it only seems kinky the first time

"

There are some patients that really leave you with a glow about your work. One was a man in his 50s, a builder by trade and an absolutely delightful man. He had come in after playing football with his three-year-old grandson. He slipped on the grass and got a nasty break to his ankle. An easy to treat fracture, which I was delighted he got.

The reason I was so happy was that he looked very familiar. I had been part of a team that treated him about four months previously. He had had an out of hospital cardiac arrest caused by a heart attack - his heart had stopped for 13 minutes and in essence he had died. An off duty nurse saw him collapse and immediately started chest compressions. The ambulance arrived and started his heart again using a defibrillator. When he arrived in the emergency department, I was in charge of his care. We stabilised him and he went from us in A&E to the Cardiac Catheter lab and had a stent placed to open up the blocked vessel in his heart which had caused his cardiac arrest. He went from there to the Intensive Care Unit, where he was kept alive by dialysis despite his kidneys failing. He went back to the cardiology unit where he had a pacemaker fitted which not only sensed if his heart missed beats, but could also shock his heart back into a normal rhythm if he were to have another cardiac arrest. Three weeks later he left hospital.

After discharge a team of rehabilitation physios worked on him to get him up to working again and playing football with his grandson. His GP provided ongoing care, reassurance and a point of contact where all the specialists he needed could feed in.

Ten years ago, he would have died. Now he can live a full life, thanks to the advances in technology and increased funding for the NHS, as well as the dedication of the professionals who looked after him. At no point in this scenario did we stop to question if he had insurance or if he could pay for the treatment he received. We did not care if he was a millionaire or a cleaner. All we wanted was to give him the best possible chance to walk out of the hospital, not only alive but in good enough shape to live a normal life again.

We could do this because of the way the NHS works – it is free to whoever needs it regardless of ability to pay, but more importantly it works through co-operation and not competition between the many different health care professionals and services. Thanks to the NHS he lives to fight another day.

"

"A lot of NHS trusts are looking hard at how to generate more money from private patients. There is plenty of money in London and plenty of money in cancer."