As many of my readers will know, I am a great fan of the NHS, particularly during last year when they came to my rescue and restored my failing sight with two new lens. A recent report by an American organisation rated the NHS as the best health system out of eleven wealthy countries, the US system came last. This on a day when an American friend reported a conversation he had with a lawyer who told him that the majority of people in the UK were against free health care and wanted to get out of it. Needless to say, his card has been marked!
You may wonder why this subject has risen to the top of my agenda. Quite simple, life threw one of her little surprises at me a fortnight ago, I noticed a little dark blob in the corner of my right eye and within a day I was completely blind in it. Needless to say this got my attention and nine days later I was laid on the table at Burnley General with a nice man called Mr David deploying the most modern technology and cutting holes in my eye. What had happened was that I had a completely detached retina and it had to be welded back into place. I'll spare you all the gory details but it was an almost painless procedure.
A week later I have been back for a check on progress and I'm happy to tell you that they don't want to see me for another six weeks. The good news is that I have some vision already and over the next few months it will gradually improve but with no guarantees that I will regain perfect vision. As it is I am free from pain, can function and the only downside is keeping up with the regime of frequent eye drops. At no point did anyone ask for my bank details!
Apart from heartfelt thanks to the Labour Government of 1945, as an historian my thoughts go to how lucky we are today. What would have been a disaster in past times is now a daily miracle. Imagine what my condition would have been with cataracts and an inoperable condition in the right eye. I would have been almost totally blind. I pointed out to a friend only the other day that I can remember a childhood friend having his tonsils taken out at home on the kitchen table! This is a measure of how far we have come during my lifetime.
So my message this week is that when life does the same thing to you, do not despair! We have a wonderful health system which despite all the bad headlines functions brilliantly for 99% of the time. I am so grateful to all those people who are there to look after us. I shall report back in a month or so to let you know how successful they were!
A good mate but not the ideal guide dog!
