over the course of six weeks and the nurses are without fail chirpy and pleasant despite being obviously rushed off their feet, the surgeons professional and thorough despite having another fifty people to see before they go up to surgery to work until god knows what o'clock, the hospital is clean, the tea was strong;)

And after seeing that the pills alone my mum is taking for her recovery from breast cancer cost the same as a new mid level BMW/Audi etc, not counting the surgeries, the chemo and radiotherapy, I'm glad it's not us, or an insurance company having to make the decision to treat or not...

[Speedy Claire]

Is great to hear of somebody`s good experiences as unfortunately we only hear of the negative.

[Dicky Ticker]

Being young and never having had a severe illness allows you to have private health care insurance. In my case nobody will touch me,private health care,mortgage protection,loan protection or income protection so I have to rely on the NHS and considering my first operation was before the NHS existed and completely skint my parents and grandparents I am thankful it exists today
If you are fortunate enough to enjoy full health count your blessings because once you have been treated once by private health your premiums will go skywards
They are like any other insurance company,bean counters,and once you start costing them beans they hike your premiums or drop you like a ton of bricks. No doubt you have heard of cases where by failing do disclose some minor past ailment they have used it as an out clause
The NHS is not perfect but I genuinely think they do there best and I take my hat off to them

[metalmonkey]

Well I'm going through the process now, of the NHS system. I'm making a habit of this, I had surgery in 07 which went without any problems.

My only complait is that I am having to wait an age for anything to be done, I was refered September 1st, I only got the MRI scan I needed yesterday. I need more tests, I won't even guess when they will be. It just such a long time for anything to happen. I don't understand why it takes a month for a report to wrote on the scan, so much time is wasted. I'm sure in most other walks of life delays like that would not be accepted.

All said and done, I wouldn't want to be getting health care in the states I wouldn't dream of entering there without insurance, they won't even look at you without insurance even if your really messed up.

The reason why it will fail in the US is becasue the medical insurance industry is worth billions of pounds, do you really think those in charge will let that go? Not too mention the American media, talk about brain washing!

[Ed]

Cowger - I simply don't understand the opposition to systems like the NHS. Of course it isn't perfect, but healthcare is very expensive. But if I came off my bike and was badly hurt, an ambulance would take me to hospital (free), and I'd get whatever treatment I needed - also free. It's not really free, I pay for it in tax, but it's free at the point of delivery.

Wifey has had a few breast lumps. They were all harmles cysts. Most women - wifey included - go into panic if they find a lump on their breasts. Here where we live, Anne can phone the consultant's secretary at Telford Hospital on a Wednesday morning and Mr Hinton the consultant will see her - on the NHS - that afternoon. Even the private sector can't beat that.

I think that one of the very few real achievements of this government has been to make the NHS a world class system. We (ie, wifey and me) don't have private healthcare, we don't need it, the NHS is damned good.

[shonadoll]

I like it because without it I would be dead------------simple

It's great when it works. My friends husband had advanced heart disease, and was put on the waiting list for a quadruple bypass.

He worsened and worsened, and eventually they went private and remortgaged their house to pay for the op.He was having panic attacks, basically because the stress was affecting him. When they opened him up it was a lot worse than they'd thought, and the guy had been waiting for over a year already.

[shonadoll]

Cowger - I simply don't understand the opposition to systems like the NHS. Of course it isn't perfect, but healthcare is very expensive. But if I came off my bike and was badly hurt, an ambulance would take me to hospital (free), and I'd get whatever treatment I needed - also free. It's not really free, I pay for it in tax, but it's free at the point of delivery.

Wifey has had a few breast lumps. They were all harmles cysts. Most women - wifey included - go into panic if they find a lump on their breasts. Here where we live, Anne can phone the consultant's secretary at Telford Hospital on a Wednesday morning and Mr Hinton the consultant will see her - on the NHS - that afternoon. Even the private sector can't beat that.

I think that one of the very few real achievements of this government has been to make the NHS a world class system. We (ie, wifey and me) don't have private healthcare, we don't need it, the NHS is damned good.

