Last night I had to call out an ambulance and the spend from 1800 to 0200 in the Accident and Emergency Unit of Great Western Hospital in Swindon. It wasn't for me before you ask and I'm not going to go into the details. Suffice to say that everything looks OK at the moment. However I think its worth noting that the paramedics arrived within four minutes (and we live in a rural location). The 999 service kept me on the telephone until the paramedics arrived in case I needed to be given remote instructions for resuscitation. Blood tests, and ECG and other tests later we left the hospital in the early hours of the morning with a booking for more detailed investigations later. We had overdosed drug addicts and a police case in along with other tragedies of varying degrees of magnitude. The staff were unfailing polite, helpful and scrupulous in their attention to detail, despite being tired. Over the last decade I have spent more time in hospitals with different relatives that I care to think about, but that pattern of staff behaviour has never faltered, never fallen short.
Critically I have no bill, no money to pay. I didn't sit in the hospital worrying about a fast discharge or maybe compromising on tests for financial reasons. Free at the point of entry health provision is a basic test of civilisation and humanity in any society.
Comments (6)
From this side of the North-Sea I wish you and your relatives all the best. Hoping for a rapid recovery and some good news in the coming days.
Posted by Harold | March 3, 2009 5:22 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 17:22
Am glad to hear that everythings looking OK at the moment (hope that is still the case).
Maybe I should consider moving closer to Swindon as all of my (many) NHS experiences (with various relatives) have been the exact opposite of what you describe. Geographical lottery ?
Posted by Cheryl | March 3, 2009 7:04 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 19:04
Bristol, Bodelwythan, Bangor, Guildford, Wrexham, Swindon - all being good
Posted by Dave Snowden![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cognitive-edge.com/blogs/dave/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 3, 2009 7:26 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 19:26
Glad that all is okay with you and yours. However, my own experiences of the NHS have been less than great. It has taken 4 agony-filled months for me simply to get a diagnosis after injuring my neck and shoulder. While the staff have usually been as efficient and polite as you say (with the notable exception of two very hoity-toity "How dare you contact us directly?" consultants' secretaries), the systems and processes are cumbersome and creaking.
Posted by Karyn Romeis | March 3, 2009 9:01 PM
Posted on March 3, 2009 21:01
- good to hear that things worked out in the end.
- as the comments show, the NHS is at its best in a crisis. Its non-emergency care is often weaker, but at least people don't go broke paying the bills
- there's another cracking New Yorker article from Atul Gawande on the history of nation medical provision http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/26/090126fa_fact_gawande . His point is that universal cover is usually built on what was there before. We have the NHS because the British health system was effectively nationalised during the war--the handover only made a four paragraph story in The Times on the day--whereas the French system grew out of employee insurance schemes.
- when Bevan talked about "Stuffing the consultants' mouths with gold", I don't think he meant Accenture
Posted by Steve Freeman | March 5, 2009 10:11 PM
Posted on March 5, 2009 22:11
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I'v just started to learn this language ;)
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Posted by RaiulBaztepo | March 28, 2009 9:40 PM
Posted on March 28, 2009 21:40