Saying this at the risk of being downvoted but don't really care as I feel I have to let it out.

The U.K. healthcare system is the lowest level of medical service possible being made available with tax payers' contribution. The highest tax rate contributors as a result are getting the worst possible service. And most of such high rate tax payers either get some kind of medical insurance from their employer OR they end up buying their own in addition.

And unless one is prepared to go to Harley Street neighbourhood and pay close to around £500 per consultation, even with the additional so called private medical cover, one is still under the aegis of the N.H.S. Go there and you will see what appear to be "clientele" mostly from the Middle East as they probably can afford that sort of fee.

The overall benefit is really for the people who are contributing the least to the state. I understand there may surely be people who genuinely are unable to contribute to the state but then there are people who know and are for sure gaming the system (and this cuts across N.H.S and into other social services)

The results are dire in some cases for e.g. the Slough Borough Council very recently went bankrupt and this is within ten years of some alleged millions of pounds pumped into the community to help it grow.

The N.H.S. needs reform or else the way I see it, it will implode under its own weight.

People call out the U.S. health services being astronomically expensive. The fact of the matter is that medical services are expensive. Someone has to pay. An ambulance manned with two or three para-medics and life saving equipment doesn't come free, the fuel for the ambulance is not free, the paramedics were not trained for free. This is true whether it is in the U.S. or U.K. .In U.S. it is blatantly apparent as it is not a welfare state. In the U.K. it appears to be free to whom the service was provided in that moment but it is costing someone some very serious amount of money (i.e. the tax payer)

Move over from para-medics to doctors and I think U.K. medical schools are no less expensive than U.S. medical schools. It will still take an aspirant upwards of ten years to become a doctor be it U.S. or U.K. . And to an extent I think doctors on both sides earn pretty much the same and have very similar lifestyles after they gain specialisation or super-specialisation. Where is that money coming from ? Don't get me wrong.. I am not saying there is anything wrong with doctors making money.. they deserve it as they work REALLY HARD for it.

I have not heard from anyone in my close circle even being offered prenatal classes maybe it is available as a paid service under some expensive medical insurance plan but not via N.H.S. All N.H.S offer is access to a mid-wife and if one is unlucky (like I was in the case of my first born) it is not impossible that one won't get to see a real doctor during the delivery ! In case even a minor surgical procedure is required, and one is unlucky enough to be assigned to a Birth Centre rather than a maternity ward, be prepared to wait for hours.

In my experience, like I said, someone needs to take a serious look at N.H.S and it's workings and shake it down.

I mean if N.H.S is the world's best healthcare system (as it is touted to be, correct me if I am wrong) why for heavens sake does the Prime Minister has to go on national television and beg to people to "Save the N.H.S" during the initial phases of Covid. (This could lead the discussion in an entirely different direction but this was the same Prime Minister who was going to save 350 million Euros a week and pump them into the N.H.S)

The U.S. didn't do any better but then no one was anyways saying U.S. healthcare system was good to begin with.

Rant over.