Full video

0:00

well my daughter is a

0:02

consultant within the nhs my sister was

0:05

a was a

0:07

mental health nurse for many many years

0:09

um so i've got a friend called alice um

0:12

and she is a recovery nurse so people

0:15

who go in for sort of you know operation

0:16

surgery and things she'll be there when

0:18

you come around

0:20

hello welcome to easy english so today

0:23

i'm currently freezing

0:24

in a winter wonderland but about two

0:27

weeks ago i went down to brighton beach

0:29

to ask the people what they think of the

0:31

nhs created in 1948 the national health

0:35

service is a publicly funded healthcare

0:37

system

0:38

universal comprehensive and free at the

0:41

point of use but what do brits really

0:43

think about it is it any good does it

0:45

work and is it the best healthcare

0:47

system if fully backed before we start

0:50

don't forget to like and subscribe

0:52

here we go

0:54

[Music]

1:05

so as i was asking what are your kind of

1:07

general overall thoughts of the nhs okay

1:11

so my general thoughts on the nhs are

1:14

that um i think historically it was a

1:16

service that a lot of people were

1:19

frustrated with um long waiting times uh

1:23

not being seen by the same person

1:25

and yeah just general like frustration

1:27

around the service that was offered by

1:29

the nhs the nhs is a good thing that

1:32

it's a great institution

1:34

almost unique in the world provides

1:36

public free access to health care we

1:40

need much more of it we need a much

1:41

bigger and better funding than nhs

1:42

because it is a good thing

1:45

well well i'm pretty i i think it's very

1:47

uh uh quite an amazing thing that

1:50

everybody can get well

1:52

the principle of it yeah is that

1:54

everybody could get should be able to

1:56

get health care whether they're rich or

1:59

poor or whatever you know

2:01

um so i think that's that's good but i

2:03

don't necessarily know if it

2:06

works all the time

2:09

i mean you know yeah i think we're very

2:11

lucky in the fact that you know we can

2:14

go and see a doctor or have an operation

2:17

and and and things like that and not not

2:19

be worried not worry about how much it's

2:21

going to cost right

2:23

but i think that you know um i think

2:25

that

2:26

when it

2:27

i don't think it's had enough enough

2:29

funding basically so why because you've

2:32

had quite good experiences with the nhs

2:34

i actually i did have yeah um although

2:38

i have been on

2:40

waiting lists so

2:41

i think

2:42

waiting is is waiting list is a problem

2:45

in

2:46

in the nhs which you don't get so much i

2:49

don't get that in germany what are your

2:51

overall thoughts of mhs

2:54

i think we're very fortunate to have a

2:56

national health service

2:59

free at the point of use and i think

3:02

we're one of the i think as a nation

3:04

we're unique having the nhs as a service

3:08

recently i was

3:10

in hospital

3:12

and the treatment i received was

3:14

excellent

3:16

but i discovered that within the nhs um

3:19

there is a currently there's a there's a

3:21

real nervousness as a result of perhaps

3:24

another wave of covid

3:26

so when i was in there we were very well

3:28

protected very well looked after

3:31

with excellent staff

3:33

and we're very fortunate to have such

3:35

good technicians

3:36

uh such good

3:39

surgeons

3:41

some

