I am now the proud owner of an NHS Medical Exemption Certificate FOR LIFE

tomsgutreaction

5 years ago

[mashshare]

**Having an ostomy entitles patients to free medical prescriptions for life**

I am the proud owner of an NHS Medical Exemption Certificate FOR LIFE now that I will be embracing a permanent ostomy next week…so not all bad then!

I find it slightly amazing that having an ostomy is classified along with just nine other medical conditions in the UK that entitle us to free medical appliances and prescriptions.

I had a check and other conditions include severe epilepsy, cancer and physical disability, so I’m really not sure how worthy I am to receive the card, but am extremely grateful to the NHS for its support of my condition.

It really does make my feel lucky to live in the UK (in this particular respect!) where we have a universal healthcare system based on equality that is one of the few remaining national treasures.

I managed to work out that to have my ostomy operation done privately would have cost £5,000. And as this will be my 6th major bowel operation on the NHS I will have racked up around £30,000 of surgical treatment for my UC – and this doesn’t even include the countless MRIs and X-rays, etc, I’ve had.

The NHS might not be perfect and does have long waiting times, but it has got to be so much better than expensive insurance-based healthcare systems.

On my salary, I pay around £1,250 a year to the NHS in tax via my National Insurance Contributions and in return get access to a world-class service. I’ve more than got my monies worth and would happily pay more if it helped to secure the NHS’ long-term future.

I’d be genuinely interested to hear more about the healthcare systems in other countries:)