Is There Still A Prevalent "stiff Upper Lip" In Uk

[DangerUXD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21242871
Or is just that the others are a bit winge happy?

[FredPuli43]

If so, the Danes must have a stiff upper lip too, as they seem to have the same problem [see the link] ! We do as regards illness and it is particularly so of old people, for whom 'mustn't grumble' is still a common saying even though they will tell anybody, who is prepared to listen, all of their current ailments.

[Sqad]

So......the"NHS The Envy of the World" is bottom of the European League table for cancer survival rates and the medical profession is blaming the patients.

Perhaps there is a touch of "stiff upper lip" but that is not the whole story....far from it. No, other inhabitants of other European Countries are NOT "winge happy."

So why are we at the bottom of the league?

Multifactorial, but the main reason is that GP's tend to hold back on hospital referrals as they know that the hospital system cannot cope.
UK seems to be based on GP care with hospitals as a secondary and last "port of call." Primary care is afforded more financial assistance than it needs as a method of Political favours to the spoon fed public.

So, until this anomaly is reversed and GP's feel that all referalls will be coped with in reasonable time, the UK will remain at the bottom of the league table.

[ummmm]

Yes, there is but I don't think it's stiff upper lip. It's denial.

[DangerUXD]

so what's the answer sqad?

[Sqad]

Danger......you mean "My Answer"........;-)

No Political Party would embark upon it and the electorate would never accept it......the will isn't there.

Just watch some of the replies from ABers when i dare to question the efficiency of the NHS.

Danger.......what i would like to see, will never happen in the UK as the NHS is a Political animal and with a strong Union base both for medical and non medical employees.

[DangerUXD]

I like the idea of the NHS, not saying it's best in all respects and no doubt it's not as efficient could be, no doubt a lot gets wasted on unncessary admin but the idea is sound. Universal health care from cradle to grave is good, perhaps our implementation of it needs looking at. I'd hate to have the American system where you are at the mercy of a load of suits in the insurance business.

[Sqad]

Danger......90% of the UK population would agree with you.

Most Americans that i have spoke too are "dead scared" of the ObamaCare based on the UK NHS.

[Sqad]

^^ spoken...

[DangerUXD]

yes sqad, I suspect they are not the ones who have no insurance, can't get it or can't afford it. They are not the ones with relatives being allowed to die because they forgot to disclose a distant uncle who once had an in grown toenail. I know many Americans are scared to death of Obamacare.

[FredPuli43]

But Obamacare isn't based on the NHS. It's based, if anything, on the Dutch system of compulsory health insurance with requirements of the insurers not to exclude or charge anyone extra because of past history.

[modeller]

One major reason why a lot of people put off going to their GPs is because they know that there will be a long protracted period before actually receiving treatment and when the do it may be many miles from where they live.
1. See GP. 2. See Consultant. 3. See another for test/biopsy
4. See Surgeon who recommends certain treatment. 5. receive treatment.
6. See consultant for check up. . This all takes place in different hospitals , with weeks delay between each. You never see the same person twice.
This 1......6 is if it's straight forward, and there are not numerous cancellations, if not or if at any stage it is put off until the condition worsens , then it can drag on months/years.
Is it any wonder we put off going to the GP in the first place.

Let me give one simple anecdote of a friend of mine with a 5cm growth on his face, who after going through the 1....4 received 8 cancellations before receiving treatment.

[emmie]

my o/h was of the old school, don't complain, i bloody well wished he had, he might be alive today...

[DangerUXD]

Yes Fred, that is true but many in the US hate even that. I know of cases in the US where people can't even afford insurance even if they are accepted. Obamacare is a sort of half way house, you still have to pay privately for insurance. There is effectively no change to the current system for those who can't afford insurance.

[slaney]

I think there may be something to it.
How many times does one see in B&S or Health & Fitness..." I don't want to bother my GP"?
Interestingly Denmark in the most recent EUROSTAT figures has a relatively high figure for cancer deaths.

Sqad, it's not that you "dare to question the efficiency of the NHS".
It's that you make these statements without any evidence to back them up, which I find exasperating. The NHS is far from perfect, but it has good points.
For instance here is how the New York based Commonwealth Fund ranks the NHS 2010
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2010/Jun/~/media/Images/Publications/Fund%20Report/2010/jun/MM2010l.gif

And as for cancer rates the UK is not at the bottom of the European league table, just somewhere in the middle for men, and lower down for women. This is not good enough I agree, and earlier diagnosis has to be a priority.
In the UK there is a huge North/South divide with the cancer death rates in Surrey and Sussex considerably less than Tyneside for example. (In fact they - the former - seem to be on a par with cancer deaths in the Balearics.)
The latest EUROSTAT figures (Sept 2012) here..
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Causes_of_death_-_standardised_death_rate,_2010_(1)_(per_100_000_inhabitants).png&filetimestamp=20121022145128

We seem to do better in the under 65s..
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Causes_of_death_-_standardised_death_rate,_2010_(1)_(per_100_000_inhabitants_aged_less_than_65).png&filetimestamp=20121022145118

[youngmafbog]

//Researchers, who surveyed nearly 20,000 adults in six high-income countries, said they found embarrassment often stopped Britons visiting the doctor//

So what has embarrassment got to do with the stiff upper lip which is generally accepted as 'getting on with it without complaining' ?

[Zeuhl]

^ymb

quite right - two different things completely

if people in the research used words or synonyms of 'embarrassed' then fine

It appears that some doctors have then overlaid their own interpretation of 'stiff upper lip' for some reason.

I would be more interested to know if the research samples were asked 'why embarrassed?' to ladder down into THEIR underlying reasons

[Sqad]

slaney..........you are absolutely correct, I do indeed make statements without that obligatory "link" or "statistic and i do i agree that it may invalidate my opinion somewhat. I am glad to say that i practiced medicine before "tickbox" diagnosis and treatment and my comments are derived from my personal experience and comments from my colleagues with whom I keep in contact.

Yes...I can quite understand how I "exasperate" you and i am afraid that i am "too old in the tooth" to change. Also, as you may have guessed i had little time for medical Politics or indeed administrators.

My comments remain even without the "links" so i am easy meat for the statisticians.

[slaney]

Fair enough Sqad; I'd like to point out that I too had little time for medical politics, and as for Medical Statistics, I just scraped by that particular exam, as I remember.
But one's views and treatment recommendations have to change with the evidence base, do they not?

[Sqad]

slaney......LOL.....they do indeed........;-)

[emmie]

many blokes don't go to the doctors, is it embarrassment, or can't be bothered, even when they know they should...