I'm a UK/US dual national. I have lived in the UK for most of my life, so can tell you exactly how the NHS have treated me and my family.
Let's start with my Grandfather. Nearly thirty years ago, he had a triple heart-bypass... and he's still alive! He has had to go into hospital for Prostate cancer (which he's had benign versions of off and on for the last 5 years), for unexplained nosebleeds of late... yet every time he goes in (and he IS 91 years old), they treat him like royalty. He is cared for, visited by nurses etc, and wonderfully looked after.
As for me, my Thyroid gland decided to go over-active. Within two weeks of being diagnosed, I was working with a near normal thyroid (due to blockers), and had an appointment to have most of my thyroid gland removed.
Once removed all of my medications (not just my thyroxine) are now free, for the rest of my life.
My husband has had to live on Thyroxine (underactive thyroid) since he was 12. He never pays for a prescription, as it's a life threatening problem if he misses a tablet or 7...
My mother had a shoulder replacement. All done on the NHS, all done within a month of her accident.
My father had a hernia operation...
And other than the national insurance contributions that I make out of my pay packet each month, we pay nothing else.
Yes, sure, it's not 100% perfect, but it's a choice. Yes, I could pay for private health insurance (say BUPA) and go private for things like the thyroid op... but I choose to let my contributions pay for the nurses and for the hospitals.
The NHS itself is not as nasty, sludgy or even grubby as some press would have you believe. You don't walk into a hospital ward and are scared to sit, touch or anything, it's always clean (at least at my local hospitals).
If you want to hear more, I'm always willing to discuss. (and apologise for the length of this post, but the NHS is something I actually respect; my mother even worked for them for a while, as a senior grade nurse).
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Date: 2009-08-15 09:34 pm (UTC)Let's start with my Grandfather. Nearly thirty years ago, he had a triple heart-bypass... and he's still alive! He has had to go into hospital for Prostate cancer (which he's had benign versions of off and on for the last 5 years), for unexplained nosebleeds of late... yet every time he goes in (and he IS 91 years old), they treat him like royalty. He is cared for, visited by nurses etc, and wonderfully looked after.
As for me, my Thyroid gland decided to go over-active. Within two weeks of being diagnosed, I was working with a near normal thyroid (due to blockers), and had an appointment to have most of my thyroid gland removed.
Once removed all of my medications (not just my thyroxine) are now free, for the rest of my life.
My husband has had to live on Thyroxine (underactive thyroid) since he was 12. He never pays for a prescription, as it's a life threatening problem if he misses a tablet or 7...
My mother had a shoulder replacement. All done on the NHS, all done within a month of her accident.
My father had a hernia operation...
And other than the national insurance contributions that I make out of my pay packet each month, we pay nothing else.
Yes, sure, it's not 100% perfect, but it's a choice. Yes, I could pay for private health insurance (say BUPA) and go private for things like the thyroid op... but I choose to let my contributions pay for the nurses and for the hospitals.
The NHS itself is not as nasty, sludgy or even grubby as some press would have you believe. You don't walk into a hospital ward and are scared to sit, touch or anything, it's always clean (at least at my local hospitals).
If you want to hear more, I'm always willing to discuss. (and apologise for the length of this post, but the NHS is something I actually respect; my mother even worked for them for a while, as a senior grade nurse).