The NHS again

I wrote last week about how the Tories have worked out the way to destroy the NHS. This picture has just been passed on to me:

I usually thank the people I get - steal - pictures from but on this occasion I can't remember how it found its way to me. But thanks anyway.

So let's look at this a bit more closely:

1 Who is this private doctor? Has anyone checked out his or her qualifications? Do they speak enough English to be able to communicate with patients? Have they been police-checked? If you go to the NHS, you can be sure who is treating you. In my time, over the years, I've been treated by many overseas doctors in my local practice and in hospitals. I've only ever had to complain about one, and that's because he had the bedside manner of Jack the Ripper.

2 Walk-in GP clinic. Hmm. I know what I mean by that title, but it may not mean the same as the people running this walk-in clinic. My GP clinic - we call it the health centre - houses a group of GPs but it also has nurses, nurse practitioners and medical assistants who offer a whole range of services like blood and urine tests on-site and sends our samples out to NHS labs for processing. By the way, the labs are very efficient. I wish we could praise the backroom boys and girls of the NHS more). My health centre also has access to the whole of the NHS for x-rays.CAT scans/PET scans, physio (actually in the same building), specialist treatment by consultants and so on. We don't pay for those up-front.
3 Notice the price. Not enough to frighten the horses. A lot of people could probably afford £19 but that's not the price, which is 'from £19.' This is a wild guess but could it be that the services I referred to in 2 above are not included and if you need any specialist treatment you - or your health insurance company - will have to come up with the money? This is the US system, where you have to find 'co-funding' for tests: so if you need a test that costs $200, the insurance company only pays half and you have to pay $100 up front before the test is done. The system that operates in France is much the same: you pay for doctor's appointments up front and get some of the money back (depending on your status as a member of the national sécurité sociale scheme. Same with prescriptions: you pay up front and claim back. What this means in reality is what I've seen happening at the pharmacies in France: elderly people discussing with the staff which one of the three items the doctor has prescribed is the most important because they can't afford all three.
4 Where this private 'service' wins hands down is in what the poster doesn't say: you don't have to wait a couple of weeks to see a doctor; you can book online; and you get 15 minutes with the doctor when you get in there. There will be parts of England where I imagine this reads like heaven. But I keep on saying this: never under-estimate the greed of capitalism - and US-style medical services are an arm of capitalism. They exist to take our money off us and give it to their executives and shareholders.

And a final comment, to the mothers whose children were playing with the fruit and veg in my local posh supermarket: we're in the middle of an epidemic of the norovirus in Scotland. (I know of people who went on holiday to a few Scottish islands at New Year and came straight back because the sickness/diarrhea bug was rampant). The supermarket has installed hand sanitisers at the entrance to the supermarket. For the love of gawd, get your children to use them before and after. And if you're buying loose fruit and veg - in fact, even pre-packed fruit and veg - wash your hands!