The NHS, Ageing & Me

I've just checked in my diary - This year I have had a lot of private medical appointments:

• 19 with my Osteopath for pain
• 4 with a Hypnotherapist also for pain
• 4 with my Podiatrist
• 6 with my Dentist, routine & a crown
• 6 with stairlift companies, which means I know I won't have to move house.

A total of  37 appointments which have cost goodness knows how much money. An average consult would be about £50, some are a lot more, Dentists for example. So I'm very lucky I can afford it. Many people can't.

I've also had 22 appointments with various NHS medics, Consultants, GP's, Nurse Practitioners, Physio's...

So, in total that is 59 appointments in 41 weeks to date. Easily more than one a week on average. Occasionally I have had as many as 4 appointments in one week. It feels as if my life has been taken over by my medical conditions. When you include travelling time it certainly takes up a lot of time more or less every week.

I take 9 pills a day, which are free. I've no idea how much that costs. An appointment with a GP apparently costs the NHS £22.60. I think out patients appointments cost £120 according to the 2016/17 NHS Reference Costs data:-
https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/1972/1_-_Reference_costs_publication_VSnAQ5x.pdf

My point is that having spent my life being a "low maintenance woman" I am now anything but. Keeping me well maintained & "on the road" is getting very expensive, both to me & the NHS. It isn't going to get any cheaper or less time consuming either. Swimming 4 - 5 times a week to keep my range of movement & mobility is another regular time consumer, although very enjoyable too.

I am not alone. My demographic, the "baby boomers" are alive, relatively well & well off & living longer. In 2016 there were 5million people in their 70's in the UK. Survival rates to 70 have increased to 78%. We are set to cost the country quite a lot of money because the NHS has the means to keep us alive. Whether the quality of life is worth that cost is another matter.

As for me I'm grateful for a NHS notionally free at the point of need to everyone. In my experience that is getting ever more difficult to provide. I have seen the cracks in the system. I have also seen the Politicians tinkering with creeping privatisation & the difficulties experienced by hard pressed medics.

If the NHS is to continue with it's unique USP into the 21st century it needs both a radical overhaul & more money.