This week I have been grumpy and uncommunicative (and not blogging either). This has been due to a resurgence of my long-standing sinus problem which has irritated me on and off since I was a kid. I remember well a trip to London as a seven year old to see a specialist whose sum total of help was to suggest that it might be uncomfortable at times.Decongestants, steam inhalations, steroid sprays and far too much ibuprofen didn't clear it up by last weekend and then I went on a flight. Chronic sinusitis and flying are a dreadful combination, avoid it at all costs.
Now I am on steroid 'nasules' which according to she who knows, is a more effective delivery method for steroids - which seem to be helping, and on the waiting list for an ENT referral. I gather the waiting lists for ENT are "improving" - they were at 18 months not too long ago. I only hope that tis time they come up with something more constructive than, "it might be uncomfortable at times".
Hello,
ReplyDeleteand I know precisely what it feels like since I suffer from chronic sinusitis too..I have been advised to get a antral surgery done (relatively minor procedure) but I have been lazy.
18 months!!! ....and here in the U.S people complain about rising insurance costs and want to consider National Health Coverage, i guess the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence ??
I know 18 months is appalling! As a fellow sinisitis sufferer you know just how long that feels! Thankfully it's a lot lower than 18months now - they had a real crisis in ENT last year.
ReplyDeleteIn truth in the UK there is a dual system - in that private medicine operated alongside the National Health Service. The problems with that are that it fast-tracks the rich and that it is parasitical on the NHS which continues to fund all the training of healthcare professionals - even if they don't work for it for long.
The advantage of the NHS is the social justice of universal coverage; the disadvantages are beurocracy and inept political interference.
My experience in the USA was that while the best medicine in the world was available and highly enviable, the coverage was sporadic. I read some figures that suggested that in the USA more is spent per head on medicine than anywhere else in the world, but that a very high % of people were not covered. I initially thought that this meant that private meeicine was extracting huge profits in the USA system - but it actually turned out to be lawyers and medical insurance companies who are the culprits.
If the States wants to liberate sufficient finance to extend healthcare beyond the old medicaid/care systems - surely finding some way of removing the burden of the constant threat of litigation will need to be found first?