Hospital Tells ER Patients To Stay Away

In a report from a month ago, it was learned that hospitals in the Australian national health care system effectively shut down for six weeks during the Christmas holiday period. This results in having to postpone all scheduled medical procedures until some later date which would be at least six weeks in the future. Officials justified the action by stating that the doctors and nurses deserved a well-earned holiday vacation. However, a competing viewpoint was that shutting down the hospitals "is a deceitful method used to meet budgets." I tend to agree with the latter viewpoint and concluded that the Australian socialized medical system casually disregards timeliness of treatment as an important aspect of health care.

Although Australian socialized health system shuts down the hospitals, they don't stop providing emergency room service to the public. For that, we'll have to visit another country with a socialized health care system. In at least one hospital in Britain, emergency room services are being curtailed by pleading with the public to "stay away." With a recent viral outbreak, officials at Hope Hospital, Salford, England, have been flooded with patients and have run out of beds. Hospital wards have been closed to new admissions and authorities have appealed to the public to go someplace else.

So, for those keeping score at home, chalk up one more reason to question whether a socialized health care system adequately meets the needs of the public. By comparison, if a person goes to an emergency room in the U.S., they will be seen and treated. There might be a long wait involved, but I've not heard of any instance where the ER staff effectively put up a "No Vacancy" sign.

It might seem like I'm reading too much into this circumstance, however, it is fundamentally grating to me that any hospital would even hint at denying emergency care to those in need.