Ideologically a 1, actually a 2 but only because I would change the bureaucracy. I’d get rid of most of the management and get back people like matrons, bring cleaning back under the direct control of the matron and get rid of all outsourcing and private involvement, etc. When you’re running something “not for profit”, you can’t really have anyone on the inside who is trying to make a profit. It throws the whole thing off. I would also like the NHS to stop spending my tax money paying to treat people who have chosen to go private and something has gone wrong (because that’s what happens; the private hospitals fuck it up and call an NHS ambulance). I’d also make people who choose to go abroad to get plastic surgery put up with whatever they get instead of making me pay when their vanity goes wrong.
My mother has had an ongoing health/chronic pain condition for twenty years. She received emergency medical care, including being flown back to the UK, free. She has received surgery, inpatient treatment, and then twenty years’ worth of medication, free. My father found a rodent ulcer on his ear - it was off in three days. When he needed a pacemaker, it was fitted two weeks later. When it developed a fault, it was refitted within a week. My mother had a suspicious mole; it was gone the next day. My partner’s mother would be dead if it wasn’t for the NHS. She had an emergency liver transplant and has been on all the drugs you need for that for the last fifteen years (including cyclosporin, famously expensive). She’s also had two heart attacks and a stroke, and came down with pneumonia earlier this year. There’s no way she could have afforded the care for any of these things if it hadn’t been free at the point of delivery. I needed dental treatment; I rang my dentist, it was non-emergency so I had to wait. All of five days. I then had a wisdom tooth out, for which I had to wait two weeks but again only because it wasn’t an emergency so I couldn’t take time off work. When I became concerned about the removal site, I rang the dentist and was seen a couple of hours later. When I had my own health issue, I saw a specialist within a month (it wasn’t life threatening, so I went on the normal waiting list), was booked in for surgery a week after that, received the surgery and after-care, and the drugs I needed for afterwards were free - not even a prescription charge, because they were given to me in hospital. I had a routine smear test last week. I rang on Friday, got an appointment for Monday, took a book in case I had to wait and only had time to find my page before they called me through. I was done straight away and came away with birth control for twelve months. All free. One of my sisters had gall bladder problems. She had to wait two months for surgery, which then had complications from which she almost died (and the hospital ended up paying her damages). However the emergency and intensive care she received meant that she survived and went on to be well enough to have two more children (free!). Another sister is currently receiving free fertility treatment. My brother had cellulitis and was seen by a specialist within three days.
No, I would not like to have paid for any of these things (other than the fact that I pay for them through my taxes). I would also not like my neighbour to have had to pay to have her very cute baby, or the elderly person I visit to have to pay for the care she needs, or the kids I teach whose parents can’t afford to send them to school properly equipped to have to pay for anything.
I heard that guy on the radio. Americans think British people have bad teeth only because our teeth aren’t messed with as a matter of routine. I have no doubt that if I smiled at you, some of you would recoil in horror, because my teeth aren’t straight or blindingly white. They are clean, healthy and functional, and frankly I don’t see the need for them to be in a perfect line. I was offered braces as a teenager. I declined. To be honest, I sometimes find American teeth quite scary, but I don’t go around criticising. If you’re happy with your mouth, then I’m happy for you. I don’t understand why this has to be such an issue with some people.
Oh, long post. Sorry.
). My mother has had superb care for her (now sorted) breast cancer. Equally my father has had all manner of serious ailments (triple heart bypass, for instance). All excellent. All sorted. All free. Can’t argue with that.