The National Health Service

The National Health Service
For years I have heard any number of negative comments regarding Londoners dealings with the NHS  however I have to tell you that our experiences have been nothing but positive
A couple of years back we lived  in Islington. The local NHS surgery was a five minute stroll from our front door. No appointments required. All you had to do was front up to the counter, they would flick you a number and within a guaranteed thirty minutes your number would flash up on a screen and you would be in business. Appointments were free and any medication required was at minimal cost.
A couple of years down the track in Pimlico and it's the same story 
At 1000 hrs one morning Julia chipped her tooth, and bingo, two hours later an NHS approved dentist has her up and running again for £35. If we had her registered the cost would have been even less
A couple of days back I strolled into our local surgery to make an appointment.
I'm chatting away to one of the receptionists and say to her that I've noticed that this surgery seems to cater to a wide diversity of the population who I assumed had different preferences when it came to appointment times.
The receptionist then tells me that free call in surgery times on a Monday morning are a war zone, however during the rest of the week those on a benefit and mothers tended to plug for morning appointments and those hard working types who reside in the Dolphin Square accommodation generally insist on slots before or after work, which leaves the afternoons pretty much free.
And with that I bagged an appointment for 1620hrs.
It probably assisted my cause when I fronted the doctor fully equipped with a copy of my Christchurch Doctors notes so the whole process of nailing blood pressure tablets was all over in ten seconds.
What was really interesting (unlike my ever vigilant genius Doctor Ding in Christchurch) was this local GP's relaxed attitude towards the volume of the prescription.
My new medical buddy Dr Nalliah initially advised that she could only prescribe two months of tablets. I immediately tell her that I'm off to France, won't be around in a couple of months, and suggested she might like to extend the prescribed period to four months
No problem, and with a four month prescription in hand (still leaving me one month short for our total time away) I wander down to the local chemist.
Now the young Indian guy who owns this chemist outlet is one really cool dude. After a couple of minutes we are deep in conversation about the merits of our respective national cricket sides 
At this point I think what the hell, you never know unless you ask, so I say to this guy, look I have a slight problem, the doctor only gave me four months supply of these tablets and I actually need five 
This guy thinks about it for a couple of seconds and responds, four months, five months, what's the difference, turns around to one of his staff and instructs then to add an additional month. 
And that's the thing I've noticed in my short time in London, the approach towards health care is obviously a volume driven thing and as a result , is far more casual than the average Kiwi operation
And as for costs, everything is free, appointment, pills , it's all courtesy of the NHS
So what's the downside.
My feeling is that if you contracted anything really serious and if you had the dosh, you would be best to employ the services of a higher priced medical person. I thing all this free stuff is OK for low hanging fruit type medical issues however I would be a little uneasy if we had a major issue to tackle head on.
Just one other thing which is also common to New Zealand , there is army sized sector of the population who are suffering from any number of medical and social issues varying from mental challenges, medical problems , lack of family, no money etc etc, who are basically living a life where the NHS just throw money at them and leave them to fend for themselves.
And I tell you, if you were on the skids and attempting to survive in London without any realistic expectation of family or state support, then you would be confronted by the mother of all challenges.
This city is just the greatest place to live if you are upwardly mobile or on top of your game. However it's a bloody jungle for any who have fallen off their perch 

Cheers, and good health!




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