Wednesday, March 02, 2005

ANOTHER FARCE FROM BRITAIN

John Jay over at Socialized Medicine reports another farce from the National Health Service in Britain:


A grandmother who waited three years to see a consultant finally got her appointment, and found that the doctor had died two years earlier. Janet Warnes, 68, was first referred to Iain Fraser, an ear surgeon, in 2002. She received a letter from Leeds General Infirmary last year asking if she still needed the appointment.

An examination was fixed for last month, but when she arrived at the hospital with her appointment card, Mrs Warnes said the receptionist told her that the doctor had been dead for two years. Mrs Warnes, of Leeds, said yesterday: "I was starting to think I might be dead before I finally saw a doctor, but I never expected him to be."

When Mrs Warnes was seen by another doctor, she was told that she could now go on the waiting list for a hearing aid, but that it might now take another two years.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Leeds General Infirmary, apologised to Mrs Warnes but said that her experience had been caused by a "one-off computer system error".

Source

How medical boards nationalized health care: "Besides paying some of the highest prices for health care, we have the dubious distinction of having the most heavily regulated healthcare system in the world. In no other country on earth are doctors and hospitals subjected to as many oversight and enforcement agencies, bureaus and commissions. Rules, regulations, and laws are duplicated, redundant, multiplied, magnified, and contradictory. Laws and regulations covering doctors and hospitals plus all the other parts of our healthcare system now account for over half of all the words, sentences, and paragraphs in our entire body of law. If regulations could make a healthcare system work better, ours would surely be perfect. In fact, the opposite has occurred."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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From the NHS England Site:


"The NHS was set up 56 years ago and is now the largest organisation in Europe. It is recognised as one of the best health services in the world by the World Health Organisation but there need to be improvements to cope with the demands of the 21st century.

The NHS is changing the way it works to make sure patients always come first. The information and clickable diagram below shows you how the new structure works in England. For information on the health service in other parts of the UK, please visit the NHS in Northern Ireland, the NHS in Scotland or the NHS in Wales.

The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have separate independent health service structures. For more information please visit Isle of Man Government, States of Guernsey Government and States of Jersey Government.

How the NHS works clickable image

Can you only imagine if American medicine and dentistry were socialized the way of Britain and their National Health Service.

I attended an AIDS Conference yesterday at the County of Ventura's Public Health facility. the building, staff and services provided to the public was impressive.

It ALMOST made me proud to pay my taxes......not quite!!!!

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