People have asked us what nationalized health service is like. Our general impression is that in this case, you get what you pay for. Basically it is cheap (for the individual person), but they don't really do anything. You pay a nominal amount for a prescription, and can make an appointment to see a doctor for free. Unfortunately, it seems like when you see a doctor they don't do anything. We joked that if you went in with a broken leg, they would say, yes, you have a broken leg, I would stay off it for a while. It is our understanding the Doctors are allowed 7 minutes per patient. You are assigned a clinic in your area, and get one of 20 or so doctors at any given appointment. The goal is to move you home after giving birth within in hours. Access to specialists is very limited. We have all sought out a private doctor while here for treatment. Despite its problems, I will take my USA Healthcare any day. I am sure that many of my English friends would disagree. It is all about what you are use to having.
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Hi. I think you're right that many English people would disagree. I certainly do. Fair enough, you like what you're used to, but I think you have not yet realised how best to approach using the NHS. I don't know why you say you can't choose which doctor you see. Yes, you can, but you will probably get an appointment sooner if you don't mind who you see - so, you can decide for each appointment, depending on whether it's urgent or more something for which you want to take advantage of a particular doctor's special interest or expertise. Also, I don't know why you say access to secondary care is limited. If you have a condition serious enough to warrant that level of specialist treatment, then you will certainly receive it. And all this free at the point of delivery. Speaking of which, it is therapeutically optimal to return mother and baby home as sooon as possible. They used to keep them in for days until they realised this was of no benefit at all. These are all arguments in favour of the NHS. There are numerous arguments agains the US system, which I won't even start into here. There may be many things the US does better than UK, but the health care system is not one of them.
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