Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Nov 25th 2011, 5:47 pm
#288
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 8,928
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Don't agree on that one either, NHS dentists were rare (although not as rare now is my understanding) and the quality of care I get in Canada is vastly superior to any dentist I ever used in the UK.
I might have agreed on the cost but I had five fillings recently and I was surprised that the cost was nearly completely covered by my ABC dental plan.
Either in the UK or Canada you can easily get reamed on dental charges.
I do think overall healthcare is crappier than in the UK, but on the other hand taxes are significantly lower, so hard to complain on that basis. I usually end up comparing with the US, and the cost in Canada is definitely way, way lower than in the US which is how Canada gets to have a crappier than Europe healthcare system imo. If the US had a halfway decent healthcare system then Canada would be held to a higher standard.
I might have agreed on the cost but I had five fillings recently and I was surprised that the cost was nearly completely covered by my ABC dental plan.
Either in the UK or Canada you can easily get reamed on dental charges.
I do think overall healthcare is crappier than in the UK, but on the other hand taxes are significantly lower, so hard to complain on that basis. I usually end up comparing with the US, and the cost in Canada is definitely way, way lower than in the US which is how Canada gets to have a crappier than Europe healthcare system imo. If the US had a halfway decent healthcare system then Canada would be held to a higher standard.
Nov 25th 2011, 5:57 pm
#290
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Here
Posts: 8,311
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Nov 25th 2011, 6:00 pm
#291
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Posts: 50,783
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
I've had nothing but brilliant dental care under the NHS.
I believe there is a maximum charge of something like £200 now.
To find one taking on new patients you might have to travel across town rather than have one convenient for work or home but go by taxi. It'll be so much cheaper than Denplan or whatever scheme applies.
I believe there is a maximum charge of something like £200 now.
To find one taking on new patients you might have to travel across town rather than have one convenient for work or home but go by taxi. It'll be so much cheaper than Denplan or whatever scheme applies.
Nov 25th 2011, 6:06 pm
#292
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Neither country is the 3rd world, both countries have socialized healthcare. You're going to get just as much variation between two dentists in Canada as you are between one in Canada and in the UK.
The only real difference is the funding model. In the UK money is taken out of your pay packet as tax, here money is taken out of your pay packet as tax and private insurance.
The only real difference is the funding model. In the UK money is taken out of your pay packet as tax, here money is taken out of your pay packet as tax and private insurance.
Nov 25th 2011, 6:09 pm
#293
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2011
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 105
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Dentists are still hard to find in the UK at the moment unfortunately and there are long waiting lists.
However they do have emergency dentists you can visit if you cant get an appointment with a NHS dentist and it is causing you a lot of pain. It is not cheap though although judging by some of the posts I've read it may be cheaper than Canada.
Luckily being a member of the armed forces I dont have to pay...yey!!
However they do have emergency dentists you can visit if you cant get an appointment with a NHS dentist and it is causing you a lot of pain. It is not cheap though although judging by some of the posts I've read it may be cheaper than Canada.
Luckily being a member of the armed forces I dont have to pay...yey!!
Nov 25th 2011, 6:17 pm
#294
Banned
Joined: Oct 2008
Location: the GTA
Posts: 3,824
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
I look around me at neighbours and friends who, including myself, have experienced serious, life-threatening illnesses. All received prompt attention and are alive today because of it.
I know the system has some unacceptable deficiencies but so does the NHS, if you're using that as a comparison.
Nov 25th 2011, 7:39 pm
#295
Slob
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Ottineau
Posts: 6,342
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Why do you believe that? I ask because I'm curious.
I look around me at neighbours and friends who, including myself, have experienced serious, life-threatening illnesses. All received prompt attention and are alive today because of it.
I know the system has some unacceptable deficiencies but so does the NHS, if you're using that as a comparison.
I look around me at neighbours and friends who, including myself, have experienced serious, life-threatening illnesses. All received prompt attention and are alive today because of it.
I know the system has some unacceptable deficiencies but so does the NHS, if you're using that as a comparison.
Only one person I know has a GP. If you get sick here, your options are limited.
I'm aware of only one walk-in clinic. It opens at 8am. If you are not lining-up outside (regardless of weather) by 6am, forget it. Even then, you can often forget it because they allow a certain number of people in for triage and then turn some away.
Option B is ER. People camp there. I sat there for eight hours with my missus before dragging the news out of the triage nurse that we'd likely be there for the same again. We gave up and went home, returning the next day to start all over. Excellent. She turned out to have shingles in the optic nerve. Without immediate medical attention, she was at high risk of losing the sight in one eye. She still lost part of it.
