In pretty much any election the issue of healthcare (and often healthcare reform) is a pretty hot potato.
So I’m always interested to find out what the general levels of satisfaction with healthcare provided.
Given it is an election year in the US to some extent it will be a referendum on Obamacare. Have you say about that here.
So it would be great if you would take the poll below to help us get a feel.
What would be as useful is if you would be able to use the comments box to share what you consider to be the biggest problem facing healthcare at the moment.
As some readers may know we are running a rolling set of polls looking at healthcare reform. You can see some of the previous polls here. And it would be great if you could spare just a couple of minutes to take part.
Today we would like to focus on healthcare availability.
From a UK perspective one of the things people find irritating about primary care (by which we mean family doctors, general practitioners[GPs] or PCPs) is that is seems only to be available when we are at work or our children are at school (ie not). It has been improving over the last few years but you can’t see your family doctor on Sunday afternoon pretty much anywhere.
So we were wondering if our readers help that it would be an improvement for healthcare provision in general if primary care was available 24/7 – rather like A&E (or ER for our US readers)?
There would be less waiting around and any conditions which needed to be seen early could be. It would take off much of the pressure on hospitals at the weekend so they could get on with their real jobs.
What do you think?
Why not take our poll below and have your say in the comments section below?
You may also be interested in how such a service might be offered in a restructured health service. Why not check out our previous blog on polyclinics?
Today we would love to know what one thing, you feel, would improve the quality of your healthcare provision?
It would be great if you could share your thoughts in the comments box below. It would be great if you could mention if you had a chronic or acute medical condition (and what it is) as well as in which country you live.
For full disclosure I live in the UK, I’m a carer for a child on the autism spectrum and have hyperlipidemia. The one thing that would improve my healthcare would be being able to see a doctor without having to wait for a month. (oh and Sunday openings would be grand as well).
I am really looking forward to reading your comments.
As pretty much anyone in the UK know right now on Thursday we go to the polls to elect a new government (or not) here in the United Kingdom.
It has been been , for long term political observers, a rather odd campaign in terms of political issues. But there have been a couple of stand outs – one, of which, is the issue of healthcare.
As US readers may know healthcare, in the UK, is mainly provided free at the point of use to those who need it. That being said the National Health Service will be 70 in a couple of years time and it would be naive to suggest that it is not “creaking” a bit.
So the purpose of this blog is to find out if you consider the future of the NHS to be important in how you decide to cast your vote. To do this we have set up a poll below and it would be great if you would take part. Secondly and, maybe, it would be great if you could share your ideas as to how healthcare in the UK might be improved. Please use the comments section below to share your ideas!
Feel free to vote and comment below even if you a not eligible to vote in the UK. Why? Because everyone’s opinion is useful in charting a course for healthcare in the future. And we can learn for the experiences of other countries when it comes to healthcare reform. I mean – has Obamacare really worked in the US?
Would you be happy to get medical advice from a Physician associate as opposed to a fully trained Doctor?
In an idle moment this morning I found myself skimming through the BBC News’s website’s section on health. The BBC it seems have closed down is more generic health section. Does anyone know why?
Anyhow my beady eyes spotted the following article entitled “NHS plans rapid expansion of ‘doctor’s assistant’ jobs”. Now my first reaction was – “How many job titles does a healthcare system need?” as ‘doctor’s assistant’ is a new one for me.
In fact it turns out that the name ‘doctor’s assistant’ may come as a surprise to the NHS as well because they call it on their website “Physician associate”. They also mention it was previously called physician assistants.
Now in that context I have heard of them but don’t live in an area where they operate so have never spotted one in the flesh. According to the NHS Career’s website “Physician associates support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. They are trained to perform a number of roles including:
taking medical histories
performing examinations
diagnosing illnesses
analysing test results
developing management plans.
They work under the direct supervision of a doctor.”
Furthermore they are normally science graduates and them undergo two years training.
My initial thought was that this job function may well prove to be a “good thing” given the long waiting times to actually see a doctor. But on further reflection it occurred to me that the job could be seem as have trained doctors on the cheap.
As I say I’m in two minds so I thought I would through the discussion over to our readers. My question is simple (perhaps too simple). Would you be happy to get medical advice from a Physician associate as opposed to a fully trained Doctor?
I’ve set up up a poll below for you to share you view. But please do feel free to add any thing else to the comments section below on the subject of this any any other healthcare reform!
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