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if by some bad luck, you were to end up in hospital ill, would you rather be at home in the uk, or in some other foreign country?
UK can't get better care than the NHS.
Having had the joys of the hospital in Le Mans 2 weeks ago to savour I have to say they treated me very well, a flash of the old blue card, and nothing was too much trouble, care was excellent, and the treatment given was enough to get me through the weekend and back home.
Given the language barrier, obviously home is the preferred option, but 1 handed signing does work even abroad!
The UK has some of the best medical care in the world.
France
Most people like to be in a hospital near where they live if possible.
It ain't perfect, but I would always choose the NHS, because it's really very good.
I think a more interesting question would be "which country would you like to live in if you or your partner/child had a chronic illness or suffered life-changing injuries and subsequent disability?" Uk hospitals are ace, but what is better is the true equality of access to a high standard of longer term care, and once you accept how this is funded, the relatively great value for money it represents to the taxpayer.
I really do not understand why people think the NHS is the best? So tell me. Why is the NHS the best overall? I will try to listen impartially I really will.
NHS - best in the world. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/17/nhs-health
I live very near a very good hospital - Frimley Park. I couldn't choose better if I tried, and they've patched me up a few times, I've had 2 ops there and a few physio sessions. I simply cannot fault them, or any other part if the NHS.
France (from what I hear, admittedly), if only for the food. At least they recognise that eating healthily, and well, is part of the treatment, and that catering isn't an inconvenience to be farmed out to an outside supplier.
Fresh (yes, fresh) fish and crunchy salads, washed down with a mini bottle of wine, as opposed to re-heated steak and kidney pud and sticky toffee pudding (Std cardiac ward fare).
If it had to be in this country then Lincolnshire? or Beds? who have an enlightened catering policy using fresh produce for every meal, prepared on site (even pastry) , and that the hospital staff are happy to pay for to eat in the staff canteen .
All for about 60% of the UK average daily hospital spend.
Oh,and it's handy to have the froggy consultant's home number so relatives can phone him at the weekend to find out one's prospects.
Waiting lists anyone? Lack of choice anyone? gp's who generally seem to know nothing? Sport injury? take some ibuprofen and rest....
i had a choice of 3 place for my hernia...i chose the nearest. i have also just had a choice for my heart op, i chose the one my cardiologist suggested.
I'd certainly choose British hospitals over Spanish or Chinese ones...the only others I have experienced.
NHS - best in the world. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/17/nhs-health
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That was a survey of eleven countries.
I did 3 weeks in an amazing hospital in Vienna. I was drugged to the eyeballs for most of it but the actual location was stunning.
UK can't get better care than the NHS
Not sure about that really. My doctor diagnosed something dodgy on a Fri and I had an MRI on Monday, and Pet-scan, CT and one other within a week. Cost me around 75 EUR
pretty good really. The idea of having to pay a small part of the care to control costs is not a bad one
this is Belgium by the way
The paramedics that I have had the (mis)fortune to meet we're brilliant and saved MrsJulianA from a serious crash and the neuro ward were very good, but I can't say the same of the rest of the care. Mrs JA paid for quite a bit of her rehab, then she got a letter offering her help back to work when she'd been back at work for about six months.
Her experience 20 years ago of a German hospital was excellent, however.
Britain needs to sort a few things out - the answers are just across the channel if anyone cares to look...
I was taken ill in the middle of the night whilst in a Mumbai hotel. Whisked into the local hozzy, I thought the place would kill me before the chest pains did. It didn't - the service was brilliant, really fast, amazingly cheap given the amount of marble in the place. The drugs had no copyright - huuuuuge pile of medication for £8.
Gall stones by the way, had my gall bladder taken out via medical insurance here in the UK. Not that brave....and couldn't wait for the NHS to sort it out.
"The only serious black mark against the NHS was its poor record on keeping people alive"
If you read the whole article that bit makes more sense. If you read just the first page there are about ten people moaned at for taking that one sentence out of context. Just like you have.
chest pains ...........Gall stones by the way
Is that normal for gall stones to cause chest pain, or are you a medical oddity and had your gall bladder in a strange place ?
EDIT : I'm not doubting the possibility of gall stones causing chest pains, just a little surprised.
And it's another to add to the long list of 'things that can cause chest pains that aren't cardiac'.
Gall stones gives you a chest crushing pain. - thought I was having a heart attack at first. Loads of pain radiating from under the ribs on the right hand side, but jeeeeezo it was sore
Try it and see if you have a different experience
chest pains ...........Gall stones by the way
Is that normal for gall stones to cause chest pain, or are you a medical oddity and had your gall bladder in a strange place ?
Gall stones can feel very similar to Angina, so no,he's not wierd.
Sorry I edited my posted before seeing yours. Chest crushing pain sounds scary.
