Are We a Customer of the Healthcare System?

This is just a personal opinion, but it often feels that, rather than being treated as clients of the healthcare system, we are treated as a number or a statistic. We pay for our healthcare either indirectly, through taxes, or directly, for private healthcare, and what a difference there is in the two, in the way we are treated and spoken to.

Although there is supposedly a system of complaints customer reviews, I often feel that my voice and that of millions of other people, are just not being heard. Or maybe just not being listened to.

Although I do not wish to generalise, as there are many good doctors out there, many of the ones I have seen are dismissive or uncaring. Maybe they are too pressed by deadlines and targets to give us the treatment we really deserve. And the waiting lists are often long, too long, with weeks or months of suffering before necessary operations are performed.

I have often felt like a hindrance rather than a tax-paying customer of our great healthcare system. In contrast, the times I have gone private have meant shooting to the top of the waiting list and being treated with genuine care. There is something inherently wrong with this system, but I suppose at least we have a system unlike many other countries.

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