Free at the point of delivery

Mostly a mother - 16 Nov 19

On Tuesday evening, my daughter complained she couldn’t walk because her leg hurt. Naturally, being the caring, compassionate mother that I am, I told her to stop being silly and crawling around and go to bed. The next morning, she still wouldn’t put any weight on it. After giving it a look and ascertaining it was neither hot, red nor swollen and seemed to have a good range of movement, I physically carried her to school, expecting her to perk up once she was in the company of her friends.

Instead, I got a call three hours later. She had spent the entire morning crying. She wouldn’t walk. She wouldn’t go out to play with her friends. And when I collected her, it did look a bit hot and red as I again hoisted her onto my back like a sad cuddly backpack.

Over the next 72 hours my daughter has had:

• 2 GP telephone appointments
• 1 in person GP appointment
• 1 X-ray
• 1 MRI scan
• 1 ultrasound scan
• blood tests
• insertion of a cannula
• a course of IV antibiotics
• pain relief
• regular observations of temperature and pulse
• a bed overnight (with a chair bed for a parent next to it)
• a pair of small crutches
• many stickers

She has also seen:

• 2 paediatric consultants
• 2 orthopaedic consultants (one of whom cycled from one hospital to ours to see her after finishing his day’s clinic)
• a team of radiologists
• numerous paediatric registrars, nurses, nursing assistants and other healthcare assistants
• a play specialist who helped prepare her for the whistles, beeps and thunks of the MRI
• countless smiling porters, cleaners and other ancillary staff

The diagnosis? A soft tissue infection behind the bursa in her heel (for those not in the know, myself included,  bursae are thin, lubricated cushions located at points of friction between a bone and the surrounding soft tissue). Responding well to pain relief and antibiotics although at this point she’s still not able to walk.

So how much did all this cost? I have absolutely no idea, and that’s the point. The NHS, flawed and imperfect as it may be, is free at the point of delivery. That means no-one is going to be refused treatment. No-one has to avoid seeking treatment for fear of being unable to pay the bill. I didn’t have to consider whether she really needed that exorbitantly expensive extra diagnostic test to rule out something really worrying. Rich or poor, black or white, old or young, educated or not, everyone receives the same treatment. What might have happened in, for example, a US style arrangement? Would I have just not bothered with the expense as it seemed likely she’d just banged it and it would get better under the ‘ole Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation edict? Which in this case, could have led to the infection spreading and causing far more serious problems.

As we prepare for yet another election, Brexit looms large on everyone’s mind and don’t get me wrong, what path our new government chooses to take will have a huge impact on us all. But don’t forget all the other issues which are so integral to our way of living that it’s easy to take them for granted, to gripe when a mistake is made or it doesn’t run quite as smoothly or conveniently as we would like. Our NHS is such a wonderfully fragile thing, chipped away at and underfunded while its staff are stretched further and further, always approaching breaking point but always there to help people when they really need it. We need to protect it and support it and appreciate it because you never know when you might need it. Maybe you never will need the NHS and that’s fantastic. But someone will – someone does right now and right now, the NHS is saving countless lives because that’s what they do. Having a safety net to stop people dying and suffering pointlessly and needlessly is part of what makes us a just and humane society – even if you never personally need it.

When you make your choice on Thursday 12th December, make sure you know what the party you’re voting for will be doing to protect our NHS. Our society would be a very much darker place without it.

Mostly a mother

Mother to two wonderful girls. Writer, dancer, grammar pedant. Lover of cake, biscuits, tea, my family and friends.

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