National health service in Britain

Private medicine doesn’t buy you better treatment. What it does buy you is convenience. People object to private medicine because it can cause queue jumping. In other words, if there are a hundred people who require an operation and you happen to be the hundredth you have to wait in turn. That may be quite a long time if, for example, you’re waiting to have your hip replaced. If you’re prepared to pay, you may jump the queue – and you may go into the first ten, so you buy yourself convenience. That’s seen as the bad side of private medicine. The other bad side of private medicine is where consultants often use National Health Service facilities and don’t pay for them.

These are all bad sides of private medicine. However, it’s all not bad. It’s easy to criticize private medicine, but where are the potential advantages? Well, there are some patients who require the privacy of say a single room. A case that comes to mind would be a politician who may go into hospital for a minor operation but requires to keep working while he is there. This would be extremely difficult in a public ward. A single room for him may be in fact very important. And one can think of any other people involved in business, particularly professional people, for whom a private room is not just a matter of convenience but it is a way of him still maintaining his work while being in hospital. You could say actually this was being socially useful to the community, that rather than being taken out of his job for a set length of time, he is still actually managing to work whilst still in the hospital. This, of course, applies mainly to routine operations rather than anything serious.

All people who are seriously ill will be seen immediately and there is no advantage in being seen immediately as a private patient or as a National Health Service patient. I think it’s important to get over the concept that if you go privately your treatment is not going to necessarily betters. Indeed, if you go privately for a minor operation the consultant who performs it may not perform many minor operations. You indeed may be better off if you have the operation done by one of his juniors who’s doing it every day. Is private medicine good for doctors? Financially that’s true but leaving that aside, it often gives consultants an opportunity to treat minor illnesses and do minor surgery which they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to do because their junior staff are doing these minor procedures as part of their training. So to an extent it can keep the consultant’s hand in. He sees a much wider spectrum of disease, and in a way it’s process of continuing self-education for the consultant.

There are always arguments for and against any system. I would dislike any system which was closed, a purely NHS system, or a purely private system. I think the two can exist side by side. I very much like the idea that a member of a community can feel that his medical treatment is “free” at the source. All people in this country who are employed have to pay a contribution, a National Insurance contribution, which goes to pay for their medical care. But the important thing for them is, when they get ill don’t have to look to their cheque book or their wallet to pay the doctor directly. And that can be very comforting. On the other hand if people choose to pay money to be treated – often because it is more convenient that way then I think they should be allowed to have this choice. So, that private medicine is not necessarily the prerogative of the rich.

EXERCISE 26.3 Make a discussion “Pros and Cons of Private Medicine” give more reason of yours.

EXERCISE 27. Practise English Idiom. (From “Test Yourself on English Idioms”)

1. If you invest in that company you’re likely to lose your _____________; the man you started it has been bankrupt five times.

1. hat; B. shirt; C. trousers; D. socks; E. underwear.

2. As the senior men in the government service retire there are young men eager to __________________.

A. put on their hats; B. get into their suits; C. take hold of their umbrellas; D. step into their shoes; E. pull in their shirts.

3. The trouble in many developing countries is that too many young people leaving school do not want to enter trades. They all want to work in offices and government department in ____________________ jobs.

A. top hat; B. stuffed shirt; C. striped trousers; D. clean coat; E. white collar.

4. The headmaster addressing the school said,“Some of the pupils of this school have been misbehaving themselves in public. I don’t say that you are all to blame, but I do say, if the _______________________.

A. shoe pinches take it off; B. belt is too tight, loosen it; C. collar is dirty, wash it; D. caps fits, wear it; E. dress suits, put it on.

5. The police chief said that some criminals understood only violence and often the police had to meet force with force. He added that there was no use in handing this type of criminal with __________________________.

A. silk clothes; B. dress suits; C. top hats; D. Kid gloves; E. soft slippers.

EXERCISE 28. Think for a moment and say what is the main reason of being healthy? What should a person do to be healthy? What associations do you have when you hear “the healthy life”? Fill in the chart.