I have mainly been quietly reading the last few years, venting some frustrations with my care in the UK occasionally. After 4 years and not many good experiences I had barely got a diagnosis other than "some form of inflammatory arthritis.
Now we have moved to Germany and I had my first flare in my shoulder, ellbow and hands, sending me to a GP for quick painrelief and some info on how to be seen by a rheumatologist. Wow, what a breath of fresh air! I was given proper pain relief (prednisolone) to get through the flare until I see a specialist and they wrote me an urgent referral to the specialist. Being used to ut taking months to see someone I was happy it only was less than 2 weeks to be seen (without the referral I was advised it would have taken until Sept/Oct - they are overloaded with work here too).
Had my urgent emergency appointment today and was told to prepare for long waiting time as I would have to be slotted in between normal appointments. Although they read my notes from the UK, all the bloodworks were taken, I got x-rays done there and then and the doctor did an examination and talked through my symptoms with me. Wait time was all of 1,5 hours. Got a next appointment in 4 weeks time to discuss results and get me a proper diagnosis and discuss treatment options. Was given a really interesting brochure about RA as well. Nothing totally new as I had similar stuff in the UK but it was all just so easily explained and all teh options laid bare and explained as well. I hope this is an early indication for what is to come for my treatment, feel so positive today!
Thanks for listening and have a good day/week
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Eisbaerin2
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I know exactly what you mean! I live in Spain and my care has been second to none. When I had a particularly painful flare they even came to my home to administer a fast working, painkilling injection, the relief was almost instant.
Glad to hear it's all going well. Have to say I have had amazing treatment in the UK from being diagnosed within 3 months, 11 years ago. Given the right medications, and then changes of meds when things changed, monthly blood tests, regular appointments with rheumy consults, prompt return calls from rheumy nurses. Just giving a thumbs up to the folks at home 😀
Hello Kathies and thanks for your reply. I am very happy for you that you received such great care. I have to say I believe this is probably a bit of a postcode lottery and also might have worsened over the last few years due to the strain on the NHS overall. I do think very highly of the NHS in general, I was just unlucky in terms of my timing and location when getting ill. All the best!
Agree, I had great care in the UK. And my rheumy was wonderful. Sadly it seems that it's a bit of a lottery so there's good and bad care.
I moved to France and my first experiences were poor - a bad rheumy, grumpy people and refusal to explain anything. However then swapped to another hospital and it's been fine. And like susiespain above also had a nurse come to the house to give me injections for my back when it seized up completely. And the physio is brilliant. So still luck of the draw but perhaps with better odds then you get now in UK?
Supplementally, Silentreader may have additional perspective navigating the German 🇩🇪 healthcare system, Eisbaerin2? Very best wishes to you. 😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
The medical system in Germany is completely different from our NHS....I'm so pleased it has helped you get your treatment.
German citizens pay quite a lot more for their health contributions than we do in the UK.
Sorry..rant coming up now.......
Throwing money at the NHS now is a lost cause unless the way we contribute is revised & increased. ...& of course don't treat every stray tourist needing a heart by bypass or give birth to quads for free. We have got to realise that although Britain is a rich country we need to sort out the health of our own citizens before we treat the world.
Any treatment I have had in Europe has been recouped through the E111 card. Who has ever heard of a British GP asking so see that card or any form of indentification before treating a non UK citizen? I know some big hospitals do ask for personal details, but even they rarely recoup the cost.
There is fantastic treatment available on the NHS....but beware getting old! In the last couple of years I have found all the GPS at my practice (been about 3 times to GP in 2, years so I'm not a regular) put every ache & pain down to my age, have no interest in investigating anything, then get all sniffy when I pay for a Private consultation that throws up something very simple, but treatable economically.....that if the GP had ignored my age would not have cost me £150 to get treated. If I could not have afforded that Private doctor how would I be now? So pease don't blame all NHS problems on us Crumblies!
I don't think the NHS will improve in my lifetime as the powers that be have an agenda..,,,what it is I don't know & I wonder if they do!
But someone needs to tell them very firmly that it is not working in most areas of Britain!
Hallo Eisbaerin2 and everyone else, I have not been on here for many months as a lot going on in my family. Still have asthma of course and it has taken a turn for the worse and have been using Salbutamol and it helps but not so much during the night as it only lasts the four hours and I often wake up coughing. But my other pains are not so bad at the moment although the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it is cold, miserable and rainy.
Yes health care is expensive here. We are private and it costs us nearly 600 Euro a month. But as you say Eisbaerin2 - you get an appointment quickly and some doctors listen and are good. But there is also the other kind. It is the luck of the draw I suppose, especially if you move somewhere new and do not know where to go - who has a good reputation.
