is health care that bad in the uk?

OK, I'll just run away now while everyone tells me I'm a horrible insensitive cow until the mods delete my post.

Why would anyone delete your post?  You're entitled to your opinion.  Just be prepared to have people disagree with you and perhaps tell you that you're being insensitive.

One more thing regarding administrative waste as it relates to this topic:

One of the reasons I am no longer a Republican is that I believe the view of starving an organisation of money/resources will automatically make them say "gee, let's become more efficient and cut adminstrative waste" is naive and misguided.  This is a bit like the fox guarding the hen-house, IMO, and we have seen since the days of Reaganomics that it just doesn't happen that way.  Wealth doesn't trickle down and the fat cats don't cut the fat - they make it more difficult for the already put-upon people (such as teachers and nurses) to do their jobs properly by increasing workload and not keeping salaries aligned to what people are really worth.

Instead, they simply starve the delivery function of resources, and, for example, you see women who are in need of mid-wife care at a very critical and vulnerable time for them dealing with the effects of health care delivery scarcity.

In the past, when I've said things like "I'm a big fan of the NHS" it's because of two key reasons:

1. The freedom I have not having my health care tied to my employer (which is like a lottery as well as things like pre-existing conditions being excluded, etc.),
and
2.  Because on the whole, the people who have delivered NHS care to me have been very impressive, especially when I consider the circumstances they have to work under.  My hat is off to the NHS staff who deal with patients at the point of care, my experience with the people I have personally dealt with has been that they work hard and do the best they can under the circumstances.

ETA: clarification about why I am no longer a Republican.

Well, I certainly won't call you a horrible insensitive cow, as I think you have made some valid points, but I predict this thread could go the way of the Prince Harry one, and right after I tried to bring it back on track!  

Dang, and I was trying to stay off this topic, too!

Was there really a need for such emotive language and a reference to an argument?

Let's stay on track please.

I've never had a surgery that only allowed appts to be made on the day. I've been registered at a total of 7 in various parts of the UK. So that is purely down to the surgery you go to.

That said, my last surgery in Cumbria had SIX minute appointments - not even 10! That was very annoying. I found they were almost always running late.

MeShell, I agree 100% with your post.  Many people have plastic surgery procedures that are for reasons other than vanity.  My neighbor plans on having a TT on the NHS as soon as she is eligible.  She didn't have gastric bypass, but she has lost a significant amount of weight (size 30/32 down to a size . She has significant overhanging skin and has had multiple infections that haven't been the easiest to clear up.  She has to maintain a certain BMI for I think it's 2 years before she's eligible for the TT; she has about 8 months to go IIRC, and she can't wait, and her reasons are her health, not how she looks in a pair of tight jeans.

And yes, I do have a pal who ultimately did adopt.  After having IVF fail 5 times (she and her former spouse paid for it themselves and thankfully had the means to do so), her marriage ended.  As a single woman in her 40s, she was unable to adopt in her area and went abroad to do so.   She became a mother to her son when he was 18 months old and it cost her about £25,000.  It's NOT a cheap option and far from pain-free.  It took her 3 years of endless paperwork and red tape to become a mother.

My SIL is in a similar situation.  IVF hasn't worked for her, and it's incredibly hard to adopt in Ireland, mainly because there are so few babies up for adoption.  SIL and BIL have looked into adopting a child from overseas, but they simply don't have the enormous amount of money required.  

From NHS's own website:

http://www.nhs.uk/aboutnhs/Constitution/Pages/Constitution.aspx

The NHS belongs to us all. The NHS Constitution was published on January 21 2009. It brings together in one place for the first time in the history of the NHS what staff, patients and public can expect from the NHS. It explains that by working together we can make the very best of finite resources to improve our health and wellbeing, to keep mentally and physically well, to get better when we are ill, and when we cannot recover to stay as well as we can to the end of our lives.

I'm still gonna rave about the puddings.

   For the longest time I have thought a TT was a reference to a ladies downstairs 

Please note that the debate over IVF on the NHS has been split from this topic and should be discussed here: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=50543.0 

Back to the original topic, please! 

DH once had a nasty blocked salivary duct that got infected.  The surgeons managed to clean it out and get most of the infection out, but totally missed the stone that was causing the problem.  So he had to go back for further surgery, this time with dental surgeon who knew what he was about.
Then there was the time DS (age 3) had mumps and I took him to the GP who said he was fine and we could still go on our holiday the following week. Two days later he had a high fever, throwing up, barely able to move.  A more senior GP came to the house and rushed him to Seacroft Hospital with suspected encephalitis (or meningitis)  I had to carry him to the ambulance myself as the ambulance men didn't want to touch him.  After several days in isolation the other cheek "mumped" The doctors seemed relieved by this as it showed it was "viral" not the more deadly "bacterial"  He recovered but what really bothered me though was that all the medical people kept saying to us "What a shame you've missed your holiday"
Would that have happened in the US?

As many have said, there are good and bad things about both the NHS and US systems. I've only had to use the NHS twice in over 4 years and I'm rolling 50/50 right now.

