Private Hospital Care vs. NHS Hospital Care in the UK

So much for writing every week.  Life really does happen between the pages of a passport and it is a pretty busy existence.  

I sit here writing this in my post-surgical medicated fog, but I wanted to try to write while the experience is still fresh in my mind. 

We have been living in the UK for less than six months, but during this time, I have been unfortunate enough to experience both sides of the UK Healthcare system.  

In August/September, I experienced what I thought was a scratch on my cornea after removing contact lenses.  This had happened several times in the past year and usually resolved itself. But,   since I was in the process of registering for the NHS, I mentioned this to the doctor and was told to get an eye exam because I may have an ulcer.  So, I headed to the local Vision Express (like Visionworks or Pearle Vision in the US).  The optician found not one but 9 corneal ulcers at various stages (some scars others active) spread over both eyes.  

I was sent to the eye hospital at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford early on a Sunday morning for an emergency eye clinic. The hospital was pretty modern, unlike other hospitals I had visited in other countries. I filled out a one page form with my name, address, birthdate and was asked to sit down. I did not have my NHS card yet, but they did not seem to care. I was seen within 10 minutes as I was the only one there on a Sunday. I went home on antibiotic drops and ointment and was basically told that my contact lens days were over. 

I had to go to eye clinics every week for a month to make sure the ulcers healed.  Every week I received a text message from the NHS with a reminder about my appointment as well as a letter reminder.  Every time I went, I took my appointment letter and put it in an acrylic file slot and waited for my letter to be pulled.  The eye clinics were packed, but I waited a max of about 30 minutes, usually less.  I think I spent more time trying to find parking than waiting to be seen. The care itself was good.  Each exam was thorough.  After 4 weeks, I was discharged from the clinic. I never received anything else from the NHS regarding my visits.  I did not pay a penny for any visit.

In October, I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon at the the private Nuffield Manor Hospital in Oxford.  This is where I began to see the differences between the two systems within the NHS.  The way things work here is that if your general practitioner (GP) (a PCP in the US) refers you to a private hospital, NHS will cover your treatment 100%.   However, I was being referred by my private doctor through my employer so I did not receive NHS coverage for the consult or the subsequent surgery. If I had to go through the GP, I would have had to get on a waiting list for surgery.  I was told to expect to wait up to a year or more to get the surgery scheduled.  Going private expedited the process. 

How do I know this?  Because the NHS has this down to a science.  The NHS website told me that if I went to my GP, it would take 24 weeks just to be seen by an orthopedic surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital. The same process GP to Nuffield Manor Hospital would have been 17 weeks for an appointment. By going private, I got an appointment in 3 weeks and got to pick when I wanted to have surgery.

The only annoying part of the process was communicating with the surgeon's office. In the US, you can generally get a hold of a secretary. Not here.  I tried to get in touch with the office by phone and there was no voicemail to leave a message.  I was told that I was going to be getting a booklet emailed to me with information about the surgery.  Nothing.  I called and emailed and got nowhere.  If it had not been for my doctor's office who kept trying to get in touch with them, I would have never been able to schedule the surgery.  This was in keeping with the reviews on the NHS website - great care, but poor communication.

I received the invoice for the October consult in late November. 200 GBP about 300 USD. I don't know what it is about Europeans, but they have a very lackadaisical way about them when it comes to getting paid for their services. The surgeons office only accepted cash payment. The invoice said to contact the office for bank information since Europe runs on bank transfers.  Again, phone, email and no response.  Finally, while we were on vacation in Scotland in mid December, I finally received an email with the bank info so I could transfer the funds.  

I took that opportunity to ask about pre-surgical appointments in my response since we were now about a month away from the surgery date.  No response.  Finally, 2 weeks before surgery, after not hearing anything from the office, I contacted the hospital directly and received an immediate response cc-ing the surgeon's office.  That got the ball rolling and by the end of the day, I had my pre-surgery consult scheduled and an invoice with fees for the surgery.  

Believe it or not, it was wonderful to receive an invoice with fees for the hospital stay and for each doctor broken down as line items.  Hospitalization in the US is a crap shoot when it comes to fees. Doctors and surgeons rarely provide you with the cost of services and hospitals may have a chargemaster, but that book is rarely available to patients. It was so nice to see that the anesthesiologist charged 425 GBP about 600 USD for his services.  Do you know that when I had my first child, I only had a spinal anesthetic and I received a post insurance invoice for 1500 USD in 2002? More than double what this anesthesiologist charged me for a general, regional and local anesthetic in 2016. And the surgeon?  850 GBP/about 1200 USD for his surgical services.  It would have been twice as much in the US. 

