EU and UK politics [OT]

[Chrkeller]

Ryuu96 said:

I don't like sharing too much about myself but I will do so to come to the NHS defence. Seeing rich people complain about waiting times and thus having to go private is a bit odd to me, I don't really understand it. If you can afford to go private and the option to go private is available then what is the issue? Is it that you're upset to be paying to help others out? Just admit then that your dislike comes from one born of selfishness rather than trying to generalise the entire NHS with a broad brush.

As to why I love the NHS, I was born with a disability, a spinal deformity, across the ages of 4-10 I had to go through multiple surgeries, I had around a dozen major surgeries on my spine. In total I spent months in hospital and I had an amazing team around me. It's not the pain that I remember the most but the level of care that I received. However, no matter how hard they tried, it failed...That's life, shit happens. For years they tried to "fix" me and I know that wasn't cheap for them, I know how expensive these complex surgeries and aftercare were.

My surgeon wanted to give me a good quality of life for my teenage years and didn't want to put me through more surgeries after they all failed and thus proposed an expensive procedure which wouldn't fix my issue but would ensure things wouldn't get worse. We were told it was an expensive procedure and he needed permission for it, IIRC in the tens of thousands. My family isn't rich, there is no chance they could afford private healthcare without being crippled with debt or I'd be in a wheelchair, the debt likely would have hit me too.

My family was stressed as hell, I could see that as a kid, I could see the sleepless nights and emotional damage it was doing to them, at least the NHS took away all concerns about how they can pay for this, it removed one major worry from their minds, not only that they went above and beyond to accommodate my family. Like many families across the UK when they're going through surgeries or when their children are going through surgeries, they have one less thing to worry about.

Every year for the past 18 years I have received a regular X-Ray and Consultation to monitor my condition, I never had to worry once about how I will pay for this. Earlier in the year I told them about an issue I had, a piece of metalwork in my back had came loose and over the years progressed to the point of pushing against my skin, it was my regular consultation but the consultant took one look and said it needs to come out as it will pierce the skin eventually.

Within a week of a regular consultation, I was in hospital with my own room, within a few days I had the surgery, within 2 days I was out. All in all from recognising the problem to dealing with the problem, it was over within say, less than 2 weeks for all of it? So nah, the NHS are not "terrible for anything more complex" than a cold/flu, that's a ridiculous generalisation and a complete lie.

I will forever be grateful to the NHS. They have never let me down. They allowed me to have a good quality of life without fear of how I will pay for it or how my family will pay for it. I will proudly contribute to the NHS for the rest of my life so that I can help people in the same way that they helped me because I am grateful that the rest of the public who actually care about the NHS helped me. Because of my experiences, I believe we as human beings should not be selfish but help each other out and the majority of the British Public love and support the NHS too.

Yes, they have their problems, the waiting times in certain situations are too long, the problems they have largely stem from 10 years of Tory neglect, but seeing rich people complaining they had to go private because of waiting times...To millions of people, going private is simply not an option because they cannot afford it, to millions of people who went through experiences like my own, the NHS is vital and loved. It is absolutely ridiculous to generalise that the NHS is only fine for colds and flus, not even the waiting times can be generalised across the whole of the NHS.

Most of the British public would rather see the NHS fixed than turn into an American system.

It isn't a lie, facts are facts.  My daughter has a spinal issue and her main doctor scheduled an appointment with a specialist that was a 6 month wait.  We were shocked and he shrugged, blatantly told us if we didn't want to wait, go private.  

We went private because she was at risk at getting worse within 6 months.  

Frankly I was always told by the US media that long wait times was a myth for public healthcare...  sorry but it wasn't a myth.  This happened just a couple years ago.

Facts are facts.  

Perhaps it used to be better before the Torys.  I have no experience pre-Tory.  

All I can say is I wasn't impressed with the wait time and how nonchalant the doctor was about waiting 6 months to even see a specialist.  

Edit

The US system, to be fair, is flawed.  Heavily flawed.  But NHS is heavily flawed as well. 

And apparently there is an entire website dedicated to helping Canadians leaving Canada for specialized medical treatment....  I'm guessing most are going to that "bad" US system.  There was a poll that had 42% of Canadians saying they would seek medical outside Canada if they had medical reasons.   

Sounds lovely.  

Last edited by Chrkeller - on 07 August 2024