is health care that bad in the uk?

For purposes of accuracy I need to correct an error I made in my original post.

It was Scott Air Force Base Illinois. I don't know where my head was the night I wrote Andrews as obviously that's nowhere near the same area! That's what happens when you've been to too many military installations in your life, they all start to run together.

i have heard horror stories that have left me very worried about moving over...but i will say that my experience this past november when i was visiting my boyfriend for 10 days was AMAZING.  everyone had told me that as a foreigner, i would be charged if i had to visit a hospital while i was there, so i did take out travel insurance as a precaution.  while i was in cambridge, i was hit by a city bus while walking down the sidewalk (seriously).  my arm took the brunt of the impact and needed to be looked at, so my boyfriend and i went to hospital to be seen.  this was about 10pm on a saturday night, and we both expected to be kept waiting for hours.  i arrived and they took my name, told me to be seated, and about 5 minutes later, a doctor called me back.  in the us, at this point, you'd be seen by a nurse and then wait another hour or so for a doctor.  but the doctor who called me back saw me immediately and after 5 or so minutes of talking to me and examining my arm, he sent me for xrays.  we walked down to the xray room, again thinking we'd have a long wait ahead of us, but they took us right away.  i spent 5 or so minutes having the xrays and was sent back to the waiting room in the emergency area. after another 5 minutes, the doctor called me back again. he showed me the xrays and sent me away with a clean bill of health.  i asked if i needed to go sort out payment issues since i was an american and would need to claim this with my travel insurance company, but he said no. i was out of there in less than half an hour and to this day, i've never received a bill.  i have really great insurance and access to some of the best hospitals in the world here in boston, but i have waited AGES in an emergency room in the past (when i lived in atlanta, i once waited 24 hours in the emergency room before i was finally checked into the hospital and given a room).  i'm sure i'll have some issues with the NHS at some point, but i know if my boyfriend were to have a similar incident while he was here visiting from the UK, it would be A LOT more complicated for him to receive such quality care in the US.

Unfortunately, lillybelle, that isn't always the case. 

In our A&E, there is a policy that no patient can be there for longer than 2 hours (I think, but not sure about the exact time frame) without either treating (admitting), or streeting (discharging) and that leads to some VERY lazy doctoring IMHO.   

On the other hand, you never have to wait for very long in the A&E.  I don't know which is worse. 

Glad you had a good experience . I broke my leg when I was 12 (1995) and had to go to A&E on a Saturday night - I believe I was seen, x-rayed, plastered and sent back on my way home again within about an hour or so .

i asked if i needed to go sort out payment issues since i was an american and would need to claim this with my travel insurance company, but he said no. i was out of there in less than half an hour and to this day, i've never received a bill. 

Just wanted to clarify that as a visitor, you are entitled to free emergency treatment on the NHS (which your visit was), it's just that had you been seriously injured and needed to stay in hospital longer for non-emergency treatment, you would have had to pay.

I always wondered if you get better care out of NHS the more assertive you are. If you can really make yourself heard, someone who's hard to brush aside. 

I have some stuff that's bothering me but the symptoms are kinda vague and could be a million different things and I always promise myself to bring them up at the next appointment. But when I get there and before my butt even hits the chair, the doctor is looking to rush me out the door with "It's nothing, it's nothing" it's so hard to go "No, stop. I need you to listen to me please, take this seriously."

From my experiences, the NHS really excels at emergency care, I have had superb emergency care, and having my son on the NHS was amazing. However I have found that I have to be assertive to get what I want with my GP, I have gone in and said, I want to have an MRI for my back, lo and behold, 5 weeks later I had my MRI, okay it was 5 weeks...but still.  My husband had C-diff, our GP said, only elderly people get C-Diff, so my husband said, regardless, please do the test. He did the test, and he had it.

If you do a little bit of internet searching, and tell your doctor what you think you might have and what you think you need, from my experiences you will get it. Should you have to? No, probably, but anything you can do to make it run better, well, why not?

If you do a little bit of internet searching, and tell your doctor what you think you might have and what you think you need, from my experiences you will get it. Should you have to? No, probably, but anything you can do to make it run better, well, why not?

Actually, my DH was told to "go home and look it up on the internet" for more information about his diagnosis - again extremely irresponsible doctoring.  And when we did, it was so very clear that the diagnosis was completely off the mark.  they were just looking to ditch him out of the A&E.  Fortunately our GP took us seriously; unfortunately, no one else did. 

The problem with self diagnosis on the internet is there is too much room for error.  I've been convinced before that I had one thing to find out that it was something else.  Of course this is in the US where the doctor didn't think twice about sending me for a MRI scan for a 2 week long headache.  It could be considered overkill, but it solved the problem (and I had the insurance to cover it).

If you misdiagnose yourself and get the wrong treatment, you could be doing yourself disservice in many ways (like taking antibiotics you don't need).

I agree that you have to be forceful and take charge of your health here, but as a person who has done a lot of self-diagnosis (and honestly can be a worst case scenario type person), I really want my doctor to be the one who knows how to pinpoint a problem even if I am insisting I know what is going on.

Another thing I've noticed?  I've only seen my assigned GP once in 5 visits.  In the same office, there have been 5 different docs with 5 different attitudes about listening to me.  Are they part-time?  Do the travel in circuits?  Perhaps it is just how this office operates?

On an opposite hand, the two eye doctors I've seen have been remarkably informed about human physiology beyond the eye, incredibly communicative and very abreast of current info.

I just got back from an appointment with a doctor in my new surgery and it really is true, the care you get is different from surgery to surgery, even when they are in the same region.

I complained before that my last doctor would always be trying to rush me out the door, from the moment I sat down, but this new one was not like that at all! She seemed like she listened to what I had to say and wasn't rushing me at all. Even asked questions!!

The thing is though, I don't think the appointment took that much longer than at my previous surgery but I came out feeling much better about the quality of care NHS provides.

DH went to see the consultant surgeon yesterday about a minor op.  Surgeon was iffy about whether he really needs it or could "wait and see" (He is in pain so he said YES do it!)  The waiting list is 18 weeks but depends on which surgeon they give you.  Oh and you won't know if it will be keyhole or regular surgery until the day because the anesthetist decides at the last minute.  So they sent him off to do the pre-op admissions stuff but when he got there, thinking they were going to get on with it then and there, the woman said oh no, there are no appointments for 2 weeks.  But, oh wait, we do have a cancellation next Monday.  YES, he says.  Well, we'll put you on the waiting list on that day for the op but do let us know if you go on holiday and we'll "freeze" your name (in other words all the people behind you will get moved up!)  You'll get about 2 weeks notice for the op.  Bl**dy inconvenient!  Oh and they may decide to have him at a different hospital and he'll have to go and do all the pre-op stuff again there!
He's seriously thinking about going private...

I just got back from an appointment with a doctor in my new surgery and it really is true, the care you get is different from surgery to surgery, even when they are in the same region.

This is going to be my next move if tomorrow isn't successful.  I'm going to go in an insist on getting a referral to an ENT doctor.  It's 4 weeks now; the alternative measures haven't worked and the distant ringing in my ear has become a loud vibration and now there is pain behind my ear.   

There is another practice in my area but they have yet to answer the phone when I've called.  I really really hope I can work with the one I'm currently registered with