What Do I Expect from the NHS?

Ahh, Britain. The country where the people are equally complimentary and derogatory about the same thing. For many years, I have been through a vast number of NHS services from Accident & Emergency, GP's, mental health services and physiotherapy. For the past 10 months, I have been an employee of the National Health Service in Paediatrics.

From where I'm sitting, I'm quite a good person to offer an all-rounded view on one of our greatest assets, but let's begin with America. The Land of the Free, at least when it comes to healthcare, is very much not free, with an average stay in an American hospital costing upwards of $4,000 merely for a room. If you have the audacity to take home medication from your hospital stay, the average cost of that is around $2,500. Need a CT Scan? I hope you have $7,000 handy. What I'm trying to say is, however frustrating, arduous, long-winded, annoying and uncomfortable your stay in a British hospital may be, it won't cost you a penny. And the following issues that I will bring up just don't matter with that knowledge in the back of your mind.

In the UK at the moment, there are severe cuts taking place across every government department, and the NHS is not exempt. Naturally, this will impact on staff numbers, equipment and actual physical bed space. It is no secret that our health service is stretched to it's true limits. However, knowing this, the main complaint about our health service are the waiting times. And it drives me insane.

Bear in mind you are not paying for this. Because of that, people use Accident and Emergency for the most minor of minor things, yet complain that they are asked to wait hours for the privilege. It's a very British trait, to complain about something amazing, yet I see it every day. A&E is for saving lives and someone with a cut to their arm cannot prioritise over someone experiencing cardiac arrest. Accident & Emergency does not have a queuing system. Pick up a ticket and wait for your number. You will wait. Emergency doctors and nurses are not keeping you waiting to amuse them. They are dealing with more important people. If you are waiting in A&E for eight hours, that says a lot more about you than it does of the service.

From A&E then, personally, I expect nothing on waiting times. If I was on the verge of death, I'd expect to be seen to immediately. Otherwise, I will wait for as long as needed. All I expect are a bit of politeness and not to be completely forgotten about. Which I think is reasonable, given the strain that our NHS staff are under.

Government targets on GP waiting times are clear. Everyone should be seen by their GP within 48 hours of requesting one. However, this target was set before the cutbacks. My own personal GP practice has been cut to such a degree that they are now not a full time service. I walked along there to drop off a prescription one day to find that it was closed. Not at all ideal, yet not at all surprising. Five GP's were cut to three, (one of which is semi-retired) and with the same number of patients to see, it's naturally going to be stretched. The public have to bear this in mind and look towards other services.

In fact, the public have to take some burden of the responsibility on everything to do with the NHS. Self-help (try not to use Google) is adamant in ensuring that you get the right level of treatment. Don't go to Accident & Emergency is you have the flu. Equally, don't ring the 111 service if you're having severe chest pains. Do the right thing.

Looking past front line services, the NHS do remarkable things post-care. If it's needed, they will come to your home and cook you dinner. The community care is a vital part of the NHS cycle and needs to be looked after just as much as the services you read about in the papers. After I was released from hospital, I was referred on to specialist services to find me a place to live. I was effectively coming out of hospital and possibly on to the streets. NHS after care saved me from that hell. I find it surprising that this isn't lauded by people. But, being British, we tend not to.

It's everyone's responsibility to look after our National Health Service, not just the professionals and Jeremy Hunt. With the winters getting colder and hospitals getting busier, don't automatically presume your problems are the worst. Be sensible, be proactive and be mindful of the fact that our health service cannot take much more unneeded stresses and strains.

We all have a part to play.