#DBlogWeek – part 4 – Healthcare – a snapshot of the UK Experience

20/05/2016 admin @NHSDiabetes, #DBlogWeek, NHS, UK Healthcare 0

#DBlogWeek – part 4 – Healthcare – a snapshot of the UK Experience
#DBlogWeek – part 4 – Healthcare – a snapshot of the UK Experience

Today’s prompt: Most people who live with a chronic illness end up with a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with healthcare. How would you improve or change your healthcare experience? What would you like to see happening during medical visits with your healthcare team? How about when dealing with your health insurance companies? What’s your Healthcare Wish List or Biggest Frustration? Today is the day to share it all!

As it’s still May 19th in the Baker Islands, I reckon I can just about get away with writing this day 4 post now. I’ve written on this topic more than once on the blog and in other places, and it’s been an experience interacting with the UK healthcare system. You’ll sense, if you read through them, a level of frustration with how the UK operates and many aspects of the system. Looking back I realise that I’ve written far more than I had thought and it’s kind of disturbing!

A few of those posts can be found listed below:

Whilst the NHS is a massive benefit – you are guaranteed lifetime care, it strikes me that it has moved a long way from its origins and if you really want something, you have to take on a self-advocacy role and make sure you fight for it. That doesn’t necessarily benefit a large part of the population and I think to some extent, makes people lazy.
Whilst I’m not in agreement that a US model is the best either (just look at the prices charged for insulin for example), I think there is something between the two that causes people to take responsibility for their own health and conditions, provides a safety net so that you aren’t ever in a position where you can’t get the care you need, but also supplies enough healthcare funding to allow proper, full access to more advanced healthcare technologies (whether that’s insulin pumps, CGMs or Proton Beam Cancer therapy).
It’s a tough one to cogitate on and I don’t have all the answers, but have a read of the “Thoughts on changing Type 1 care in the UK” for a range of views gathered from multiple participants if you’re interested in what the Diabetes Online Community thought!

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