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UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Old Jul 8th 2019, 9:23 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

The lack of choice in Canada can be frustrating, I have been sent to specialists I was not comfortable with but can't exactly see another, sometimes depending on size of city and specialty there might only be 1 specialist for some things.

Switching GP's isn't easy either, not exactly tons of them accepting patients and even if you find one who is, often they wont take patients who already have a GP, so you can again end up with a doctor your not comfortable with.
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 12:01 am
  #47  
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

It IS possible to ask to see a specialist other than the one your doctor was going to recommend, if you know anything and have checked out who the specialists are.

I've done that twice in BC

1. 2nd breast cancer, 16 years after the first one, different family doctor in a different clinic. Requested that I be able to return to the surgeon I saw before. Granted with pleasure ...... in fact he was going to refer me to her partner.

2. Need a colonoscopy, surgeon I had seen before had retired. I requested to go to another specialist. Family doctor gave me a warning that the specialist requested was actually one of the busiest in Vancouver but as long as I was aware of that, then it was fine with him.

You can search online in BC, get an idea of waiting times for specialists, and ask to see one with a smaller list ............ remembering that the ones with the longest lists might well be the top in their field.
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 2:14 am
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by london.2014
With regard to the quality of healthcare professionals I can tell you it's poorer than UK.

NHS is definitely NOT great and there are a lot of poorly skilled doctors, but at least in the UK you have the option of going private and seeing a world class specialist if you must.
.
Canada is convenient for the US, there's no end of highly qualified specialists there.
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 3:06 am
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by dbd33
Canada is convenient for the US, there's no end of highly qualified specialists there.
They'll cost you an arm and a leg though
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 3:57 am
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by dbd33
Canada is convenient for the US, there's no end of highly qualified specialists there.
Doubt the average Canadian can afford to pay the prices for US specialist healthcare.
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 11:21 am
  #51  
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by Jsmth321
Doubt the average Canadian can afford to pay the prices for US specialist healthcare.
Maybe not but “going private” isn’t an option for everyone either. london, 2014 seemed to suggest that there was superior availability for affluent people in the UK. I don’t think that’s the case; it’s just a matter of money. Well off Canadians can go to the US, middle income Canadians can go to Cuba or India or Eastern Europe. The poor are ****ed but that’s not a specifically Canadian issue.

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Old Jul 9th 2019, 6:26 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by dbd33
Canada is convenient for the US, there's no end of highly qualified specialists there.
I had to travel to the US to have corrective surgery due to a botched surgery in Alberta that left me in agony for over 3 years, and yes, a lifetime of our savings were spent going to see a specialist in California at the UCLA, he was astounded that they could not correct the damage that was done in Canada...I asked in every Canadian province for help but they closed ranks as they were not happy to pick up the pieces of someone else's work, I was just told to go back to the original surgeon..who was sent to Ontario to retrain as he was using unethical practices with a blade during surgeries...killing one young man 2 months after my surgery, I consider myself relatively lucky as he cut through several of my nerves but actually severed an artery with the young man and he bled to death (God bless him) and he was 23 years of age... ..we are talking of a fairly routine operation here...Appendectomy for goodness sake!

I'm aware that things can go wrong, but no-one was interested at all, the AHS just said the doctors and surgeons were 'on contact' so it's not their problem, the health minister never answered our calls and emails, we even tried the media for help...their response was that it would not be wise to put it 'out there' as people would not look favourably at Alberta! In other words 'keep everyone in the dark'....yes, I'm cynical but I think I deserve to be
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 8:03 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Yes, you have a right to be cynical ................. but only about Alberta, not the whole country.

Alberta has always marched to its own drum, and, yes, they would not want to draw attention to anything bad because that could prevent people moving there in their hordes to make money on the oil fields. I've never seen Alberta politicians and politicos be anything but arrogant about Alberta and how good it is to the rest of Canada .......... and that covers over 50 years of watching politics in this country.

