We have now taken both the boys to the University Health Clinic (UHC), part of the National Health Service (NHS), and here are my impressions. First, Jubin took Watson in for ear wax buildup during August. We had tried to have this taken care of in Lansing before we left, but the nurse at the doc office tried to irrigate Watson's ear with hydrogen peroxide without first telling him or me what he was going to do. Reslt? Watson crying and no change in ear wax... bad Mom moment (should have asked for clarification obviously) and even worse/terribly unprofessional nurse moment. Anyway, the wax was affecting his hearing (how many times are you expected to patiently repeat yourself in response to "what?"?) so we decided to go to see a doc here in Belfast and test out the NHS for a non-emergency.
First, the doc said that irrigation was overkill and prescribed some ear drops. Then, J and W went down the street to a small, local pharmacy (that's what they have here) and waited about 3 minutes for the ear drops. Couple of weeks later, I can happily report that we were no longer tormented with "what?". Note - no copay at either the UHC or the pharmacy, and it was about 5 days between when we called and when W had his not urgent appointment. Oh, and we are not paying anything to be part of the NHS. When we arrived, we went to the UHC and filled out a form, 1 for each of us, and turned that in with copies of our passport and visa. We each received a card in the mail 2-4 wks later, but we could be seen without the card. Voila.
Not bad! ;)
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