With all due respect, of course you don't see the problem when you recieve such good and prompt care. The problem is, that's not available to everyone. A colleague of mine has recently waited 4 weeks for a follow up appointment for scan results on a breast lump, and will now wait another 6 weeks for surgery, which is too long, IMO.

It totally depends on area, and how stretched services are in that area. I was treated with physio 6 years ago, after prolapsing 2 discs in my spine. It got worse and worse, and after a year I went private as the NHS basically told me they wouldn't do a scan. Turns out the discs were compressing my sciatic nerve, and as a result of it being left for a year, I've been left with permanent nerve damage, and on painkillers permanently.

BUPA on the other hand- night and day, see a consultant within a week, and everything runs to schedule. And, another thing, because it's private, you can actually complain and they listen!

I think if the NHS was managed properly, it could be a really effective system, but there are so many disillusioned healthcare practitioners, and so many tenders and managers and red tape, it's totally inefficient. It's such a waste.

[shonadoll]

Well I'm going through the process now, of the NHS system. I'm making a habit of this, I had surgery in 07 which went without any problems.

My only complait is that I am having to wait an age for anything to be done, I was refered September 1st, I only got the MRI scan I needed yesterday. I need more tests, I won't even guess when they will be. It just such a long time for anything to happen. I don't understand why it takes a month for a report to wrote on the scan, so much time is wasted. I'm sure in most other walks of life delays like that would not be accepted.

All said and done, I wouldn't want to be getting health care in the states I wouldn't dream of entering there without insurance, they won't even look at you without insurance even if your really messed up.

The reason why it will fail in the US is becasue the medical insurance industry is worth billions of pounds, do you really think those in charge will let that go? Not too mention the American media, talk about brain washing!


That's exactly what drives me nuts, it doesn't take a month for a scan to be read, I work in a vets, and it's done on the same day, client back in for results the next. Our clients would complain and rightly so, if their treatment were delayed because of waiting for a scan and in some cases it can be lifethreatening.

I hope things speed up for you, but sadly it seems you wait two months for a scan then come back a month later for results, then make another appointment for treatment. It's just a bloody mess.

[shonadoll]

Being young and never having had a severe illness allows you to have private health care insurance. In my case nobody will touch me,private health care,mortgage protection,loan protection or income protection so I have to rely on the NHS and considering my first operation was before the NHS existed and completely skint my parents and grandparents I am thankful it exists today
If you are fortunate enough to enjoy full health count your blessings because once you have been treated once by private health your premiums will go skywards
They are like any other insurance company,bean counters,and once you start costing them beans they hike your premiums or drop you like a ton of bricks. No doubt you have heard of cases where by failing do disclose some minor past ailment they have used it as an out clause
The NHS is not perfect but I genuinely think they do there best and I take my hat off to them

I have to disagree- I've been with BUPA for seven years, and have had a spinal disc removal, a gallbladder removal, and a reconstruction of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, and my premiums have risen by a very small amount indeed, actually less than my dog's pet insurance.

I was very pleasantly surprised.

[shonadoll]

having never used private medical healthcare and always used NHS i'm biased. its has its flaws as every system. had we be private my mum would never have got the treatment she had her med's totalled near £2k a month and that nots inculding the scans and all the radio active treatment and additional injections she needed over the course of ten years. Our system never flinched - BUPA and all other wouldn't touch her. BUPA and the like won't even look at me due to a pre existing condition - bad back and anything and everything linking to it.
IP has it a perk of the job - in and out in the day and fanatstic surroundings but everyone else i've known has had poor service and invariably contracted infections while in these private hospitals..


Don't knock anything till you've tried it then make you own mind up is my advice

Don't knock it till you have tried it, have you stayed in a private hospital recently? I was in Ross Hall and the food was amazing, private immaculate room, sat telly, phone,en suite.

Infection rate at Ross Hall is actually very low, private showers and rooms help hugely, and the claening standard is very high.

[Ed]

Another reason why I don't have private - I can't afford it.

Maybe we are fortunate here, but from personal experience I can't complain. Quite the reverse in fact.

[Dicky Ticker]

S'doll---------Similar from me----I was told to go and lie on the floor of the local shopping centre because once they have admitted you they have to do something about it or risk being sued for neglect. Sorry state of affairs but in my case true.