I am truly sorry that you had such a bad thing happen, and that it took so long to get it corrected. Of course, it never should have happened!

Did you go to a lawyer? There are plenty around in BC and other provinces (I've seen their ads) who would just love to take on a case like yours!! Did/does Alberta not have lawyers like that?

Or did you approach the Alberta College of Surgeons (or whatever they call it)?


BTW ................ I'm not denying that there are bad surgeons everywhere, or that things go badly wrong, or that cover-ups take place, or that patients get short shrift .................. that happens everywhere, including in the UK and the US.

I think this is why there are so many lawyers around eager and willing to take on malpractice suits ............. and I gather from their ads that they'll often do it on a "contingency basis" where they don't charge unless you win the case (then they'll take a large portion of the award for their services).

Last edited by scilly; Jul 9th 2019 at 8:12 pm.
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Old Jul 9th 2019, 8:26 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by scilly
Yes, you have a right to be cynical ................. but only about Alberta, not the whole country.

Alberta has always marched to its own drum, and, yes, they would not want to draw attention to anything bad because that could prevent people moving there in their hordes to make money on the oil fields. I've never seen Alberta politicians and politicos be anything but arrogant about Alberta and how good it is to the rest of Canada .......... and that covers over 50 years of watching politics in this country.

Did you go to a lawyer? There are plenty around in BC and other provinces (I've seen their ads) who would just love to take on a case like yours!! Did/does Alberta not have lawyers like that?
Hi scilly,

Yes, we saw two separate lawyers that both sympathized but stated that personal injury cases are very difficult to win unless you are permanently damaged as in can't walk/speak etc etc..they also claimed that it is not 'worth it' for them to take the case as the cap for being awarded damages was set at a figure (I think it was $250,000 at the time) which for them wasn't worth the work they would have to put in!! It really wasn't altogether about the money to be honest,although I should have been compensated..it was more about someone being accountable which no-one would step up to take the reins....it upset my children immensely seeing me in so much pain until we got the money together to head to the US.....

On another note, a good Canadian friend of mine told me about an unfortunate experience that her father had with the Alberta health system, he fell off a horse and broke his arm, they operated and when he recovered he was unable to bend his arm, they has put a metal rod/pin in that was too long!! he had to be re-operated on! she said he went round for about a week just swinging this arm around...we giggled about it because if you don't laugh, you'd cry!

I do think we came to the wrong place, Alberta is very secular...BC sounds more 'on the ball' ...I hope life is good for you there.

Thanks for listening.











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Old Jul 10th 2019, 1:30 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

I have experience of suing doctors/hospitals in both England and Alberta. In England I knew of the incompetence of doctors to such an extent that, when my wife was pregnant with our daughters, some of the specialists she was referred to in Worcester and Burton upon Trent were politely declined.

The poster's experience with lawyers in Alberta also does not reconcile with my knowledge of how things work in Alberta.

There are good and bad of all such professionals in Alberta and the UK. I anticipate that the same applies in most countries too.

I have no idea what Scilly is referring to when she makes the comment that Alberta marches to its own drum and I would assume that, if one wished to comment about a stand alone Province/Territory in Canada, it would be Quebec, but each to their own.
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Old Jul 10th 2019, 4:10 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by Canuck74
Canadian Health Care is poor compared to the NHS. Long waits in the emergency in Canada compared to the AE here. My mother waited in emergency for 12 hours in a hospital in outside of Montreal to see a doctor. Very poor health care in Canada.
Canadian health care is excellent compared to the NHS. Very short wait times in emergency in Canada compared to A&E in the UK. My sister waited in A&E for ten hours in a hospital in Southampton to see a doctor. Very poor health care in the UK.

Can you not see that one person's individual experience does not qualify you to make such a ludicrous blanket statement about a whole country's healthcare provision?

