NHS has quite the Welcome Package

Apologies in advance if this is TMI.

I sent off my registration form for the NHS on December 9th and yesterday a package arrived from them. I assumed it was maybe an ID card like our OHIP cards, or instructions on how to get a card, or just some paperwork and information on what it is to be registered with the National Health Services. Then I saw the words ‘self-test’ and, given what’s going on at the moment, I understandably thought, “Are they sending out COVID self-tests to everyone?”

But no, it was none of those things. Instead, it was a bowel screening self-test asking me to mail in a sample. Unasked for, out of the blue, completely unexpected, just arrived from Public Health Scotland because I am between the ages of 50 and 74. I must say, this is one of the more original welcome packages I have received when joining a new organization. (Vodaphone offered my a free cup of Costa coffee.)

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the importance of catching bowel cancer early – my dad had colorectal cancer, so I know too well the need for early detection. It was just the timing, and the surprise factor, and of course the scatological impact (so to speak) that appealed. And the instructions are quite entertaining too – I particularly like question #3 on the return package – gotta wonder how often something happened before they included that.

Again, sorry if this wasn’t what you signed up for when you started following this blog. 🙂

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