And despite the apparent cleanliness, it is just on the surface. It is only since about 12 to 14 years that we have disinfectant dispensers on the walls of our hospitals for visitors. We have regular scandals and outbreaks of bacterial infection - the dreaded HAI or HCAI usually through E. coli, and through them being short staffed in the wards and so some nurses in such stress and a rush that they do not wash their hands. And if you get that here many or most die from it. While in Holland they are trained to deal with this kind of infection and patients survive. Just the summer before last about eight babies died in hospital in the newborn ward and of this infection.
Most mistakes made in hospitals and by doctors here are due to being in a rush when examining or treating you. If you go somewhere new for the first time you get a different impression but many change after that first time and do not really listen to you and what you have to say about your situation. I do not know what it is like in Britain as I was 21 when I left to work in Berlin and hardly needed a British doctor as well as never being in a British hospital apart from at birth.
As for old age - mentioned on this page - I think Germany not ideal when you are old anyway and doctors can speak to you with some disrespect. It is a bit of a hectic country on the whole and all a fast pace except for Bavaria. Just a couple of months ago, I was waiting at the traffic lights in our car when I noticed this old lady crossing the street very aquardly and slowly. She was obviously in pain as she was walking that way so it took time. In the mean time one of the drivers got impatient and honked his horn. I thought that so out of place and thought - even you will get old one day my friend and would like to see you then if you are ill and find movement difficult.
The other thing worrying me is that people are getting more extreme right and very anti-semitic here. I had a Jewish friend who has since gone to live in Israel in Haifa and so noticed the way many Germans still think about the Jews, due being friends with Sarah. And now things have taken a turn for the worse. My husband and I might not stay in this country. We are discussing where to go as we do not like the way things are going. That is also stress for me as in the 70s being English and living in Würzburg I was treated badly because they were unused to foreigners and I the only foreign person in my part of town. Würzburg is a town with little industry so not many people move there from elsewhere. It is what is called a Beamtenstadt. England bombed this town by the way but in retaliation for Coventry and I was not even born then. But in recent years things seem to have got better I noticed when I visit. I now live in the North.
I got dual German nationality in the meantime. I would never have given up my British passport but I needed to get this, as advised by my husband in case something should happen to him and if Britain leaves the EU. All these years I have lived here (48) I have not been able to vote and once Britain leaves, if they leave, then not being German there could be complications for me getting my husbands pension if he were to die before me and I am living back home in Britain. It is a safety precaution really.
Lastly I came back on here because I had this in my post this week - " I was advised by a German doctor that probiotics plus proteolytic enzymes would be good supplements. After being on 7 different meds I am now free from asthma after 45 years diagnosed with chronic asthma."
I thought that an interesting read and although I do not know if there is anything in it, will check it out with my doctor when I go next time.
All the best to you too Eisbaerin. What part of Germany do you live and how is life treating you now you have been here a year almost? Hopefully all is good.
Happy Xmas to all, in case I do not come here again for this year.
sorry to read that you are having difficult experiences in Germany. I can tell you it is not at all like what you have experienced in most areas. I have travelled through a lot of the country and there certainly are bad examples but on the whole I find it an easier place to live than the UK. Populist and right wing tendencies are rearing their ugly heads all over Europe, Brexit is a prime example but you can find it everywhere. At least in Germany I see lots of people on the streets and in everyday life standing up to them and that is sadly lacking in the UK.
If you are unhappy with your doctor it should be no problem to just go to a different one and get a second opinion or a third. I was unhappy with the treatment I was offered after my diagnosis of chondrocalcinosis (steroid when I flare, nothing else could be done apparently) so checked out other options and the next doctor I contacted is having me admitted to hospital for a 7-10 day stint to do test and sort out (longer-term) medication to treat me. I sent my request last weekto the clinic directly (as I was told to) via my GP and was expecting a long-ish wait, but yesterday I got confirmation to go in on the 10th of December. The letter already contains some info on treatments (clod chamber, physio, etc.) so I am exstatic at the prospect of being treated properly.
Health costs in Germany are on the surface expensive, but it is very much income dependent! When my family first arrived and we had no jobs the coverage for all 4 of us cost less than 175€. It is extremly hard to compare to a system like the NHS that gets funded through "hidden" taxation so you don't really see what amount of your tax money actually goes where. I am not saying it is perfect in Germany, far from it, but I do appreciate that it works.
We live near Wiesbaden and Frankfurt by the way now and find the area very friendly and in the little town we live in there are plenty of native english speakers as well as other non-german folk around and the diversity is working very well. I am happy to have made the move.
Wishing everyone the best and also a good pre-Christmas and Christmas time if I don't get back on here before!
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