Two patients limp into two different medical clinics with the same complaint.
Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement.
The FIRST patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and
has a time booked for surgery the following week.
The SECOND sees a family doctor after waiting 3 weeks for an appointment,
then waits 16 weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn't
reviewed for another week and finally has surgery scheduled for 6 months from then.
Why the different treatment for the two patients?
The FIRST is a Golden Retriever.
The SECOND is a Senior Citizen.
Go figure...
10 comments:
Well Julie, one is in the private sector, the other the NHS. Yes I did spot the difference.
Problem is the dog would have faired better in the longer term, because he/she has a shorter lifespan than the human. The rubbish replacement prosthetic you will get on the NHS is unlikely to last, unless of course you are 75 or more, and actually survive the procedure, which is somewhat risky.
The NHS, even in Scotland, where things are much better than England, is pretty poor in its provision of joint replacement and patient outcomes are less than good.
Unless you have broken a hip, best to stick to the chondroitin and the Omega 3's. It will take the pain away and you might survive to a reasonable age.
I do get your point we treat our pets better than our pensioners. Come the revolution, pets will be on the NHS too!
If the NHS should dare start using (very restricted) resources towards treating pets, I promise I shall form a lynching mod for those guilty of such a ridiculous idea!
Anon,
Lynching mod? I'll need to get out my suit for that.
It reminds me of a time I was passing someone's garden while taking my cocker spaniel a walk. There was this man chatting to someone else about pet operations.
'I wouldn't bother with all of that,' he said. 'I'd just get the vet to gie him a jag!'
At this point I bent down and put my hands over my dog's ears..
Just read the post and how a dog in the UK gets better treatment that a human.
Trip to France or Italy and you will get 'treated like a dog' if you get my drift.
Common sense just doesn't seem to be around in the UK.
By the way a vet's surgery in France or Italy is super duper clean - puts some of our NHS Hospitals to shame!
www.tomsanguish.com
You forgot to mention the dogs that are dumped in the dogs home, left by the side of the road, or put down because their owners can't afford to pay for treatment. The equivalent humans may have to wait longer for treatment, but at least they do get it.
Fair point, anon. On the other hand, old people are dumped in care homes, left to fend for themselves when they have dementia (a third of dementia sufferers live alone) and if our beloved government ever gets euthanasia going, they will get put down as well, because it doesn't want to pay the money to look after them. So they maybe have more in common with dogs than would appear..
Shouldn't have mentioned pets Julie, it always evokes responses at the extremes. The analogy does resonate but you would get the same treatment as the pet if you went 'private' as a patient. The essence is that if you have money you can always avoid any queue, however long.
If a pet, then you have little choice, except perhaps the PDSA, which I would not recommend. Anymore than I would A&E at nights or weekends. Sadly we in the UK do not prevent joint deterioration as we should by good advice and instruction. GP's are too busy making money off the back of Quality Outcome Frameworks to be bothered with real issues of patient care. They are a bunch of drug peddling 'symptom treaters', in the main.
Well, maybe shouldn't have mentioned pets but at least it gets a discussion going..
If you go private in health, you get first class treatment up to a certain point, but when things start to go really wrong, you get punted back to the NHS. They do not have the back up services to deal with emergencies, and they lack in other things such as lab tests, blood banks etc. They rely on the NHS to provide those and that is my beef with the private sector. If they retained their own surgeons and provided their own back up then I would leave them alone. It's the fact they're actually a parasite on the back of the NHS that gets me..
Please do not see me as an apologist for the private sector. I hate them with some venom. Most wear the hat of the private consultant when it suits, but take taxpayer gold most of the week for the pension rights, which are superb. In my own trust the git's use NHS facilities at weekends for no cost, for their private patients, at the expense of manning A&E with senior staff for the great unwashed brought in by ambulance to be treated by some spotty F1, with a shiny new stethoscope.
The management let it happen and the consultants rule the roost, using the system to top up their £175,000 poverty line wage. We the taxpayer and patient, get royally screwed by the system, and yes,the NHS does scoop up all the dross and mistakes the private sector makes. There ain't no private A&E just the rubbish NHS one. Just make sure you're not sick or injured at night or weekends as me and mine were. You'd be lucky to survive!
Never fear Blackdog, I never mistook you for a private sector apologist for one minute ;)
The NHS does need to pull its socks up. If it could just shake off all the leeches and if it started getting firm about private sector using its facilities, then we would get somewhere. Ach, I'll sort it all out when I'm prime minister..
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