3:42

doctors and nurses that are very skilled

3:44

in what they're doing

3:50

this video is sponsored by italki the

3:52

site that allows you to find online

3:54

language teachers for one-on-one

3:56

tutoring as a new user you'll get ten

3:59

dollars in italki credits after your

4:01

first lesson if you register using the

4:02

link

4:04

go.italky.com forward slash easy english

4:06

if you don't like reading complicated

4:08

language books or listening to

4:10

pre-recorded audio courses then italki

4:13

is for you you'll get to practice your

4:15

conversational skills under different

4:17

real world scenarios as speaking with

4:19

humans is the best way to learn a

4:21

language

4:23

you can customize your lessons to cater

4:24

for your learning needs and interests

4:27

and the one-on-one lessons provide you

4:29

undivided attention with teachers at

4:31

your preferred time whether you're at

4:33

home at the airport or at your local

4:35

park you have complete access so head on

4:39

over to italki with this link

4:41

go.italki.com forward slash easy english

4:44

to start your first lesson and get 10

4:46

dollars in lesson credits

4:53

the nhs

4:54

as it stands

4:56

leaves a lot to be desired though

4:59

in principle it's the best thing that

5:03

exists in britain

5:05

but because

5:06

it's been underfunded for such a long

5:09

time and because of the

5:14

uh

5:15

well the coronavirus has been a a real

5:18

issue which is putting

5:20

another load on top of what was already

5:23

a service which was beginning to

5:25

struggle

5:27

it needs a lot of investment

5:29

i was born before the national health

5:32

service yes and my mother

5:36

um

5:37

was fearful of

5:39

um when i was going to be born

5:42

because her mother had died in

5:43

childbirth and she'd been present she

5:46

was 12.

5:48

so when

5:49

um there was no

5:52

money in the family for

5:54

an expensive

5:56

nursing home my grandfather stumped up

5:59

the money and said you're not having

6:02

the same experience as you watched your

6:04

mother your mother go through yeah

6:07

so i was born before the national health

6:10

but within i was born in 44 and the

6:13

national health came in i think in 45

6:17

so she

6:18

she's always glad that when i was born i

6:21

was carefully monitored into the world

6:25

and how about you what are your general

6:26

thoughts yes i think the nhs is we're

6:28

very lucky to have it i think it's very

6:31

um

6:32

people working it are exhausted and need

6:35

far more support than they get and also

6:37

i think that um care uh needs to be

6:40

incorporated within the nhs i think it's

6:42

a shame that they're treated separately

6:43

because there's a there's a need a huge

6:45

need for both and there's an even more

6:46

investment in both when you say care how

6:49

do you mean i mean um

6:51

elderly care people who are not one

6:53

enough to stay in their own homes but um

6:56

are

6:57

are well enough to be out of hospital if

7:00

they presently need to go into a

7:01

residential care or a care home those

7:03

people who look after them are

7:05

drastically underpaid and

7:06

underappreciated

7:08

uh it's nice to hear that you know some

7:10

people are very pro and they won't

7:12

they'll sort of look over the fact that

7:13

there are some problems right

7:15

there uh like you said you had some

7:17

[Music]