I know from direct experience, for example, that pediatric trauma care in this part of southern Ontario is unparalleled anywhere in the world in any circumstances.
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Old Jul 10th 2019, 4:39 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by Oakvillian
Canadian health care is excellent compared to the NHS. Very short wait times in emergency in Canada compared to A&E in the UK. My sister waited in A&E for ten hours in a hospital in Southampton to see a doctor. Very poor health care in the UK.

Can you not see that one person's individual experience does not qualify you to make such a ludicrous blanket statement about a whole country's healthcare provision?

I know from direct experience, for example, that pediatric trauma care in this part of southern Ontario is unparalleled anywhere in the world in any circumstances.

not entering the the debate with personal experience as I’ve experienced good and bad in both Canada and the UK.
but I did read somewhere that a large percentage ( over 70% or something similar) of the WORLDS pediatric heart transplants are carried out in Ontario
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Old Jul 10th 2019, 7:51 pm
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by Oakvillian
Canadian health care is excellent compared to the NHS. Very short wait times in emergency in Canada compared to A&E in the UK. My sister waited in A&E for ten hours in a hospital in Southampton to see a doctor. Very poor health care in the UK.

Can you not see that one person's individual experience does not qualify you to make such a ludicrous blanket statement about a whole country's healthcare provision?

I know from direct experience, for example, that pediatric trauma care in this part of southern Ontario is unparalleled anywhere in the world in any circumstances.
This - I have been to the same A&E department with the same child with equivalent levels of injury (broken wrist and gash to the knee requiring 13 stitches) at approximately the same time on the same day of the week. One visit we were all done in 2 hours and all of that was while he was being treated so zero wait time and the other time we had to wait 2 hours before we were even booked in. Judging a healthcare system by how long you have to wait on any single visit to a hospital is ridiculous. Basing it on a bad experience with a single doctor at a particular hospital is equally as ridiculous.
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Old Jul 10th 2019, 8:01 pm
  #59  
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by HGerchikov
This - I have been to the same A&E department with the same child with equivalent levels of injury...at approximately the same time on the same day of the week. One visit we were all done in 2 hours and all of that was while he was being treated so zero wait time and the other time we had to wait 2 hours before we were even booked in.

Ditto. Kidney stone both times. Both around 1.00pm on a Saturday. First time, bedded, painkillerised and tests within 45 minutes of arriving, second time nearly 4 hours after registering and vitals before being called through.

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Old Jul 11th 2019, 3:34 am
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Default Re: UK NHS vs Alberta Health Service - Which one is best?

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian
I have experience of suing doctors/hospitals in both England and Alberta. In England I knew of the incompetence of doctors to such an extent that, when my wife was pregnant with our daughters, some of the specialists she was referred to in Worcester and Burton upon Trent were politely declined.

The poster's experience with lawyers in Alberta also does not reconcile with my knowledge of how things work in Alberta.

There are good and bad of all such professionals in Alberta and the UK. I anticipate that the same applies in most countries too.

I have no idea what Scilly is referring to when she makes the comment that Alberta marches to its own drum and I would assume that, if one wished to comment about a stand alone Province/Territory in Canada, it would be Quebec, but each to their own.
I have the advantage (or disadvantage if you prefer) of having lived in Canada for a very long time, and also a long memory. My memory of Alberta Premiers and some of their antics goes all the way back to 1968, with Ralph Klein being a particularly good memory.

Most of the time the Alberta Premier has been very fond of saying how much Alberta contributes to the Canadian economy and how little they are appreciated for it, and every now and again they come out swinging ................ eg the National Energy Programme that P E Trudeau introduced and that had Peter Lougheed spitting mad.

Yes, Quebec is the "separate society" stand alone province in Canada, always wishing for separation and to exist as a French only country in North America, but with its defence, financial programmes etc still covered by Ottawa. We were here during the Separatism turmoil of the 1980s and mid-1990s, and of course the October Crisis of 1970 when Pierre Laporte was murdered by separatists. Those are never to be forgotten episodes in Canadian history for anyone who was living here then.
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