In praise of the NHS

You may have noticed that blog entries have been a bit erratic of late. This is because I had a heart attack about three weeks ago. Thanks to the care I’ve received, I am recovering well. So, I thought I’d write a brief piece in praise of my carers – NHS Scotland.

Most of the media coverage of the NHS focuses on things that have gone wrong. This is my chance to remind people that, most of the time, the NHS gets things right.

• Starting at the beginning, the wait between phoning for an ambulance and its arrival was pleasingly short (just enough time for me to get dressed and grab a few necessities). And the team that arrived included a paramedic who able to give me expert care until arrived at the hospital.
• On arrival at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, we had to wait a few minutes before being admitted to A&E. But once inside, the medical staff were attentive for the duration of my wait for the results of the troponin test to come through.
• Once a heart attack had been confirmed, I was moved promptly to a private room on one of the coronary care wards. Throughout my 4 nights in hospital, my condition was regularly monitored and I received clear explanations of my diagnosis, treatment, and future medications, exercise, and lifestyle changes from a cardiac consultant, a pharmacist, and rehab specialist. My only possible ground for complaint would be that, like so many British institutions, the food was fairly dull and unappetizing.
• I was discharged with a month’s supply of medications and just a day later the pharmacist at my local surgery phoned to tell me that the new medications had been added to my repeat prescription list.
• A little over a week after that, I was summoned to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank for an angiogram. Said investigation revealed that I had had a ‘myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries’. So, no stents were needed.
• Finally, for the benefit of any readers outwith the UK, all this cost me precisely nothing (apart from the National Insurance contributions I used to make when I worked). By way of comparison, a similar level of treatment in the USA would leave someone on Medicare facing out-of-pocket expenses of the order of $5000–6000 (which would reduce to around $800–1500 with supplemental insurance).