I reviewed my US insurance benefits and was able to determine that I would have had to pay about 1500 USD overall if it were an outpatient procedure and only $350 if I was inpatient.  Where is the logic in that?  Since I was an inpatient and I have an added medical benefit at work, I ended up paying nothing.

The hospital care was excellent. I had a private room and the nurses were much more attentive than in previous hospitalizations in the US.  If I pressed the call button, they were in the room in about 15 seconds. My mother felt comfortable leaving me there overnight on my own because she saw how attentive they were. They didn't freak out that I went to the bathroom on my own, for example, and other than taking my vitals every couple of hours, they mostly let me be.  Despite having surgery, I had no IV put in unlike the US when that is one of the first things they do.  A physiotherapist met with me to go over some home exercises and explained that physical therapy was part of the package.  If I had physical therapy at the hospital, it would be free of charge.  Sweet! That would never happen in the US where they nickel and dime you for everything and insurance limits the amount of visits you are entitled to.  

In the US, you are usually kept on a morphine drip and after you are weaned off of this, you are given a 10 day prescription of Percocet to manage pain.  Not here.  I did not get heavy duty pain meds. I was given a cocktail of Paracemetol (Tylenol), Naproxen and mini Codeine pills. That is it. They also gave me the actual medications before I left the hospital instead of a prescription to collect meds at the local chemist.

When people discuss socialized medicine in the US, they are thinking in terms of the worse case scenario.  I have heard stories of places where families have to bring in their own supplies when they go into the hospitals.   In Poland, this was the case.  It was bare bones medical care consistent with a second world country.  Not so in first world Western countries.  I had linens on my bed, vitals checked on a Dinamap vital signs monitor, wound dressings provided by and medicines dispensed by the actual hospital. This is the kind of care you would receive in a US hospital.  Only it is generally free.  Do people complain?  Sure.  It is human nature to complain.  Does it sometimes take longer to get treatment? Yes, but there are options and even the cost of private pay is cheaper than in the US. 

Take medication. My son takes a medication for migraines that is not available in the US. Because I got a prescription from a private doctor, I paid about 65 GBP (about 100 USD) for a 6 month supply of this medication. That is about 16 USD per month for these meds.  No different than if I got something similar in the US through a co-payment.  I prefer going private because its an American doctor I am seeing, it is convenient for me to go that route and I can afford that.  But if that option was not available, I could go to the GP and the medication would be free. The GP via NHS is like an HMO that manages your healthcare while going private is like going to a preferred provider.

I think the biggest problem with the Affordable Care Act is its name.  It is not affordable unless you are poor and get your premiums subsidized. It is not affordable when you have a high deductible you must meet before your care is considered paid for. And the costs will continue to rise since the young people they planned on enrolling to support the sick are opting for the cheaper penalty.  

Rather than issue tax penalties to all those who refuse to join, they should have funded this as a payroll tax just like Medicare and cut out the insurance companies that only care about their profit margin.  That would have provided true universal coverage that everyone could access.  Would it be perfect?  No, but at least no one would go into debt because they can't afford healthcare. 

Maybe people like me are an anomaly because we have been able to experience the other side and realize that it is not the scary monster that it is made out to be.

Now back to my nap...

Outdoor Survival Skills

I really think the reason they move people to the UK over the summer is because the weather is so nice. We had our fair share of sunny days and above average temperatures well into October.  But sometime between the beginning and end of the autumn half term (break), things went to hell in a handbasket.

It is pitch black dark out there save for the oncoming headlights.  It is so bad that the dog needs a flashlight to go out in the evening because without it he misses the steps leading to the grass. Add to that the winding country roads and those single track roads and it is pretty terrifying. Grateful that I learned how to drive here before it got bad.

Some things are expected like cold, darkness, rain and sitting in front of your happy lamp. Interesting side note: if you run a search for happy lamps on Amazon.com, you get these results.  But run the same search on Amazon.co.uk and you get these.  Americans clearly have a more positive spin on naming remedies for Seasonal Affective Disorder.

But, I digress.  Fall is the start of the real rainy season. You know, the one that makes the British Isles greener than the grass stains on a school uniform come spring. And rain brings mud which brings me to today's topic: outdoor learning.

