What a f**cking day, at the NHS.

[Projectmars]

Surely you can see how nonsensical it is to keep something the same when it's obviously working poorly? We're talking about publicly funded healthcare here - the answer is to grant them more funding, and perhaps more competent oversight. The answer is not to shrug it off and tell people to "suck it up".

It is still miles better than what we have here in the US.

[Nihilist74]

Unless you are rich, you are going to have to wait a long time for capitalist health care too.

[I Push Buttons]

Sure, in the US your place in the queue depends on how much money you have, not your condition. It must be so cool to flash a credit card and have your sprained ankle take priority over some poor guy who is having a heart-attack.

I am poor though.

[draykorinee]

Embarrassed for the OP, you dislocated your shoulder, you're not an emergency case. It's objectively no different in a private system. Sorry.

[Vulgrym]

I've never had to wait for an emergency, either for myself, my kids or my parents (one of whom had a serious issue to deal with recently). Live in Ontario.

I've had similar triage experiences at hospitals both in Canada and the US.

[DSRilk]

Dislocated my shoulder this morning, called an ambulance, they said, order a taxi as it was not an emergency. I did, finally in hospital, was sitting for around 3 hours to see a DR for 2 min, he told me, go do an x-ray, what do you know? Another 1 hour wait. Bare in mind my shoulder was still dislocated and the pain I was in I could not explain. I waited after the x ray I needed to rejoin the 3 hour queue again, what a nightmare. Fuck it, I am going private next time.

rant over.

If you think private is faster, you are gravely mistaken. Similar thing for my daughter when she broke her wrist. Several hour wait, told to get x-ray, several more hours... and C'ville has some of the best hospitals nationwide, and our insurance is as good as it gets. The reality is, sometimes there's a queue - private or public. I've never had emergency care that was all that fast here in the US, and for all the slow stories I read about public in this forum, I have many coworkers in Canada who have very different stories - broke an arm, in and out of surgery the same morning. Some places and times are fast, some are slow - it's dangerous to extrapolate "truths" from a few anecdotes, much less just one.

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hm..... yet you see people rave at how good free healthcare is xD. Id rather pay than be stuck for hours waiting for some doctor to see me.

Thousands of dollars and you'll likely still be waiting hours - be careful what you wish for. Private healthcare is not necessarily better or faster.

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Sure, in the US your place in the queue depends on how much money you have, not your condition. It must be so cool to flash a credit card and have your sprained ankle take priority over some poor guy who is having a heart-attack.

It doesn't work that way. You can flash your credit card all day, but you'll still get tossed in the queue just like everyone else.

[GKLeatherCraft]

That does suck, but people like you are part of the reason you had to wait so long, So many people call ambulances out for such stupid reasons, You're in pain, yeah, but it's not an emergency, or life threatening, and then people go to A&E for things that aren't an issue, could heal fine in a few days, or they could've just seen their GP.

[Deleted]

That does suck, but people like you are part of the reason you had to wait so long, So many people call ambulances out for such stupid reasons, You're in pain, yeah, but it's not an emergency, or life threatening, and then people go to A&E for things that aren't an issue, could heal fine in a few days, or they could've just seen their GP.

Exactly this

[medievalman1]

Lotta people in this thread claiming a dislocated joint (shoulder in this case) isn't an emergency... Hate to break it to you, but it is, albeit not nearly as emergent as some issues. The longer a joint remains dislocated, the greater the likelihood of functional deficiencies and of needing more involved treatment such as conscious sedation and/or surgery.

[LiiLoSNK]

I dislocated my arm when I was a kid. It didn't hurt that bad, but I was like 16 at the time so I wasn't a huge pussy about it. If I were like 12 I would definitely feel like ranting about it on the internet.

Really though 7 hours is a bit long.

[Zan15]

The emergency room we go to has never had a wait. We go to the emergency room like 6 times a year so... This is in the US btw.

welp i provided a website that tracks, so you can see if your hospital is on there.



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To which the answer becomes; tough shit.

You may be in pain, but there are other people with more critical conditions that need to be addressed first.

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People that have to visit the ER six times a year are part of the problem, just fyi.

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And most people on insurance have enjoyed the benefits of the ACA with its elimination of junk plans and by helping to arrest the rate of premium increase.

But hey, at the end of the day it's still a private healthcare system which always sucks.

FYI people with things like chronic Asthma, have no other choice but to visit the ER 6+ times a year because triggers are a lot of times out of their control. There are legitimate needs to end up in the ER multiple times a year, as it will avoid ending up in the inpatient department for 20 days because you waited.
You should find out why they had to go 6 times...you'd be shocked how the ER is the only options for a lot of chronic diseases, even for people with insurance.


On top of that a lot of treatments that could be handled in a clinic or over the counter has not been made legal to do so, because there is too much $$$ lost by doing so.

We had over the counter asthma spray for 20 years.
Bam problem with the delivery unit. FDA pulled approval.
No one has stepped forward to provide an over the counter alternative, because there is so much more money in the prescriptions and the other delivery units are still under patient.

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Having to wait for 5 hours in the ER has literally only that one meaning. Well, to be less specific it means the hospital is operating over capacity. It's possible they don't have enough room to serve their clientele.

or they had bus accident where 20 patients with trauma came in the hour before you. No hospital outside of a few monsters are ready to handle this load and still maintain low wait times.

you can't plan for this capacity, you can plan for this emergency load but it takes ramp up time....and then time to level back out. you are not going to staff for a 20 patient rush happening every day of the week, all year. if you did that then you might as well add 10k to every bill in the ER now.

i take it you don't run a business that has to plan capacity/production based on random work loads....lol

[Drutt]

My father in the UK just had a health scare and was treated quickly, competently and without issue.

