Originally Posted by Canada Bob

Do you want to read that again? maybe you should rephrase that ?

I'm not going to do anything for you LOL !!!

Originally Posted by dbd33

Three hundred quid a month is nothing, just nothing, in terms of healthcare premiums.

Originally Posted by Calgal

<pours cup of morning tea, and pulls up comfy chair.......>

Originally Posted by dormy

I would be very happy to pay much more, privately, if I could see my doctor the same day I needed to. 10 years ago this was possible, why is it not now.

Last time i visited my doctor was in 1996, 20 minute wait in and out all happy, went down there on monday, next available appointment is 2nd August, as it is not an emergency.

Dont get me wrong the staff are exceptional, the Nurses carers and doctors are deyond reproach, but massively underfunded

What is the underlying coincidence here, their colour is red

Originally Posted by Canada Bob

Don't know if you saw that program on the BBC a couple of days ago, about the extent of MRSA and how Dr's were covering up the real cause of death on the Death Certificate by putting it down to Pneumonia. That may be tolerable to some folks, but it sure aint to me...

Bob.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I also don't see the red reference, if you think the state healthcare system is underfunded, don't you think a dose of socialism would fix that?

Originally Posted by Butch Cassidy

Ok here is what I've gathered about you.
1) you blew the whistle (rightly or wrongly I'm not commenting)
2) you apparently had your life threatend (wrongly I agree)
3) you got sick and decided to move back to the UK where you happily used the NHS
4) you have done some 'public works'
5) you actually believe that wilson was a socialist (and you question others intelligence)
6) you are a massive self publicist
7) you dont like people disagreeing with you.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I don't see your problem. You say you are willing to pay. You say that the doctor will see you in due course and your condition is not an emergency. So, you can either wait or go somewhere else. I know about the facilities in the US but I don't suppose that's the only place where a doctor would be happy to be paid to take a look at a non-urgent condition; Switzerland might be more convenient. Come to that I expect there are still private doctors in Harley St. Why don't you go to one of them?

I also don't see the red reference, if you think the state healthcare system is underfunded, don't you think a dose of socialism would fix that?

Originally Posted by Canada Bob

2) I guess we can agree on...Canada Bob.

Originally Posted by TrishB

The doctor probably wrote pneumonia on the death cert because that's what they died of. Duh! You don't die of MRSA, you die of something else because your immune system is lowered (beyond it's already low level because of existing illness). MRSA has been around for years, just like the flu bug has been around for years. You're more likely to die being run over in the street by a car than die of any infection arising from MRSA.
Have you ever seen the statistics of how many drug-related deaths there are per year? Try slagging off the drug companies!

Originally Posted by Canada Bob

Hello Trish, I guess you didn't have the benefit of the program on TV over here, the fact is people do die of MRSA but their deaths are being recorded as Pneumonia etc, to the point that the Dept of Health has had to send out a directive informing Dr's to put MRSA when that's the cause of death.

One of the folks on the show commented that "folks who are in a car crash die of Pneumonia over here" !!! what he was saying was they had been infected by MRSA and the like {Hospital bugs} and died from them. This was also supported by other professionals interviewed in the program.

It's a bit absurd to say we shouldn't concern ourselves about MRSA and the like as long as more folks are getting killed on the road. If we can avoid any "accidental" deaths then we should strive to do so...

Afterall, wehn we cross the road we have decisions to make about the exposure to risk that we are prepared to take, some folks take more risks than others. When we are in hospital then the decision isn't ours anymore, you trust you life to someone else.

The "Duh" ! indicates both abuse and your ignorance...

Go speak with the leading Microbiologist from Edinburgh they had on the show, he was absolute about that fact, maybe you'd like a bet as well ?

Looks like I could clean up here...

Canada Bob.

Originally Posted by dormy

The health service has always been poorly funded, but the exceptionally poor funding that they are experiencing at the moment commenced at the "appointment" of the bunch of Jokers known as the labour party, sorry New Labour!

In my, uneducated, opinion what I believe to be a trapped nerve in my back, is an emergency. In the opinion of the two crows behind the doctors surgery desk it is not an emergency, and to the A&E dept locally it is a matter for my GP not for them. Not really worth going to Switzerland or Houston for, so despite paying over £40,000 over the last few years I cannot see a GP and will lose a months pay, as I cannot provide a doctors certificate stating that I should not be lifting heavy objects.

Originally Posted by TrishB

As someone who has worked in both the NHS and Canadian healthcare I can say that the NHS is a much superior system. I'm fed up with people feeding off the UK media wagon that jumps on any negative story about the NHS and pumps it up into something huge. Canada Bob, how much have YOU used the NHS?

Yes, the NHS may appear to be underfunded, but that's because of the ever increasing numbers of people who
a) don't turn up to appointments
b) waste clinicians' time through turning up at A&E to have something checked out that the family doctor could've done
c) hypochondriacs, abusive drunken louts who've fallen over or gotten in a fight and
d) people who don't take responsibility for their own health and expect others to pick up the pieces for them when things go wrong.

I've come across them all and believe me, it's incredibly irritating as a clinician to have to kill time because some pratt couldn't be bothered turning up for an apppointment. And don't give it the "but you can never get an appointment" crap - yes you can if you NEED it! Compared with Canada where thousands, if not millions, of people don't actually have a family doctor, we do OK in the UK. And the UK has just about double the population of Canada, so the NHS is treating a hell of a lot more people. A lot of very dedicated people work in the NHS and pull out the stops when people NEED a service.

Take into consideration the advances in medical technology and the much superior team approach to working with patients (unlike here where it's very much old school bowing to the doctor for all the decision-making), people are now living much longer, despite the increase in chronic conditions, and are requiring more care at home and more equipment - this is all provided free in the UK - you have to pay in Canada (well, Ontario anyway) for home equipment, eg. powered bath seat - Canada $1500, NHS free.

I have animals that came with me from the UK and have required veterinary care in both countries - the vet system is totally privately funded in both countries and operates within the private sector, so of course the vet is going to carry out an operation asap as he knows you'll go elsewhere if he/she doesn't!

A poor comparison overall - and don't get on your high horse about tongue-in-cheek humour or it was a comment made only for a laugh. Joking about the system that I put heart and soul into for 12 years for patients I cared deeply about is no laughing matter when ignorant types like you decide to slag it off. And most of my NHS colleagues felt the same way.