Which is the best private healthcare?

HappyUser

Dox wrote: »

Perhaps the quality of service received is directly related to the patient's behaviour...

Perhaps the quality of service perceived is directly related to the patient's thickness...

BananaRepublic

HappyUser wrote: »

Perhaps the quality of service perceived is directly related to the patient's thickness...

Don’t be naughty.

I had a wonderful GP at Imperial College, took time to explain things. When he was away I saw another who just laughed at me, not pleasant. Quality of service has little to do with behaviour, unless you are obnoxious of course.

BananaRepublic

Dox wrote: »

Perhaps the quality of service received is directly related to the patient's behaviour...

I doubt it, though I have heard if you are annoyingly demanding they often give in to your demands just to get rid of you.That apparently is how some get cosmetic surgery.

Pollycat

HappyUser wrote: »

Perhaps the quality of service perceived is directly related to the patient's thickness...

Really?

HappyUser wrote: »

Indeed that's my experience too.


The GPs at the practice I go, never explain to you anything. They even measure your blood pressure and they don't tell you if it is good or bad. They only care to type in the medical record so that they cover their behind and then say bye bye so that they get the next appointment. They must get paid by the appointments they make so for them it's quantity over quality. They have zero personal contact with the patient, they give zero advice (we are lucky we have the internet) and they do the absolutely bare minimum to cover their behind instead of looking to provide decent level of care.


I will find a job that provides private healthcare and I hope this would be much better than the hideous NHS that get you out of the door in 20 seconds. Would that be a reasonable expectation or private healthcare in the UK is the same crap as NHS?

Well my GP/practice nurse shares my blood pressure results with me.

I've had great advice from my GP.
They don't give me the impression that they're giving quantity over quality (even if that is the case).
Maybe that says a lot about me and a lot about you.
(And I don't think that 'thickness' has anything to do with it).

Good luck with your job hunting.

sheramber

I find medical people tend to give minimum information but if you ask questions you get answers.

Not everybody wants more information- my husband is one- but I do, so I ask.

humptydumptybits

I have been very lucky with GPs, I have been registered with 5 practices in my life and looking back at one he was a bit over interested in some problems. As a naive teenager I didn't register it. All the others were great including the one who kept sneaking out the back door of his surgery to come and check how my home delivery was going, I dread to think how late his appointments were running by the end of that day.


Hospitals I have had 3 very rude doctors I can think of but the Consultants were always fine. I think my biggest issue was food, why is hospital food so bad?


Yes sometimes you have to wait in A&E but I always think if it was my loved one who was the big emergency would I want them seem first rather than my broken ankle? Well yes I would, my ankle was sore but not life threatening so that ambulances that brought in the survivors of a bad pile up on the motorway deserved to rush to the front of the queue.


I've always been given any information I've asked for, I remember one occasion when I was distressed as I thought I was having a miscarriage. My GP said, "Go home, go to bed, do nothing but rest and call an ambulance if the bleeding gets worse." I said, "So the resting will help?" She said, "No not at all, I am worried about how you will feel if the worst happens so I don't want you to be beating yourself up thinking if only I had taken it easy it might have been OK." I was a bit taken aback but then realised she was right and I would have blamed myself. In the end all was well and when I took my baby in for his first check up she was heavily pregnant and we chatted about all things baby.


My husband gets on so well with our GP that they always book him a double appointment as they know he will be in there for longer than one appointment slot.

HappyUser

sheramber wrote: »

I find medical people tend to give minimum information but if you ask questions you get answers.

Not everybody wants more information- my husband is one- but I do, so I ask.

I don't think that's proper healthcare professional practice.
All patients should be well informed about their condition.
People like your husband are bad patients if he does not want to be informed. (it seems there are many of them, that's why many say 'NHS is brilliant')


Anyway, the logic 'dont inform all patients because some don't want to be informed' is severely flawed. The right logic is 'inform all patients even if some won't listen/care'. Unless you want to get rid of patients quickly because you want to squeeze as many appointments as possible so that you get more quid or an award by NHS for being 'efficient' at expense of the patients.

theoretica

Some of this thread is coming close to blaming individual healthcare practitioners for there not being enough of them.

Pollycat

HappyUser wrote: »

I don't think that's proper healthcare professional practice.
All patients should be well informed about their condition.
People like your husband are bad patients if he does not want to be informed. (it seems there are many of them, that's why many say 'NHS is brilliant')

Actually, I say the 'NHS is brilliant' because that's my own personal experience.

Do you have evidence that there are 'many' people who don't want to be informed about their condition?
I find it hard to believe that anyone who doesn't ask their GP questions about their own health conditions would describe the NHS as 'brilliant'.

HappyUser wrote: »

Anyway, the logic 'dont inform all patients because some don't want to be informed' is severely flawed. The right logic is 'inform all patients even if some won't listen/care'. Unless you want to get rid of patients quickly because you want to squeeze as many appointments as possible so that you get more quid or an award by NHS for being 'efficient' at expense of the patients.

Have you asked your GP/practice nurse what your blood pressure results are?
Have you asked them to explain them?
Asked what you could do to improve them if they're not good?

On the occasions I need to visit my GP I always ask lots of questions - and they are answered.
If I had a GP that brushed me off, I'd be looking to move to a different practice.
But maybe that's not an option for you living in London.

BananaRepublic

HappyUser wrote: »

I don't think that's proper healthcare professional practice.
All patients should be well informed about their condition.
People like your husband are bad patients if he does not want to be informed. (it seems there are many of them, that's why many say 'NHS is brilliant')


Anyway, the logic 'dont inform all patients because some don't want to be informed' is severely flawed. The right logic is 'inform all patients even if some won't listen/care'. Unless you want to get rid of patients quickly because you want to squeeze as many appointments as possible so that you get more quid or an award by NHS for being 'efficient' at expense of the patients.

It is actually true that some people do not like ‘too much’ information, whereas others like a full explanation. When I could barely walk one day, my GP explained that there was damage in the knee and the inflammation was designed to stop me moving it so that it could heal. He showed me a model of the knee, with the bones and muscles. He said it would be okay in a day. It was. A similar thing happened recently, this time I assumed it would recover in a day or two, so did not see my GP, and it was fine. But some people can’t cope with that information. An ophthalmologist was surprised that I self diagnosed Posterior Vitreous Detachment, but I have a physics PhD and an analytic mind. But I still listen to my GP and consultants as they’re the experts.

Yes there is pressure to get patients in and out, but in my experience good GPs know how to sort you out in a short time eg avoid chit chat. But as in all walks of life, some GPs are bad. I made a formal complaint about one who said I needed a pacemaker. He kept calling me Mr Super Special, and seemed to want to touch me. The complaint was investigated and upheld. The diagnosis was nonsense and caused distress. But he’d already been dismissed due to other complaints. I was impressed by the paramedic who handled the complaint. Very professional. The NHS is not perfect.