The NHS....Not Fit For Purpose?

[craigie b]

After being out in Malaysia for 2 month I've twice had to visit the Doctors (and no, not for 'intimate' diseases ).

Anyway the first instance was an ear infection. After spending all day in considerable pain I was informed that you just walked into a doctors surgery, any time, and you'd get seen too. So that was good as I just strolled into a surgery at 2am on a Sunday morning and got seen straight away.

Now, prior to leaving the UK I had an ear infection in both ears..I went to the doctor and due to them being so disinterested, I got prescribed enough medicine for one ear....which meant on arriving to Malaysia I had to find a chemist and get more drops which eleviated the symptons enough for me to beleive the problem had gone.

Anyway the doctor in Malaysia looked in both ears and informed me I had a serious fungal infection in both ears and seemingly had the infection for a long time. In reflection I have had this re-occurring infections for over a year which means on the several trips to the UK doctors, not one doctor could be arsed or skilled enough to correctly diagnose the problem.

The net result was a injection of strong antibiotics and a course of pills to take for a week which cleared up the problem. Now bear in mind this is a second world country yet I got medical treatment when I needed it and a London trained doctor who actually gave a shit for £17. How much of a drain on the system would the UK alternative be, on NHS and my employers, let alone my quality of life?

Next, I put my back out this week. Went to see a chiropractor who immediately sent me to hospital for an X-ray. I have chased UK doctors for 5 years to help me. Now, in a second world country, I have found out that because no doctor would help me in the UK I have 5 years worth of disk damage on my lower back due to my hips and spine being completely out of shape. Another 5 years, left treated by the UK standard of codeine and paracetomol and the disks would be completely eroded away leaving me with a lifetime of NHS visits, painkillers and possibly surgery. How much for the X-ray and an hours treatment? £20. Follow up manipulation? £10 a shot.

Now I appreciate our health service is free, but what is the fucking point of having a health service that doesn't actually fucking help? I've heard tales of people requiring hip replacements and only getting them once the disorder is so bad that the replacement leaves them wheel chair bound anyway. If a British Doctor can't diagnose a fucking ear infection then why the hell do we pay for the NHS?

The thing is, over here, if your poor then your fucked for medicine. However back home, the UK is a developed nation and we're still fucked if we want proper care. How much would a private X-ray cost for example. Its the same with dentists. I'm starting to think we are a third world nation with first world toys.

[cestrian]

Pff, I knew we had a bad situation here in the UK, but that story demonstrates just how bad it really is. Although I must correct you on one point, the NHS is not free, it is free at the point of service. That is to say that you do actually pay for it, but not when you speak to the quack or the consultant. It wont be too long before you have to pay for it at the point of service.

Regards

[craigie b]

[feef]

Similarly,

I suffered a serious athsma attack in France a several years ago. My parents came back from dinner to find me on a hamock in the garden gasping for breath.

They phoned the local doctor (this was at around midnight on the weekend) who said "come up to the surgery" he opened up his surgery for us, gave me a cortizone injection in the back to relieve the symptons, and then got the Pharmacist out of bed to open the shop to supply us with the prescription. By now it was 2am.

Last year, my mum suffered a microstroke while in France. She didn't know what it was at the time, just that something wasn't right, so they7 went to the local hospital. Within 48 hrs, she'd had every scan and test you can imagine, was in for observation for a couple of more days, and all was sorted within 5 days and she was home again. I know from when my Grandad suffered a more Serious stroke, that the UK NHS just don't do that much, that quickly

Bear in mind, that both these incidents occurred in what is effectively the middle of nowhere, in a relatively quiet and not-very-well-off rural area of western France, and we were visiting doctors and hospitals in towns with only a few thousand inhabitants. These were not big cities.

I dont see anyone getting that level or speed of treatment in the UK, even if you were to go to A&E.

a
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[craigie b]

A guy I know who lives in France was getting a medical, when the doctors found a lump up his ass. Rather than inform him that he may have colon cancer, spend months testing before offering a solution (and allowing the ass cancer to grow I may add), they lasered it off there and then.

They did inform him he would need some further tests, and he must have been aware something was going on when the doctor spent more than a jiffy up there, but the fact is they cured the problem rather than put him through months of torment before offering a solution.

[Didge]

Is not part of the problem, that we are far too over-populated in Britain, and partly because too many hospitals & A&Es have been closed?
Go to any A&E at anytime of day or night, and it's bloody full up. Usually with the dregs of society and their self-inflicted injuries, drunks, druggies etc.
You have to wait hours in a queue just for a blood test FFS!
Two years ago, I was taking up a hospital bed for 4 days, with a fractured wrist, (SMIDSY), waiting for surgery.

[craigie b]

Down South it would be fair to say that over population is part of the problem, due to immigration being the joke that it is.

Up North, in York at least, I'd normally have to wait 1-2 days to be seen by a doctor. This created the illusion of decent health care, because I get my ailment seen to quickly. I have been to other parts of the UK where it was normal to wait a week.

Anyway, because doctors are 'target' driven rather than patient cured motivated, it doesn't matter that I get seen to quickly because they fail to fix the problem, meaning they meet their target but fail to do their job.

So the health care is just an illusion as it seems on the surface reasonable but in reality if their failing their job then the entire surgeries office, utility bills, equipment and its staff are effectively a money pit.

[Annabella]

[Kickstart]

[Annabella]

[Kickstart]

Well, if they could either pay out £10 or £100 now to "fix" someone it is obvious which they would choose. Currently it is irrelevant if the £100 would save £10000 in benefits.