Wasn't my best day 😉
France, Germany or Switzerland as long as my insurance was paying.
When my son compressed a vertebra in Courcheval he was carted off to the hospital in Moutiers where they kept him for four days until they could make him a back brace for travel. We can't fault the staff or the hospital, they were excellent (with one rude exception) and we liked and trusted the orthopedic consultant. The hospital admin staff kept coming up and telling us to relax and not be in a hurry to leave, which wasn't surprising considering they were screwing 1200 Euros out of our insurance co every day! When we got home our own orthopod and my cycling buddy, a doctor, both told us that in Britain he'd have been x-rayed then, with my son's injury, sent straight home and told to take it easy. The French certainly know how to make money out of healthcare.
Madrid, but then I live here and Spanish health care has been excellent in my experience. (Long waiting lists, but that's a separate matter).
I've never been really ill, but living in the Philippines with my son when he was born with congenital heart disease, I'd have to say abroad.
We were given the paediatric heart doctors mobile number in case of emergencies, the heart surgeon's number after the op and paediatricians give out their number as a matter of course in case you have any questions.
The hospital was spotless. Food was delicious and service was amazing.
Having said that, it cost $30,000 for his surgery.
The NHS is wonderful but not the best.
I reckon you could have the docs phone numbers over here for 30 grand.
LOL @ dangerousbeans 😀
To answer the question: At home. In France.
I reckon you could have the docs phone numbers over here for 30 grand.
You can have similar support for free. My Bro has a list of direct numbers he can call for advice following a liver transplant.
Not sure about that really. My doctor diagnosed something dodgy on a Fri and I had an MRI on Monday, and Pet-scan, CT and one other within a week. Cost me around 75 EUR
Had most of those more than once MRI I've had about half a dozen times. Total cost so far is £0.
Is that normal for gall stones to cause chest pain, or are you a medical oddity and had your gall bladder in a strange place ?
The chest covers a large area, with radiated pain it's not unusual no. Something certain pathways need to realise is just that, when people say they have chest pain it could be anywhere in the chest.
France and Spain before the UK (not that the NHS is bad)
Spain
Really?
ratherbeintobago - Member
Spain
Really?
Not going to compare to the NHS as it's been over 20 years since I've needed their services, but Spanish health care is generally excellent, albeit over-subscribed.
I've been patched up in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, USA & UK so I think I'll try Norway next.
On a scale of excellence I'd say France was the best, but then I've never been in any Hospital for major surgery, just mild ailments, so if it’s major then France.
France (from what I hear, admittedly), if only for the food.
A good friend of mine had an extended stay in a couple of French hospitals followed by a couple of different UK ones recently. He would disagree, apparently the food is a bit crap and NHS grub is better.
Having visited him in both French and UK hospitals I will also say that the NHS ones had much better hygiene, maintenance, admissions and, from what I could see, general patient care than the French hospital I saw. I believe that the intensive care and surgical stuff in France was top notch (I didn't see this bit), but the normal ward I saw him on was less than ideal and the general level of care before he got really, seriously ill was, frankly, a bit crap. Its impossible to tell for certain, but I suspect that the French approach to treating him at first may have contributed to how ill he got later on.
Based on his experience of French healthcare I'd much, much rather get sick in the UK and be looked after by the NHS.
I managed to have an accident in Bolivia riding the "Road of Death", rear tyre blew off rim at about 30mph, dislocated shoulder, broken arm and brake lever into groin.
Took them 8 hours to get me to a German run clinic, only after they had tried to take me to an x-ray machine in someones house (so he could charge insurance) and to a few other small clinics who were clearly not set up for surgery, so they could charge money.
They re-located my arm and put screws in to fix the humerous, forgetting to check rest of my body, so woke up morning after surgery with bed sodden in blood from brake lever to groin.
What followed was five days of really weird dreams caused by morphine, blood loss, the hospital being at 4200m above sea level and the fact that every time i was lucid, TV seemed to have Baywatch with spanish subtitles on. The food always seemed to be chicken soup with french fries floating in it!
Thankfully had the good sense to get the surgery checked with NHS when I got home, who confirmed that the screws they put in arm in Bolivia where in completely wrong, and that they would have to re-disclocate shoulder and fix it, they were brilliant and arm is 99% now, so i blinkin love 'em.
If its a life and death situation then probably the UK, but for routine operations no thanks..
My wife had to go through the Spanish NHS system for a knee problem as a resident not tourist.Dreadful.When seeing the consultant every patient had a strict 2 minutes only.This was timed ,you couldn't sit down and had to stand against a wall.People were lined up 10 at a time ready to go in with about another 50 crammed into the waiting room.
