Crap NHS service *rants*

[BEANFro Elite]

The NHS is good when and if it works, but sucks hard when it doesn't, unfortuneately it was a rather ill-conceived concept so it seems with little or no consideration for contingencies it seems.

In all of my experiences, I've had good service but of course a lot more people have bad experiences than the people that have good experiences.

[dave87]

The NHS has suffered from misguided policies from government (including that half of the more rural A&E depts will have to close, as they don't serve enough people, yet the queues are long enough...) and a lack of funding. Add to that the long hours doctors have to work, and it is no surprise that the best head off into either private practice or work in the pharmaceutical industry, and so the NHS becomes even stressed than before.

But yes, it is better than places like America, where no health insurance = no treatment.

[Sinizter]

I think they can do this. With the new system they have targets to meet and last April, they had to unregister all patients who had not attended for ages and re-register all active patients under the new contract.

So if your brother got unregistered its his fault.

[paddysu]

I would still much rather live in the UK with the NHS than another country like the USA with private healthcare who can exclude anything they want. I've had exceptional treatment and care from the NHS, stuff that if i'd made use of private health insurance I'd never have got as he waiting lists were longer or it just didn't cover it.
Yes things like your bog standard hip replacement hip replacement is going to get done much quicker privately as any surgeon out of training a couple of years can perform the op but get into the inticate and complicated stuff and give me the NHS anyday.
I had nuerosurgery surgery for my epilpesy and that was done on the NHS. There was a bloke in the ward at the same time as i had the tests and he said to the consultant I could get the work insurance to pay for it if it would help and the surgeon said 'you can if you want but the waiting list is twice as long as the NHS one'
Some of the medication I take isn't covered by private healthinsurance or if it is then theres heavy premiums to pay. It's not until you have health problems that you realise that nothing is quite as it seems.
Yes the NHS is in some serious financial problems, my health authority is 2million in debt but I'd never go with out it.
I do though dread the thought of the dentist at the top of my road closing down as theres not another one round here for miles taking on patients and emergency out of hours care is 30 miles away.

[shelley bda]

I do though dread the thought of the dentist at the top of my road closing down as theres not another one round here for miles taking on patients and emergency out of hours care is 30 miles away.

That's terrible it just shouldn't happen in this day and age

We have a similar thing here but with Hospitals... I live 2 minutes away from one of the best Hospitals in the world, yet there's no accident and emergency unit based there... nearest is 20 mile away, they've also recently shut down the Maternity Unit there too, which is an awful blow to the area, nearest Unit is 30 mile, unacceptable for Women in labour to travel that far, I gave birth in my local unit and dread to think what might of happened if we had to travel any further that night! My Baby would've been born in the back of an Ambulance in a lay by on the A5 no doubt.

Now my Son is 11 and is having Orthodontic treatment in December, he was originally referred to our Local NHS Orthodontist who put him on the waiting list which was a year long just to see the Consultant, they then decided that they can't treat him as there are no Consultants and were closing all the Orthodontic units down ( there are none in my area of Shropshire ) But he's one of the lucky ones... the NHS has kindly referred him to a private Orthodontist and are going to foot the bill, he was seen by them last December and work is commencing this December for teeth extractions and a permanent brace fitted... trouble is the practice is 40 mile away, but that's not a problem, like I say he's one of the lucky ones. I know of someone who's child was referred to the NHS Orthodontist the same time as my Boy and was told that they can wait to see the Consultant ( a year ) but then they can't get treatment because there's no one to treat them there's a severe problem in Shropshire at the moment and loads of People must be in the same boat.

[Whalefish]

I worked in the NHS for 10 years and still have several friends who do.
I can honestly say the policies of the last 2 governments have really taken a toll on the standard of service. The 'Internal Market' was a total pile of steaming poo. For a start the farming out of cleaning services has resulted in dirty hospitals and the current MRSA etc problems. Every few years the cleaning services were put out to tender which always meant the cleaning staff lost benefits and had to do more and more work in the same time. I really felt sorry for some of the cleaners I chatted with when they told me how their new employer had screwed them over.
The PFI financing of new hospitals is a total farce, a bonanza for the companies who must be laughing all the way to the bank after they have ripped off the taxpayers (us) for hundreds of millions of pounds.
What has been fostered is an atmosphere of indifference to the patient and a general uncaring attitude. All that matters is reaching the ridiculous targets and the filling in of endless forms and paperwork instigated by the huge and mostly useless middle management structure.
I spoke to a friend the other day and he told me that every day there is something new to make you feel worse about the job, he's applying for as many new jobs as he can because he is desparate to get out.

