The reasons people leave
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Join Date: Mar 2001
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The reasons people leave
I completed 20 plus years service last year but remain interested in what those that remain have to put up with.
I have read the AFPRB report - http://www.raf.mod.uk/ptc/files/payreview2003.pdf with interest and am amazed that the Services are still functioning with Medical Services in such a state. A&E 90% undermanned, anaethetists 80% undermanned and even GPs 51% undermanned. The problems with dentists is equally acute. Those responsible(some faceless mandarins at MOD?) for the drastic measures now required should hang there heads in shame.
Over the last 2 decades I have placed my medical condition in the MODs hands at considerable risk I fear. I was dissappointed to have my dental checks as aircrew in the forces reduced to annual visits some years ago and I am now paying the price. Upon leaving I have been met with amazement by dentists at the state of my dental work. I have even sought a second opinion to check I am not being fleeced but I now have the pleasure of paying a large sum to rectify the shortcomings of service dental policy.
I may resent this but at least I can afford to pay for it. However, what concerns me most is the welfare of those that still serve and follow the flag, particularly in the current climate, without the essential medical support. Perhaps you can rely on the USA or maybe a Dutch military medical facility to be there. I pray that you do not need any medical support but know you cannot rely on our Govt to provide it.
I have read the AFPRB report - http://www.raf.mod.uk/ptc/files/payreview2003.pdf with interest and am amazed that the Services are still functioning with Medical Services in such a state. A&E 90% undermanned, anaethetists 80% undermanned and even GPs 51% undermanned. The problems with dentists is equally acute. Those responsible(some faceless mandarins at MOD?) for the drastic measures now required should hang there heads in shame.
Over the last 2 decades I have placed my medical condition in the MODs hands at considerable risk I fear. I was dissappointed to have my dental checks as aircrew in the forces reduced to annual visits some years ago and I am now paying the price. Upon leaving I have been met with amazement by dentists at the state of my dental work. I have even sought a second opinion to check I am not being fleeced but I now have the pleasure of paying a large sum to rectify the shortcomings of service dental policy.
I may resent this but at least I can afford to pay for it. However, what concerns me most is the welfare of those that still serve and follow the flag, particularly in the current climate, without the essential medical support. Perhaps you can rely on the USA or maybe a Dutch military medical facility to be there. I pray that you do not need any medical support but know you cannot rely on our Govt to provide it.
Join Date: May 2001
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What hasn't come out yet about the latest little Tony B/ George W roadshow is the effect that mobilisation is having on the NHS.
With all of the medical reservists, including those happy to take the money for their 1 night a week drill night thinking it was for fun, on their way to the Gulf, the NHS is on the verge of tipping over more than usual.
From my inside management friend this will be kept very quiet from my publicjoe cousins....
With all of the medical reservists, including those happy to take the money for their 1 night a week drill night thinking it was for fun, on their way to the Gulf, the NHS is on the verge of tipping over more than usual.
From my inside management friend this will be kept very quiet from my publicjoe cousins....
Join Date: Feb 2003
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Follow Me Through - interesting that you too were poorly treated by service dentists. After I left in 1995 I needed a lot of expensive treatment and some the RAF had refused to do. However, I now have to wait a week and a half if I want to see a GP - at least at Station level the Doc does better than that.
Join Date: Feb 2002
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If I remember correctly when I left (just over a year ago) you do not have to be "dentaly fit" to be released from the service. You do have to be "medically fit", or at least returned to civilian life in broadly the same condition in which the military found you when you joined.
Join Date: Aug 2000
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Follow Me Through
Being a cynic, the thought that immediately springs to mind is that
your new dentist is a civilian practitioner who is driven by the profit motive. When I came out of the services I was also convinced by a dentist (a German woman , in Nigeria, actually)that I also needed many fillings and other work. This, on later examination by my local dentist, in Cheltenham, where I now live, was found, in hindsight, to be almost completely unnecessary.
Its a hard greedy world out here folks.
Being a cynic, the thought that immediately springs to mind is that
your new dentist is a civilian practitioner who is driven by the profit motive. When I came out of the services I was also convinced by a dentist (a German woman , in Nigeria, actually)that I also needed many fillings and other work. This, on later examination by my local dentist, in Cheltenham, where I now live, was found, in hindsight, to be almost completely unnecessary.
Its a hard greedy world out here folks.
