The NHS- personal experience

Sometimes you can glean as useful apercus from experience as from hours of study. It is with this in mind that I offer my thoughts on the NHS.

My 4-year old son suffered from a serious case of tonsillitis, causing regular ill-health and visits to the GP. Around Christmas, he had a particularly high temperature. We phoned the GP, but he could not see him for a week. I decided to take him to causalty at the Children’s Hospital. According to the doctor who checked him, it was the worst case of fever- triggered by the tonsils- he had seen in days.

We were dealt with speedily. A combination of sitting in a cool a room and powerful analgesics reduced the temperature and we were able to go home. On Christmas Eve, the temperature rose again to an alarming level and we went back to causalty. Again, a combination of medication and sitting in a cool room did the job. However, this time the doctor took a closer look at the tonsils and wrote a letter to the GP, suggesting he refer my son for a detailed check up.

The doctor also made another discovery- the reason why the temperature was not clearing was because the GP had prescribed cheaper, less effective anti-biotics. So he gave us a week’s supply of more effective medication, and my boy was his bubbly self within days.

Our GP wrote to the Children’s Hospital in early January. We were invited to the Out-Patients Department in late February. The consultant agreed the tonsils were pretty big and recommended removal. He said we would be put on waiting list. At that point, I thought it would take months. Yet a week later, we received a letter saying that the routine operation could be carried out on the 21st March.

So what I have learnt about the health service from this, admittedly limited, experience?

My opinion, based on this but also wider reading, is that hospitals have improved by leaps and bounds, whereas the primary care sector, such as GPs, has lagged behind. Accident and emergency department performance has improved, with most people being seen and assessed reasonably speedily. Waiting times for being admitted to hospital have also improved tremendously, as the government claims.

The story is different in the primary care sector. Many GP surgeries are struggling under the pressure of oversubscribed patient lists and a shortage of doctors. When the doctor’s receptionist said my son could not be seen within a week, I just bypassed the primary sector and took him straight to the hospital. The impression I got from looking around the waiting room in A&E was that a large number of people had made the same decision.