Hospital Joy this Week

STATUS: distracted by the olympics

Music:  I of Crimson Blood by Amorphis

This was another week of hospital visits, which always seem to take longer than expected (sometimes much longer). Tuesday it was an MRI visit that lasted 1.5 hours and, due to a bad lower back and sensitive feet, was agonizing for the last 10 minutes of the scan. The second trip was to see the consultant about the MRI results. This trip ended up lasting >3 hours, including an unexpected x-ray and some lost paperwork.

Now don't get me wrong, I think the British Nation Health Service (NHS) is great. Once you finally get to a doctor, they generally take great care to listen to you and explain their views (with the rare exception of the occassional GP). If I have any complaints, it's that the support staff often seem to be going through the motions.There are nurses who are very friendly and do their best to help in any way, and their are the type of nurses who make the news for such appallingly bad care that patients can suffer (in some cases, die).

Since coming to the UK, I've been intimately involved with the medical system. Not only is my wife a Consultant, but I had cancer 1.5 years ago, meaning regular visits to Leeds for blood marker surveillance, ACL surgery a year ago leading to regular physiotherapy at the Harrogate hospital, and lately investigations regarding foot pain. Our daughter was also born in England. So we've experienced a lot of the NHS.

In fact, I'm beginning to believe that the orthopaedic and fractures unit, at least, thinks I've been around too much. The last two times I've been there they've misplaced my paperwork leading to delays of over an hour. Imagine an consultant appointment at 9am where I don't leave the hospital until after 12! I've also experience delays of over 3 hours in my oncology visits on occassion.

This all sounds bad, of course, and can be very frustrating. However, I know that in Canada, which also has a national health care system, the waits can be just as long, if not longer. I remember waiting a long time in the A&E after tearing my ACL. Likewise, in Israel, with a hybrid public health care system (i.e. you're forced to buy private insurance), I had a long wait after I tore my meniscus. Worse still, because of my previous knee injury, the menisectomy wasn't covered under the insurance I had been forced to buy (and we were forced to go into their private system for the surgery because the waiting time was too long and I'd planned to be out of the country before the public system could fit me in).

So, all in all, while a lot of my recent life has revolved around hospital visits--the good, the bad, and the ugly--I remain convinced that the UK has one of the best health care systems in the world and, if I need any health care, I'd rather it be here.

Insight and longevity.