I just wanted to post a 'thank you note' to all the health services we enjoy in the United Kingdom. It's not that I've had to use them recently; but that my mother-in-law isn't able to access them.
I've done my share of complaining about the underfunding of our services and it's not that I don't think that public funds could and should be pumped into them to bring them back up to the standards we've enjoyed in the past, but by comparison with what's available in other countries, our services are luxury indeed.
My husband's from Guyana (in South America), a relatively poor country compared to ours, and his mum still lives there, with no family support except my husband, 4500 miles away.
She's elderly with diabetic ulcers and multiple other health challenges too, but doesn't enjoy the free treatment at point of access that we all do.
Mum in law's ulcers became infected last week and the local government hospital was too busy to accept new patients, so her only option was to go to a private facility.
She needed five days of antibiotic treatment and dressings which she, and we, had to fund. After discharge there's no aftercare. No fleet of district nurses or GP surgeries to visit at home or anywhere to get medical advice. Lots of private doctors' offices which are very happy to help for a fee, and she, like most other ordinary people sometimes has to decide whether to eat or have medications or treatment.
If you want an ambulance you can of course have one, if you are willing to pay.
Every leg dressing requires a visit to a doctors' office, or you can buy the necessary items and do it yourself.
I'm not complaining that we help her; just taking time out to give my appreciation for the NHS and related services here, which, quite often, we do tend to take for granted.
I can remember the Welsh politician Nye Bevan, whose vision the NHS was, and always think of him with love and affection. Politicians with his kind of vision and compassion are rare birds indeed. He might not recognise the NHS we have today. He might be a bit disappointed at the way it has not always been properly supported by the government of the day, but he'd certainly still recognise its principal aim and the wonderful job it still manages to do.
So here's a 'cheers' to all the hard and wonderful work our services do and I hope we never lose them.