In hospital the patients relatives have to change the bedding,bring food in and take the person to the toilet.Someone is expected to be at the bedside 24 hrs a day.You felt like you were in a 3rd world country.
As a permanent resident of Madrid my sister, who is over on a visit, yesterday showed me her scar which was the result of the carpal tunnel op she just had done - she can't stop banging on about how fantastic healthcare in Spain is. You'd think that after well over 20 years of living in Spain her appreciation of Spanish healthcare might have waned slightly, apparently not.
My wife had to go through the Spanish NHS system for a knee problem as a resident not tourist.Dreadful.When seeing the consultant every patient had a strict 2 minutes only.This was timed ,you couldn't sit down and had to stand against a wall.People were lined up 10 at a time ready to go in with about another 50 crammed into the waiting room.
In hospital the patients relatives have to change the bedding,bring food in and take the person to the toilet.Someone is expected to be at the bedside 24 hrs a day.You felt like you were in a 3rd world country.
Where was that in Spain? 😯
It's completely different to my experience of consultants (in Madrid) - they're slow to see you (long waiting lists) but once you get there they're excellent, no pressure to hurry up the visit, modern facilities... And my two kids were both born in a Spanish hospital, I can assure you that all bed changing etc was done by a nurse, I certainly didn't have to do anything!
Mogrim,it was Arrixaca hospital in Murcia.
In the end we paid private in the UK for a new knee as the Spanish consultant said she should come back when she is over 60 which was still 11 years away.
A Spanish neighbours husband went to the above hospital for an operation.His wife stayed at his bedside for 4 weeks waiting for the op until they came and told them that the surgeon had gone on holiday so he would have to go home and come back again.
A French friend in the village cannot believe how incompetent and uncaring the system is compared to France.
In 2000 the World Health Organisation apparently ranked Spain's health system as the seventh best in the world. However each autonomous community is responsible for administration of local healthcare services, I guess this must cause some discrepancies between autonomous communities. And in the case of Madrid and Murcia it would appear quite a large discrepancy.
I'll take CH and Germany over the UK any day ...
The NHS is not what the Guardian and all it workers would have you believe,
There are just as many shirkers as in every other part of life ...
My care in CH was stunning, as was my wife's
Well, the wait here for an op was 7 months FFS so abroad every time.
There are just as many shirkers as in every other part of life ...
But not in Germany, or Switzerland where your care was stunning ?
You're absolutely right not to believe everything the Guardian says, or random punters on the internet for that matter.
However the UN's World Health Organisation probably provides a reasonably well researched and objective opinion on the matter.
According to WHO the US spends more of its GDP on its health system than any other country in the world, followed by Switzerland and then Germany.
WHO ranks the US as the 37th best health system in the world, Switzerland 20th, and Germany 25th. The UK despite spending far less of its GDP on heath ranks 18th. It would seem that money alone doesn't buy you the best healthcare system in the world.
Maybe the dedication and motivation of healthcare staff also comes into it ?
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems_in_2000 ]World Health Organization ranking of health systems in 2000[/url]
Much of the money given to health trusts in the uk is whittered away on bureaucratic bullshit instead of caring for patients. Hospitals being closed increasing waiting lists at others.
Excellent managers with years of experience given golden handshakes to cut cost. Next thing you know departments haven't got a clue what's going on as the new boss is 24 and cost half as much. Money just thrown away.
Everyone works so hard for the nhs and most do an outstanding job yet get no appreciation. This is where the money should be spent. Givining them payrises in line with inflation would be a start,
Imagine how much money an nhs trust chief exec get. Are they worth it? Never
Excellent managers with years of experience given golden handshakes to cut cost. Next thing you know departments haven't got a clue what's going on as the new boss is 24 and cost half as much.
I thought they had resolved that little problem with "revolving door" managers ?
[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10702318/Number-of-NHS-managers-re-employed-after-receiving-redundancy-doubles.html ]Number of NHS managers re-employed after receiving redundancy doubles[/url]
[i]More than one in six managers and administrators given payouts worth as much as £600,000 are now back working in the health service.
New Government figures show 3,950 managers made redundant since the shake-up of NHS services in 2010 have since been rehired in another parts of the NHS. [/i]
Nice work if you can get it, as they say.
But blame this government for that situation, not the staff.
Excellent managers with years of experience given golden handshakes to cut cost. Next thing you know departments haven't got a clue what's going on as the new boss is 24 and cost half as much.
That's my personal experience of the nhs. I've had 2 doctors in my hospital leave as they cannot deal with management issues. Great for me with my issues.
I was in a Spanish hospital and it was very nice, but all the same it would have been better to be near home. I don't really know whether it was private or public.
Well, the wait here for an op was 7 months FFS so abroad every time.
Every time? Kinda depends on which abroad we're talking about, doesn't it?