The first time I had just started wearing contacts a couple of months before and was using 30 day disposables. One Saturday evening my right eye got very irritated so I took the contacts out. By the time I got up Sunday morning the eye was even worse, so bad in fact that it was running a stream of tears and I couldn't keep it open. Went to A&E and they sent me to the on-call eye person. After dilating my eye in a fully lit room (no numbing drops btw) and examining it he informed me that I was allergic to my contacts and should see my regular optician on Monday then sent me home with basically some rewetting drops. After managing to keep myself from clawing out my own eyeball from the socket for another 24 hours I got to see my optician. After some very soothing numbing drops and another exam in a darkened room she determined that I had a severely scratched cornea and gave me the proper medication to keep me comfortable while it healed.

Second occasion for NHS was just this last weekend. I hurt my wrist when I tripped on some stairs at work. At the time I thought the wrist might have been broken. However, after a very thorough exam at the hospital it was determined that I have suffered soft tissue damage to a tendon or ligament. Prescription for heavy-duty anti-inflammatory tablets and a wrist support to keep me from moving it too much. Three days later and, although it still hurts if I twist it a bit awkwardly, wrist seems much, much better.

Two worst experiences in the US:
1. 18 years ago three doctors in three separate trips to an emergency room in three days time telling me that my 11 month old daughter only had an ear infection. On the third night we ended up rushing her into the ER at Cardinal Glennon in St. Louis where she ended up on a respirator for 72 hours because she had a viral chest infection and couldn't breathe on her own.
2. Age 22 I slipped on some ice (yes I'm clumsy, see NHS story above about falling down stairs) and fell very hard on my backside. Two days later did exactly the same thing and landed on exactly the same spot. Four months later woke up one morning and couldn't walk and my left leg was suddenly four inches longer then right. Doctor at ER does x-rays and then proceeds to tell me I have severe scoliosis and surgery is the only option, even though I'm very vehemently telling him I have no history of scoliosis and have had no symptoms until just the past few hours. Harsh words were spoken, mainly by me. I got the name of my dad's chiropractor and started treatment with him. Turns out I had a severely herniated disc and it took about 6 months for him to get everything back in place and working properly. It's not perfect and never will be but I haven't had to have treatment in over 15 years and I didn't have to have my spine mutilated.

Two worst experiences in the US:
1. 18 years ago three doctors in three separate trips to an emergency room in three days time telling me that my 11 month old daughter only had an ear infection. On the third night we ended up rushing her into the ER at Cardinal Glennon in St. Louis where she ended up on a respirator for 72 hours because she had a viral chest infection and couldn't breathe on her own.

As someone who is dealing with a worrisome ear infection, I'm curious as to how a chest infection can be misdiagnosed so badly?

What were her symptoms?  How did the problem progress?

I've been given the 'shrug it off' talk from one doctor, and a course of antibiotics from another - which has not affected the problem in the least. 

As someone who is dealing with a worrisome ear infection, I'm curious as to how a chest infection can be misdiagnosed so badly?

What were her symptoms?  How did the problem progress?

I've been given the 'shrug it off' talk from one doctor, and a course of antibiotics from another - which has not affected the problem in the least. 

This all happened at the military hospital at Andrews Air Force Base. She was already on antibiotics for an ear infection (legitimate and NOT diagnosed at the military hospital) and on all three trips to the emergency room they insinuated that I was being an over-anxious mother. She had been on the antibiotics for about six days and the symptoms of the ear infection were disappearing when she started running a high fever again, vomiting, not wanting to eat or drink anything etc. Her breathing was not right but because she was crying a lot they said the odd breathing was related to the crying. After returning home from the last ER trip I noticed about 2 hours later that she was breathing so hard that her abdomen was pulling into her ribs with each exhalation and she was starting to turn blue. That's when I drove her to the ER at Cardinal Glennon, damn the cost. They took one look at her and rushed her into intensive care. Come to find out they had admitted over 20 children that night with the same thing.

Yikes Cherokee!  Glad it turned out well.

thanks for the info

Well, I've just had a very scary situation with my 18 year old daughter. I came home early from work last Thursday to find my daughter on the sofa convulsing with a very high fever. I took her to the emergency room to find that she had a temperature of almost 104. She ended up with a diagnosis of a severe kidney infection that had started to affect other organs in her body. She received ultrasounds, cat scans, and every other procedure possible. She stayed 5 nights in a private room with state of the art everything. She has been home since yesterday and my bill will be the $250.00 co-pay. I went to fill her prescription at the pharmacy and it cost me $135.00 with the insurance paying for a portion of it. She will have another cat scan soon to make sure the infected kidney is healing properly and all the follow up care needed. Those appointments will cost me the co-pay of $25.00 for each visit to the specialist.

I don't know how this would compare in the UK. I just know that my daughter was given the best of care in a very clean, modern hospital. The doctors and nurses treated all of us well and the diagnosis and all the treatment was given quickly. I have had experiences in the past with my younger daughter staying in a hospital due to a bacterial infection and we didn't have insurance then, but instead she had medi-cal (medi-caid). Again, she was given the best of care and it didn't cost me a dime in out of pocket expenses. I wish that there was a system where we paid the premium or taxes, and all the expenses are covered while the care stays consistently excellent. I know that doesn't exist, but I wish it were possible. I personally wouldn't want to compromise the quality of service and care that I'm accustomed to, but I do wish that insurance was more affordable.