The NHS

Somewhere, in the vast mists of time, I once heard the NHS described as a 'vast money sucking beast we can scarce afford'. Which is so very true. But would we want to be without it?

No.

Obviously.

I really have heard the phrase "the NHS are useless" far too many times recently...
I think the thing a lot of people are forgetting is that private healthcare is readily available. However if you want a better service, (shock horror!) you have to pay for it. And pay a lot more than you do for the NHS, for it. Yes, the NHS is slightly flawed, but the bottom line here is that it exists. Once you get so completely used to something you begin to take it for granted, and to see flaws in it. America is a classic example here, their healthcare system is based on insurance. And as we all know, all insurance companies the world over are frauds!! No insurance means no treatment. Okay, maybe that's a slightly exaggerated viewpoint! But not being an American, I've not experienced healthcare (or lack thereof) over there, so I'm not 100% au fait with how it works. But I can say it doesn't sound good to me. That's beside the point anyway. The point is, what would we do without our NHS? Can you imagine it? Can you imagine there being no help at all available if you need life saving treatment? What about the elderly? What if insurance was available, but the insurance companies turned OAPs down? What if an elderly lady has a stroke, and has no one to call? It's not a nice thought. Not a nice thought at all.
Now I'm not saying the NHS is perfect, far from it actually. There is still a LOT of room for improvement. But I'm confident that improvement is slowly happening, and will continue to do so. It's trial and error really, try a new scheme, scrap it if it doesn't work, try again. What bothers me is the needless complaining. Now I know complaining is the British way of life, but come on! It's really not that bad. I've heard people complaining about all sorts of things, the main one being waiting times. Long waiting times are pretty much a given unless we can magic up some more money from somewhere. Getting bounced around Doctors and departments is another favourite. And then of course there are the things that go wrong. Patients being "forgotten", things being lost, people not being told what to do next. And then of course there's the dreadful food!! But these are all things which can, and I'm sure eventually will, change. Maybe not the dreadful food, I doubt that will ever change! But everything else should.
At least the NHS exists. And although we do still technically pay for it, we don't pay at the point of treatment, we won't ever be turned away due to money.

So please people, look on the bright side of life. Next time a Nurse manages to lose a report, or a Hospital takes 3 hours to finally get round to seeing you, take a step back and think. What if there were no Doctors and there were no Hospitals? Yes the NHS isn't perfect, and people are only human after all, but it exists! And here's hoping those flaws are worked out eventually. It'll never be perfect, that's just impossible. But as long as it goes on saving lives, regardless of age, race, sex, money, or anything else, surely it's pretty damn good and we should be glad we've got it. And we should be striving to keep it, and to improve it, not bitching about it!