I did my bit today.
As I'm sure many will appreciate, the NHS holds a very special place in my heart. The treatment I received following my spinal cord injury was exemplary. It wasn't perfect, but the faults were all of a minor nature, and didn't affect my long term outcome. And it was all unconditionally free, state of the art and there when I needed it. There has been a lot written about the NHS in recent months, especially seen in the light of the healthcare reforms proposed in the US.
The NHS offers universal healthcare free at the point of delivery for 8% of the UK's G.D.P.
The private healthcare system in the U.S. excludes 43 million Americans and costs 16% of G.D.P.
While there are many and often discussed shortcomings within the NHS, they are not because it is the NHS. And most important of all, the principle on which the NHS is built is one of the real post-war success stories.
There is still an attitude to wards healthcare that is suffused with the principal of the NHS, an embodiment of the newsreel footage of Doctors and Nurses in crisp starched uniforms administering bucket-sized spoonfuls of malt-extract to knobbly kneed street urchins and I'm sure that the majority of people do hold the NHS very dear indeed.
I am unable to be a blood donor (I had a transfusion when I had surgery after my accident), so I was very pleased to have been picked (at random) to participate in the Biobank scheme.
The idea is to create a resource that can be used in the future for a diverse range of research into prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. I felt that it was important to offer a bit of data from the spinally injured section of our population.
On a personal note, I was also looking forward to getting a bit of information about my body mass index, bone density, etc.
Unfortunately, while I was able to participate in the study, the only test other than blood pressure that I was able to take was a grip test.
So after ninety minutes, I came away knowing that I didn't know my birth-weight when asked, my blood pressure is a little on the high side, and my grip strength in my right hand is 64kgs. I am right-handed, after all. But then, my grip strength in my left hand is 67kgs. Go figure.
As I'm sure many will appreciate, the NHS holds a very special place in my heart. The treatment I received following my spinal cord injury was exemplary. It wasn't perfect, but the faults were all of a minor nature, and didn't affect my long term outcome. And it was all unconditionally free, state of the art and there when I needed it. There has been a lot written about the NHS in recent months, especially seen in the light of the healthcare reforms proposed in the US.
The NHS offers universal healthcare free at the point of delivery for 8% of the UK's G.D.P.
The private healthcare system in the U.S. excludes 43 million Americans and costs 16% of G.D.P.
While there are many and often discussed shortcomings within the NHS, they are not because it is the NHS. And most important of all, the principle on which the NHS is built is one of the real post-war success stories.
There is still an attitude to wards healthcare that is suffused with the principal of the NHS, an embodiment of the newsreel footage of Doctors and Nurses in crisp starched uniforms administering bucket-sized spoonfuls of malt-extract to knobbly kneed street urchins and I'm sure that the majority of people do hold the NHS very dear indeed.
I am unable to be a blood donor (I had a transfusion when I had surgery after my accident), so I was very pleased to have been picked (at random) to participate in the Biobank scheme.
The idea is to create a resource that can be used in the future for a diverse range of research into prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. I felt that it was important to offer a bit of data from the spinally injured section of our population.
On a personal note, I was also looking forward to getting a bit of information about my body mass index, bone density, etc.
Unfortunately, while I was able to participate in the study, the only test other than blood pressure that I was able to take was a grip test.
So after ninety minutes, I came away knowing that I didn't know my birth-weight when asked, my blood pressure is a little on the high side, and my grip strength in my right hand is 64kgs. I am right-handed, after all. But then, my grip strength in my left hand is 67kgs. Go figure.
Like you, I've had more than my fair share of the NHS in my nineteen years, and I'm the first to admit it's not perfect. BUT it annoys me so much when I hear people bad mouthing it, because I know more than most that we are lucky to have it. I've have numerous lifesaving operations and haven't had to pay a penny for any of it (bar the occasional prescription). Regardless of its faults, we are lucky to have a health service where, most of the time, the patient is the priority, not their bank balance.