In the UK, part of the curriculum includes something called outdoor learning.  This is different from the outdoor classroom concept which our school in Vienna developed. In fact, it is more like outdoor survival skills.  In the past couple of weeks, the kids have been busy learning all kinds of things like how to rock climb (because England has cliffs), how to kayak and build a raft (because it rains and flooding happens) and how to build fires (because it gets really cold out there).

There is no way that any of this would fly in the the overly safety conscious U.S., but I am grateful that should we become lost in a wilderness some day my kids will know what to do.

But first, between a mix of horseshit from the horse stable and mud from everywhere, I have more laundry to do, boots to spray clean.  Just a typical day in cold, rainy, and foggy England.

Halloween Helpers

Living in the middle of the English countryside, we encounter lots of not so wild life.  It runs the gamut from pigeons that crash into our window leaving an outline of their carcass on our window (pigeons should not let other pigeons fly drunk!) to pheasants that seem to want to do battle with your car.  And, of course, deer, sheep, horses, graze on the fields here.

But, there is one form of not so wild life that has taken up residence inside and around my house. They are making themselves at home here and are trying to help decorate the house for Halloween. They are not welcome - at least not in the house - but this does not stop them.

I am referring to spiders and the tangled webs they weave.

Two inch spider found in my house.

Vienna had ants, bees and translucent bugs. Warsaw had spiders and England has spiders. While I generally do not succumb to arachnophobia unlike other members of my family, these are not small spiders that one occasionally finds around the house.  They are huge spiders.  The largest one to date was 4 inches long, but on average they are about 2 inches long.  They like to hide in the drapes, corners and most recently, I found one in the rubbish bin.  You know what they say - one person's trash is another spider's treasure.

A perfectly formed web on one of our cars.

The cobweb decor isn't reserved for the inside of the house or even the house for that matter.  Every morning, I find perfectly formed webs on the side mirrors of my car.  Last week, I was driving along and stopped at a light.  As I am looking around, I see a baby spider dangling on a web string inside my car.  It had managed to start a web from the car ceiling.

That black speck that is circle:
a baby spider in my car.

People have warned me that I need to check my clothes before putting them on and my bed before getting in. Only a few of them are actually poisonous, but I rather not take chances.  My OCD kicks in when I see cobwebs or baby spiders (because that means there are hundreds somewhere).  I become the spider slayer sucking the life out of them with a vacuum.

They are quite industrious little f**kers, though.  I take down their webs (inside and outside), they build them back up the next day.  It's fall so most of them are males coming inside to mate with female spiders. I can't have a bunch of horny spiders running amok.

I have forged a compromise (mostly with myself) to allow them to live outside. But, if they cross the line, they are risking their horny little lives.

Hang on to your hat...its going to be a bumpy wild ride!

It has been 5 weeks since we arrived in the United Kingdom. In this time, I have learned many things. Tea is a great example.  It is not just a drink. It is a meal.  I found this out this week when I signed my youngest up for tea during her after school activities.  I asked her how her snack was and she tells me that there is no snack, but that she could stay for dinner afterwards. She was starving. I will be sending snack from now on.

But, of all the things I have learned over the past month, nothing compares to driving in England. On the opposite side of the road. On double and triple lane roundabouts. In a right handed drive car.

The driving on the opposite side of the road was the easy part as was driving to/from work.  But, this past week, shit got real.

As some of you know, we got our start here with a bang.  One day after arriving in England from Calais, a teen driver rear ended us while we were stopped at a light.  Since we were flying home the following day for our home leave, we squared things away with our insurance to contact them when we returned.

Welcome to England...

Last week, they picked the car up from our house and left us with a rental. I had no plans of driving this right handed drive, semi-automatic vehicle. But, with my better half very busy at work and my youngest starting after school activities, I had no choice.

My first day was the most harrowing of all.  Driving a right hand drive car, when you have always driven a left hand drive, feels unnatural.  I had to try to focus not only on staying in my lane, but also staying on the road and not brushing up alongside the hedges and trees lining the road and risking falling into a ditch. But that was the least of my problems.

I had to get my youngest at her first horse riding lesson. Nothing gives you more confidence than an email with directions from the school that says "entering the post code into your Sat Nav (GPS) will take you past the location."  The Sat Nav is a way of life here.  Every car has one because post codes is how you find an address.  Google Maps and Waze that found the exact location without issue. The problem was getting there.

