I <3 the NHS

[quinara]

spiralleds pointed me in the direction of liz_marcs' post for collecting health care stories and I wanted to repost my rather scattered thoughts -

OK, so the two stories I can think of off the top of my head.

Recently, I got a verruca. I've had mass verrucas before and it took over a year to get rid of them with an expensive chiropodist after my local home GP recommended stuff you can buy in a pharmacy to 'freeze' them, which didn't work. I didn't want to do that again (especially since it was only one), so I tried the stuff from the pharmacy again, which was as useless as before. After I'd spent about £15-20 doing that I made an appointment to see my uni GP (on hearing that my uni doctor's office has a 'wart clinic') - I had to wait about five days, maybe a week, but all I did was talk to the receptionist (I'm registered there, so they probably looked me up) then turn up on the right day. Which I did - and then waited until about 15 minutes after my appointment time (fairly standard) before being called to my GP's office. Our conversation was brief, he got out the liquid nitrogen (a basic cannister with a nozzle attachment) and froze the verruca. The whole thing took about five/ten minutes - it felt a little rushed, but there wasn't much to say. He told me to make another appointment for two weeks time, which I did. I ended up having either three or four treatments, one of which had to be three weeks instead of two after the last because my doctor was away somewhere. The whole thing cost me nothing but time, and considering my uni doctor's office is only two minutes from where I live, you can't really call that much. At most maybe forty minutes out of my day for a five/ten minute appointment?

Less recently (that is, about ten years ago) I was involved in a cross country race on a Saturday morning, tripped over and sliced my hand open on a piece of flint. (Looking at the scar it was a cut about two centimetres long on the heel of my left palm.) The attending ambulance at the race put a dressing on it and told my parents to take me to A&E (the ER), which they did. This was about 10/11 AM. We signed in with the receptionist (I think we had a basic form to fill out, but I was under 16 so my parents filled it in for me). I noticed when we gave it back that there was a chart on the receptionist's wall indicating that each patient's form was being given a coloured sticker - red/dark orange/light orange/yellow etc. I think there were maybe six or seven categories. They were noting the priority of doctors' attention (red was IMMEDIATE ATTENTION at one end and green was 'recommend making a GP appointment' at the other.) I waited maybe three to four hours to see a doctor. I was in pain, but my hand had stopped bleeding so I wasn't really in any immediate danger from the wait. I saw a doctor (or possibly a nurse) who checked me over and changed my dressing, then disappeared, leaving me sitting in some sort of treatment room (my memory's shaky, but it wasn't the waiting room anymore). Then another doctor came, realised he couldn't read the last doctor's handwriting on the chart, so checked me over again. I didn't need stitches, and I think they took an x-ray (maybe not), but they did think I could have fractured my scaphoid bone (which apparently is hard to see in x-rays), so gave me a wrist brace to wear for the next couple of weeks just in case. I got a tetanus booster shot either at the hospital or not long after. Again, the whole process was time-consuming, but completely free.

Oh, and I've had all my vaccinations etc. free over the years as well. In 2006 I went to Tanzania and had to pay maybe £10/15 each for a couple of my shots, but that was easy as well. Prescriptions (like the thirty hay-fever pills I got because the main brands either didn't work or made me drowsy) are a fixed charge (about £8? I can't remember, but it worked out the same as buying Piriteze or Claritin on Boots buy-one-get-one-free deal for the same number of pills).

--(New comment for I is wordy)--

OK, wow, I'm really going on now, but also my grandmother was in and out of hospital for years before she died and kept on life support for maybe a week right at the end. She'd gone almost blind so had magnifying-glass readers and access to audio-book libraries free for years. Even though her problems were almost certainly all down by smoking. We went to visit her when she was taken in for the last time and her ward was clean, well-kept and the nurses were lovely - they knew my granddad by name and sounded happy to keep looking after Nan for as long as they could (though she was only really being kept alive by machines).

So, basically, the NHS has done masses for me over the years (even though, as as student, I've paid barely anything into National Insurance over my brief and scattered working life). And this euthanasia stuff is absolute bollocks.

--(New comment for I is forgetful)--

Oh, oh, and when I was about 14 my NHS dentist (free while I was in full-time state education) reckoned the gap between my two front teeth was wide enough to qualify for braces 'on cosmetic grounds' (there was a ruler). He referred me to an orthodontist, who took various x-rays and moulds, booked me into surgery to have that bit of tissue connecting my gum to the back of my lip removed (apparently it was forcing my teeth apart), gave my upper teeth a brace for about 18 months and fitted me with a permanent retainer on the back of my two front teeth (and fixed it when it came unstuck about 6 months later with more glue). I'm fairly certain that was all free too.

--

And I should really add to that how my brother had yearly appointments at GOSH (possibly into his early teens?) so specialists could look at his liver (there was some sort of problem when he was born - as the younger sibling I never really knew) and I think his lungs (he had asthma, though that went away). All that cost was a trip to London. (I only went along once - I played with toys in the waiting room and we had McDonalds pancakes...)

All in all, so much love for the NHS.

PS. I'm off to Coventry tomorrow for a weekend at the writerconuk MidiMeet (yay!) - see you all on Sunday!!