Yes...I worked for the NHS for 40 years.

I also spent time in a Spanish hospital....and would not want to repeat the experience...it was primitive.

Correct....some of the bigoted views on this part of the forum need challenging.

So which system is more efficient?

....and who is "everybody and his dog" that the NHS treats?

WHO rankings 2014.......

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands

UK 18th

.........just saying.

Bud....are you planning your move back yet

Depends what is measured.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally - The Commonwealth Fund

Indeed....but Bud is only interested in bad news about the UK....He has considerable previous form in that department

Bang for buck UK NHS at 6% of gross domestic product punches well above its weight.

What has this to do with the Original post?

The discussion about bad behaviour of Brits abroad was a bit too balanced for some and was also covering the bad behaviour of other nationalities (ie. spanish) so it switched to the NHS instead

Sarcasm? Where?

My answer was totally factual.

Avoid the British when on holiday ?

Good advice, whether it be Blackpool, Newquay, Margate or Skeggy.

Not to turn this into a totally NHS thread I did not say all peoples expectations are too high I said some. NHS is not solely there either for A&E or life or death matters is it? The point I was making coming back to expats is why do so many (from my experience of listening to them) like to slate the NHS saying treatment in Spanish hospitals is far better (I have no knowledge of the French system) ? I even hear it from people who have been cured in the UK by the NHS from truly life threatening illnesses or accidents. I accept that even in hospitals there are cultural differences I.e. families carrying out after care feeding washing etc. My point is why is everything for some expats so bad about the UK? Strange when the wheel came off for some moneywise 2008 they made or tried to make their way back to such an awful place. We bought in Spain for weather relaxed lifestyle and the fact that I could get more out of my pension in Spain than the UK, not because I hated the UK.

My own experience is that the NHS is a far better service overall than the Spanish health service and much more patient friendly also.

There have been cuts in the Spanish system during the past two years but even before that on every visit to either clinic or hospital I've very much got the impression that the system was overstretched much more than I've ever seen in the UK.

I'm not sure that efficiency alone is a fair criteria on which to judge, though I must admit to getting the impression that the Spanish system seems able to push through a greater number of patients than that in the UK in a given time.

However against that I've personally witnessed two serious cases of wrong diagnosis in Spain involving close friends, one of which was corrected in Germany under desperate circumstances and the other slightly less urgent was sorted out back in the UK.

Trying to compare National Health Services across the Globe is an exercise in Futility and WHO I would not trust to plan healthcare for my Gerbil, let alone allow them to make judgements on Healthcare Provider.

The NHS is Globally unique, it has its issues, mostly down to being too much spent on Managers who meddle, the Unions that forbid staff to ask for ID from foreign nationals to allow the NHS claim the money back, the public who think it's FREE, when it costs Biilons to run and those who have forgotten it is for sick and injured people, not for those seeking boob jobs, fertility treatment etc.

As for ex-pats that run back to the UK for medical treatment - why the hell did you leave?