It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.
Well, there’s that. And the fact that it can take up to 3 months to even get a CT made and reported on.
If you have cancer and you need to wait three months for (the results of) a scan, the cancer may very well have become inoperable or have spread to other organs in the meantime.
I obviously can’t comment on everyone’s experience, but for the few people I know that did get cancer (including my mother) they were all scheduled scans within two weeks and had results delivered within another two (or less especially for the first diagnosis).
In my mother’s case everything moved extremely quickly, due to the doctor suspecting something serious the first scan was scheduled in a few days and the results were back before a week had passed.
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
That being said, it doesn’t compare to the best paid doctors in the US, but in return EMTs make good money and everyone gets healthcare.
I thought healthcare was free there.
It’s not. Of course the doctors and nurses don’t work for free (and neither should they). They’re just paid by the NHS instead of the patient. And the NHS of course is paid for by taxes.
And it turns out the government effectively running health care lets them negotiate for you a lot better than you can “negotiate” on your own after getting out of the ER.
I always heard the NHS was a total shitshow
For the average person it’s pretty great. If you have something minor in the grand scheme of injuries you may have to wait a few hours to be seen, but if it’s serious you’re seen right away. In both cases you go home without having to pay anything at all.
Where it really fails is helping people with chronic illnesses. There’s still a lot of denial about women’s health issues especially so getting diagnosed with something can be impossible if your doctor decides “it’s all in your head”.
Well, there’s that. And the fact that it can take up to 3 months to even get a CT made and reported on.
If you have cancer and you need to wait three months for (the results of) a scan, the cancer may very well have become inoperable or have spread to other organs in the meantime.
I obviously can’t comment on everyone’s experience, but for the few people I know that did get cancer (including my mother) they were all scheduled scans within two weeks and had results delivered within another two (or less especially for the first diagnosis).
In my mother’s case everything moved extremely quickly, due to the doctor suspecting something serious the first scan was scheduled in a few days and the results were back before a week had passed.
Good to hear that it all moved quickly for your mum.
But, not everyone is so lucky unfortunately. It seems mid an south Essex are the worst places to be when you have cancer.
Sure, turns out that when you have a government monopoly on healthcare, you can pretty much just dictate the prices for every prescription or procedure.
Whether that results in better service however is an entirely different question – after all, why should doctors or nurses work extra hard if they’re going to be paid the same either way?
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in Sweden there’s a pretty steep progression for doctors and nurses where performance translates to better titles, schedules and significantly better pay. A specialist nurse is quite well compensated.
That being said, it doesn’t compare to the best paid doctors in the US, but in return EMTs make good money and everyone gets healthcare.
Oh, you think all that money goes to doctors and nurses now?
Oh no, I’m pretty sure a good chunk of it also goes to various useless bureaucrats.
More and more hospitals are being sold to private equity.
In the UK or the US?