My boss' father in the US just had a health scare and had to put up with slow service, incompetence and broken equipment. This included a rescheduled scan days later because the machine broke, forcing him to stay in the hospital for at least three additional days.

Individual cases prove nothing, especially when the person complaining did something objectively daft like call an ambulance for a mere dislocated shoulder.

[schwank05]

I pay for healthcare and live in a town of 2500 people and see the exact same thing. So nope its just our shitty healthcare system. But if you dislocate something like this IMO go to a Chiropractor they will pop it back in and readjust the rest of you for like $30-$50.00. Bam no wait no BS. I did this the last time I dislocated my Hip and called him up, said "Hey Doc, I dun fucked up my leg" drove down town and was in and out in 15 mins.

[Zan15]

WTF are you doing that requires A&E 6x a year

i can give you one easy example.
chronic asthma and an attack.

triggers are random and most have no way to control unless you are in a bubble.

no clinic is going to treat this because of risk.

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You must be on the ACA or something. I don't have anything close to a deductible at all, and I only pay 220 a check for the wife and myself. The longest wait time I have at the hospital or doctors office, is the time it takes me to fill out a form. About a year ago I had an impacted tooth, I went to the dentist, I handed them an insurance card, I filled out a form and was sitting in a chair getting the best high from that NO2 tank. Next thing I know, I'm waking up and my mouth is numb. Entire process, from door to door, 2.5 hours.

"i only pay....220"

forgets the part where his company is paying the other 1500-2000 a month....take a look on your W2 box 12 and see what they put down last year as the total cost of your health insurance and divide by 12. come back and tell us the amount. bet the two numbers combined come close to most non subsidized ACA plans with the same benefits.

[Deleted]

i can give you one easy example.
chronic asthma and an attack.

triggers are random and most have no way to control unless you are in a bubble.

no clinic is going to treat this because of risk.

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"i only pay....220"

forgets the part where his company is paying the other 1500-2000 a month....take a look on your W2 box 12 and see what they put down last year as the total cost of your health insurance and divide by 12. come back and tell us the amount. bet the two numbers combined come close to most non subsidized ACA plans with the same benefits.

And you get affordable health insurance?

[Beazy]

"i only pay....220"

forgets the part where his company is paying the other 1500-2000 a month....take a look on your W2 box 12 and see what they put down last year as the total cost of your health insurance and divide by 12. come back and tell us the amount. bet the two numbers combined come close to most non subsidized ACA plans with the same benefits.

/facepalm

$7,897.44 total FY 17.

Looks like they contribute a little less than half of what I paid in.

You really should know a bit more regarding the things you speak so confidently about. Just sayin`.



*edit*
Dont get me wrong. 8k is a shit ton of money a year. But when I only have to foot half of the bill, its not really that bad. The deals KPMG gets on insurance and our 35k+ employees is pretty good.

[Cien]

Dislocated my shoulder this morning, called an ambulance, they said, order a taxi as it was not an emergency. I did, finally in hospital, was sitting for around 3 hours to see a DR for 2 min, he told me, go do an x-ray, what do you know? Another 1 hour wait. Bare in mind my shoulder was still dislocated and the pain I was in I could not explain. I waited after the x ray I needed to rejoin the 3 hour queue again, what a nightmare. Fuck it, I am going private next time.

rant over.

i am fortunate enough to have an employer (i live and work in the UK) that gives me free private health insurance, i've had on going health issues for yeears so this seemed great for me. last month i got really ill again and couldn't wait for my NHS appointment and managed to see my surgeon privately, just an appointment. my private health cover doesn't cover the cost of all treatment, i am liable for a percentage up to a cap per year, so best of both worlds almost.

that appointment at a private hospital would've cost me £150, JUST to talk to my surgeon for less than 20minutes, imagine if i had been admitted there without going to the NHS instead, as was recommended because all my consultants would've been under one roof.

i am very greatful for the NHS and i only paid a fraction of that £150 bill, trust me, if an appointment cost that much, you don't want to even know what the treatment would've cost instead

[Katchii]

i can give you one easy example.
chronic asthma and an attack.

triggers are random and most have no way to control unless you are in a bubble.

no clinic is going to treat this because of risk.

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"i only pay....220"

forgets the part where his company is paying the other 1500-2000 a month....take a look on your W2 box 12 and see what they put down last year as the total cost of your health insurance and divide by 12. come back and tell us the amount. bet the two numbers combined come close to most non subsidized ACA plans with the same benefits.

There are other medications/ preventative measures that can help control Asthma. There are literally close to a dozen medications used daily for preventative care in addition to the emergency inhaler and nebulizer treatments you can take. There's no excuse for your asthma to be that uncontrolled that requires you to go to the ER every other month. One of the main reasons Asthma goes uncontrolled is because people don't take the time to get properly diagnosed and treated by a doctor, and therefore never get the preventative medication prescribed. Another main reason is people not taking their preventative medication appropriately/ at all/ on schedule.

[Deleted]

The emergency room we go to has never had a wait. We go to the emergency room like 6 times a year so... This is in the US btw.

Most people do not visit the ER more than once every six years, are you a stunt man?

[Deleted]

Most people do not visit the ER more than once every six years, are you a stunt man?

His explanation still seems bizarre to me