So for all of the political upheaval about health care in the US. I thought I would share a bit of our experiences with socialized health care. It might disturb you because so far we have NOTHING but good things to say about the care we have received while living in England.
This post comes from our most recent experience which happened on Monday the 14th Anna had an allergic reaction after eating some Chinese food. She started coughing and sneezing, which I didn't think much of because she had a runny nose for a few days previous. We were discussing it and then I said it came on pretty quickly for a cold. Then when I was getting her ready for bed Drew noticed that she had a rash all over her body. So we took her to the hospital. We only had to wait 15 minutes from the time we arrived before we were in the back talking to the health staff. They gave her a teddy bear! The first doctor that examined her was (Katie, I believe, all of the ER doctors went by their first names) she said that she was pretty sure it was an allergic reaction and had the nurses give her some antihistamine. But, she said she would like another doctor to look at her to get their opinion. The second doctor said the same thing and that they want to send her up to pediatrics just to make sure everything is alright. By that time her rash was going and she was much more relaxed. She did throw up twice in the ER but had perked up significantly by this point. After we saw the 3rd doctor, she said that it probably was an allergy but very rarely a virus can do that and sometimes even with an allergy when the medication wares off the reaction can spike again so just to be cautious she wanted to keep her over night. I felt good about that seeing as I had been hospitalized at least 5 times in my life and I find it very comforting to know that there are doctors and nursing waiting to help if there is ever a problem. The nurse or "room service" as I believe she called herself, welcomed me to the "bed and breakfast" and gave me towels, sheets, blankets, pajamas, toothbrushes for both me and Anna, and a sandwich for me. The sandwich was not tasty being about 2 am at this point, it was probably made several hours before, darn socialism! Anna slept very well and woke up very happy. This is a picture of our room.
In the morning she headed to the play room and enjoyed all of the toys and the outside play area as well.
The doctors said she seemed to be doing very well and that because she was better, she needed to be put to work. They put on a medical coat and set her to work. =)
They did want to do some blood work which was very traumatic for Anna. They couldn't get a vain at first, then I realized that whenever I need to have blood taken I am always poked and prodded a ton until I remember that the veins in my hand are the ones that seem to work the best. So, I told them to try her hand. They did and out spurted the blood. Then, I felt pretty proud of myself and I remembered something my mother said a nurse had said to her when I was in the hospital. The doctor was asking what my temperature was and my mother put her hand on my head and said 103. They took my temperature and it was 103 and the nurse said "Never Question a mother!" They weren't challenging me or anything but, I still felt pretty good about it (other than the fact Anna was clearly in pain and did not enjoy having blood work done).
They want her to come in for allergy testing and they could see her Thursday of that week! More waiting! But I decided to wait until we get back from America, its gives us something to look forward to=).
I just received an email from my friend who had an appointment on Monday, they want her to wait until Wed. for testing as well!!! There are definitely things that people wait for in the UK but when there are serious problems things happen quickly. For all the negative press it gets, there are loads of great things that happen every day. Think of one of the greatest minds of our time, Stephen Hawking who was diagnosed with ASL at age 21, said "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS; I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived"
As for the other experiences we have had, we found having a baby there wonderful and intimate. Yet competent and with all the amenities of a high class hospital.
The day to day primary care doctors are wonderful. We really have enjoyed everything. Oh, and we heard on the radio before we left that they will most likely be changing from having everyone see the closest doctor to allowing people to see whichever doctor they want. NHS has gotten a lot of bad press lately most of it but if you look at how satisfied people are actually reporting their services with the NHS you will note that:
Of hospital inpatients, 92% said they were satisfied with their treatment
87% of GP users were satisfied with their GP
87% of hospital outpatients were satisfied with the service they received
70% of Accident and Emergency department users reported being satisfied
The system has its problems sure, but I prefer NHS to US medical care thus far.
Oops, that should be "privately"
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Anna is feeling much better and that you were able to get her good care. I've heard that the NHS is wonderful for things like illness, but not the best for problems that don't require immediate attention. My aunt lives in Scotland and broke her arm a few years ago. They treated the break just fine, but she couldn't receive any physical therapy because she was considered too old. Also, the father of a friend who needed cataract surgery was told that he'd have to wait 2 years. The family ended up paying for it to be done provately.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe we have to listen to people that have socialized med. One thing for sure something has to be done about out current system in the US. Pre existing exclusions and no coverage for so many also you shouldn't go bankrupt for medical reasons. People are going bankrupt with or without insurance and more money is spent per person in US than most countries. Somethings are good about the quality of care but the system needs to be changed but it is a complicated issue. Thank you for your insite. LY Dad
ReplyDeleteYes there are long waits for some things, but, I have known several people with even bad situations such as cancer and even a baby born at 25 weeks that have had such quick and excellent care that they were able to do very well. The waits for things that are not as urgent such as cataract surgery can be lengthy, their is an initiative to reduce the waits to no longer than 18 weeks which they are now focusing on. That being said, that is why it is important to carry private insurance as well to avoid the waits, the private insurance is a lot cheaper and even with the cost of taxes people pay less for a combination of the two (taxes and insurance) than I paid with my job when you add the cost of copays, taxes and insurance. And, the cost of paying for private care is MUCH cheaper than it is here.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe you should write to some of the US Congress. Of course, socialized medicine isn't the goal here, but an alternative to what we have. It's worth a try. (Things sound great over there, but the seeing your closest doctor thing is not good. I've seen several doctors once and never gone back for one reason or another. You have to have choice.)
ReplyDeleteWow, it's enlightening to hear the perspective of someone who has experienced both types of health care!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am delighted to hear some positive views on it. All we here is negative and even though there are some down sides as there are in any option sounds like it isn't all bad. Now if we could just bottle up the best of all sides we would have it made. But this isn't an ideal world and we can't have it all...can we? hum.... Thanks Kim... I for one appreciate your insight!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and comments. I am not sure we would have the innovations in medicine here without a profit motive. But I also see the advantages of the British system. I think ideally, private insurance could cross state lines and offer good care to a huge pool so that they can cover pre-existing conditions and catastophic illness. The federal government is able to get many private insurers to add benefits that do cover most things and are affordable because they have such a large group to cover. I hope our lawmakers give it a great deal of thought.
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