What can you tell us Yanks about Healthcare in the UK

Whilst the NHS has provided treatment all her life, and certainly to a better level than Ireland has provided some of her friends with the same condition for example, it has made the whole thing a bureaucratic nightmare.

+1

I got referred for physio while I was abroad, came back here and went straight to my GP with an x-ray. She referred me to a physio, who was really good, but after a few sessions said that I would have to see a chiropodist. He sent a report/referral thing to my GP and warned me that I would have to fight to actually get to see the chiropodist, so I went back to my GP once she'd gotten the report. She went through it with me, basically dismissed everything the physio had written and told me that the x-ray I had was useless to determine the root of the problem and that I couldn't go for another one because it was too expensive, and that she wasn't 'very impressed' by a diagnosis of slight scoliosis that the physio had included. She did say she would send me to the chiropodist and that the hospital would ring me in the coming weeks to arrange an appointment. This happened about 6 months ago and I still haven't been called (not that I expected it)

Anyway, because there is no quick-fix option for my condition, she just seemed completely unwilling to do anything to help me further than giving me painkillers.
I'm not saying that this is an example of the whole NHS, just a certain type of bitchy GP that you would probably get anywhere, but I reckon her unwillingness to even start to treat something that is long-term and not nececssarily treatable is something that is widespread because of the sheer volume of patients they have to deal with.

In the end, I didn't even bother with any more physio appointments or trying to see the chiropodist and went back abroad, where I rang up a physio in the morning, saw him in the afternoon and got an x-ray done the next morning.