General Chat

It was struggle for Nye Bevan to get the NHS introduced. Not sure if he would be pleased with it today.

Having had experience of English NHS and Welsh NHS in last decade, I think the Welsh NHS is better than in England. But I honestly don't know. Both services get praise and criticism. Cameron's Health Secretary often seems to use Labour-run Wales as an example of how NOT to do things.

I had to go to the dentist today. I usually have a filling or two and she charges me £40. Today I had no fillings and only paid £10. No car parking charges in local hospital, not sure if all free in main one in Llantrisant - but I know there is quite a bit of free parking there. Free prescriptions for everyone, which was a saving for me of about £5 a week when I moved to Wales. And regular checks on things like BP, bowel cancer, blood levels, cholestrol.

Who will defend or criticise England or Wales NHS. And what happens in Scotland and elsewhere :-)

NO COMMENT,

don't want to get into another of those contentious debate's :-D

Seeing as you have said on other threads that you have only lived in Wales for about 5 years, you would not have paid for prescriptions in England over the age of 60 anyway

Charges for a City Hospital visitor parking in the Midlands (told to allow half an hour for queuing) No street parking nearby.

Exit within 30 mins No charges
Up to 1 hour £1.50
1 to 2 hours £2.50
2 to 3 hours £3.00
3 to 4 hours £4.00
4 to 8 hours £6.00
8 to 12 hours £10.00
12 to 24 hours £12.00
Night tariff 8pm - 6am £2.00

Some Benefit recipients get them refunded and patients and carers get a cheaper daily/weekly/monthly rate.

The problem is you never know how long you will be so have to overestimate and so pay extra.

My last dental checkup (no treatment) was £17.50.
Prescription charge is £7.65 per item!!

It would seem that Wales wins easily at least on cost. :-S

What a lovely cat Diane. :-)

Thank you Annx, she is 16yrs old now photo was taken when she was about 10yrs old :-)

I agree with Diane's first post !! :-\

~~~~~ to Sandie <3

"I think the Welsh NHS is better than in England. But I honestly don't know" - what a stupid statement :-S :-S

I live in England...I have never used the Welsh Health service and so would have no idea which is *best*..what an odd question !

I think Jax summed it up nicely in her 1st post :-D

took a friend to our walk in centre last week...........08:45 appointment.
arrived a bit pushed for time, so dropped her off and parked the car.......she went straight in and had had an Xray, before I caught up with her in the centre........then she needed blood tests....... we left all done............and as the first half hour is free parking..........No charge.........

NOW, our new multi million pound hospital, takes longer than that to find somewhere to park!!

Thanks for your replies. THose who think it is a stupid or contentious question are entitled to their opinion.

Jax is quite right about my free prescriptions. Savings of £5 a week were for another family member. In fact, prescriptions were costing a phenomenal amount in Nortthants and only mine were free for a few months before we moved to Rhondda.

I have previously siad that we had experience of mental health in Northants and Cwm Taff. Northants was 8/10, Cwm Taff about 3/10. I had to write to MP about Cwm Taff situation and I believe care has improved since.

Many on here will have reasonably recent knowledge of both England and Wales - or Scotland or other countries. And I am sure there are some firm opinions.

I saw that car parking had been free in Scotland and Wales and still expensive in England. Annx suggests that is still a big difference. Visiting a friend in hospital should surely not incur a parking charge. :-) ;-)

Only your prescriptions were free ? and exactly how do you know that ? did you have access to everyone's medical records ?visiting a friend should not incur a parking charge ? should going to the dentist incur one ? going shopping ? I could go on but cant be bothered you have done your usual desperate to get into a debate and show off your knowledge and posted a load of as usual ..

Probably an unnecessary thread John if it is to 'big up' Wales versus England as we who live in England and not far from the border with Wales are only too aware of the anomolies. Yes, prescriptions are charged for in England except for we older people and other exemptions. And yes the car park charges in hospitals are awful because if they didn't charge most of the hospitals car parks being in or near town centres would be full with people working in town, commuting etc

But as to which has the better NHS who can say? Nobody unless they have experience of the same or similar treatment in both countries.

But let us not have another 'knock John' thread please, it is getting boring.

Excuse lack of punctuation in places, in a hurry, going out, back later. :-) :-)

Remember that John lives in Wales, aivlyS ;-)

NHS prescriptions are free to those who live in that Principality, as they are in Scotland.
It's us poor England residents have to pay the £7 odd if of working age and not eligible for free ones.

Unless we have lived in both England and Wales in recent years, we are in no position to compare the level of service. People could probably experience good and bad care in either.

Edit - Dentists in England who will take on patients under the NHS are as rare as Hens Teeth. Most people would have to pay far more than that charged by the NHS. I think my check up + clean and polish last year was something like £30.

I have no strong views about NHS, AnninGlos. Was so upset by difference between mental health in Wales and England that I wrote to MP (only time I have done that since moving here in 2007). Do think that (apart from mental health, which I am told is being addresses in Cwm Taff and is much better in the next authority where AnnC lives) that Wales NHS is more customer-centred. But only my opinion.

Prescriptions were beginning to cost a fortune for my family in Northants. I was quite relieved when my 3 prescriptions were free when I reached 60, but it only reduced my 4 weekly bill from about £36 to £18 at the time (for another family member). Then it went up to over £20 just before we moved here in 2007 and would be a lot more now..

And free dentistry, free presciptions, and free hospital visiting was something that we expected when I was young when we paid our stamp. I did anyway.

Take away the differences between the countries/Principalities which make up the UK, and look at the NHS.

It started out as free medical care for essential needs, but has since expanded to all sorts of cosmetic procedures, which was not the original intention.

Drugs for treatment and equipment have come on by leaps and bounds. All have to be paid for out of the Trust or PCT funds. Is it any wonder that they have to make difficult decisions as to where they spend the money?

DET ... HOW CAN anyone forget John lives in Wales ? :-)

:-D ;-)

DET. I suppose things were a lot simpler 60+ years ago. Not many hip replacements. heart transpalants etc.

Plus people died much younger than now due to statins and other drugs.

Juts 2 thoughts from that interesting post. How do they decide what is essential? That must vary in every NHS. I can see that some cosmetic surgery is essential, other more debateable. I have seen articles in Welsh press about having to go to England to get certain cancer drugs prescribed.

And, secondly, why did we not keep the link between National Insurance and expenditure on NHS. In a real sense, workers would have realised how expensive it was becoming rather than hiding costs in general taxation. And hospitals needing to raise revenue from car parking and commercial franchises.