US v. UK Healthcare -- if you were really in need...

I do have concerns over healthcare. Example - I refuse to have a Pap Smear and a GYN exam done at my local surgery by a nurse (Pap) and the GP (exam). The experience itself is not nice...let alone having it at your local GP office. I am uncomfortable about it. No offense, but GP is a GP and not a specialist.

On a different note, my Father in Law has been having heart problems and its a 7 month wait for his Angi-gram. They could pay to go private without worry but they don't seem concerned, he is willing to wait...is that just the mind set over here?  I have discussed both situations with my husband but he gets his back up when I question the NHS, so I have stopped mentioning it.

Worried all the way around......

Julie

I do have concerns over healthcare. Example - I refuse to have a Pap Smear and a GYN exam done at my local surgery by a nurse (Pap) and the GP (exam). The experience itself is not nice...let alone having it at your local GP office. I am uncomfortable about it. No offense, but GP is a GP and not a specialist.

I felt exactly the same way when I first moved here. I was used to going to my GYN every year religiously for my exams/tests. Then when I moved here I was told the nurse would do the smear test every three years! But I have to have it done. Having it done by a nurse/GP is better than not having it done at all. I was recently told they dont even do mamograms till youre 50 here! I find this worrying in itself.
I also felt the same way when I became pregnant was learned a midwife would be delivering my baby. I went mental! I ended up having 2 c/s with my babies anyway but if I wanted a regular vaginal birth then I wouldnt have any other choice but to have the midwife deliver.

I have absolutely no problem having a smear test done by a nurse.  In the States, I can count only ONE smear test in the 13 I had that was performed by a physician.  The rest were done by nurses, NPs and PAs, including the one that discovered my cervical dysplasia.  Even the colpo was done by an NP.  I worked with nurses, NPs and PAs in addition to physicians and residents physicians in a busy women's clinic.  I'd take a competent nurse any day! 

I had no qualms about giving birth w/a midwife at all.  I wound up having an OB b/c I had an assisted delivery, but the midwives were all great. 

I refuse to see one of the GPs at our surgery b/c he's in incompetent git, and I've said as much on the phone when they tried to schedule me w/him.  I said I'd get a better diagnosis if I slipped a tramp a fiver. 

Pebbles,

I know what you mean.....I was always religious about it as well! Now that I am older....I should be more so. I just can't get my head around it....and the longer I put it off the more worry I will have. You are right....I should bite the bullet and just do it.

Yes, I was surprised to hear a Pap every 3 years...as for a Mamo...even more shocked considering my mother had breast cancer (and is doing well 12 years on...thank godness!) so I should be screened much earlier than 50. I guess I will need to push that point.

Thanks for your reply! I am seeing the GP tomorrow about an ear issue that I saw two of them about 5 and 6 weeks ago and it hasn't cleared up so I am going to insist on a referral to an ENT specialist. While I am there, I will make an appt, at least for the PAP.

Julie

I can understand the mammogram after 50, instead of 40.  I'm 31 and can't have a mammogram because I'm too young.  I've found a breast lump through self-exam and had a biopsy to rule out malignancy.  Having a mammogram too young is a waste of your time.  Breast tissue is too dense to see any lumps, calcifications, etc. before 45-ish.

I can understand the mammogram after 50, instead of 40.  I'm 31 and can't have a mammogram because I'm too young.  I've found a breast lump through self-exam and had a biopsy to rule out malignancy.  Having a mammogram too young is a waste of your time.  Breast tissue is too dense to see any lumps, calcifications, etc. before 45-ish.

Yes maybe so....but as my doctor told me in the states, due to a family history its good to have a baseline mamo between 35-40...so they can watch and compare for potential problems with future mamo's.

Julie

It depends on what your baseline looks like and how dense your tissue is.  I'd rather have an MRI or an ultrasound instead of a mammogram anyway.

I have been having annual Mammograms since I was 35 (I am 43) with no family history of breast cancer and I was on an HMO.  It was just something my doctor recommeded and I agreed with him.  In June of 2002, I had a Mamo come back abnormal.  I had to go in for another the very next month and then again six months later.  Luckily, whatever it was had dissolved and I was given the all clear.  I was told that I needed to have another in six months time just to be sure.  Well, here it is 2 and a half years later and I still have not done it.  I spoke to my GP here and he said that even with the prior abnormal Mamo they still would not give me a Mamo until I reached 50.  I must add that I am delighted with the care that I have received from my GP.

