Oh Dear, NHS

 

Yes, the glorious NHS of the UK and, it is still glorious despite years of underinvestment, mainly under the Tories but, all parties have not spent enough. Despite waste, corruption and so on, it's still one of the best health services in the world. 

Remember the glogan? Free at the point of need

Yes, well, that is so, you know, 20th century, these days it's been quietly changed to:

Free at the point of delivery.

You see how one word changes everything?

Free at the point of need said that, if you need it, the NHS is there for you, free of charge. On the other hand, 'delivery' takes into account that it's rarely there when you need it but, merely that it is there when it is there but, it is still free.

In practise this actually means, waits of over a year extremely common. Some services simply not given at all but, that is OK because, those which are, are still free. so, FREE is actually the important word here, free NHS care for all those when they eventually get it yes? Erm, well, no, not exactly that no. You see, they will prescribe you medication (if you can get to see a doctor), that's not free, that is £9.90 per item so, if the doctor says you have high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, that's a snip at £19.80, not exactly 'free' but hey, you got to see a doctor (eventually) right? OK, maybe a nurse, but that was still free? Yeah, I guess so.

There is also a list of things, medical conditions which are now no longer delivered at all so most certainly are not free. That list is quite huge and there are postcodes attached to it. So, forget your hayfever, that's your problem, iron, vitamin d or b, again, a medical need but, not one for the NHS, move along. Pain relief unless it's kind of unavoidable. In other words, if you are wasting too much GP time, they likely will prescribe you something but, only some things. You cannot have coproxamol but, you can have 'Zapain' which, as we know, is a brand name for coproxamol! You cannot get any dietary support on the NHS until or unless you become morbidly obese because, that makes sense, wait for them to get mega fat first, become diabetic and so on rather than prevent all that shit!

So, that is another thing of the modern NHS, prevention is not what they're about except when it comes to vaccines, they're quite good with those.

Oh wait, me personally? Well, I get a recurring stye on my eyelid. They used to do surgery on it, clear it up mega quick and, they were saying, if it had to be done again, they'd cure it. Of course, the NHS don't do them any longer even though this is over the one eye I see out of and cannot see until it erupts. But, they save a lot by not providing this 'cosmetic' procedure.

ME/CFS, there are almost no specialists anywhere in the UK, way more in the US. Those which we have were a little late playing catch up. Turns out, the advice they were giving was actually the total opposite of what they should have been giving. You see, they wanted sufferers to get their mental health sorted with CBT even though it's not a mental health issue and to do a graduated exercise therapy even though, doing that puts sufferers back weeks, it's a form of torture for us. Yes, all these clinics were or are based within mental health units. It's similar to going to a genito urinary clinic for your broken leg. True, you may well have pissed yourself when you broke your leg but, they are not going to help!

Sadly, the 2024 NHS is very broken, I mean, so broken that even if the budget was doubled, those within it are so jaded, so emotionally corrupted, it's not going to change. It's run now by committees, people who know very little about healthcare but an awful lot about financial management. 

Yes, them, the biggest oversite committee for the NHS. Click here to read this page. It's in jargon, not easy to get through but basically it starts off with the whole medical experts thing and then narrows down to affordability and there is the basis for NICE, the body which works out whether medication is cost effective. It might save your life but, they 'know' what a life is worth as a cost value and if the treatment is costing more than the patient is worth, they do not recommend it. All those things they recommend not prescribing now, that was because they decided that the cost of delivering a cure was not good value for money. The suffering endured by the patients has a cost attached to it, or used to, and if the cost of treatment exceeds the cost of their suffering, they stop providing the treatment.

I am prescribed certain meds for the conditions I have, NICE do not look holistically at the needs of a patient,we are all the same. Unless a specific medication will kill us it is what we are given because, the cost involved is good value for money. That it may reduce quality of life for a patient doesn't come into it, it is one size fits all. Yes, there may be better medication but, the NHS is not a choice, not an either or but rather, this is what you get.

Let's see the other freebies of the NHS, glasses and dental care ... 

I include dental care except in that, not only is it not free, it's not even available in most parts of the country, not even on a waiting list, it's just not a service the NHS provides in practise. so, quickly we will see that the costs are: Band 1 is £26.80, that's more or less just a diagnosis. Basic treatment such as a filling is in band 2 and is £73.50 and everything else is £319.10 which we have to admit, is not free by a very long way. Oh, there is an emergency cost of £28.60 but, good luck getting that! 

Glasses, yes, that's free but really only if your eyesight is good enough that you maybe just need reading glasses. Now, you would think that there would be support for those with complex prescriptions,you know, those who totally cannot live a life unless they wear glasses ... do you think? Let me tell you, I will try to go for free frames given the choice, more often than not, they cannot fit my prescription in any of the frames they have. I cannot have heavy lenses as I have a skin condition and my nose would blister up so I have to go for the thinnest they have (read lightest) but, the NHS says that's cosmetic. I also must wear different lenses for short and long site, I therefore must have varifocals, ouch on price and, let's add transition lenses in as I am very photophobic, I don't like that term, I don't hate light personally, it's just really uncomfortable. Anyway, I need my lenses to go dark in the sun as, I cannot wear sunglasses. Add all those together and a final invoice of £4-600 is common.

DISCOUNTS

Look, I am generalising, there are discounts available. In my case, I get free medication because of diabetes which now means, all my meds are free. Makes it even more annoying if they tell me to take 'vitamins' but they make me pay for them. Many other conditions are covered by a medical exemption. Low income is another. The joke qualification is Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and, if a patient gets the right one then most things get a discount, costs of glasses and free dental care ... but it must be the right qualifier. You see, it's not enough to be entitled but rather, it has to be based on earnings and not what National Insurance contributions someone made the last tax year. If it is based on earnings, things are free, if it is based on contributions, it's not. Of course, most places can't be arsed to check and actively stop patients being too specific if you know what I mean.

NHS vs a third world country, let's say, The Philippines. If I have sickness and diarrhea 

In the UK I try and speak to my GP but, that's never going to happen so, eventually I will go to the emergency department, totally the wrong place but, it's all I have. If I am lucky, a helpful pharmacy will be open which is only OK if they know what caused the shits. The whole process can take many days by which time symptoms have either gone or become a genuine emergency.

In the Philippines, I go to the nearest medical centre, wait a short while and see a doctor. They organise a thorough check on a sample of shit straight away. A couple hours later, I go back and get the results and am down the pharmacy getting the correct medication. This process is not free but, it is at the point of need and all in, costs around £40

This was an actual experience. Turned out it was Dysentery and thanks the wonderful service in the Philippines and the correct antibiotics, I was so much better within days. In the UK, by the time it was treated, I could have ended up being admitted to hospital on a drip.

This is where the previous government wanted the NHS, in a situation where, for many, compared to private healthcare, the NHS was no longer attractive.

What needs to change to get out NHS back again?

Get back recruiting from abroad. Pay a salary which attracts UK workers along with hugely better working conditions, cut out the cost at the top, force the NHS to use it's huge buying power to never pay too much for medicines. 

Reform the ethos of the NHS and get it back to where it was and where it should be

It really doesn't look much like that any more. You see where it says, at the point of use. None of this 21st century rubbish about delivery but use, when a patient used it, it was free was how it was set up with the expectation being, a patient would be able to use it when they were sick, not when their name came up on a waiting list so see someone for the first time let along get treated!