Hermit wrote:

How interesting that the UK with their fully nationalised system spends a smaller percentage of GDP than the other countries. How's that private sector efficiency working out?

I'm With Stupid wrote:

Hermit wrote:

How interesting that the UK with their fully nationalised system spends a smaller percentage of GDP than the other countries. How's that private sector efficiency working out?

The 13th best in Europe? Not great by any stretch of the imagination.

NHS patients waiting over two weeks to see a GP, shows survey

Growing demand and underinvestment blamed for average wait of nearly 15 days

The average wait for a routine GP appointment in the UK has risen above two weeks for the first time, according to an annual survey of doctors.

The poll, for Pulse, found the average waiting time was almost 15 days. More than one in five of the 901 GPs who responded said the wait for a routine appointment exceeded three weeks, while more than one in 20 said it was more than four weeks.

In response, NHS England said the findings did not tally with official statistics.

I get an appointment the same day if I phone before 10.

The UK has dropped to 16th in the EU. The Swiss pipped us into first place this year.
EHCI 2018

Scot Dutchy wrote:

I'm With Stupid wrote:

Hermit wrote:

How interesting that the UK with their fully nationalised system spends a smaller percentage of GDP than the other countries. How's that private sector efficiency working out?

The 13th best in Europe? Not great by any stretch of the imagination.

NHS patients waiting over two weeks to see a GP, shows survey

Growing demand and underinvestment blamed for average wait of nearly 15 days

The average wait for a routine GP appointment in the UK has risen above two weeks for the first time, according to an annual survey of doctors.

The poll, for Pulse, found the average waiting time was almost 15 days. More than one in five of the 901 GPs who responded said the wait for a routine appointment exceeded three weeks, while more than one in 20 said it was more than four weeks.

In response, NHS England said the findings did not tally with official statistics.

I get an appointment the same day if I phone before 10.

So do I. What’s your point?

You are an exception under the NHS but they have to exist to prove the rule.

Maybe Fall you fall into a different group? I dont. Regardless of my condition for my GP I am just a patient. If I phone my specialist that is different.

Here is the latest EHCI report for 2018. https://healthpowerhouse.com/media/EHCI-2018/EHCI-2018-report.pdf

Oh no. A wait time. Heaven forbid doctor's actually book up and can't just immediately see a patient in non-critical condition. The sheer absolute horror. The standards of medicine have fallen so low it is a travesty.

Seriously, wait times are nothing. MY GP is booked; she's pretty popular in my area. This is why I schedule appointments and maintain my rebooked appointments so I can guarantee my regular check-ups. You know, like a responsible adult.

For critical emergencies though, I go to the ER and guess what? I am seen that day and quickly depending on the severity of my condition.

I imagine the same is true in the UK.

I only go to A&E for accident and emergencies strangely enough.

Scot Dutchy wrote:You are an exception under the NHS but they have to exist to prove the rule.

No, I’m not. If you ring up in the morning and ask for an appointment on that day, you get one. Every person in my house has done this, as have many other people I have conversed with.

Scot Dutchy wrote:Maybe Fall you fall into a different group? I dont. Regardless of my condition for my GP I am just a patient. If I phone my specialist that is different.

I’m the only person who has cancer in my house. My father-in-law has bowel cancer, but he doesn’t live with us. Before I had cancer, I could ring up the surgery early and get an appointment the same day. Again, what’s your point?

Fallible wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:You are an exception under the NHS but they have to exist to prove the rule.

No, I’m not. If you ring up in the morning and ask for an appointment on that day, you get one. Every person in my house has done this, as have many other people I have conversed with.

So did you look at the data which is from the NHS in that report? You have an exceptional GP practice. One swallow etc.

willhud9 wrote:Oh no. A wait time. Heaven forbid doctor's actually book up and can't just immediately see a patient in non-critical condition. The sheer absolute horror. The standards of medicine have fallen so low it is a travesty.

Seriously, wait times are nothing. MY GP is booked; she's pretty popular in my area. This is why I schedule appointments and maintain my rebooked appointments so I can guarantee my regular check-ups. You know, like a responsible adult.

For critical emergencies though, I go to the ER and guess what? I am seen that day and quickly depending on the severity of my condition.

I imagine the same is true in the UK.

Yep. But also if you ring the GP in the morning and tell them you need to speak to a doctor that day, you’re in. It might be at 9 am or 6 pm, but you get in. Scot is making a false correlation between making a routine appointment and needing an appointment on the day. If you ring up on the day, get asked what it’s for and you say “oh nothing urgent, just routine”, you’re less likely to be successful, but that’s called prioritising, and what Scot also doesn’t factor in is that, similar to his own oft-lauded system no doubt, you can get health advice from a pharmacist, and simply walk into a walk-in centre (it’s in the name) without an appointment and get seen by a nurse or doctor the same day. He thinks that because this huge behemoth of a system has issues it is totally dysfunctional. It isn’t. This is because of the amazing people who work within it following years of chronic under-funding. I’ll just mention again how great NHS care has been for me and my family. This gets Scot throwing things around and frantically posting statistics, but that doesn’t make it any less true. There are huge issues in the NHS, and people fall through the cracks. There’s no doubt about this. But whenever I or anyone I know has been badly ill and in need, they’ve swung into action. They saved my life twice, and are keeping me alive right now, and I pay fuck-all for it.

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Fallible wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:You are an exception under the NHS but they have to exist to prove the rule.

No, I’m not. If you ring up in the morning and ask for an appointment on that day, you get one. Every person in my house has done this, as have many other people I have conversed with.

So did you look at the data which is from the NHS in that report? You have an exceptional GP practice. One swallow etc.

