sbasak

I am currently working in UK for last 8 months. What I dislike most about UK is its NHS. It keeps people waiting for months after month. The GPs are mostly too reluctant to treat patients! Even simple tests like endoscopy, ultra-sound takes months long wait. My wife is having pain in stomach for last one month I visited doctor several times and they always say "Well your case has been referred to gastro entritis department and we can't do anything more about it" in the meantime, no treatment is going on for my wife - and from that department they sent me a letter which indicates that only 1 such test will be carried out for my wife after 1 month - the result will come after "several days" and other tests will be done after that ananlysis. Now can anyone tell me how long should I wait??? I am thinking of sending my wife to India (where my home is) so that she can get prompt treatment (there these tests can usually be arranged in week at most).

Can't I do anything without NHS? Isn't there any other private medical services? I have heard about BUPA - how is it? How expensive is it to avail such service?

Any help?

Interested

Bupa will be cheaper than sending your wife home to India i am sure.

captaincook

thought this was a forum about moving back to Uk - not sending the mrs to bombay to avoid the nhs !

sbasak

Fortunately my employer will pay the plane fare (as I am adjusting it with my annual vacation trip).

Do you have any idea how much BUPA costs? If I have Bupa, can I directly visit there and have any tests done without any waiting?

By the way, I posted this here because I thought many other people in UK may face same problem regarding NHS service in UK. So I was asking for a general solution.

Thanx

Interested

I don't know how much Bupa costs, why don't you check out their website? http://www.bupa.co.uk/

However I am pretty sure that you get treatment done straight away and yes you would be able to visit. If you want something done quickly then this is the way to go.
Good Luck !

sbasak

From BUPA website it appears that to get general cover one need to pay at least £ 50 /month. However, if someone already seeing a GP or have medical history with slight trouble in last 5-10 years premium would be considerable high [in these cases premium was not mentioned]. So, for a family of two, monthly premium would be appx. £ 150 at least.

scoobydooathome

Because everybody's got their finger in the pie

Go private, there's no waiting there,

mark19964

truth is those that have got there fingers in the pie, never paid for it in the first place - thats whats wrong with the UK, and why taxes keep going up and up and up - we're just like the states, bring your poor etc, except you dont have to work - what mugs we are here.

pommiesheila

Not wishing to put too fine a point on it - the NHS is funded by taxation - if you`ve only been in the UK for 8 months, just how much treatment do you reckon you`ve paid for???

lucinda75

well, Im afraid its all those lovely nurses that get trained by Phony Tony, using Public funds...and then they all bugger off to australia... leaving wards to be run by 8 student nurses, an elderly ( and somewhat bitter matron..who never married her doctor) and a couple of bossy part time health care assistants....

The ladies from the WRVS always do a top cup of tea though.

Hope n Glory

Here, Here. If there was £5 charge to set foot in a doctors surgery or a hospital, the waiting room wouldn't look like a Karachi railway station

Interested

Whatever, what generation did you come from or more to the point did you not reciev much of an education ?

MrsLondon

Yeah, it would start out as £5 to see the doctor. Then it would be £10. Then £20, then £30. I believe in an NHS with treatment free at source. If they want to charge for extras, like private rooms in hospital, TVs, meals (afterall, you gotta eat wherever you are, and the meal is not part of the treatment) then that's OK, but no charge to use the doctor. I remember when prescriptions were 40p. Now it's £6.30!

Taffyles

You're right, there. I agree too that the NHS should remain free at source and I'm really pleased to see Gordy Brown has stopped OAP's having their pensions docked a bit for long stays in hospital.

Emm

After working in the NHS for over 10 years I'm a bit dissapointed by the attitude of some of the responses here. The NHS was chronically under funded for decades under the conservatives and the labour govt has an awful lot of catching up to do and all without raising taxes further. I actually think that most people don't realise what a good system they have with the NHS.

In Sweden (where taxes are considerably higher - around 50-60%) the healthcare system is much worse. You have to pay to see the doctor each time you go - a flat fee of 120SEK (around £9), you also pay the whole cost of your medicines on prescription, I have literally spent a few hundred pounds on medicines for my children since arriving here and no children don't get free prescriptions. The local hospital (you have to go to the hospital to see a doctor as there are no GPs) is unable to see children at weekends or after 7pm. There is no such thing as calling a doctor out for a home visit so we have to drive 55kms with a sick child to go see a doctor at a hospital in Stockholm. There are no maternity facilities in our town (no intensive care facilities, no CAT scans or any other type of complex investigative procedures) so again you have to drive around 50kms for treatment. We had to wait 3 months for a paediatric referral for our daughter too despite having 2 overnight stays in hospital requiring intravenous fluids and oxygen.

The NHS isn't worse than a lot of places, in fact it is much better.