[extropy-chat] Health data

[Charlie Stross]

On 17 Jun 2006, at 05:44, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:

> On 6/16/06, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Charlie Stross wrote:
>>>
>>> Oh yeah. Last time I had to go see my GP I was sitting in his
>>> examining room all of five hours after I picked up the phone. I keep
>>> *hearing* about the alleged one year waiting times, but I've never
>>> met anyone who actually *did* have to wait a year -- or even a week
>>> -- to see their GP.
>>
>> Thanks for the data - always good to hear from the front lines.
>>
> ### Seeing the GP is trivial. Ask him how long he needs to wait to see
> a nuclear medicine specialist, or a neurologist.

Last time I had to see a specialist in a hurry -- last February,  
after the kind of GP visit you *don't* want to have -- I was seen by  
the cardiology professor at the local teaching hospital within six  
hours. (And no, it wasn't a heart attack; just severe -- very severe  
-- hypertension.)

When I needed an opthalmology consultant -- for a non-urgent checkup  
-- that took about five weeks. (Again: when I had an acute eye- 
related emergency, the delay was measured in hours.)

My father had an unpleasant hospital stay a couple of years ago  
(bacterial endocarditis with complications), and got a CAT scan  
within 48 hours -- part of which delay was caused by him coming in  
over a weekend, and being shuffled between two consultants: not  
brilliant timing and management, but the resource was basically  
available on demand subject to the clinicians asking for it.

But when my wife needed a ganglion draining, that took four months to  
arrange.

How long you wait depends on whether the condition is acute. I'll  
concede that non-acute conditions -- especially annoyances that  
require specialist treatment from a hospital in another district  
(like a swollen ganglion in one wrist). For which conditions, it's  
possible to go private and pay ... if you really feel it's necessary.



-- Charlie