If I were to develop a strep throat, I'd sandpaper my forehead and show up at ER as a head injury. I'd bring up the throat bit once I got in front of a doctor.
Option C is to go to a walk-in in Ottawa. There are a few but, again, you have to get there early. You also have to pay, although part of it can be claimed back. The doctors do no follow-up.
Quebec has its good points. Primary healthcare is not one of them.
Nov 25th 2011, 8:02 pm
#296
Was in Canada, now home.
Joined: Aug 2011
Location: Devon
Posts: 3,388
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
On dentists and doctors, personal experiences vary.
Our GP in Edmonton is much better than our GP here. And, I don't just mean her manner. She diagnosed a serious condition my husband was suffering from, which had been missed by our UK GP, and by doing so, she has probably added years, maybe even decades, to his life. My UK GP was ordering the wrong blood test for a condition I suffer from, and as a result overprescribing my medication. As a result, I was in poor health when I arrived in Canada. My Edmonton GP recognised what was wrong immediately and reduced my dosage, with immediate results.
I also like being able to pop into a local lab, next to the supermarket, to get my blood tests, which is more convenient than having to make an appointment with the practice nurse, which I had to do in the UK.
On the other hand, the waiting times for consultants and operations here in Edmonton are horrendous, and you can wait 8 hours to be seen in casualty, as we've experienced.
My own experience of dental work is that it is lower quality than in the UK, even though I was assured it was higher. My dentist here mistook an amalgam tattoo for a melanoma, and insisted I had a biopsy, which was a very painful and unnecessary operation. Then last year another dentist made a complete mess of replacing a bridge. My dentist in the UK was excellent, though expensive.
We have insurance through my husband's employer, and as a result medical costs are actually lower than in the UK, since we are covered for drugs and most dental work. Even my podiatrist appointments are covered.
Our GP in Edmonton is much better than our GP here. And, I don't just mean her manner. She diagnosed a serious condition my husband was suffering from, which had been missed by our UK GP, and by doing so, she has probably added years, maybe even decades, to his life. My UK GP was ordering the wrong blood test for a condition I suffer from, and as a result overprescribing my medication. As a result, I was in poor health when I arrived in Canada. My Edmonton GP recognised what was wrong immediately and reduced my dosage, with immediate results.
I also like being able to pop into a local lab, next to the supermarket, to get my blood tests, which is more convenient than having to make an appointment with the practice nurse, which I had to do in the UK.
On the other hand, the waiting times for consultants and operations here in Edmonton are horrendous, and you can wait 8 hours to be seen in casualty, as we've experienced.
My own experience of dental work is that it is lower quality than in the UK, even though I was assured it was higher. My dentist here mistook an amalgam tattoo for a melanoma, and insisted I had a biopsy, which was a very painful and unnecessary operation. Then last year another dentist made a complete mess of replacing a bridge. My dentist in the UK was excellent, though expensive.
We have insurance through my husband's employer, and as a result medical costs are actually lower than in the UK, since we are covered for drugs and most dental work. Even my podiatrist appointments are covered.
Nov 26th 2011, 12:37 am
#297
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Neither country is the 3rd world, both countries have socialized healthcare. You're going to get just as much variation between two dentists in Canada as you are between one in Canada and in the UK.
The only real difference is the funding model. In the UK money is taken out of your pay packet as tax, here money is taken out of your pay packet as tax and private insurance.
The only real difference is the funding model. In the UK money is taken out of your pay packet as tax, here money is taken out of your pay packet as tax and private insurance.
That being said we have had generally good experience with healthcare in this part of the world from a trip to a rural ER that involved a coastguard rescue craft and an ambulance, to having a baby at the local hospital. We have an excellent GP and a truly crappy dentist who we are too polite to leave. Both GP's and dentists are readily available here although elsewhere, especially in rural Nfld it's a problem. The problem, as with the UK NHS, is of course when you need to be referred to a Specialist the wait times are chronically bad. At least as bad as in the part of the UK I left if not worse. Hence my nostalgia for BUPA.
Nov 26th 2011, 2:46 am
#298
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Posts: 50,783
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
I remember my step daughter going for a blood test in Quebec. We were there at least four hours. Doctor's appointments were a week or more away - a walk in at the same office if it was urgent was usually 2 or 3 hours waiting.
Blood tests here usually involve less than 15 minutes in the hospital. X-rays about 25 minutes and same day appointments at the doctors have always been arranged when we asked. ER waits have been good too.
My mother in law is with us now, having moved from Quebec. She got a call from the local pharmacy today checking how her new prescription is going. She's very impressed.
