Grayling

So why are those who post about unfashionable ie. positive experiences hounded? Chris is regularly hounded on this forum even by people with no intention of returning.
Why are those who have positive experiences ridiculed?

Are their views and experiences not eqally valid ?...are positive experiences not seen as valuable to those wanting to return?

Not everyone returns broke and having to live in a Bad area.

Why am I not believed when I say that my family do not seem to have the problems that others claim......or is this thread really just an excuse to whinge and to blame the country for people's own shortcomings

No one is forced to return

aries

The INR blood test is because I now take Warfarin. It is a quick puncture on a finger, the blood then being scraped off and examined in a machine to test its viscosity. The computer then determines my Warfarin dose for the following one or two weeks. However this morning I also need to have a bigger blood test for something else, and I know it will leave a big bruise on my arm, or indeed both arms if the nurse struggles to locate a good vein.

But that's life . . .

old.sparkles

A friend of mine also has to take warfarin - I never knew what those blood tests involved

aries

From my observations, posters who have negative experiences are more criticised and ridiculed.

The thread title asks if the situation in the UK is really that bad, so we should all accept that there are different experiences and feelings. Some have found their Paradise and others not, and some are more accepting of problems, and others not. This is normal life. For those who have not found their Paradise, it is not always easy or practical to continue searching, but if they wish to criticise their experiences back in the UK, this is what the thread is about.

We would be sadly lacking if we gave members still living in other countries, simply a glorious view if they returned to the UK. It would not be everyone's reality.

Grayling

The question is "is it really that bad"......well for many it is not.....and why should people returning not be given a glorious view if that is what it is for many people?....we would be sadly lacking if we did not give that view as well.

not2old

the OP heading with post #1 post #2 answered.

Its all in the 'my world' which is different for everyone.

You could ask the same OP for any country & you'd get 118 pages of responses

dunroving

I don't agree with posts ridiculing someone, regardless of the direction, but I've always thought the "two wrongs = a right" argument rather feeble.

There's always a fine line between simply challenging someone's viewpoint and getting personal and I've had my share of spats, usually due to a clash of personalities. But they didn't go on and on and on and on as the recent ones seem to.

I see lots of posts on here thanking Chris and others for happy tales of returning to the UK, and similar posts thanking others for painting the warts and all perspective.

Accurate information and true personal experiences are what people need. I think the main reason I have seen on here for people questioning positive and negative stories is when the poster confused their own experience for a universal truth ("I'm happy so the country must be fantastic for everyone", and similarly "here's an example of a terrible story, so the country must be going to the dogs"). Some people almost begrudgingly accept there may be things right with the UK, and others almost begrudgingly acknowledge that there may be things wrong.

Mainly, it's the particular spilling over of personal acrimony between people on the Australia forum to here that is getting tedious. For people who don't go on the Australia forum some of the exchanges on here must seem quite puzzling.

Bud the Wiser

Let's dispel a myth. I CANNOT retire in the U.S. My visa does not allow me to do so. Granted, I could look at other countries, but at my age, family, friends and familiarity are a very strong draw, and the biggest draw of all is the sense of belonging that I only feel when I'm in the UK. Saying that I have no intention of returning to the UK is simply a vain attempt to discredit my input into the MBTTUK forum rather than discuss any issues I raise.

Furthermore, I am fortunate, very fortunate, that when I eventually return to the UK my financial situation will be more than adequate to see my years out in comfort and in a place that would be free of some of the problems that blight other areas. I have no need to crow about it, but more importantly, it doesn't prevent me from having compassion and concern for UK current affairs and how they may affect others.

Right back to topic.

My view on the NHS is that for generations it has served the country and its people well. However, from what I pick up from articles about, postcode lottery, Liverpool care pathway, the scandal at mid-staffs hospital etc. etc. I beginning to think that it has started to fray around the edges and the demand for services far outstrips what it is capable of providing. Innovation may eventually ease the burden, but for the foreseeable future I think it is in for a bumpy ride.

holly_1948

Postcode lottery is strictly history (since April 2013). But the rest sounds reasonable.

SultanOfSwing

This thread is hilarious. Each 'side' thinks their anecdotal evidence proves or disproves a point that can't even be considered an absolute

The real answer is - the UK, just like any other country in the western world, is, in general, OK but that doesn't guarantee that any individual's circumstances absolutely cannot be a bit shit. The rest is down to personal taste.

Attempting to say otherwise, entertaining though it is, is nothing but a bunch of subjective posturing. Quite frankly, seeing a bunch of grown ups banging on about 'positives' and 'negatives' as if they were anything other than numerical values (or electrical charges), makes you all sound like a bunch of talking greetings cards.

Bud the Wiser

Not sure if you meant the NHS postcode lottery. This article is from January 2014.


http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...06/obesity-nhs

I did read somewhere that the 'Liverpool care pathway' had been terminated or at least was under review.

Jerseygirl

My mother was put on the Liverpool Care Pathway 4 years ago. I agree with it in certain circumstances.

holly_1948

I did mean NHS postcode lottery, and I stand corrected.

I thought that moving funding from CCG to SCG for things like obesity surgery meant national policies (this is for England rather than Wales etc).

I find it very odd. Here is a paper put out in January 2014 entitled "Commissioning Policy for Access to Bariatric Surgery" which describes its target audience as "PCT Commissioners". However PCTs and their commissioners were abolished in Spring 2013 and the functions taken over by NHSEngland. http://www.emscg.nhs.uk/Library/P010V1EMSCGCommissioningPolicyforaccesstoBariatric Surgery.pdf

Curiouser and curiouser. One is forced to a conclusion that NHS does not know its own rules and the left hand knows not what the right hand does.

dunroving

I always assumed the NHS postcode lottery was a colloquialism referring generally to disparate provision in different areas of the UK, as well as the more official decisions about what treatment was available where. Just goes to show how much I (think I) know.

There's no doubt that just like a lot of other things, there are some areas of the UK where NHS treatment is dire, wait lists are longer, hospital facilities are poorer, etc.

The local practice where I lived in Wales couldn't be more different than the one where I live now.

fuchs01

In the bedroom online...sad.