Thoughts about the NHS - British medical system
The NHS is one of those coffee table topics discussed quite often in the UK. The theme is generally the same - frustration with how inefficient it is, and horror stories that everyone shares on how their experience has been. Till now, I had not had to interact with them, so for a long time I did not hold any view. But now that I have crossed 30, and need to reach out to them more, my view about them has become very consistent with what I had heard till now!
To be honest, I think that if its an emergency or a life-threatening situation, their services are still efficient and quick (apparently), but if you are just a little sick, they are terrible.
And there are multiple levels of inefficiencies in their processes. The ones I have experienced myself is at the GP level. I think either it was my bad luck with the GP I registered with, or maybe its the norm, but my experience was quite bad. For one, they make it impossible to even meet the doctor! They make you do all kinds of jumps before you get to even see one!
The GP I was registered with, requires you to call in the morning, to register your name in the list. Then the GP will call you sometime during the day to take your symptoms and suggest some measures. They refuse to see you even if you are in pain, saying we can't do anything about it. Try this for a few days and if its still an issue, come back to us.
It happened with me twice, so I just stopped even calling them, and my situation ended up getting worse and worse. Finally, I absolutely refused to leave the GP without meeting the doctor! And when I met her, refused to leave unless she gave me a letter referring me to a specialist. After doing all of this, when I finally met the specialist, turns out my situation was much worse than previously thought, and I now need to take prolonged medicines and had to undergo a minor surgery.
My question is this - why this refusal to give referrals to specialists? I understand they might be burdened, but if someone is sick, you can't just keep sending them away till it becomes an emergency? And why is meeting a doctor avoided so much? I would assume the basics of medicine are diagnosing the patients live, rather than on the phone?
Another inefficiency comes from the fact that you can never see a specialist unless you have a letter from the GP. And given the way my GP works, that may never happen, or would require you to take aggressive steps. Plus even after your GP recommends you to a specialist, they take a day or two to type up the referral letter (which is never ready on time!).
I just feel that the NHS at every point delays all the processes so much, that by the time you reach someone who can diagnose you, your symptoms vanish! Maybe that's the intention?
June 2014 update
I am guessing that as I interact with the NHS more and more, my frustration will keep on increasing. I realised another aspect of the NHS. Any medical reports about you cannot be released to the patient! It has to always go through a GP (and the reason is that it may affect the patient negatively, so the news has to come from the GP).
Its actually hilarious! I had got an xray done to see if there was a fracture in my foot, but the xray report was refused to me. So I had to wait a couple of days while its sent to my GP and then call up (and wait in endless queues) before I could get the GP to tell me what was in the report.
I just don't understand taking steps like this for an adult! What am I going to do if I hear directly if I have a fracture or not?
Aug 2014 update
To be honest, I think that if its an emergency or a life-threatening situation, their services are still efficient and quick (apparently), but if you are just a little sick, they are terrible.
And there are multiple levels of inefficiencies in their processes. The ones I have experienced myself is at the GP level. I think either it was my bad luck with the GP I registered with, or maybe its the norm, but my experience was quite bad. For one, they make it impossible to even meet the doctor! They make you do all kinds of jumps before you get to even see one!
The GP I was registered with, requires you to call in the morning, to register your name in the list. Then the GP will call you sometime during the day to take your symptoms and suggest some measures. They refuse to see you even if you are in pain, saying we can't do anything about it. Try this for a few days and if its still an issue, come back to us.
It happened with me twice, so I just stopped even calling them, and my situation ended up getting worse and worse. Finally, I absolutely refused to leave the GP without meeting the doctor! And when I met her, refused to leave unless she gave me a letter referring me to a specialist. After doing all of this, when I finally met the specialist, turns out my situation was much worse than previously thought, and I now need to take prolonged medicines and had to undergo a minor surgery.
My question is this - why this refusal to give referrals to specialists? I understand they might be burdened, but if someone is sick, you can't just keep sending them away till it becomes an emergency? And why is meeting a doctor avoided so much? I would assume the basics of medicine are diagnosing the patients live, rather than on the phone?
Another inefficiency comes from the fact that you can never see a specialist unless you have a letter from the GP. And given the way my GP works, that may never happen, or would require you to take aggressive steps. Plus even after your GP recommends you to a specialist, they take a day or two to type up the referral letter (which is never ready on time!).
I just feel that the NHS at every point delays all the processes so much, that by the time you reach someone who can diagnose you, your symptoms vanish! Maybe that's the intention?
June 2014 update
I am guessing that as I interact with the NHS more and more, my frustration will keep on increasing. I realised another aspect of the NHS. Any medical reports about you cannot be released to the patient! It has to always go through a GP (and the reason is that it may affect the patient negatively, so the news has to come from the GP).
Its actually hilarious! I had got an xray done to see if there was a fracture in my foot, but the xray report was refused to me. So I had to wait a couple of days while its sent to my GP and then call up (and wait in endless queues) before I could get the GP to tell me what was in the report.
I just don't understand taking steps like this for an adult! What am I going to do if I hear directly if I have a fracture or not?
Aug 2014 update
If you are in a city outside where your GP is, apparently you cannot use the NHS! If you try to take an appointment with another GP, it takes a couple of days while you register at the new one and then you can get an appointment to see one!
I honestly think in the UK, its just better to go private for all health issues. Depending on the NHS is just going to take more time and not really get any results. I just feel a little shortchanged, given how much we pay for the NHS from our salaries, at least we should get a good service for it? Or at least have the option to not pay for the NHS and just go private!
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