[vladvasiliu]

> I learned to skip past the general doctors to the specialist from this experience.

What concerns is that where I live, it's my understanding that, with a few exceptions [0], you can't skip a GP and go directly to a specialist. And I'm not convinced that GPs here are any better than in the US or elsewhere. Bonus points for large parts of the country not even having enough GPs for their population.

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[0] You can go see an eye doctor or a dentist without seeing a GP first.

[b800h]

If you're in the UK (you used "GP", so I'm guessing), then you absolutely can. Just go private. (https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-...).

Don't bother with the NHS, it's a carwreck. See this, for example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67239548

Last month, after years of waiting, I got a letter again delaying my assessment for a growth on my neck, for the foreseeable future. It's a good job that I'd gone private a year ago, as it turned out to be extremely advanced, with neural invasion, requiring two rounds of surgery to be removed.

Nationalised healthcare ought to be means-tested to target help at the people who need it, and not delay others who can afford to pay their way. The population 'pyramid' as it stands can't support the health and social care model we're using, and the lack of market incentives means that we don't train enough medics.

[vladvasiliu]

I'm in France, I used GP since that's the term that seems to be used in the Anglosphere. It also seems like a reasonable translation of the French term – médecin généraliste.

I'm hearing bad things about UK's NHS, and while I don't have any firsthand experience with it, I do get the feeling that the French system is going down the same path.

It's true that I don't usually think about going the private route. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can probably see a private specialist directly. I also don't know how much it would cost, but probably quite a lot, given the prices in the public hospitals, and I don't think it's covered by the insurance, even though I carry insurance above the standard national scheme.

[b800h]

I was actually in France last year, and arrived having lost (in transit; baggage handlers) some medicine for my son which had been prescribed in the UK by our GP the previous day, as he'd had stomach symptoms.

I contacted the local French doctor, who brought us in that day, gave my son an actual examination (the UK GP didn't do this), asked if I was aware that he had an ear infection (I wasn't, the UK doctor didn't check), and revised the course of treatment which resolved the problem quickly.

I was extremely impressed by the French doctor; he was in a different league to the standard in the UK.

[denton-scratch]

> the lack of market incentives means that we don't train enough medics.

I don't think so; the number of medics we train in the UK is mainly controlled by the medical colleges.

[b800h]

That makes my point doesn't it?

[denton-scratch]

OK, I supose it does, in the sense that market incentives is one way we might get more doctors trained. But on the other hand the market incentives are plainly there; plenty more people want to train as doctors, than there are training places. That is, the market incentives don't seem to be working to increase training places.