OneGuyFromBarlick

LIFE'S LITTLE SURPRISES

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!

Nice piece Comrade. Nolic

Yes, lets' hear it for the NHS! I have a quibble with them now and then but it's still a fantastic service and much better than the US system. A cousin has recently suffered the return of some mental disturbance she first had when her husband died young 10 years ago. Her well-organised daughter and a good GP got her into the local NHS hospital quickly when she started banging on neighbours' doors in the middle of the night. After initial checks and treatment she was moved to a special unit and Mrs Tiz and me visited her there on Wednesday, with some trepidation as we wondered how easy it would be to converse with her and what the surroundings would be like. It was a revelation! A lovely place with big wide airy corridors and rooms, a beautiful garden and patio, restaurant, several lounges, none of the smells we oldies associate with hospitals - nothing like a hospital and she had her own room plus ensuite loo & shower. The staff were very helpful and brought us tea and biscuits and we were left in privacy to chat with my cousin. And I'm glad to say she was on top of the world, spoke highly of the staff and the special ward and was acting normal, no sign now of mental instability. With luck she'll be home very soon. Thank you NHS, no private hospital could have been better.

Thanks Comrade....
Couldn't agree more Tiz. I have a deeply held conviction that nobody should profit from a public service, Health, education, transport, even the prisons are now seen as legitimate targets by the Money Vultures. I have seen how badly this works in the US. What is happening at the moment in the UK is a scandal. Who cares how much the NHS costs? Answer is the ones who don't need it and might have investments in private medicine.... Certainly not the poor!

People get hot under the collar about the cost of the NHS yet they ignore the enormous amounts of money taken from them by service company executives in bloated salary packages.

The sad fact is that all health care is expensive. The truth in the matter is that delivery by the NHS is amongst the cheapest and most efficient in the world and this without taking into account the hidden benefit of freedom from fear of disease. The uncle of a friend of mine in Hawaii committed suicide when he was diagnosed with cancer so he didn't bankrupt his family. Not uncommon. Where do you hear that argument used?

Bumped and image restored.
Health, education, transport, even the prisons are now seen as legitimate targets by the Money Vultures.
Just as true now as it was seven years ago.

Bumped. Even more pertinent now than it was then!

You have to admit, I got it right! Even more pertinent now.