NHS health care depends on where you live

[Deleted User]

We lived in wales for 35 years and dh had a problem that required a consultation, not life threatening but certainly hindering day to day living for an otherwise fit and active 60 year old. He then also had an injury and tore something in his knee so that was more of a handicap together with pain. That happened in january

The doc put him in the queue for treatment. 6 months later, nothing, ziltch. Then we moved to a rural county in England and he went to the docs to start the whole process again. One week later he had appointments for both problems at an nhs treatment centre linked to a private hopital

We are just overwhelmed at the care he has had in England and am very very grateful that we moved when we did

pollypenny

I am not surprised at your story, having heard similar ones over the years. I firmly believe that the Welsh Assembly Govt has made a big mistake in making ALL prescriptions free.

I know that when I was working I could well afford to pay for anything I needed, as could many people now. The money saved could go towards funding better and quicker treatment for many in need.

Wales is not a wealthy place, but there are other ways to help: eg one charge per prescription rather than per item and including asthmatics on the free list.

Soubrette

To be fair kittie - the opposite might easily happen for some people with other issues.

The problem is that politicians want targetted healthcare ie the local trust deals with the issues its local people need but an end to the postcode lottery.

These two things are exactly the same but called different names depending on the spin the politicians are giving it.

I'm glad your problem was sorted though

monkeyspanner

Due to devolution there is an increasing gap between the NHS approaches in Wales and England. We live in S.Wales, my partner had been seeing a consultant in England twice a year for 9 years. Her condition is well controlled by medication and the consultations are short clinic visits.

The english hospital eventually realised they were not receiving payment from the Welsh health board and refused to allow the consultant to continue with the appointments until payment was agreed.

After lengthy correspondence and an exceptional funding panel the welsh health board agreed a one off payment for one consultation, and said if further consultations are required my partner has to go through the process again or go to the nearest specialist hospital in wales. I know she will refuse to go to the Welsh hospital if her original consultant is still in charge as she moved to the english hospital because the attitude in Wales was that there was nothing wrong with her and by the time she was seen in england she was extremely ill and near collapse.

We don't pay tax in wales so why do we not have free access to medical services across the uk as a whole?

pollypenny

I assume you mean 'we DO pay tax in Wales', MS?

LittleVoice

pollypenny wrote: »

I assume you mean 'we DO pay tax in Wales', MS?

No, I think monkeyspanner meant "don't pay tax in Wales" because income tax and VAT is collected for the UK not individual countries. (Council Tax is a different matter.) It is because the tax is collected centrally that they think the provision of services using those taxes should not be restricted in the way suggested is the case for the partner.

monkeyspanner

LittleVoice wrote: »

No, I think monkeyspanner meant "don't pay tax in Wales" because income tax and VAT is collected for the UK not individual countries. (Council Tax is a different matter.) It is because the tax is collected centrally that they think the provision of services using those taxes should not be restricted in the way suggested is the case for the partner.

Exactly, the Welsh Assembly Government have at present no tax raising powers. Therefore although health services are devolved from Westminster the source of the funds is central.

The proposed NHS financing changes in England to move funding towards GPs and away from the PCTs will cause further problems. Wales will retain the Health Boards (the welsh equivalent of PCTs). How then will cross boundary funding be achieved?

IMHO devolution has create a mismatch across a number of services, causes duplication and a large waste of government funds.

pollypenny

Ah, bit ambiguous. We don't pay tax to the Welsh Assembly Government.

I agree absolutely about mismatches in services. It'll be very interesting to see how things work (or don't work).

mountainofdebt

As far as I can see the UK is slowly becoming fragmented and it should decide whether its one or three countries as I fail to see how one nation can have up to three separate policies on the same subject.

However as far as the OP's situation is concerned I think it depends more on your GP and the local priorities rather than being a Welsh - English thing.