Why?  Because you may be plodding along a normal road and then the directions take you onto a single track road.  Read: off road. No I idea what I mean.  Take a look:

Beautiful and horrifying at once!

Looks nice with all the greenery.  But this is a two way road that is one lane.  This is one of the nicer ones.  There is no speed limit on these roads.  You would think this would mean people would drive slowly.  But no.  This is how they drive:

Did I mention that these roads have inclines and sharp turns?  If you are driving uphill, you have no idea if anyone is coming down the the other end until you get over the hump or hit someone head on.  We are in the middle of nowhere so there are no street lights. That said, I prefer driving at night because at least I can see if someone is coming via their headlights. Don't get me started on the one way stone bridges.

Then, we have the villages that dot the landscape.  Lovely little places where every house looks like this:

Some look even lovelier with red ivy on their stone walls.

But to get to this road, you have to make your way through this one:

A one lane road through the village.

To deal with these things, they have something called a traffic easing measure which comes in two forms.

Traffic frustrating measure #1.

When you see this on your side of the road, you have to stop and give way/yield to traffic from the opposite side.  The other one is a sign pictured here:

Give way to oncoming traffic.

This is a wonderful idea in principle considering that villages preceded roads and most roads are narrow one way roads.  The problem is that sometimes you have the right of way and can't see the other traffic and they can't see you.  It is a crapshoot that usually ends with one vehicle having to back up or pulling over if possible -  there may be nowhere to pull over when you are stuck between two stone buildings. The nice thing is that in these circumstances, drivers are very patient and more often than not, they let you pass and wave at you.

But it all leads to a muscle tensing wild ride.  I overheard my daughter telling my husband "You should have seen mom today when the Tesco truck kept driving at her on the one lane road.  She kept saying "Really Tesco, really?"  She thinks its real funny. 

But nothing is more horrifying than encountering a double or triple lane roundabout.  This infographic from Gov.uk says it all:

Take a look at the green and blue cars at your bottom left.

Sometimes the road you need to get on is listed in one of the lanes and you just queue and look right before entering. But sometimes there is no guidance.  Last week, after taking a deep breath and doing the sign of the cross, I went in and came out the other end.  Roundabouts are a blessing and a curse.  What I have realized is that because there are so few traffic lights, traffic keeps moving.  This is great, but exhausting.  If you are driving for an hour, for example, you have no breaks.  You are driving non stop which makes trips of more than a few hours pretty tiring.

I dread the day I come upon the Magic Roundabout pictured here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)

There is a reason why the Satanic cult symbol (and coincidentally, the Pentagon) is the pentagram.  Those are five circles of hell that I don't ever want to encounter.

In case you are wondering, the village and single track road pics were taken while I was a passenger in the vehicle since you are not allowed to eat, drink coffee, or anything else deemed to be distracting while driving.  And that is probably the best thing about driving here. 

Things that don't cease and crease

I am pretty sure I spent three years of my life in Vienna doing laundry incorrectly. 

So we arrive in England and I am thrilled to see timed washes like a 30 minute quick load and an hour daily load. This made me happy until last week when I had to wash all the kids uniforms.

For one, clothing labels here give you temperature readings for what temperature you should wash something. In Celsius. Fair enough since this is not new to me and the temp is 40* for most items. But, the uniforms have special instructions like "do not use fabric softener" or "tumble dry at low heat" or not at all. The first one is easy, but that second one is tough. You see dryers in Europe have instructions that look like this:

Does it say "low heat" anywhere? WTF is bone dry and cupboard dry? In Vienna, it was the same but it was German and laundry would take 8 hours to finish because even on the extra dry setting, it would not be dry. I just want plain dry. 

I hate laundry (and most things domestic) because they never cease. No matter how much laundry you do, there is more waiting hours later.  Now, I am being forced to break my (bad) procrastination habit of leaving laundry in the dryer because ironing school shirts is worse than folding laundry. So I wait for the beep and run to hang them up ASAP. 

Then, we have the kilt and trousers which are wool so you can wash them but can't dry them in a dryer. Wool finish doesn't dry them but makes you feel better because you tried. 

Yesterday, I washed the boy's trousers (not pants because that means underwear here - although I did wash those too) and hung them on my laundry tripod. Tonight, I go to gather uniforms so he can take them upstairs and they were still damp almost 24 hours later. 

