I live in the U.S. and always hear about how affordable or free health insurance is in other countries, but I also hear how it is next to impossible to get treatments and appointments. How truthful is this in your country?
The US media wouldn't attract many viewers by telling you that the NHS is brilliant, would it? No, it wouldn't but sensationalist criticism of X number of people having to wait X amount of time for treatment is much more interesting.
Interesting, that is, only until you realise that the treatments that have long waiting list's are elective - treatments and surgeries that the patient wants and the patient can have but there is no urgency.
I had 2 of my babies by caesarean section. It wasn't elective, it was an emergency on both occasions. I was in theatre the same day I presented myself at A&E.
In 2022, I think, or it may have been 2021, I found a lump under my ear. I showed it to my GP and my feet hardly touched the ground I was in surgery so quick.
Lovely!! That long skinny green bruise-like thing is where blood pooled under the skin while I was in recovery.
You see, in the UK, if you want elective surgery, you'll need to wait your turn. The sick, the ill, those who need emergency care, they get treated first. In fact, sometimes, scheduled elective surgery is called off at the last minute because an emergency has come in and so the elective surgery will need to be rescheduled.
That's why we sometimes have to wait - and in my opinion it's how things should be!
If someone has a scheduled breast enhancement and the surgeon is called away to do a reconstructive procedure for a woman who's been in a road traffic accident, so be it.
I'm sorry that the woman whose elective surgery was cancelled has had her operation delayed, but the woman in the crash has far more urgent need than she herself.
Life saving surgery, life saving treatment on the NHS never involves a wait with the exception of organ transplants, about which we can do nothing.
People complain about waiting. Personally, I have been the emergency that jumps the queue and it's the scariest experience in the world. When the medical staff are worried you know there's a genuine reason to be worried.
And of course, in the US there's a different attitude to waiting your turn. Jumping the queue seems to indicate fiscal security and importance, and as an observer, it would seem to me that not having to wait is more important to the Health-Insured US population than the small matter of whether the cute little black girl with a heart condition or the single mother suffering from breast cancer is helped to survive.
For once, I'm not criticising, I'm just observing and describing what I see.
If an American visited London and was kicked in the head by one of the King's horses, necessitating surgery - they would receive exactly the same care as anyone else. You can't come over, get pregnant, use our NHS services to have your baby for free and then just bog off again - that wouldn't be allowed - but emergencies are paramount. The NHS: protects, prolongs and enables lives. And I thank every single one of them!!
No comments:
Post a Comment