Political post #2

Well, following on from my post on the US inauguration yesterday, I'm now turning my attention to a stalwart of the UK national psyche - the NHS. OK, so not strictly speaking a political institution, but funded by taxpayers' money so I'm counting this as a political post. Seems appropriate to try to be vaguely intellectual since the new presidency marks the return of intellectualism, or so they say - I think I'd rather call it revenge of the nerds. Sorry Mr Obama sir, not calling you a nerd.

I've had quite a lot to do with the NHS in the last few months, due not only to the pregnancy but to three chest infections and a flare-up of my asthma which I'm still working to bring back under my control (control-freak, me?). At one point I was visiting the GP's surgery at least once a week, what with GP appointments, asthma clinic and midwife. They must have been sick of the sight of me. But if they were, they didn't show it - in fact, the GP always greets me as if I were a long-lost friend, which is very kind since I've been a patient there for less than a year. And he did finally manage to knock the chest infections on the head, so I should thank him for that.

But what actually prompted this post was what happened today. I had to go to Amersham hospital for some routine pregnancy-related blood tests (one of the many joys of pregnancy - one day I'll write a post on pregnancy symptoms, and that'll put anyone off having a child ever again!). Usually doing this kind of thing fills me with dread because you never know how long you're going to have to wait - I took a book with me today (the new Stephen King, oh joy!), and was actually quite looking forward to sitting in a waiting room for a while, since I haven't read as much as I'd like thanks to working from home and no commuting. However, I turned up to find no queue at all, went straight in, and was back in the car about 10 minutes after I'd parked. Wonderful, and yet strangely disappointing.

So, this rather overlong post is to say that, in my experience, the NHS does a great job, and I'm proud to be living in a country with this kind of system. US healthcare bills are astronomical, and not having health insurance doesn't seem to be an option, far too scary. So to the Labour govt after WW2 - thank you. And a request to please not mess it up completely to any current and future governments!