They are hanging on the radiator now and will be forever after.

British School Life

The kids started school last week.  The learning curve has been steep for all of us. When the kids attended international schools in Warsaw and Vienna, the curriculum and school day was very similar to that of the US schools.  It was not too difficult to get oriented.  But, this is not an international school.  While some international students board here, the majority of the school is British and the system is a bit different than in the US.

Junior School (Elementary School)

My youngest has it the easiest although she may say otherwise.  Her school has a Junior School that runs until Year 6 which is 5th grade.  Her school is similar to her previous school in that there is a similar routine. However, despite the common language, there are many different words they use which has her (and me) confused most of the time. 

There are also at least three clothing changes per day.  She leaves here in her uniform - a tartan kilt, blue blouse and cardigan - then she changes into her sports kit which they use for Games.  Games seems to be like PE here.  She is learning to play Rounders and Netball.  I wish I could explain it to you, but I have no idea what these games are.  They are definitely not basketball.  Then, there is a change into her swimming "costume" as they call it which includes her swimsuit and swim cap.  

The school day is much longer here.  She starts at 8:30 and is not finished until 4:30.  But there are some great perks to this Junior school. Students who are interested in music get to choose an instrument and have lessons within the school day.  She decided not to continue violin and opted to resume piano lessons and join the school choir. Further, all after school activities are free of charge except horse riding and tea (afternoon snack).  She signed up for horse riding and dance. Twice per week she stays for prep. Prep is what they refer to as homework.  You are "prepping" for the next days lesson. The activities extend her day further to either 5:30 or 6:15 depending on the activity. 

Senior School (Middle and High School)

Entering the Senior School is a big leap.  Some schools,like the one my youngest attends, have a senior school as well.  Kids just transition over.  

My oldest started the equivalent of 8th grade (Year 9) at a different school. His is only a Senior School and we chose it because we were impressed by what they offered and it is very close to our house which helps with those late nights. One of the big changes for him is the addition of Saturday lessons.  But as he is realizing, he has more free time for homework and activities because of Saturday school.  

He starts school at 8:30 as well, but his school day does not end until 6pm or 9pm depending on whether he stays at school to complete prep. He leaves for school in his charcoal trousers, white shirt, house tie, black blazer and dress shoes with his backpack and computer briefcase.  He looks like he is going to work rather than school.  In my opinion, he looks amazing and handsome. Here's hoping that we break the athletic short habit!

His day starts with a check in at his house.  Every student, day pupil or boarder, is assigned a house. This is very similar to Hogwarts, but without the sorting hat.  Houses compete against each other similar to Hogwarts as well.

He is a day pupil, but he has the option to board during the week if he wants to.  He has a captains bed assigned to him with drawers where he can unpack the plethora of clothing he has to change in and out of during the week.  There are rugby shirts, rugby shorts, tennis shorts, polo shirts, at least 4 pairs of shoes and a track suit. He brings everything to school on Monday and brings it home Saturday for laundry.  

The biggest shock to me when I saw his schedule were the classes he was taking.  I don't know about you, but when I was in high school, I took biology in 10th grade, chemistry in 11th and physics in 12th.  My son is taking all three of these subjects at the same time.  He is also taking Spanish, French, Theology, Textiles, cooking, digital literacy, history, geography, along with the usual English, Maths (that is how they refer to math which is more anxiety inducing when in plural) and PE. His school has a rotating schedule with alternate weeks A and B.  He typically has 3-4 lessons per day and then he has his saxophone lesson, wind orchestra or jazz band, rugby, and a rotating activity.  This week, it was Shakespeare on film.  He watched Henry V. Saturdays he has 3 lessons and then spends the afternoon playing rugby games until 4pm.

While his day is long and he was very overwhelmed last week with all the information and changes, this week has been smooth sailing.  He likes that free time is built in to his schedule for him to chill at his house or complete homework in the library or anywhere on campus.  His schedule resembles a college schedule.

He was also very happy to report that the other kids tell him that he is "clever" because he knew things like cell biology, energy, and more Spanish than they initially thought.  In fact, they put him in beginner Spanish and they noticed the first day when he was responding to questions in Spanish that he belonged in the advanced class.  

First day jitters aside, they both did very well considering all the changes and are settling into their routines.

The British Education System

I know some of your are curious about the British education system.  Below are some observations and things I learned this past week.