I called Cancer Care and the Marie Curie Cancer centre here in Belfast and they are assisting me in getting one scheduled ASAP.    I will have to pay for it, not sure at this point how much it costs.  If it makes me feel better and gives me some peace of mind then no big deal.     

Pebbles,

I know what you mean.....I was always religious about it as well! Now that I am older....I should be more so. I just can't get my head around it....and the longer I put it off the more worry I will have. You are right....I should bite the bullet and just do it.

Yes, I was surprised to hear a Pap every 3 years...as for a Mamo...even more shocked considering my mother had breast cancer (and is doing well 12 years on...thank godness!) so I should be screened much earlier than 50. I guess I will need to push that point.

Thanks for your reply! I am seeing the GP tomorrow about an ear issue that I saw two of them about 5 and 6 weeks ago and it hasn't cleared up so I am going to insist on a referral to an ENT specialist. While I am there, I will make an appt, at least for the PAP.

Julie

Jules if you have ever had an abnormal smear test which required colposcopy, cryotherapy, LEEP or cone biopsy, just tell the GP or nurse and you will then have a smear test every year.  I have them yearly here b/c of cervical dysplasia I was treated for in the States.  

My smear with the nurse at my GP's was a breeze - more comfortable and easier than any I had done in the US.

And my youngest son was delivered by midwife in the US and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Considering that that's what midwives do - deliver babies - what's the problem?

Considering that that's what midwives do - deliver babies - what's the problem?

Hey, even big celebs like Kate Winslet and JK Rowling have had midwives deliver their babies rather than doctors.  I just read about JK Rowling's well-known midwife, who delivered the author's 3rd baby on Sunday. 

I guess since I was a poor college student once upon a time with no health insurance after age 24 I got used to having the Nurses and NPs at the University and Planned Parenthood do my exams and Paps...  I can't say that I would complain to just have a nurse do one here.  Besides which taking a swab is not exactly the most complex of things. The only problem I ever had was with a male DOCTOR who thought I was nuts for wanting to switch BCP.   I also second those that have had mammograms young.  I had an ultrasound then followed by a mammogram and gee they found dense breast tissue!  What a surprise!    Now why they choose to do a mammogram AFTER the ultrasound (when they did not find anything) I will never know.. more money from my HMO maybe? All for a lump I did not have found by a DOCTOR.  The stress one of the best hospitals and breast cancer treatment centers in the US put me through was beyond terrible.  The way I was treated like a lab experiment was deplorable.  So given this background you can see why I do not have confidence in the US medical system.   

I value second and third opinions and qualified physicians and nurses so I would go where they are.  In the UK you can always go private if you are not happy with NHS.  I don't know how it would compare to flying to the USA sans insurance.  In the end I think the best thing is to research and study whatever is going on with you and fight to be listened to if you must or find someone that will listen where ever you live.  People die in both countries all the time due to medical negligence so don't walk around with blinders.  Educate yourself. 

I also like midwives and doulas... for normal births I'd rather have one of them than a Dr trying to fit me into his/her golf game, but I also think that whatever choice a mom makes is fine.  Birth is highly personal and no one should be attacked for making a choice that they feel the most confortable with.

I always had a nurse practitioner do my pap smears in the US - I don't mind seeing a nurse for that at all....

As for the frequency, I'm too busy to research it, but I'd be curious about the rates of breast/cervical cancer here v. the US.... That might shed a bit of light on whether or not the mamogram/smear age/infrequency is a poor idea or if we're just conditioned in the US to be a bit hypocondriacal about healthcare....

Being a healthcare professional that formerly worked for the NHS who works with children with special needs - I would definitely get healthcare in the STATES! No question about it! The education of healthcare professionals is 20 years advanced and the treatment you receive here might be 'free', however....that is all I can say!

Definitely the US. I have a hard time trusting the NHS to be reliable in emergency situations. I've heard plenty of horror stories.