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[John 2]

Hi , just an update on my readings to say I have dropped from 66 at my max to 54 over the last 9 months , which is not outstanding , but in the right direction and hopefully might even hit the magical 48 , on a different note ,had blood taken on Monday 9 march and have looked on the practice website today and nothing on my record , so had to ring them up to find out results , seems they got them back the next day , but doctor has not looked at them yet , very poor and one other thing , nobody has been in touch to say well done and yet very quick to tell me I need to go on medication when I had a blip and it went up , has anyone else had that from their G P practice .

 

[Melgar]

Well here is a well done from me @John 2 . As you say your results are going in the right direction .

 

[John 2]

Well here is a well done from me @John 2 . As you say your results are going in the right direction .

Cheers , I see you are from Canada , do you have good treatment from the medical profession

 

[Melgar]

Cheers , I see you are from Canada , do you have good treatment from the medical profession

Hi @John 2 As I have lived in both Canada and the UK and they both have public health services, I would say there are good and bad in each. The UK runs a two tier system, so both private and public, Canada only has its public health care, private heath is prohibited. There are long hospital and wait times , long waits for ops like knee replacements and other not critical care.

Heath care is controlled by each province, so in effect each province has a different healthcare system, but all are public.
You can always sign up for a Dr in the UK, 1 in every 5 Canadians cannot get a Dr as there is a Dr shortage, especially in the rural areas.

In Canada our public health system means you also require private health insurance for drugs and dental care. If you work and your company supplies you with heath care benefits, great. If your company doesn’t or you work for yourself you have to pay for health insurance. That can be a chunk of change. Drugs are expensive. If your income is low then the province pays.
I do have a Dr so the service he provides is excellent. I find that Canadians are more proactive in their own health care and that is received well by Drs. This is such an over arching thing to say, but I find Canadians are much more invested in their own heath than people in the UK, but things may have changed. I grew up in the UK with that whole mind set that Dr knows best. I have learnt to research and challenge my Dr and ask questions. Drs here tend to listen to their patients. You can suggest a drug and your Dr will consider it. I find Drs are far more accessible , in the UK Drs seem to have a god complex, a don’t question me attitude.

Hospitals, as far as my experience goes, are better than the UK . That said I had excellent healthcare in the UK when I was taken very ill with life threatening pneumonia. I was in the Resus unit at one of the teaching hospitals in the Midlands . The healthcare I received from that hospital was excellent. It could not have been better. They saved my life.

So I think there are pros and cons in both countries. One of the worst countries for healthcare is the US, even when you have private health insurance the system is overburdened and an administrative nightmare.

 

[John 2]

Hi @John 2 As I have lived in both Canada and the UK and they both have public health services, I would say there are good and bad in each. The UK runs a two tier system, so both private and public, Canada only has its public health care, private heath is prohibited. There are long hospital and wait times , long waits for ops like knee replacements and other not critical care.

Heath care is controlled by each province, so in effect each province has a different healthcare system, but all are public.
You can always sign up for a Dr in the UK, 1 in every 5 Canadians cannot get a Dr as there is a Dr shortage, especially in the rural areas.

In Canada our public health system means you also require private health insurance for drugs and dental care. If you work and your company supplies you with heath care benefits, great. If your company doesn’t or you work for yourself you have to pay for health insurance. That can be a chunk of change. Drugs are expensive. If your income is low then the province pays.
I do have a Dr so the service he provides is excellent. I find that Canadians are more proactive in their own health care and that is received well by Drs. This is such an over arching thing to say, but I find Canadians are much more invested in their own heath than people in the UK, but things may have changed. I grew up in the UK with that whole mind set that Dr knows best. I have learnt to research and challenge my Dr and ask questions. Drs here tend to listen to their patients. You can suggest a drug and your Dr will consider it. I find Drs are far more accessible , in the UK Drs seem to have a god complex, a don’t question me attitude.

Hospitals, as far as my experience goes, are better than the UK . That said I had excellent healthcare in the UK when I was taken very ill with life threatening pneumonia. I was in the Resus unit at one of the teaching hospitals in the Midlands . The healthcare I received from that hospital was excellent. It could not have been better. They saved my life.

So I think there are pros and cons in both countries. One of the worst countries for healthcare is the US, even when you have private health insurance the system is overburdened and an administrative nightmare.

Thanks for that feed back , I find it very interesting , as you say , very similar in some ways and not in others , the shortage of doctors surprised me to be honest and the frowning on private health really took me by surprise , I liked the one about doctors thinking they are gods , I do agree , but as always , good and bad in all professions and in life ,I get annoyed when I find out the the NHS offers things but you do not get told , I have read recently that the NHS offers a free meal plan and supply the food over a three month period with back up and that can on some occasions be extended over longer periods subject to certain conditions , it was said to me on this site that the NHS is not up to date with how things are progressing in understanding diabetis and that is something I have faced from nurses that actually in my experience disagree with each other , but that is said carefully and never in public , I have never actually seen a doctor regards my problem , let’s hope things start to improve for both countries , look after yourself .

 

[EllieM]

1 in every 5 Canadians cannot get a Dr as there is a Dr shortage, especially in the rural areas.

So what happens if you are on medications such as insulin which you will die without? Are there drop in clinics?

(Sorry to go off topic, will understand if this post gets deleted/moved, but am always interested in medical systems in countries I have not lived in.)

 

[EllieM]

Hi , just an update on my readings to say I have dropped from 66 at my max to 54 over the last 9 months , which is not outstanding , but in the right direction and hopefully might even hit the magical 48 , on a different note ,had blood taken on Monday 9 march and have looked on the practice website today and nothing on my record , so had to ring them up to find out results , seems they got them back the next day , but doctor has not looked at them yet , very poor and one other thing , nobody has been in touch to say well done and yet very quick to tell me I need to go on medication when I had a blip and it went up , has anyone else had that from their G P practice .

Well you get a congrats from me. Generally my doctors have been quite supportive (and believe me my diabetes control has had major swings over the decades) but suspect they are too busy to do anything but the bare minimum these days. I'm now in New Zealand and view my results online : improved results get a grudging "better than last year" , worse results either get ignored or a message to chat to my GP.... When I lived in the UK my GP admitted that they knew nothing about my T1 diabetes and left it all to the hospital.

 

[Melgar]

So what happens if you are on medications such as insulin which you will die without? Are there drop in clinics?

(Sorry to go off topic, will understand if this post gets deleted/moved, but am always interested in medical systems in countries I have not lived in.)

There are drop-in clinics @EllieM . They see a different Dr at each visit.