I can stand up and be counted as someone who's received treatment at the NHS that wasn't "vital".
When I was diagnosed as being Turners as a small child they made a prediction of my height based on receiving growth hormones and not receiving them. Despite the years of horror that went with the daily injections I only came in at the predicted "without hormones" height. There wasn't that much between the two height ranges really. One just under and one just over the 5 foot mark. But the doctors thought it worth treating with expensive drugs. When puberty hit early (I had my first period at aged 10) they then took the decision to delay my puberty with hormones so that a little more height could be eeked out. It was thousands of pounds spend on treatment simply so I could potentially fit in better. There was the drugs themselves, the x-rays, the consultants' and my GP's time, the genetic tests, the ultra sound scans etc etc. And my parents only had to worry about finding the money for fuel to get me to appointments.
On the flip side. My grandmother had an emergency hip replacement back in March. She's back home (she refused to stay in hospital to die) but with being house bound, with little sight or hearing she's very confined. So my father decided to sort her out with a hearing aid so she could still listen to the radio and to audio books. The NHS GP insisted that to be checked for one she had to go to him. She can't get up and down the stairs into her flat, she can't get to an appointment at the GPs. Paying for a private consultation meant that someone came to her.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 01:07 pm (UTC)When I was diagnosed as being Turners as a small child they made a prediction of my height based on receiving growth hormones and not receiving them. Despite the years of horror that went with the daily injections I only came in at the predicted "without hormones" height. There wasn't that much between the two height ranges really. One just under and one just over the 5 foot mark. But the doctors thought it worth treating with expensive drugs. When puberty hit early (I had my first period at aged 10) they then took the decision to delay my puberty with hormones so that a little more height could be eeked out. It was thousands of pounds spend on treatment simply so I could potentially fit in better. There was the drugs themselves, the x-rays, the consultants' and my GP's time, the genetic tests, the ultra sound scans etc etc. And my parents only had to worry about finding the money for fuel to get me to appointments.
On the flip side. My grandmother had an emergency hip replacement back in March. She's back home (she refused to stay in hospital to die) but with being house bound, with little sight or hearing she's very confined. So my father decided to sort her out with a hearing aid so she could still listen to the radio and to audio books. The NHS GP insisted that to be checked for one she had to go to him. She can't get up and down the stairs into her flat, she can't get to an appointment at the GPs. Paying for a private consultation meant that someone came to her.