Supporting NHS

Macaydia

NHS is known world wide as the best health care available. I am temporarily in the states and cannot even imagine the awful delayed care given to UK citizens. In the US, you are seen immediately for whatever ailment you might have - there is NO waiting - there is no charge. If you are poor, the cost is free even if it costs a million dollars. People in Canada drive to the US, just for medical care. People in the US drive to Canada to buy their prescriptions. Yes, its a weird world but in the US, no nurse would ever consider treating you with the utmost respect. A different planet here. My uncle died in England, thanks to NHS.

I really do not recognise the US health care system described in this post. What about the large number of bankruptcies due to health care bills? What about co-payments and ceilings ? Criticising the NHS does not mean buying into a fairy tale about US health care.

The NHS was very much admired, but that was in the past.

Oreo

The NHS was very much admired, but that was in the past.

And I think that’s part of the problem isn’t it? Referring back to the past ( which was a different country anyway) . Uncritical admiration leads to complacency and an unwillingness to reflect and truly learn when things go wrong.

No it isnt. I have just looked at google results. I looked at a wide range of reliable sources and while one rated us 4th in many rankings we did not feature in the top 20.

Were you given a choice, for your daughter, of a zoom, or face to face appointment, Monica,
We are.

Uncritical admiration is one thing. Saying let's get rid of the NHS and move to an insurance based system is quite another.
I know BREXIT was years ago, but wasn't it the big selling point, on the side of the red bus, about funding increases to the NHS?
People here still want it.

Would it have been better if the NHS has stayed with only providing acute care?
Would we then have to pay for our hip, knee, whatever transplants?

I have had some excellent care from the NHS and also some pretty dismal care, or lack of, so I think it’s just very patchy and it seems to be the luck of the draw, which really isn’t good enough is it? But what is the answer?

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the nhs, I've no doubt.
Its just a shame that its made me feel at times that I wish wasn't sfill here.

the during has always provided an exemplary service for me.
during my life i've had:
german measles as an adult
meningitis
ectopic pregnancy which resulted in both tubes being removed (and they removed my appendix at the same time)
ovarian cancer which resulted in a total hystrectomy
kidney cancer which resulted in one kidney being removed
a misbehaving bladder which necessitated being fitted with a catheter for weeks
a couple of operations to remove sweat glands from both grains
and giving birth to two babies
i've definitely got value for money!

grains? groins!

From Tess46
“And my experience of nursing staff on wards full of elderly people is unprintable. If you go to the desk and raise an issue you are told how busy they are. Some are but some definitely are busy on their phones which isn’t nursing as far as I understand it. But we are brainwashed being told the NHS is the envy of the world. It keeps Jo Bloggs in their place and ‘ever so grateful’ in spite of the fact it isn’t true and all tax payers are paying for this mismanaged chaos. I do know what I’m talking about as well.”

I agree - I’ve had the most wonderful attentive treatment, operations, physio etc etc …
But my poor Mum and dad left waiting for the bed pan, falling off chairs they were propped in, not being fed - disgraceful- my Mum
And Dad would have passed away much sooner if family hadn’t stepped in - ward nurses don’t know their patients and don’t seem to
Care - I can only go
On what I have seen and experienced in Surrey.

I am grateful to the NHS for all the treatment I have received however, I think our experiences vary so much from Trust to Trust. My most recent experience started in January when I fell and broke my hip in my home. When I arrived I was taken into A&E at 4.30pm, straight in with no waiting in the ambulance for ages, so far so good, by the time they had done the Xrays and tests I got up to the ward it was almost midnight, so I knew I would be waiting till the next day for the op. so straight to bed on painkillers and a drip with nil by mouth, where I waited 3 days on nil by mouth waiting for the op as there was only one orthopaedic theatre available. It all went smoothly and the following day I was visited by the physios who got me out of bed to sit me in a chair, naturally enough having laid flat on my back for all that time with nothing to eat or drink I promptly fainted, so back into bed on oxygen and a drip. 4 days later I was visited by the physios again where they got me out of bed and sat me in the chair. They just gave me a walker, got me to try and get up onto a step, told me to walk as often and as far as I could. The following day I was told I would be moving to another ward, so they packed all my stuff up and jammed it on the bed beside me, they took my table away so I had no access to my water and they finally moved me at midnight where I had to go through a complete audit of all my belongings right down to the coins in my purse, waking up practically all the other patients in the process. 4 days later I was told I would be discharged, at 6 o'clock the ambulance came to take me home, I was given no follow up, no instructions as to what I could and should be be doing and no future physio.

Now I must say except for one health care assistant who made all the patients feel guilty for inconveniencing her, I can't fault the nurses and doctors, Also after intervention from my GP I have finally got a physio appointment for next week. So I hoping to finally being off my walker in the near future.