All the best

Keith
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[Annabella]

Yup, that's because benefits are funded by the Local Authority which is a completely different pot of money and different system.

Some areas are becoming increasingly 'joined up' through things called "Pooled Budgets", but in reality these are more 'mirrored' rather than pooled (you put in £10m we'll put in £10m).
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[JonB]

If the government spent less on welfare for the lazy twats in our country and more on the NHS, then it might be viable.

To be honest, if I can pay for it, i'll go private in a shot.

I was watching a program about a transexual girl the other day and she had to go to Thailiand for an operation and the hospital was amazing, there was more than enough staff to take care of her/him and the surgeon personally checks on all his patients 24 hours after surgery, something that apparantly doesn't happen in our overpopulated country.

However, 60 years ago a NHS was needed. Now it is surplus to requirements, everyone is much better well off.
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Trouble is the same kind of useless management thinking applies everywhere.

How many people are marooned being unable to work (but perfectly willing) waiting for simple treatment while going through a succession of waiting lists and unable to earn money to pay any taxes.

Targets just lead to effort being wasted in meeting the target rather than actually doing something useful. For example someone I know worked in a hospital not far from you doing admin. They had a target that any mail they received had to be replied to within X number of days. Result was that any mail that arrived on a Friday was stamped as arriving on a Monday to give them a few extra days.

My former employer had similar issues. Obviously someone up the management chain had a bonus based on support calls being closed. Result was towards the end of the month we got pushed into closing calls just because we hadn't been able to contact the person, rather than because the problem was solved.

Final result is the useless management who fiddle the figures get their bonuses while the staff get nothing except demoralised and the customers / patients (depending on the organisation) get stuffed.

All the best

Keith
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[Annabella]

The general feeling within the NHS is that there will be a change of government and new methods of assessment.

At the moment we are basically assessed on a large series of standards called "Standards for Better Health" - these are pretty important, like ensuring all clinical staff are up to date with the latest NICE guidance and ensuring that hygeine codes are enforced etc. On top of these are the Government Targets - The Healthcare Commission Performance Indicators. These are supposedly targets the indicated the development and improvement of healthcare provision.

To give you a flavour of these:

"Childhood Obesity: Data Quality"
The height and weight of 80% of school children is recorded
(wooopeee doo!)

Granted, there are some that are very valuable, like obtaining the 18 weeks maximum pathway length for any patient and ensuring that GPs are referring properly for specialisms - particularly the speed of referrals and treatment for cancer.

This is potentially a very interesting time for the NHS, just as some reforms are beginning a change of government could throw things in completely the opposite direction.
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[bazza]

[plugger147]

It's a complete farce, I've had loads of shit with my Consultant/MRI dept/Useless secretary's. I'm supposed to get an mri after six months Getting a little worried when it's close to 5 and a half and heard nothing from them so I give them a ring and get " oh were very sorry we haven't booked you in for one, we'll send you out the next possible appointment". I get a letter then telling me it's going to be to months wait before my scan. I Then get another letter telling me I can't see the consultant for another month after that.

I've rung complained then shouted and argued that it's getting a bit of a joke and still nothing brought forward. I had the scan and the tosser wouldn't even put my mind at ease over the phone but would send a fax to my gp who would be able to see me. I then had to wait another three days for an appointment with him but couldn't ask him anything because he knew nothing of my condition and had to explain what it was and what the treatment the consultant has advised is.
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[Annabella]

[bazza]

[scorps]

bit of a women one so aologies

had smear test after spending a few years abroad was told moderate displasia get another smear in 6 months, i flew back out to saudi a few weeks after the results, ex husband took my letter into staff health telling them that id not remember so could they put it on the computer, they had me in same week saying theyd like to just as a matter of precaution take a bit of a biopsy, had that done , 3 days later i was called back in for a cone biopsy, 4 days after that i was in having a full hyserectomy followed by chemo etc due to cervical cancer, had i remained in England they reckon id have died as it was aggressive.
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[Annabella]

It sounds like you have had a particularly horrible experience and I really hope you made a complaint rather than just choosing to moan about the service you received on an internet forum.

[bazza]

[Mister James]

I can sympathise Bazza, having spent two weeks of hell in Hillingdon Hospital - only to experience the other side of the coin with 2 weeks receiving excellent care at St Georges in Tooting.

In all fairness to Hillingdon, the A&E department was perfectly competent, and I suspect it helped that most of the nurses recognised me, having visited their department 3 times that month - albeit in a slightly less crippled state, and with an entourage of lesser officers and a detainee in cuffs.

The assessment ward was excellent, with English-speaking nurses (don't sneer, it's not as common as you'd like to think) and decent facilities.

The orthopedic ward was probably as close to my own personal hell as I could've got, without there being 'Jungle' or 'Garage' 'phat tunes' being piped through the tannoy. It was full of senile old codgers shouting and wailing into the night, staffed with foreign agency staff who didn't understand me - or give a toss about me, and overseen by doctors and consultants who were unable to fix me.

Every time I go back to the place with on business, I keep an eye out for the staff nurse who thought it appropriate to giggle at the fact that I effectively shat myself because he put the bedpan in the wrong place - leaving me facing 30 mins of pure agony while they scraped liquid effluent off my crippled body.

I'll see your thermometer box on a mangled knee - and raise you a heart monitor dropped casually on a pelvis already broken in 4 places!
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[Annabella]

[bazza]