Source: http://ift.tt/eKERsB - Sunday, February 01, 2015
I've spent half my life in the US and half of it in the UK, so I'm used to both countries' healthcare systems. I recently returned to London after 20 years in America , and after a few doctors' appointments I've come to see the NHS through American eyes. The National Health Service is, as all Americans know and fear, a completely public "socialized medicine" system. It's dramatically different from the US's patchwork system of private providers and insurance companies. My story isn't representative, of course. Healthcare delivery is different in the UK depending on where you live and which doctors and hospitals you use — just as it is in the US. But I've now used both systems for about two decades each, so I feel I have a pretty good handle on the main contrasts. 'THIS ROLLS ROYCE ISN'T MOVING FAST ENOUGH!' The context here is that the NHS just released its most recent stats on accident and emergency room waiting times. The headline number is that 84% of patients are seen within four hours . In the UK, this is regarded as a huge failure — the standard the NHS is supposed to meet is 95% of patients in four hours. The UK media went into a fury about it, and some hospitals have begun postponing and rescheduling some non-emergency procedures in order to get those waiting times down. In the US, having sat in many an ER waiting room for hours at a stretch, the idea of a hospital seeing nearly 9 out of 10 patients in four hours would be
from Top News on RSS Feeds http://ift.tt/1yFEm1I
I've spent half my life in the US and half of it in the UK, so I'm used to both countries' healthcare systems. I recently returned to London after 20 years in America , and after a few doctors' appointments I've come to see the NHS through American eyes. The National Health Service is, as all Americans know and fear, a completely public "socialized medicine" system. It's dramatically different from the US's patchwork system of private providers and insurance companies. My story isn't representative, of course. Healthcare delivery is different in the UK depending on where you live and which doctors and hospitals you use — just as it is in the US. But I've now used both systems for about two decades each, so I feel I have a pretty good handle on the main contrasts. 'THIS ROLLS ROYCE ISN'T MOVING FAST ENOUGH!' The context here is that the NHS just released its most recent stats on accident and emergency room waiting times. The headline number is that 84% of patients are seen within four hours . In the UK, this is regarded as a huge failure — the standard the NHS is supposed to meet is 95% of patients in four hours. The UK media went into a fury about it, and some hospitals have begun postponing and rescheduling some non-emergency procedures in order to get those waiting times down. In the US, having sat in many an ER waiting room for hours at a stretch, the idea of a hospital seeing nearly 9 out of 10 patients in four hours would befrom Top News on RSS Feeds http://ift.tt/1yFEm1I
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