The NHS saves my life every day – we must do everything we can to protect it

[Northerner]

Free at the point of need.

That for me, as we debate the NHS on its 70th birthday, is the one thing that should remain sacrosanct. It is a beautiful concept, and a line that should not be crossed.

Whatever the NHS’s flaws, it means that if you get sick you should expect to be treated without regard to your resources or your position in society. At least in theory.

I have type 1 diabetes. This means that my body destroyed the cells that produce insulin, a hormone without which the body cannot break down and make use of energy-providing carbohydrates.

Scientists are still unsure quite how and why this happens. One theory is that it is an autoimmune disorder, triggered by the body’s attempt to fight off illness.

In my case, it struck when I was just two years of age, making me something of a rarity.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...re-theresa-may-diabetes-america-a8422596.html

Not sure two years old is that rare, I know quite a few members here were diagnosed very young

Note: You can't cut test strips in half nowadays, they wouldn't work.

 

[Sally71]

LOL I remember when my mum first had a blood meter she used to cut the strips in half! They work completely differently now, don't they, something electronic going on rather than just a chemical reaction causing a colour change.

 

[Northerner]

LOL I remember when my mum first had a blood meter she used to cut the strips in half! They work completely differently now, don't they, something electronic going on rather than just a chemical reaction causing a colour change.

Yes, I seem to remember @Matt Cycle saying he used to cut them into 3! 😱

 

[grovesy]

LOL I remember when my mum first had a blood meter she used to cut the strips in half! They work completely differently now, don't they, something electronic going on rather than just a chemical reaction causing a colour change.

Sometimes trying to match the colour was not easy.

 

[Amigo]

Free at the point of need.

That for me, as we debate the NHS on its 70th birthday, is the one thing that should remain sacrosanct. It is a beautiful concept, and a line that should not be crossed.

Whatever the NHS’s flaws, it means that if you get sick you should expect to be treated without regard to your resources or your position in society. At least in theory.

I have type 1 diabetes. This means that my body destroyed the cells that produce insulin, a hormone without which the body cannot break down and make use of energy-providing carbohydrates.

Scientists are still unsure quite how and why this happens. One theory is that it is an autoimmune disorder, triggered by the body’s attempt to fight off illness.

In my case, it struck when I was just two years of age, making me something of a rarity.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...re-theresa-may-diabetes-america-a8422596.html

Not sure two years old is that rare, I know quite a few members here were diagnosed very young

Note: You can't cut test strips in half nowadays, they wouldn't work.

The NHS is one of the greatest institutions in the world and it’s struggling despite the pledge of greater investment.
17 procedures are already earmarked for the axe with the promise of more to come. Not all are as ‘medically futile’ as NHSEngland seem to be suggesting and I can see the private clinics typing up their clinic prices now for these procedures.

‘Free at the point of need’ is the guiding principle and not everyone will be able to afford to fund these procedures. Get your haemorrhoids done now folks before the closure date! 😱

 

[Ralph-YK]

"Does that blue have a hint of red? Or is it a dash of red?" ?

 

[Ralph-YK]

I get fed up of repeating myself. However, I'd be badly off without the NHS. It still needs some work though. One thing to say is, doing some things costs money. In England sometimes we want to have something then complain about costs.
We should just decide we want the job doing and then spend the money needed to get it done.

 

[Bubbsie]

The NHS is one of the greatest institutions in the world and it’s struggling despite the pledge of greater investment.
17 procedures are already earmarked for the axe with the promise of more to come. Not all are as ‘medically futile’ as NHSEngland seem to be suggesting and I can see the private clinics typing up their clinic prices now for these procedures.

‘Free at the point of need’ is the guiding principle and not everyone will be able to afford to fund these procedures. Get your haemorrhoids done now folks before the closure date! 😱

I worry greatly it's just the start of what will disappear from the list of treatments made available on the NHS Amigo...yes theoretically your doctor can recommend the treatment be given if s/he believes it is necessary...however I wonder how many 'hoops' they will have to jump through to get 'permission' for that...how much of our GPs time be used to seek approval for that treatment...how many committees will be involved in the decision making process...what will that cost in admin or an appeal process...will it really save money?...I very much doubt that.

