As many of you know, I was born and raised in the UK. I have seen the NHS (National Health Service) indeed I was born in one of these glorious socialist hospitals.

As many of you also know, I absolutely and emphatically deplore anything socialist, including said healthcare system. As Ringo star once said ‘Everything the government touches turns to crap’ and this can be said of the healthcare system in Britain.

While the US system might not be perfect (and I draw it down to government interference to begin with) we can all agree that it has the best services to offer. The US outspends every other nation on the planet for healthcare, and it really does show in its services. We have more beds, more equipment and more staff.

Some of my friends and family in England will argue with me about this, saying that the US healthcare system is too expensive, and that we should have FREE healthcare like Britain does. It truly does grind my gears to hear them say this because they are all mostly very intelligent people and I love them dearly. On this particular issue though they are dead wrong. In fact, I would go as far to say; ignorance is bliss.

The UK healthcare system is a broken socialist nightmare, with long waiting lines for treatments in germ ridden hallways. While my friends and family claim that it’s free, and that everyone is covered, I have to point out ‘covered by what?’

In the UK, if you get injured; you get treated, in the US, if you get injured; you get treated. There’s not much difference, except that in the US if you don’t have health insurance you’ll get a large bill for the service. This doesn’t mean you won’t get treated, just that you’ll have to pay for it. There are systems set up to help you pay for this service. And while it can be a financial burden on your family, the choice for health coverage is your own, and there are plenty of services to help you pay for said treatment.

In the UK if you get cancer, you can wait weeks or even months for treatment; the difference between life and death. In the US, you can receive treatment immediately, with far better resources at hand to help combat the disease.

I remember a story my friend told me once about his grandfather; it was discovered that he had heart problems and urgently needed a quadruple heart bypass surgery. Without the surgery he was told he would have only 6 months left to live. He was put on a one year waiting list. The socialist system he had paid into his entire life had failed him in his hour of need. Luckily for him, his old friends all got together and set aside some money to send him to another country for private treatment.

Another story; this time about my sister. She gave birth to her son in the UK, and was put on a ward with three other mothers who had just given birth. My Mum told me the story the other day, of how the IV was held in place by masking tape, and how there was a restroom at the end of the hallway, that all the mothers who had just given birth had to walk down in order to relieve themselves. Add on top of this the fact that in order to free up bed space, they discharged my sister the day after she had given birth, before my nephew was fully stabilized and had begun feeding. The next day he was rushed into hospital because his blood sugar levels weren’t right, and he was shaking a lot. They ended up spending the next week in hospital to monitor him.

Compare this with my sister in law, who gave birth to her son in the US last year. She had her own private room and rest room. There were clean beds galore and sparkling new equipment decorating the hallways and private birthing rooms. There was even a food delivery service for meals. Compare this to the food service in UK hospitals, one of which is the hospital I was born in:

Revealed: The NHS hospital kitchens overrun by mice and cockroaches… and how three in four break food hygiene rules

• Inspectors found ‘serious cockroach infestation that posed an imminent health risk’ and mouse droppings at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup
• Brown sauce a YEAR past its best before found at Workington Hospital
  
• 30 per cent of hospital kitchens were dirty, inspectors found
• 62 kitchens were found to be stocking out of date
  
• Six hospital kitchens had mice, two had rats and five had cockroaches
• MailOnline obtained copies of inspection reports for hospitals nationwide
  

By ROB COOPER

PUBLISHED: 08:10 EST, 13 October 2013 | UPDATED: 09:17 EST, 13 October 2013

Hundreds of hospital kitchens across the country are dirty, have cockroach and mice infestations or are stocking out of date food, a MailOnline investigation has revealed.

Inspectors found that three-quarters of kitchens are flouting basic food hygiene rules while nearly a third were not properly cleaned.

Six NHS hospitals had mice, two had rats, five had cockroaches and another hospital had an unspecified problem with ‘pests’.

 

 

 

The figures will raise fears that patients are being put at risk by dirty kitchens and staff ignoring proper hygiene policy.

Nationwide, hospitals spend as little as £3 a day per patient – and 82,000 meals a day are thrown out.

Campaigners said it is unacceptable that the public never find out about dirty kitchens ‘until they are teased out using Freedom of Information requests’.

An analysis of 769 environmental health inspection reports revealed that 581 hospitals across Britain are breaking the rules.

Inspectors found 229 kitchens were dirty while a further 62 were stocking out of date food.

The MailOnline obtained copies of reports carried out by environmental health teams under the Freedom of Information Act.

Inspectors at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, Kent, found mouse droppings and a ‘serious cockroach infestation that posed an imminent risk to health’ in an undercroft last November.

The Bexley Council workers found there had been a cockroach ‘population explosion’ – but it had been missed by pest control teams.