Why are you bothering with this yet again? We all know what you think, and what the reports say. You’re not bothering to address my replies, because you have only one aim here.

You posted about being able to get a GP appointment the same day. So can I. You can call me an exception all night, and probably will. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together will be able to work out that my entire family and those I’ve spoken to on this issue don’t belong to the same GP surgery. I guarantee we’ll both be as dead as dead can be rather sooner than we may have expected in the past, no matter which country’s health service we have use of.

Fallible wrote:

willhud9 wrote:Oh no. A wait time. Heaven forbid doctor's actually book up and can't just immediately see a patient in non-critical condition. The sheer absolute horror. The standards of medicine have fallen so low it is a travesty.

Seriously, wait times are nothing. MY GP is booked; she's pretty popular in my area. This is why I schedule appointments and maintain my rebooked appointments so I can guarantee my regular check-ups. You know, like a responsible adult.

For critical emergencies though, I go to the ER and guess what? I am seen that day and quickly depending on the severity of my condition.

I imagine the same is true in the UK.

Yep. But also if you ring the GP in the morning and tell them you need to speak to a doctor that day, you’re in. It might be at 9 am or 6 pm, but you get in. Scot is making a false correlation between making a routine appointment and needing an appointment on the day. If you ring up on the day, get asked what it’s for and you say “oh nothing urgent, just routine”, you’re less likely to be successful, but that’s called prioritising, and what Scot also doesn’t factor in is that, similar to his own oft-lauded system no doubt, you can get health advice from a pharmacist, and simply walk into a walk-in centre (it’s in the name) without an appointment and get seen by a nurse or doctor the same day. He thinks that because this huge behemoth of a system has issues it is totally dysfunctional. It isn’t. This is because of the amazing people who work within it following years of chronic under-funding. I’ll just mention again how great NHS care has been for me and my family. This gets Scot throwing things around and frantically posting statistics, but that doesn’t make it any less true. There are huge issues in the NHS, and people fall through the cracks. There’s no doubt about this. But whenever I or anyone I know has been badly ill and in need, they’ve swung into action. They saved my life twice, and are keeping me alive right now, and I pay fuck-all for it.

We have those kinda of walk-in centers too. My insurance covers MOST the cost, but ill still be looking around $75-100 per visit. Went a month ago to deal with what I believed was strep throat but turned out to be bronchitis. If I did not have insurance I was looking at a $350 visit all for the doctor to tell me to get well soon and get rest and drink fluids.

I feel for people without insurance. We do have to pay for prescriptions here generally speaking...although children don’t, and I don’t, because I have a serious/long-term illness. Everything’s free for me. I’m on 11 different medications - all free - and get 4 CT scans and 4 MRI scans each year - free. All surgery - free. All doctor and specialist visits - free. I don’t have to wait for them, because of my illness.

The down side is that in the US broadly speaking, if you can afford it, you have a much better chance of getting it, so for example, for my type of cancer, there are about 12 different drug lines you can try, including combinations. If you can find a doc to prescribe it, you get it. Same with localised treatment such as targeted radiation, etc. Here, treatment lines have to have approval, and you can’t be prescribed off-label, so there are fewer lines. Since there are so few examples of my type of cancer, trials have not been done, so fewer drugs again are approved. That sucks a bit, but you know...what statistically significant clinical data can be gathered from 500 people a year?

Fallible wrote:Everything’s free for me. I’m on 11 different medications - all free - and get 4 CT scans and 4 MRI scans each year - free. All surgery - free. All doctor and specialist visits - free. I don’t have to wait for them...

Lucky you. Australia's health system is fucked. Well, as good as. I don't have to pay for a visit to a doctor, as far as I can remember I never had to pay for any operations and I also get a same day appointment if I ring in the morning, but I do have to pay for part of my prescriptions. For example, since February this year I'm on pills that reduce my blood pressure. I have to pay AU $6.50 for three months' worth of them. Grrrrrrr

Yesterday I paid over 40 euros for my usual hormone treatment (for about a month) and a couple other medecines. To be fair, it's the other medecines that made most of the cost.

ETA : also, the last 3 surgeries cost me over 20K, when it should have been 10K, and 0 if face feminization surgery wasn't considered cosmetic surgery.

Ugh...no fair. When I consider the stress of the last 2 years, I can’t imagine how we would have coped with the stress of having to find the money to pay for things on top of that. For anyone not exempt from paying prescriptions here, though, you’re looking at around £8 per item. That can be for a week’s worth, 10 days, a month, whatever.

Fallible wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Fallible wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:You are an exception under the NHS but they have to exist to prove the rule.

No, I’m not. If you ring up in the morning and ask for an appointment on that day, you get one. Every person in my house has done this, as have many other people I have conversed with.

So did you look at the data which is from the NHS in that report? You have an exceptional GP practice. One swallow etc.

Why are you bothering with this yet again? We all know what you think, and what the reports say. You’re not bothering to address my replies, because you have only one aim here.

You posted about being able to get a GP appointment the same day. So can I. You can call me an exception all night, and probably will. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together will be able to work out that my entire family and those I’ve spoken to on this issue don’t belong to the same GP surgery. I guarantee we’ll both be as dead as dead can be rather sooner than we may have expected in the past, no matter which country’s health service we have use of.

You have a GP practice that is the exception and not the rule in the NHS but yet you will not accept it. A pocket of sanity which you using to try and prove what the NHS admits is a massive problem. Read the report and see how the NHS scores on accessibility. I am just stating facts given by the NHS. It is pure anecdotal what you are saying and since when is that accepted as fact. Live with the fact you have the 16th best health care in Europe and polishing the turd will not make it any better.
Dont worry there are far worst.