7:19

maybe maybe that's there must still be

7:20

waiting times oh yeah yeah definitely

7:22

but i think that people appreciate now

7:25

everything that goes into the nhs

7:26

whereas before it was just kind of a

7:27

service that you just expected because

7:29

you know i pay my taxes i pay for the

7:31

nhs

7:32

whereas now people understand that even

7:34

though they do pay you know their taxes

7:36

and

7:37

there's a lot of of other things that go

7:39

into making that service um available

7:42

for

7:42

for you know us as british citizens so

7:45

you know

7:46

it's not just

7:48

you know i pay for it i you know can

7:50

expect everything from that service i've

7:52

got to appreciate that actually there's

7:53

a lot that goes into to making that

7:55

service available and

7:56

and we're really lucky that we have that

7:59

and that we can just rock up to the

8:00

doctors or rock up to the hospital and

8:02

we'll get seen you know yeah it might

8:04

take you six hours to be seen by someone

8:06

but it's not going to take you weeks um

8:09

whereas you know you live in another

8:10

country

8:11

and for example america where you have

8:12

to pay you know insurance and you know

8:14

you could have something awful happen to

8:16

you like covid and then you get a you

8:18

know

8:19

thousands and thousands of dollar bill

8:20

through through the post if you don't

8:22

have you know the right insurance so

8:24

for us to just be able to to have those

8:27

health needs taken care of

8:30

without the worry of having that massive

8:31

bill at the end yeah we're so lucky to

8:33

have that service so i think

8:36

it's it's awful that it's taking

8:37

something like kobe to bring that to

8:39

people's attention but

8:41

at the end of the day it has highlighted

8:43

you know yeah how lucky we actually are

8:45

to have it do you think if like you said

8:48

if

8:49

properly backed is the best system

8:52

in the world

8:54

yeah and what i mean there's always room

8:56

for improvement and uh questions about

8:57

management about how it's organized i

8:59

think you need you need more workers

9:00

control you need more more

9:02

decentralization more controlled by the

9:03

people at the short face the people

9:05

actually do the care um no doubt about

9:08

that but basically speaking yeah we need

9:09

to expand it enlarge it improve it and

9:12

love it

9:13

and then do you think is therefore the

9:15

best healthcare system

9:19

well my

9:21

understanding of healthcare systems

9:23

throughout the world is very limited

9:26

but i'm proud that we do have a national

9:28

health service and i think

9:31

for us as a nation we

9:33

we ought to be very thankful for it

9:36

i think so i think so if it was helped

9:39

why is that why did you why did you but

9:41

why did you well

9:42

um everybody can get um looked after and

9:46

i mean it works for for everybody if we

9:49

were kept healthy

9:51

you know and um hopefully um the younger

9:54

people will go into nursing and doctors

9:56

and stuff like that and and keep it

9:58

going yeah

10:00

and

10:01

last question i think it's a good

10:02

institution that's been going for years

10:04

and we shouldn't let it go i think we

10:07

should support it um

10:09

i wouldn't necessarily say it's the best

10:12

system i mean i don't think there is

10:13

necessarily a perfect system out there

10:15

but

10:16

i think it needs more support to

10:20

to maybe improve the processes that do

10:22

happen

10:23

um but you know that i don't think it's

10:25

ever going to be

10:26

the perfect service um but it needs that

10:30

investment to

10:31

to make it as best as it can be i guess

10:33

and to make it you know as quick and

10:35

efficient and

10:36

and um

10:38

not just efficient as in time but you

10:39

know financially efficient as well and

10:42

yeah it needs that sort of investment i

10:43

guess

10:44

there has been so much government

10:46

interference with

10:48

with the way the nhs is structured that

10:50

it's very difficult to tell whether it

10:51

would work any better with more funding

10:53

yeah because lots of it's been sold off

10:56

to private absolutely

10:58

yeah i understand and uh when when it

11:00

was better funded under the labour

11:02

government most of it went into

11:05

getting the waiting lists down yes

11:08

whereas aftercare i don't know and

11:09

social care is even worse isn't it so oh

11:12

yes we're supposed to be having that

11:14

fixed aren't we

11:16

they're they're stuck in catch-22 aren't

11:18

they because they are carers they look

11:20

after sick people

11:22

so what do they do

11:24

when the government doesn't give them

11:26

enough money or actually gives them the

11:29

the help and support that they need yeah

11:32

uh what can they do go on strike yeah

11:36

and then we're really stuck

11:38

and they kind of uh

11:40

i guess then like you said cats cat2

11:41

they become the scapegoat yes yes and

11:43

everybody's um i mean there's not enough

11:46

doctors and nurses as it is so if they

11:48

went on strike what would we do

11:50

with everything that's happened with

11:52

covid um

11:54

i think there's now a lot more

11:55

appreciation for what the nhs does for

11:58

us as our citizens um so yes the service

12:01

is strained um yeah you know the there's

12:05

arguments about pay um you know health

12:08

and mental well-being of you know people

12:11

who work in the nhs but i think the

12:12

general population have definitely grown

12:16

a lot more

12:17

um

12:19

i guess a fond of those who work in that

12:21

service so they you know they show them

12:22

a lot of more appreciation they probably

12:24

did historically so obviously you know

12:26

we clapped on thursday for the nhs and

12:29

uh you know we're more giving of um

12:32

so for example recently i've been in

12:34

hospital because i've just had a baby

12:36

congratulations and i saw that there was

12:39

um

12:39

services that you could

12:41

buy a cup of tea or a coffee for uh

12:44

someone who worked at the hospital so if

12:46

they came down for their break you could

12:47

almost like pay it forward so you could

12:49

buy for your cup of tea or coffee and

12:50

then

12:51

buy the next one for you know a worker

12:53

who came in for their sort of yeah their

12:55

drink so

12:56

yeah definitely a lot more

12:59

sentiment for the nhs and the service

13:01

that they provide thanks for watching

13:03

this week's episode let us know in the

13:05

comments below your thoughts on nhs if

13:06

you've used it or any other healthcare

13:08

system you consider to be run really

13:10

well practically or in principle

13:13

and we'll see you next week

13:14

bye

13:16

[Music]

13:28

you