r/Glasgow Tools

I might as well get downvoted even more so let's go!

In the UK the NHS is considered a sacred cow, a quasi-divinity which you are not meant to ever question or criticise. I have lived in the U.K. for 26 years and I have overall had a good experience with the NHS (luckily I've never needed something serious, like emergency surgery). But it's not perfect. No healthcare system ever is, so why should the NHS be without fault?


Some people's judgement is steeped in ideology - so the mere idea of being prepared to pay/go private for healthcare is seen as an act of oppression. The old argument is that by paying, you are effectively 'stealing' time from the NHS because those same NHS consultants will also work in private clinics. I've worked in a private hospital and from my experience, most of those private consultants worked there for 1, max 2 days a week (and even then, only a few hours). It's not as if by limiting the offer on private treatment, the NHS will magically find extra money to employ more consultants, nurses and bump up their hours. It doesn't work that way.

Where I'm originally from (Italy), if you want to get private treatment, even if it's just for an x-ray, ECG, blood tests, you just phone a private clinic and do it. Also, the two systems (NHS equivalent and private) co-exist and there isn't this big ideological divide. People appreciate the (almost) free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare but it's not untouchable. If you want to get a private appointment because you're in pain and can't wait 6 months, you have a private appointment and nobody judges you. Someone might have saved money for a rainy day, or not have a holiday for years and it's nobody's business how they should spend it.

Now the downvoters can go ahead and have a field day, glad it sparks joy for them.