 

[Amigo]

I worry greatly it's just the start of what will disappear from the list of treatments made available on the NHS Amigo...yes theoretically your doctor can recommend the treatment be given if s/he believes it is necessary...however I wonder how many 'hoops' they will have to jump through to get 'permission' for that...how much of our GPs time be used to seek approval for that treatment...how many committees will be involved in the decision making process...what will that cost in admin or an appeal process...will it really save money?...I very much doubt that.

Hope it’s not like the exceptionality criteria for prescribing testing strips Bubbsie! Look how permissive that system is in terms of clinical judgement! 🙄

 

[Bubbsie]

Hope it’s not like the exceptionality criteria for prescribing testing strips Bubbsie! Look how permissive that system is in terms of clinical judgement! 🙄

I actually hadn't thought of that Amigo...yes indeed...first you ask your GP...he says YES...but they (CCG) say NO...then you go to the NICE guidelines which coild say YES... so you read the CCG's minutes where they discuss the provision of that particular service to patients in their local authority...then 'tackle' them CCG...who after a month say YES or NO (a yes in my case) …of course I can see that working...oops I forgot to factor NHS England in but I don't know enough about them (yet!).

 

[Matt Cycle]

Yes, I seem to remember @Matt Cycle saying he used to cut them into 3! 😱

Yes, the original BM (Boehringer Mannheim) strips. I was told to cut them by the DSN (not into 3 though, that was just me doing my bit for the NHS ). Testing involved placing the strip on top of the the tube or a flat surface, using the autolet to put a drop of blood on, waiting 60 seconds (timed with your watch), wipe off with cotton wool, wait another 60 seconds and then try and read the 2 colours on the strip against the scale on the side of the pot to give a result. It had a strange scale something like , 5.1, 7.2, 11.1, 13.5, >17. I was using this method for over 10 years until the mid to late 90's. It was fairly crude but much better than before by all accounts as luckily I missed out on the p*ss in a test tube method!

 

[Lisa66]

You must have had a very steady hand and a very good pair of scissors to cut them into 3 @Matt Cycle, I rarely managed 3. You also needed a steady hand for the test tube method you mention 🙂

 

[mikeyB]

Having experienced NHS Scotland for the past 5 years, which is far better in many respects, the state of the NHS in England is pitiful. The organisational changes caused by that bloke Lansley are now recognised as one of the causes of the decline. Currently, there are just over 2 beds per 1000 patients in England. In Scotland that’s just over 4 per 1000. Respected organisations such as the Nuffield Trust have told the government to look at how NHS Scotland is run, as an exemplar of how to do it - without the “internal market” which wastes billions. The process costs billions. And that’s the poison which is debilitating NHS England.

NHS England even paid Branson millions for cancelling a Virgin Care contract that had failed miserably. That’s insane - they should have told him to go boil his heid. But that’s the sort of insanity you get in a market situation. Money bleeds out of the NHS that way, and the government can’t see that it’s the wrong way to do it.

 

[Matt Cycle]

You must have had a very steady hand and a very good pair of scissors to cut them into 3 @Matt Cycle, I rarely managed 3.

Good scissors were a must. After getting bored cutting them my mind would wander and I often ended up with slivers of strip which made it next to impossible (if it wasn't already) to read!

You also needed a steady hand for the test tube method you mention 🙂

I can imagine. 😱 Easier for blokes though.

 

[Flower]

You must have had a very steady hand and a very good pair of scissors to cut them into 3

I also adopted the three way split of the BM strips in the name of economy 🙂 The strip was longer than the 'modern day' strip so I ended up with 150 wavy slivers of strips with a minute test area for blood but I felt virtuous packing them all back into the one pot. I'd forgotten about the strange ranges for results on the paint chart, I used to record an occasional 11.1 just to make my readings look believable 🙄 There was no way of telling the tiny patch of blue on the end of a strip was 11 let alone 11.1

Dealing with a pipette, test tube and caustic reagent tablets did indeed require a steady hand, no sneezing or anything reckless else you'd burn yourself or the floor if you dropped the boiling hot test tube 😱

 

[Lisa66]

I can imagine. 😱 Easier for blokes though.

You'd like to think so Matt wouldn't you, but I think that's another debate for another thread.😛

And Flower, I'm disappointed in you, who would throw in random results like that?! Oh yes, me too...forgotten all about that.🙂 A whole new topic for a thread there too...although probably best we don't.

Sorry to have diverted from a serious topic.

 

[jusme]

I thank the NHS every day because if it wasn't for them I would never have lived so long.

jusme

 

[Lisa66]

Me too, @jusme . Definitely.