^ Perhaps the caffeine hasn't kicked in enough yet, but I don't see what point you are trying to make? Private and NHS facilities are sometimes the very same thing only you pay for one through taxes (or is it NI?) and the other from takehome. How does that make the NHS "suck"? You just said they are the same thing wearing a different hat as far as I can make out
Without the NHS I'd be dead, and the surgeon who saved my life is also the private hospital's surgeon for the ops I've had, so there would have been little benefit for me to have gone private. Can't fault the service I've had each time I've been in hospital either (maybe the food...).
That said, I have paid for private counselling and got the service I needed on my terms, which seemed tricky to achieve with the NHS.
This sounds about right to me. Thankfully,I've never yet needed much in the way of serious hospital inpatient treatment but I'm very,
very glad we have the NHS cos it's been a lifesaver to me too - even if not necessarily in a literal sense. Although, when you consider the totality of the service I guess it really has been a literal lifesaver. I have no real complaints whatsoever about any of the service I've received from the NHS over the years. Obviously I'll bitch and moan over what are essentially minor irritations for the most part (waiting times can be a pain, but I know that the system works fairly and just cos I
want to be seen first doesn't mean I
need to be seen first and the like).
Aside from one or two incidents (notable cos they are so very exceptional) I've always been treated with courtesy, kindness, patience and respect no matter what state I'm in or what the reason for me seeking medical assitance happens to be. In fact the number of times an NHS employee has bent over backwards to help me vastly outweighs the one, maybe two, instances I can think of when I happen to have encountered an arsehole. No organsation that size is gonna be completely arsehole-free, nor could anybody reasonably expect absolute perfection each and every time, but given its size and scope it is a truly incredible service we should all be very grateful indeed for having access to. It would never even cross my mind to look into private treatment cos I have zero complaints.
The one possible exception I might make would be the one you suggest, Josh. I've not found their counselling and mental health services to be up to the standard of their physical health services. Of course there could be any number of reasons for this - very much including problems of my own of various kinds - but the mental health side of things does seem to be a bit of a Cinderalla Service, as they say. I don't for one moment blame the people on the front line for any problems in this area though. It doesn't seem to be from lack of compassion or understanding on a one-to-one basis. Seems to be more a systemic issue to me. Severe lack of funding and investment (for mental health services, I mean) over decades would be more the issue as I see it. I've all but given up on it cos it seems to me the only option on offer these days is CBT, CBT and more CBT. And I just don't seem to get along with CBT. Again, quite possibly a "me" issue rather than an NHS one, but it does seem a very limited service with little or no options other than the one that costs nothing (ie CBT).
That's a relatively minor quibble in the grand scheme though. Overall, I do think the NHS is something we should all be very proud of and very grateful for. If people wish to pay for the same doctors to use the same equipment to do the same procedures out of their own pocket then great - I hear the food and accomodation is better in private hospitals too - but I don't get why people bash the NHS at all. There is the option of private - most places you don't get an option at all, you either pay up or get nowt.
