4 ms·

I don't think you have enough information to say this? Certainly that Americans die young, but that could be because American healthcare does worse for people

by 8note 4y ago

I don't think you have enough information to say this? Certainly that Americans die young, but that could be because American healthcare does worse for people between 5 and 40. Eg. You'd prefer to be in a car crash in Canada, because it's more likely that the healthcare will take better care of you

zarzavat 4y ago
[flagged]
- siquick 4y ago
  > Dangerously understaffed, underfunded. Patients dying in ambulances in hospital car parks because the hospitals (and all its corridors) are full. It’s definitely underfunded (which healthcare system isn’t?) but the rest of this is hyperbole. The UK doesn’t have one hospital.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- tehf0x 4y ago
  Source? My anecdotal experience is that in the US people without much income will simply avoid seeing a doctor until things get Serious because of cost, which makes the quality of care somewhat irrelevant (and my other anecdotal experience was that Uk hospital quality was quite good, and as you mentioned, free).
- mattlondon 4y ago
  The difference is that in the UK if your kid is sick (article mentions that it is mainly young people dying early) then you can go get your kid seen for free, and not fear about the potential bankruptcy. My personal recent experience with two young kids in the UK in London is that urgent care is very good. So like emergency see-someone-right-now care like sudden fevers, unexplained rashes, injuries etc. You get seen and usually quite quickly (at least for triage). My daughter was 10 weeks old in mid-2022 when she got an infection and we went to A&E (i.e. ER) and were triaged, IV'd with antibiotics, and settled into a single room (with ensuite and space for parents to sleep too) within 2 hours, then stayed for 48 hours with observation from nurses every 4 hours. Someone even offered us tea and coffee and breakfast. All for free. That is pretty good I think. But the issue with the NHS in my opinion is the doctor/GPs. It is very difficult to get an appointment for non-urgent stuff. You have to explain to a receptionist why you need an appointment and often it is an untrained receptionist deciding if you get to see a doctor or not. If you do manage to convince the receptionist, then you are often facing a 2 or 3 week wait for the appointment, which may get cancelled or if you are lucky only be late by 2.5 hours. At our physical doctors building there are three separate clinics all duplicating the same service - there are 3 separate receptionists doing their own separate clinic and work betide you if you go to the wrong desk! Of course as the GPs are so useless, everyone goes to the hospital to try to get seen.
  - jfk13 4y ago
    Sorry to hear you've had such a negative experience with GPs. That's not at all been my experience. Interactions with our local GP surgeries - both in our former home town and where we live now, and in recent months also with my elderly father's GP as he has needed increasing levels of care - have been excellent. These generalisations are generally unhelpful!

by 8note 4y ago

zarzavat 4y ago

[flagged]

siquick 4y ago
> Dangerously understaffed, underfunded. Patients dying in ambulances in hospital car parks because the hospitals (and all its corridors) are full. It’s definitely underfunded (which healthcare system isn’t?) but the rest of this is hyperbole. The UK doesn’t have one hospital.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tehf0x 4y ago
Source? My anecdotal experience is that in the US people without much income will simply avoid seeing a doctor until things get Serious because of cost, which makes the quality of care somewhat irrelevant (and my other anecdotal experience was that Uk hospital quality was quite good, and as you mentioned, free).
mattlondon 4y ago
The difference is that in the UK if your kid is sick (article mentions that it is mainly young people dying early) then you can go get your kid seen for free, and not fear about the potential bankruptcy. My personal recent experience with two young kids in the UK in London is that urgent care is very good. So like emergency see-someone-right-now care like sudden fevers, unexplained rashes, injuries etc. You get seen and usually quite quickly (at least for triage). My daughter was 10 weeks old in mid-2022 when she got an infection and we went to A&E (i.e. ER) and were triaged, IV'd with antibiotics, and settled into a single room (with ensuite and space for parents to sleep too) within 2 hours, then stayed for 48 hours with observation from nurses every 4 hours. Someone even offered us tea and coffee and breakfast. All for free. That is pretty good I think. But the issue with the NHS in my opinion is the doctor/GPs. It is very difficult to get an appointment for non-urgent stuff. You have to explain to a receptionist why you need an appointment and often it is an untrained receptionist deciding if you get to see a doctor or not. If you do manage to convince the receptionist, then you are often facing a 2 or 3 week wait for the appointment, which may get cancelled or if you are lucky only be late by 2.5 hours. At our physical doctors building there are three separate clinics all duplicating the same service - there are 3 separate receptionists doing their own separate clinic and work betide you if you go to the wrong desk! Of course as the GPs are so useless, everyone goes to the hospital to try to get seen.
- jfk13 4y ago
  Sorry to hear you've had such a negative experience with GPs. That's not at all been my experience. Interactions with our local GP surgeries - both in our former home town and where we live now, and in recent months also with my elderly father's GP as he has needed increasing levels of care - have been excellent. These generalisations are generally unhelpful!