This was my consultant that told me to do this as the waiting list was so long

[kcowgergmm]

Don't knock anything till you've tried it then make you own mind up is my advice

I'm scared to try it because there's no going back if i don't like it

[metalmonkey]

I'm scared to try it because there's no going back if i don't like it

But then you will shafted with medical bills for the rest of your life, its a no brainer I really don't get what people it would stand benfit are so set against it. Or does everyone just like paying a lot for medical care?

[Sid Squid]

Public healthcare is obviously not a bad thing, but our model isn't working.
It's not so much that the needs of the patients have changed, but simply that the capabilities of modern medicine have expanded hugely.
It's easy to say the NHS is underfunded but ridiculous to do so all the same - we could spend every single last penny of all the money in this country, and still reasonably say that there's more we could do; more that we could spend.

We need, desperately need, to decide the core responsibilities of public healthcare and stick with them, which means that there are some treatments we wouldn't fund, but there isn't a bottomless pit of money to spend on this, or anything else for that matter, and we need to recognise this and plan accordingly.

Of course no government is ever going to tell the populace the hard truth about this and expect to get elected - but yet more assurances that the commitment to public health is entirely open ended is irresponsible, and the real fools are us for wanting to hear it, and being convinced time and again.

[shonadoll]

S'doll---------Similar from me----I was told to go and lie on the floor of the local shopping centre because once they have admitted you they have to do something about it or risk being sued for neglect. Sorry state of affairs but in my case true.

This was my consultant that told me to do this as the waiting list was so long

That's what this guy was told! Only way to be seen earlier is to collapse outside!:confused:

[shonadoll]

Public healthcare is obviously not a bad thing, but our model isn't working.
It's not so much that the needs of the patients have changed, but simply that the capabilities of modern medicine have expanded hugely.
It's easy to say the NHS is underfunded but ridiculous to do so all the same - we could spend every single last penny of all the money in this country, and still reasonably say that there's more we could do; more that we could spend.

We need, desperately need, to decide the core responsibilities of public healthcare and stick with them, which means that there are some treatments we wouldn't fund, but there isn't a bottomless pit of money to spend on this, or anything else for that matter, and we need to recognise this and plan accordingly.

Of course no government is ever going to tell the populace the hard truth about this and expect to get elected - but yet more assurances that the commitment to public health is entirely open ended is irresponsible, and the real fools are us for wanting to hear it, and being convinced time and again.


Excellent post, I totally agree.

[Owenski]

Basically Kcowgergmm: Your f****d either way :D

[Quedos]

Don't knock it till you have tried it, have you stayed in a private hospital recently? I was in Ross Hall and the food was amazing, private immaculate room, sat telly, phone,en suite.

Infection rate at Ross Hall is actually very low, private showers and rooms help hugely, and the claening standard is very high.

thats whats i said - don't knock anything till its tried - ie don't knock a NHS system till they tried esp when they have been used to private medical care

i'm probably more annoyed :smt022that i can't go private because they link everything back to my back injury. Ross Hall has had great reviews and i can only talk to the ones I've heard about and invariably that is the ones where things go wrong. ( the only time you hear about things)

[kcowgergmm]

Basically Kcowgergmm: Your f****d either way :D

and we have a winner

[yorkie_chris]

Infection rate at Ross Hall is actually very low, private showers and rooms help hugely, and the claening standard is very high.

Whereas cleanliness in some bits of the NHS is shocking. My Mother was trained as a nurse years ago here in Halifax and continuing in Gibraltar where the wards all had a strict timetable of activities designed to keep infection risk to a minimum. All kept in line by a healthy amount of fear of the nurse in charge. :smt107
Look at it now, my Grandad was in St. James' in Leeds for a time, and it was horrific. A stench of pus and death about the whole place, used dressings on the floor in places. And that is a teaching hospital! :smt075

New Halifax hospital is all very posh, but seems like it was designed by some poncy architect rather than someone properly qualified. Infection? Having to walk through wards to access others, dressings being changed with doors open and visitors coming and going.

[Foey]

I like it because without it I would be dead------------simple


This is very true believe me.....................................i've seen him ride.