<*dv_1*>The health service. Is it as bad as they say? For me the jurys out. Ive just had a very mixed experience. I had a problem with my eye. Bust a blood vessel on my retina and my eye ever so slowly (like over 4 months) filled with blood. After my initial panic was calmed by a nice doctor (we can treat this easily), I became quite blas. I had my own personal lava lamp, it was quite cool. Unfortunately between treatments (beating the bejaysus out of my retina with a laser) the bleeding continued. itll just reabsorb, give it a couple of months and come back. Hmmm. So, 2 months later and now completely blind in one eye I go back. I was still only mildly concerned, apparently if it didnt re-absorb there was a simple surgical procedure to sort it out. I was beginning to think we should have gone there earlier, but I didnt spend seven years in med school. So, the doc looks at my eye and goes a bit quiet. She didnt quite say oops! but she might as well have. OK, we think the retina may have detached, can you take time off work at short notice to be checked out by a surgeon, do we have your mobile number?
Right, now Im crapping myself but forego the How the F**K can you have let this happen? questions in the interest of getting it sorted, ASAP. well call you soon to let you know I sit by the phone all afternoon. Nada. I go back to work and keep checking my connection and battery level. Nada. FIVE days go by and nothing. OK, this is my eyesight, I have the right to ring up and find out whats happening. oh yes, thats been sent to the eye surgeons clinic but hes only there on Wednesdays, hell see it tomorrow and let us know next week Oh well, its only my eye and I do have a spare one after all!
<*dv_0*> So, next week comes by and in the absence of a reassuring call Im back on the phone. Oh, didnt anyone tell you? Weve sent you a letter your appointment is in six weeks time. Well, I guess thats what the NHS calls short notice! So I go in and it turns out my retina hasnt detached (but its not like they already knew that!). I am booked in for the blood removal op. You remember, the simple procedure. You should be aware that this isnt a simple procedure (!?!) Its about a 2 hour operation [my eye isnt that big!] and there is a 1 in 20 chance of the operation ending in complete blindness in that eye. Theyre really making me feel better but as Im currently blind in that eye anyway it Hobsons Choice. Lets do it! Surgery booked for 2 months hence.
<*dv_3*> This is where the quality of care actually goes up exponentionally. Its a 24 hr job, in Wed am, out Thurs lunch. Attentive and sensitive nurses, and the personal attention of the chief consultant surgeon. And he talks! Not a patronising molecule in his body. No, seriously. Im not being ironic. He was great. Explained what he was going to do, answered all my questions patiently, even explained to my Mum and Dad (I felt like a nine year old boy with his M&D looking after him!). His assistant came and saw me in pre-op and joked with me as she put a big felt pen arrow over my right eye (I dont trust them she said in a soft irish accent). They really looked after me. The surgery wasnt a complete success as there was more damage to the retina than they expected from the original burst blood vessel but the consultant is personally looking into why. Im already getting more sight back than they predicted, but theres a couple of weeks to go, so well see (or not as the case may be!).
So, a bit of a curates egg. I do rue the irony that 18 years of Private Medical Insurance ended 6 months before this all kicked off as I spent a little time resting between jobs. But shit happens. Are they as bad as everyone makes out. Same as any huge organisation, theres the good, the bad and the downright incompetent. But there are some gems.
I guess if this was the states Id be suing the arse off them but as Ive always decried people who do that, I cant really be a hypocrite now. Truth is, they probably called it as they saw it, running the probabilities and I just didnt fit the model.
<*dv_2*> I wonder how much I could get.
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