Japan vs NHS

[Hetzer]

My daughter bumped her head a couple of days ago and has been moaning about feeling sick, headaches etc to skive in the nurse's office at school. Finally Noriko took her to hospital where they gave her a CT scan and an x-ray. For a bumped head. All clear.

Meanwhile, back in the UK..."CT scan sir? That'll be a six month wait."


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[Hetzer]

Should mention that it cost Y9000 (about £68) but 66% of that is covered by their medical insurance.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[t121anf]

must admit i've not had much experience with the NHS personally, but my wife has due to having had cancer.

they were nothing but excellent, CT scans when required and on date/time as arranged. operated as soon as the problem was diagnosed, private room, friendly staff.

only problem was in the diagnosis as it was a very rare type of cancer and it was "mis-diagnosed" a few times.

[Hetzer]

My point was that you'd have more chance of a flight on the space-shuttle than a CT-scan for a bumped head in the UK. Unless you were one of the scum at the top, then you'd get one if a ping-pong ball hit you in the head.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[t121anf]

true, but was a CT scan really necessary? suppose for the cost and reassurance it's worth it

[schooleydoo]

Shouldn't this be Japan VS Bupa/BMI etc?

Unless I too have missed the point, you are comparing apples and oranges...The option is available to all of us in the UK to take the route you have described.

I have to admit, I am rather keen on the NHS' 12 year wait times. It keeps my borderline hypochondria at bay

[Hetzer]

[Marcg868]

The NHS is a good idea in theory! However its badly managed. I have private Healthcare as i have a few existing health problems. But obviously for Emergency stuff i use the NHS.

One thing that does get me, i had went to my GP for him to refer me to a consultant for a Hernia, this was december 2009, i had one operation cancelled without being told, i had to ring up and ask and my second date March 2011!!!

I took out private health insurance paid £100 excess charge and had the operation when it was convenient for me.
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[Hetzer]

[Marcg868]

[MarJay]

Ah but Hetzer you've just pointed out the EXACT problem with the US (and Japanese it seems) healthcare system.

Any doctor worth his salt would have been able to tell from a simple (and surprisingly cheap) X-Ray that there was nothing wrong with your daughter. To be honest, for a decent quack an X ray might even be going too far.

However, she's covered by insurance, so the docs in Japan do a CT scan so they can take their slice. Its a much more money grubbing capitalist system than the NHS is. Sure, sometimes the NHS is slow but it does have equality at heart. Surely this is egalitarian and more in line with the Hetzer principles than a money grubbing insurance system?

If I were to make a Hetzer 'cool wall' then the US and Japanese system would be under 'Scvm' and the NHS would be under 'Acceptable'.

(If anyone is interested the four headings on my Hetzer 'cool wall are thus:

Salvia
Acceptable
Scvm
Total Scvm of governmental incompetence and corruptness

Not bad considering I've just made that up there and then! )
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[Hetzer]

[Mr.Everready]

[herulach]

I fainted on the footpath whilst locking my (push) bike up, hit my head (with a helmet on) and they did a CT (presuming it was a CT, stuck my head in a big tube) despite the fact that I still had my helmet on and was outwardly fine. Think I waited about 2 hours.

Private healthcare schemes are well known for massively increasing the amount of time a patient spends in hospital, as well as the number of 'treatments' they undergo, because the incentives are wrong.

True, the NHS can be slow for some non-essential services (psychotherapy, physio etc) but I'd rather that than the bullshit they have in most countries. THat being said, I'd actually prefer a nordic style Big Tax & awesome services type regime. Unfortunately people don't seem to understand that you can't have everything be amazing without paying for it.
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[DanceLikeAMon...]

Christ, this sounds like those Australians that I constantly meet who tell me how fantastic life in Oz is compared to the UK. Odd thing is that I've never been to Australia....

[Hetzer]

[silky666]

[Itchy]

Life is cheap though, it is marginally less cheap in Japan due to the ultra low birth rate.

The Zaibatsus and government have to look after their comodities their slaves best they can. While in the UK has a similarly low birth rate it isn't as bad as japan what with loads of chavistas using it to get out of their predicament.
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[Kickstart]

Hi

While I agree the NHS works well for emergencies and for lots of headline routine treatment, I am not so sure it always works that well. Get out of an area that is measured or into one which the figures can be fiddled and you might have a problem.

My better half spent 7 years on crutches following a car accident, much of that due to a lousy job being done when her leg was first pinned. It was eventually sorted by the NHS once she managed to get referred to Oswestry, but until they started dealing with it the general thread of check ups was "How many months since you broke your leg" "Three years" "Oh, see you in another 6 months". Getting an appointment was measured. Doing anything useful when things were not going right wasn't measured so irrelevant.

I do prefer the NHS to any system of insurance, but the trouble is keeping things working without hideous inefficiency (either from nothing being done, or much of the effort going on instead proving things have been done or fiddling the figures so it looks like it was done).

All the best

Keith
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[colin1]

I agree with marjay, that a system which generously provides high level stuff above and beyond what's needed, may seem good for the individual, but may be bad for the country.

I suspect the problems described by kickstart, are due to the NHS being very hard to run efficiently.
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