Name me a country where...

[R1Geezer]

You are crossing the road and you get run over by a car. You have multiple life threatening injuries. You have no paperwork on you and you cannot speak. They will still scrape you of the road and take you to hospital, fix you up no questions asked, regardless of cost. I know of only one, there may be others.

[sqad617]

Dead right R1Geezer...that can only be the well known and well exploited NHS of the United Kingdon, which no other country has copied.......I wonder why?

Up until about 8yrs ago, the government would always come out with the well known rhetoric......NHS. The envy of the World, but not since.....I wonder why.

If I have got the answer wrong......I admit defeat.

[sara3]

if I, or someone I knew, was run over by a car and was lying unconscious in the street.. possibly with no "paperwork" on them... I would hope they would be treated without waiting for their identity to be confirmed.

my kids don't carry "paperwork"...

[joggerjayne]

Ooh ... we get to name the country ?

I'd name it ... "Niceland"

[firewatch]

however if you are involved in a car accident the local ambulance trust will charge your insurance people or those of the person liable for the cost of recovering your sorry arse from the scene of the accident.
So not such a great NHS after all.

[sqad617]

sara3 of course they would, whever in the world that might be, but I think R1Geezer is making a much wider, thinnly disguised point.

[Lakitu]

What an odd thread.

I quite often go out without my handbag, therefore no purse with my 'paperwork' and I'd like to think I'd be scraped up and mended.....

[R1Geezer]

OK I'll Clarify. I was having a debate with someone about emigrating and I said that as far as I know UK is the only place in world where this happens. US/EU forget it. I was saying that is why I would not emigrate, I just don't trust the rest of the world in medical situations. I wasn't slagging it off quite the reverse, it is one of the things that is the mark of a true civilised nation.

[R1Geezer]

My sister gave birth in Spain. Baby comming, do they take her to hospital ? do they b0ll0cks, they want to check her paperwork first! If that ain't in order wih the correct insurance etc, you can have the baby on a bl00dy park bench! and they are in the so called civilised kin EU!

[Lakitu]

I love the NHS. It has is faults, but it the pro's far outweigh the con's.

Did you ever see Michael Moore's 'Sicko'? The US have a terrible attitude to medical care (the government, that is).

[joggerjayne]

I caught a bug in Portugal a few years ago.

I was really ill, throwing up, dehydrating, couldn't eat, losing weight, losing strength (I was finding it hard to lift my wine bottle!).

I went to the local Centro do Saude, was seen by a consultant, touched up and fondled a lot, x-rayed, and given a fistful of prescriptions, in a timescale where a UK A&E Dept would still be filling in stupid forms.

I paid for the x-ray, and the medications, and that was all.

I didn't have any paperwork.

Just thought I'd mention it.

[Bathsheba]

Sorry, but just gotta jump in here - Laki- you go out without your handbag????!!!! Nope, sorry, me brain can't compute that ;-) xxx

[woozer]

Why does getting some money back from an insurance company make the NHS a baddie Firewatch? I think its a great idea and I would also be willing to pay for my meals in hospital - I would rather the NHS had the money to give people who need it the medical help

[sqad617]

R1Geezer.........don't slag off other countries health care when the problem lies in the UK where anyone, tax payer or not, get's free health care. Healthcare has to be paid for and it is not cheap.
If you retire to Spain and you are over 65, then the Spanish Authorities say "Oi! you haven't paid one euro into our taxes all your life and now you want to use our Health system free".
No way...and I think that is reasonable. There is a reciprocal arrangement with the UK so the they (UK) pick up the tab for the over 65's....reasonable in my mind.

Under 65 in Spain...if you work and pay taxes you can use our health service free of charge. If you don't work....you need medical insurance...agfain reasonable to me.

Don't slag off EU, just question NHS.

[Lakitu]

LOL Bath! xx

[Bathsheba]

:-) xxx

[R1Geezer]

fair enough sqad, trouble is the NHS in spain is about 10% the rest is private. I showed my E111 to some expats an they pi55ed themselves. "Try and find a non private hospital mate"

[sqad617]

Right. don't know where your mates in Spain live, but I would say it is the other way round..90% Salude (NHS) and 10% private. You E111 would get you EMERGENCY treatment anywhere in, Private Hospital or State Hospital.

Where are your expat friends? Do they work or are thet retired?

Before your friends pi55 themselves any further, just remind them that cancer drugs which have only been free of charge in the UK have ALWAYS been free to the Spanish.

[R1Geezer]

Well just guys I met, not really freinds, it was in Majorca

[bednobs]

the nhs have teams of people to investigate people who aren't entitled to secondary care and make them pay for treatment they have had