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<h2> <a
href="https://portside.org/2014-08-12/brits-dont-be-fooled-nhs-brilliant-and-aussies-dont-let-your-guard-down"><span
style="color:#b22222;">Brits, Don't be Fooled: the
NHS is Brilliant. And Aussies? Don't Let Your Guard
Down</span><span id="cke_bm_270E"> </span></a></h2>
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<div> Paola Totaro <br>
<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2014-08-12T00:00:00-04:00">August 12, 2014</span><br>
<a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/13/brits-dont-be-fooled-the-nhs-is-brilliant-and-aussies-dont-let-your-guard-down">theguardian.com</a></div>
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<div><big><big><em>After my breast cancer scare and
exemplary care in the UK, I’ve felt a powerful urge
to shout at the Brits: Do you know what an
extraordinary health system you have?</em></big></big></div>
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<div style="text-align:center;"><img
src="cid:part3.03010400.08030006@comcast.net"
align="middle" width="300px"><br>
<div style="font-size:10px;width:300px;margin:0 auto;">Children
representing the NHS at the opening ceremony for the
London 2012 Olympic Games. , <a href="x-msg://6/#">Bloomberg</a>,
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<p><big><big>I</big></big> <big><big>found the lump a
fortnight ago while on a work assignment in Vilnius,
Lithuania. It was a hot, sunny day in the landlocked
capital but as my fingers discovered what felt like
a ping pong ball sized growth, ice went through my
veins. I am not a catastrophist by nature but within
seconds, I had envisaged the worst and by the time I
was in the air homeward bound for Heathrow a few
days later, I was writing my will in my head.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>We have lived in London since 2008 and not a
day goes by when the National Health Service isn’t
in the news, more often than not for mistakes,
delays, apparent inefficiency or targeted for
funding cuts. From the red top tabloids to the
circulation busting, Daily Mail, sticking the knife
into the NHS seems to have become a favoured British
sport (paradoxically, Britons still gush with
national pride about Danny Boyle’s London Olympics
opening ceremony and his eccentrically, flamboyant
homage to the NHS.)</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Paradoxically too, despite this background
hum of complaint, just 11% of Brits have private
medical cover, compared to the 54% of Australians
who pay for some form of general treatment cover.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Like most other Aussies, I’d paid for private
health insurance since my mid 20s. Australia also
has a world class public health system but “gap”
payments – the costs over and above what is
reimbursed by Medicare – can be significant,
especially for specialist treatment. Having a family
with four kids meant it made even more sense later
although I was shocked by a rough, back of the
envelope calculation that shows $70,000 went in
medical insurance since the mid 1980s.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>In Britain, dentistry is pretty much the only
medical procedure you pay for, and even that is
incredibly cheap: £18.50 for screening and x-rays to
a capped, one-off £219 payment for complex, multiple
treatments like crowns, bridges and dentures.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>All GP visits and diagnostic tests are free
while under 16s receive free prescription medicines
as well as dentistry, including orthodontics such as
braces.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Last year alone, the NHS performed 10,595m
operations, up nearly 60% on 10 years ago. Every 36
hours, the NHS deals with one million patients while
its hospitals admitted 15,146m people between 2012
and 2013, up by a third on a decade ago. Do UK
taxpayers have any idea just how lucky they are?</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Suddenly vulnerable that fateful Monday
morning, I wasn’t thinking quite so optimistically
about the system. Without an appointment, I headed
to the local GP surgery at 7.50 am for the first
open surgery. Despite widespread national complaint
about waiting times, I was in with my usual GP
within 35 minutes. Brisk, efficient and thorough,
she examined me with empathy and promised King’s
Hospital would contact me for tests within seven
working days. She insisted I call her if I’d not
heard anything by Friday.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Exactly 24 hours later, Royal Mail delivered
a letter giving me an appointment with the breast
care unit at King’s College Hospital at 11am that
Friday (four days later). I couldn’t believe my
eyes.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>The next day however, a hospital receptionist
rang to apologise that they’d over-booked Friday and
would I mind moving to the following Monday. The
idea of another anxiety-riddled weekend led me to
beg that they call me if a cancellation opened up: I
live a walk away and could be there in minutes.
Unbelievably, an hour and a quarter later, thanks to
patient being delayed by a train malfunction, I
found myself in the breast unit.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Over the following four hours I saw a
specialist consultant, underwent four mammograms,
two ultrasounds, a needle-guided aspiration of one
lump and an intense and frightening moment when a
second lump was found behind the first. Another two
mammograms followed, apparently 3D this time, but
when I saw the specialist again late that afternoon,
I knew from his unabashed smile it would be alright:
“I’m convinced there is nothing sinister. These were
cysts…we don’t know why and it may happen again, but
all you need for now is this antibiotic, just to be
sure.” Pathology would be back on Monday but his
confidence was clear. I could have hugged the man
and he, an oncologist delivering good news, was
genuinely happy too.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>In the weeks since, I’ve felt a powerful urge
to shout at the Brits: “Do you know what an
extraordinary health system you have? How civilized
your society is to afford everyone, rich, poor,
young and old a world class health safety net?”</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Back with my GP the following week, I said
something similar and this chronically over worked,
brisk wonderful woman stopped and rummaged in her
drawer: “Look at this,” she said showing me the
latest British Medical Journal, “The NHS tops the
world’s health systems in a comparison of 11
developed nations ... it tops it! And nobody reports
it, nobody says a word. Of course we have problems,
all systems do but when things go right – which they
do more often than not – silence!”.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>Well, here I am not only saying something but
shouting it publicly and loudly: wake up British
taxpayers, wake up and appreciate – and protect –
what you have built with such vision since the NHS’s
birth in 1948.</big></big></p>
<p><big><big>And Aussies? Please, please don’t ignore the
possibility that the proposed GP co-payment, sold as
a measure to slash the mounting cost of health care
driven, won’t just get hiked over and over again -
and the Medicare that you know and do love won’t
just disappear before your eyes.</big></big></p>
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