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Comment by krbzsq | Hacker News Reader

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krbzsq

I blew up the tractor and paid 10k for hospital treatment. I know the NHS is on its knees but sheesh

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This is the American Dream I’ve been hearing about

American defaultism in the LLMs used to make this.

If you want to actually get treatment, you need to pay.

You definitely do not need to pay to get acute injuries treated.

In fact if you do get private treatment in the UK they make it clear that if things go badly wrong they will take you to an NHS hospital.

Private hospitals won't even take emergencies.

Not sure what reality you live in, but NHS Emergency care is among the best in the world.

Specifically emergency yes.

There ongoing and preventative care has gotten bad enough that it can drive you to A&E to actually get seen. Last time I called my NHS doctor I was given an appointment 3 weeks out and my mom just waited 6 weeks for an X-ray on her foot.

But that's not the straw man that the comment I responded to was attempting to construct.

It's widely known that non-critical care is a postcode lottery. But in the few times I and others have needed the NHS in life-or-death situations, they have been nothing short of amazing.

I cannot agree more. GPs and sometimes A&E is sheesh, but if you get through to specialist NHS is amazing

Not true at all, especially in this scenario (emergency), when you finally leave hospital there is no bill to pay for the treatment you received.

No bill for anything - accommodation, food, ambulance transfers, treatment, medicines...

When I broke my leg a few years back the ambulance was only 15-20 minutes behind mountain rescue. They took me to the nearest hospital where they set my leg in a cast and then transported me to my local hospital half an hour away at around midnight. I was operated on around noon.

They started me on light physio the day after the operation and taught me how to walk on crutches. I continued to receive weekly 1 on 1 physio until I was able to walk with one crutch, at which point I was able to attend group physio. I got a few X-Rays during this time to see how my leg was healing. I was back to climbing after 6 months, having been discharged from physio for a month at that point.

All of this cost me £0.

I've since donated to the local mountain rescue service, but everything else is covered by my taxes and NI.

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