The Christchurch Hospital has seen visits to its emergency department rise by more than 7,000. This is a perfect example of people abusing "free" services. Consider the circumstances of some of the patients. Turning up for blood tests and x-rays; because they don't have a GP to go to; for social problems; because they need a bed for the night; for non-acute psychiatric problems; for "flu, colds, upper respiratory tract infections, sprains, strains and bruises or those whose only problem was being drunk."
I've been to A&E twice. Once when my toddler first choked on, then swallowed a screw extracted from her high chair and again when my son had acute appendicitis. Both times I was surprised at the patients waiting with no apparent urgent complaint. To be fair I guess my toddler's problem wasn't highly visible.
Helen the Hobbit Hater at it again with the Horrid
8 minutes ago
2 comments:
This to me ws the problem with the NHS in the UK. We lived in a small village with a lot of retired people. It was very difficult to get a doctors' appointment, because the surgery was fully-booked days in advance (eg. if you were off-work with a severe cold and needed a doctors' certificate, you were often "better" before the doctor could see you three days later!). Talking with the doctors & nurses, they said that their two main problems were:
1.) People not turning up: People would make an appointment, then not turn-up (maybe they had got better!) without cancelling. There was no disincentive not to cancel.
2.) Hypocondriacs and other time-wasters. Again, because it was free, people would make appointments for trivial complaints (bruises, runny nose, splinters), and the doctors said that in a village with a high number of older people - the sad fact was that these people would go to the doctor because they were lonely!
ANother aspect to this was covered in New Scientist a while back - a nominal charge for any service has another benefit akin to the placebo effect - people expect that something they have paid for will be better than something they have got for free.
I always felt that a nominal GBP5 fee for going to the doctor would greatly improve the NHS.
The other thing to remember is that for most common illnesses (flues, colds, non-specific tummy bugs), doing nothing is in fact the right treatment. Most illnesses get better without treatment. Remember the old saying "Do nothing and the cold will be gone in seven days, treat it and it will be gone in a week".
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