Key Stages and Forms

Grade levels go from Reception (pre-school) to Year 13.  These grade levels fit into Key Stages I-V. Within each Key Stage, there are Forms.   For example, my youngest is Year 5, which is Key Stage II, Third Form.  The oldest is in Year 9, which is Key Stage III, Third Form.

GCSE's and A Levels

When students get to the equivalent of 10th grade (Year 11), they are required to take the GCSE Exam.  GCSE stand for General Certificate of Secondary Education.  Think the Owl exams that Harry Potter and friends had to take for future prospects at the Ministry of Magic.  If you pass the 5 core subjects on the GCSE, you can continue on to Sixth Form and the eventual GCSE Advanced or A-Level Exams required for entrance into university (like a the SATs in the U.S.).  If you do not pass your GCSE's, you can retake them or you can accept the results and look into other options like technical college, an apprenticeship or a trainee program. Of note, employers here look at potential employees GCSE scores.  This is a very big deal here.  It is on par with the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.

Quality of Education

All I can say is that the curriculum here is rigorous and far more advanced than in the U.S.  These kids focus on their studies.  It's not cool to flunk tests and not turn in assignments.  I joke with my oldest that if we return to the U.S. for his last two years of high school he will have it very easy.

Character Education/Religious Education.

Schools have lessons called Personal and Social Health Education and Citizenship Programme. These lessons are like health class in that it teaches students to make healthy choices in life.  

The majority of schools in the UK are Church of England schools.  However, there are other protestant denominations here as well as Catholic schools.  My oldest attends a Church of England school.  He attends chapel on Friday evenings.  He also takes Theology.  My youngest attends a Quaker school.  They have Meetings of Worship at the start of the week and at the end of the week.  I knew nothing about any of these religions, but I like what I have read thus far. 

Parental Involvement

There is a hands off approach for parents in the UK.  There are equivalents to PTA or PTOs here, but they take on more of a fundraising role.  Parent teacher conferences are rare, but when they do happen, you get to chat with the teacher over a glass of wine. There is no volunteering in the classroom. 

Uniforms

There is a uniform and shoe for everything and these kids spend at least an hour of their free time dressing themselves in/out proper attire for lessons, sports, swimming etc.  In my son's senior school, laundry is done once per week and the House Matron sends a reminder to students to bring clothes to her for laundering.  It is wonderful in the sense that we do not spend time every morning figuring out what they should wear, but there is a lot of laundry and, even worse, ironing. Whether public or private, all kids here where uniforms unless they are in sixth form where business attire is expected. They all look sharp and smart at the bus stops throughout our area.

Social Life

There is no tolerance for bullying here.  I am not saying that it doesn't happen, but it is not acceptable. Cyberbullying in particular is against the law and can be prosecuted.  My oldest noticed that the popular kids were very welcoming and inclusive to him.  He reports feeling very at ease not just with Third Form students, but even with the Sixth Form (11th-12th grade) students. 

Sports and Activities

While these are optional in the Junior School, sports and activities are compulsory in the Senior School.  There are activity options to choose from, but sports are offered by season.  They play rugby in the fall, field hockey in the winter/spring and cricket in the summer.  There are activities like clay shooting and fencing, music ensembles, and clubs to join. With the exception of music lessons, horse riding and afternoon tea (snack), activities and sports are free of charge.

Since some schools like ours are also boarding schools, activities are planned on Sundays too.  Day pupils are allowed to participate if they wish.  

Half Terms and End of Term

School days are long and therefore, there is more vacation time than what many of us are used to.  As I previously mentioned in another post, schools here have three terms.  Public schools tend to refer to these as Autumn, Spring, and Summer Terms while Independent (i.e. private schools) tend to refer to them with a more religious connotation: Michaelmas term (derived from the Feast of St. Michael on 29 September) runs until December, Lent term runs from January to the end of March, and Trinity term runs from mid April to July.  

In between these terms, they have half term holidays.  These occur three times per year and range from one week off to up to four weeks off. My kids will have nearly three weeks off for October's half term, almost four weeks for Christmas end of term, a week off in February for ski week half term, almost 4 weeks off for the Lent end of term, another week off for the Trinity/Summer Term in May and two months of summer vacation.  It is very challenging for working parents to juggle all the school holidays here.

That's the British Education System in a nutshell based on my experience so far.  Hope it answers any questions you may have.  If not, please ask your questions in the comment section.