Blood tests here usually involve less than 15 minutes in the hospital. X-rays about 25 minutes and same day appointments at the doctors have always been arranged when we asked. ER waits have been good too.
My mother in law is with us now, having moved from Quebec. She got a call from the local pharmacy today checking how her new prescription is going. She's very impressed.
Nov 26th 2011, 11:46 pm
#299
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Was Canada BC now Hereford, England
Posts: 53
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Being able to go for a country walk.
Pleasant commercial buildings, or at least not unpleasant to look it, not acres of ugly one storey warehouses.
Electric and phone lines buried underground instead of strung from poles like in a third world country.
Well maintained roads.
Cheap(er) food, wide choice, and better quality. Back bacon! Cheese that is affordable! Kippers. Smoked haddock. Fruit cake. Tunnocks teacakes. Candy shrimps. Potted shrimps. Ginger wine. Cheap alcohol.
Absence of gargantuan, fume spewing, pickup trucks.
Population with wide range of cultural references and vocabulary of more than 100 words.
Fewer homeless people, and fewer of them drunk or dangerously mentally ill.
Low crime rate. No shops selling Bowie knives, opening late at night, so you can finish that fight after the pubs close.
An efficient, relatively intelligent, relatively uncorrupted police force.
Shop assistants who leave you alone to make your own choices.
Weekly shop that takes 1 hr, not 3, if you include the drive and walk round ginormous stores, and is relatively enjoyable experience, compared with exhausting dispiriting slog.
Libraries relatively crap compared with Canada.
No granola.
Pleasant commercial buildings, or at least not unpleasant to look it, not acres of ugly one storey warehouses.
Electric and phone lines buried underground instead of strung from poles like in a third world country.
Well maintained roads.
Cheap(er) food, wide choice, and better quality. Back bacon! Cheese that is affordable! Kippers. Smoked haddock. Fruit cake. Tunnocks teacakes. Candy shrimps. Potted shrimps. Ginger wine. Cheap alcohol.
Absence of gargantuan, fume spewing, pickup trucks.
Population with wide range of cultural references and vocabulary of more than 100 words.
Fewer homeless people, and fewer of them drunk or dangerously mentally ill.
Low crime rate. No shops selling Bowie knives, opening late at night, so you can finish that fight after the pubs close.
An efficient, relatively intelligent, relatively uncorrupted police force.
Shop assistants who leave you alone to make your own choices.
Weekly shop that takes 1 hr, not 3, if you include the drive and walk round ginormous stores, and is relatively enjoyable experience, compared with exhausting dispiriting slog.
Libraries relatively crap compared with Canada.
No granola.
Guess it comes down to the mood we're in at the time (:
Nov 26th 2011, 11:56 pm
#300
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Was Canada BC now Hereford, England
Posts: 53
Re: Your observations when visiting UK from Canada !
Not long back from a 17 day trip to Scotland, England & Wales visiting family and friends. Great to get back to see everyone however apart from things like green fields, scenery, historical sites etc, nothing would induce me to return to live. Lots of doom and gloom around from what I saw and heard in conversations with a number of people from all walks of life. Most are of the opinion that things, particularly economically will get a lot worse before they get better. Spent some time hill walking in the Peak District, visiting the country pubs along the way however everyday life was far from that.
Traffic was just as bad and driving habits if anything seemed to have deteriorated but still along way to go before they descend into the 'Norm' that one finds in such as the GTA, 401 etc. Most things seem to have gotten pretty expensive so we bought very little other than essentials. Spent most on eating out etc which has become really pricey since my last visit in 2008....including 'Pub Grub' which for the most part was good quality but not so much a cheap alternative as it used to be.
This is just our take on the trip...my Canadian wife was horrified at the price of most things....saying 'I would not pay that in Dollars never mind Pounds' on many occasions seeing the ticket price...even taking into consideration the 20% VAT.
Be a few years before we return so better get saving up.....
Traffic was just as bad and driving habits if anything seemed to have deteriorated but still along way to go before they descend into the 'Norm' that one finds in such as the GTA, 401 etc. Most things seem to have gotten pretty expensive so we bought very little other than essentials. Spent most on eating out etc which has become really pricey since my last visit in 2008....including 'Pub Grub' which for the most part was good quality but not so much a cheap alternative as it used to be.
This is just our take on the trip...my Canadian wife was horrified at the price of most things....saying 'I would not pay that in Dollars never mind Pounds' on many occasions seeing the ticket price...even taking into consideration the 20% VAT.
Be a few years before we return so better get saving up.....
