NHS problems from the horses mouth

“I also trained 50 years ago and progressed to ward sister level. The demands and expectations of our nurses today is a far cry from the good old days you have alluded to and in many cases nurses are as skilled and expected to perform as junior doctors.”

In my case I trained 40 yrs ago, the job has changed for sure but it has changed so much that nobody wants to do it any more. As for junior doctors, give me an experienced nurse any day.

I worked in local government, many years ago. Drastic cutbacks were necessary, and several strata of managers were removed. We were at the coal face, and could see that it made no difference to the service we gave to the public. Saved lots of money though.

The problem at Westminster is that politicians know the NHS problems can't be solved in the 5 year gap between general elections so Health Secretaries look busy by tinkering at the edges and engaging in re-organisations in the hope we don't notice they have achieved nothing of substance.

katie59 A doctor can only become older and more knowledgeable and experienced by first being junior doctors., learning on the job, and becoming more experienced.

If colleagues consider them a nuisance and cannot be bothered to help them get the experience and knowledge they need, the first people to suffer are their patients who end up be treated by inadequately experienced consultants.

The issue is junior doctors thinking they know it all (particularly males) and havn’t developed the patient handling or diagnostic skills, more experienced staff have to help them do the job better.
It happens in all industries.

Strange thread title - that particular horse has been out to grass for at least 25 years.

I hate these threads where everyone piles on, in mostly total ignorance about how the NHS works. Over 90% of healthcare is delivered outside hospital so the idea that if you “fix” hospitals that’s job done is pure nonsense. And the “overmanaged” myth has been busted so many times. Yes it’s complex and antiquated and inefficient and under-resourced and we certainly wouldn’t have built it like this in 1948 if we knew how people would (over)use it now. But it is still free at the point of use and none of us ever has to worry whether we can afford to use it.

Except that it is often not available because there are too many people trying to access it.

Yes, that was a brilliant programme. So sad that his ideas were never adopted.

I once accompanied my mother to see her GP and took some unopened pills and syringes filled with anti clotting medication provided by the hospital. The district nurse was to call round daily to inject with said syringes. After a further ultrasound they deduced she didn’t have a DVT so didn’t need the visits or the medication. DN said it all had to be destroyed. I was horrified and showed the GP it was still in the sealed containers and hadn’t been touched. She said it was NHS policy and when I voiced my surprise her reaction was “don’t get me started on waste in the NHS, it sends me insane”. That was a GP aged approximately mid 40’s. They pay over the odds for almost everything and definitely have too many managers. It could be sorted out but nobody has the guts.

It's quite clear that NHS doctors including GPs are either retiring early or emigrating in significant numbers to obtain better pay and better working conditions in Australia, NZ and the USA. They are not being replaced at even the same rate because the Tories failed to provide enough medical school training places over the past 12 years and because the idiot Brexit decision removes the freedom of movement that enabled European doctors - including specialists - to come easily to the UK to work. Now visas and paperwork are required and most won't bother.