Two years ago, I had to stay in hospital for 18 days instead of 8 because someone failed to stitch me up properly so that I had to have another session in theatre. The ward non-care from nurses from everywhere and anywhere was depressing, even traumatic, except from one male nurse from round here who was kind, cheered me up and actually recognised me in a corridor when I went for a follow-up appointment.
Outpatient appointments have been absolutely fine and without much wait: audiology for hearing aids, ophthalmology for detached retina plus cataract, cardiology for angiogramwith angioplasty.
What a mixture.

I have seen it from both sides. I trained as a student nurse back in the early 70’s when there was a Matron and nurses were dressed in a uniform - not scrubs. The care we gave our patients, in my opinion, was a lot better then that what i see now. Nurses cared for patients and only the senior staff on duty were in the office. We were paid a pittance however, we did the job because we cared. Fast forward a number of years, after I left and the wages increased dramatically and you had all types of people training to be nurses. Many were still carers however others were not. In my later years, due to a number of ailments, i have needed to spend time in hospitals and what I have seen makes me so sad. Elderly patients having food put in front of them, unable to eat and the food just removed - no communication with the carer. In one instance, I intervened and fed the patent with her consent, I was asked what I was doing as the notes stated the patient could feed herself. No, she can’t and you are not even checking with her. I informed her daughter and things changed. One time after the smoking ban had come into force, I was hospitalised with a chest problem and they admitted a dying woman (with secondary lung cancer) to the same ward. This lady was vaping on the ward, she was bed-bound and my coughing was off the charts. Did anyone come to check - no. I ended up opening all the windows to remove the smell and she told me she was too cold. You can imagine what my response was, the staff did nothing. I could go on, these events were in different hospitals.

Reading about the 'variations' in the delivery of care, quoted here, makes we think of the concepts of quality control and accountability.
Schools have regular inspections, to meet a set of criteria and standards, whereas NHS inspections usually happen after something has gone seriously wrong.
I think that's the case, but do tell, if not.

In jest only.
I'm going to keep my family away from yours incase it's catching.
I agree a hard working bunch , our NHS

I have spent 3 hours with my husband in hospital this morning. He spent a week in our huge, regional hospital. He received no physio apart from his last day when I went and sought out a physio. What about people who have nobody to look out for them?

So now he is in a 24 bed hospital for rehab. A physio stuck her head round the door as she recognised his name from when she came to our home after his first stroke. I said he badly needs to be moving as he has spent a week doing nothing. She said she would see what she could do but they are very busy! That’s all you ever hear now. I walked past the area where the physios sit about 6 times during 3 hours. Every time the same women were there showing each other pictures on their phones. It is disgraceful and I just can’t understand why they train and qualify to do these jobs and then sit around instead of getting off their backsides and getting people moving again.

I’m sorry Primrose to read of your continuing issues with your husband’s care. It’s hard isn’t it trying to get the care he needs in a system which in many cases seems to have given up on caring - in all senses of the word. I actually think staff shouldn’t have mobile phones whilst on duty.

I went to a walk in centre a few years ago and it was dreadful, not enough seats for patients, unruly children dashing about shouting. There were 3 doctors on duty. One was foreign and came into the waiting room calling out the next patients name, nobody moved, nobody could understand what he was saying, he tried a few times and then walked out and came back with a receptionist who said the name and the unlucky patient had to get up and go with him. What chance did that person have of being understood or understanding what was said to them? The next doctor to call for a patient was overweight, shirt hanging out at the waist and unbuttoned with greasy hair and generally unkempt , I was dreading seeing him as I knew I would have to undress and be examined. Luckily a clean. tidy very pleasant Asian lady called out my name and boy was I glad!

And those who make the rules quite possibly go private. The wealthy have their paediatrician on speed dial. Need a scan? No wait times for them, just ring up and book one - at a date and time convenient to you too. Kerching! But peace of mind for those with disposable income.

I have been appalled by the care given to the elderly in 2 of our hospitals. Just recently a friend of mine who is in her early 90's was taken into hospital with pneumonia. She is normally physically healthy but does have dementia which has been assessed as mild by her GP. Whilst that assessment might be something her family, who live with and care for her, might dispute, they are able to accurately assess she is normally healthy and happy. Obviously the pneumonia had affected her mind as well as her physical health which is quite normal. Before she had been in hospital for 12 hours, the staff wanted to put a DNR on her record. Her family objected but the staff were adamant they would only make her 'comfortable." It was a battle to get the treatment she needed. 48 hours she recovered enough to go home and is continuing to recover. This doesn't seem to make the NHS something to be proud of.

When my mum was in hospital (same one) it is the first time in my life thay I had ever seen her cowed, and nervous, as were the other ladies on the ward.
The atmosphere was really horrible and oppressive.

The majority of stsff are great, work to the best of the conditions provided. Sadly the conditions are not always the best. Departments are overrun at times especially A & E, Acute Admissions are like cattle markets. I'm so fed up with Covid still being uttered as the reason for the state of affairs. To me there is just not enough investment given to staff, equipment, and buildings. Wards that used to accommodate 24 now take 36 but staffing level just the same.

They were a minority, in my case.
With a few marvellous exceptions