[Mousemat]

A lot of people say that to avoid long waiting times you should go private. In reality a significant factor in the huge wait is the fact that a lot of other people have paid privately for their treatment, and as such they have bought the right to queue jump infront of the people being treat through the NHS.

[dave87]

I don't think that is exactly right.

Those that go privately, go to entirely different hospitals, ie Bupa one near me, rather than using the NHS hospitals. The NHS hospitals as they stand can't cope with the load placed on them, so to remove private practice would extend waiting times would it not?

Your statement that people have bought the right to jump infront would be true if private patients were being treated in NHS hospitals, and as they are not, is unfounded?

[malfunction]

I think the NHS is fantastic to be honest. We have a bunch of idiots setting policy - and don't get me started on PFI - but the fact that we all have access to free care is amazing. Most of us have seen bad things or heard bad stories about various aspects of the NHS - myself included - but on reflection the positive aspects have always outweighed the negatives ones. I'm lucky enough to be able to 'afford' private care (my employer pays for it) but have witnessed many situations where family and friends needed care and could have never afforded what they received... Add to that the fact that my wife recently needed an operation that was excluded from my private policy (on the grounds that it was a pre-existing condition which it was but only because my employer changed provider) I was again thankful that the NHS exists.

I do agree we have an issue with access to NHS dentistry - an NHS dentist has only just opened up in my area and I'm bloody thankful for it having paid £500 for a root canal and crown a couple of years ago - I do not intend to miss any appointments as I know very well what the alternative is (I have looked at private dental plans and in my experience I'd still pay more for that then I would via the NHS)

[malfunction]

Those that go privately, go to entirely different hospitals

Depends on the treatment you need and where you live - many NHS hospitals and private units share the same site and as far as I'm aware it's common for at least consultants and surgeons to effectively work in both units (I'm not sure if they are employed by both the NHS and the private hospital or if the private company is providing paid services to the NHS...)

[dave87]

That statement was based entirely on my personal experience, which is somewhat limited I admit.

In Essex at least, the consultants do work NHS & Private, some purely private (I think), but the infrastructure is completely separate. Must admit did feel kinda weird handing over your credit card before they would treat you (used if the Insurance company decides not to pay).

[RedPutty]

In Essex at least, the consultants do work NHS & Private, some purely private (I think), but the infrastructure is completely separate.

Its the doctors who are a shortage in this case not the facilities. Next time a consultant doesn't turn up he is either

a) getting paid more doing a private job
or
b) playing golf

Consultants rule the roost, they work when and for who they want and the govt policy doesn't help. People talk about time wasted by missed appointments yet consultants do that all the time with no penalty.

No idea about dentists though haven't been to one in years!

[Sinizter]

They just took dentists off the shortage lists as far as immigration rules are concerned.

But there are fewer dentists practicing NHS now than 2 years ago when the new contract came out. 97% of dentists do not believe the new contract did anything it promised - either for dentists or for patients. And if it continues to go in the direction that most dentists think its going to go in, there will be even less dentists in the NHS system.

Would you personally invest in a system where the overheads increase at a rate of 8-10% a year, but with pay increase in the range of 2-3%, with volume of delivery controlled by a separate third party - and this is not including sudden increase in expenses which may be caused by release of new guidelines with little concrete proof. And this when your livelihood depended on it ?

Dentistry is currently is in a very bad place as far as I am concerned - the future is very uncertain and the government or department of health or whoever is in charge are not releasing sufficient information to reassure people in the field. I would not blame any dentist who switched over to private now.

If you dont like how it is going, vote for a different party who might benefit the health service. The current governments policies claims it is benefitting the health service, but is in-fact gutting it from inside out - this applies to dentistry as well as medicine.

Young doctors are leaving in droves for other countries because there is a chance that thousands of them might be left in a situation where they are either unemployed or zero chance of career progression.

[Mousemat]

I don't think that is exactly right.

Those that go privately, go to entirely different hospitals, ie Bupa one near me, rather than using the NHS hospitals. The NHS hospitals as they stand can't cope with the load placed on them, so to remove private practice would extend waiting times would it not?

Your statement that people have bought the right to jump infront would be true if private patients were being treated in NHS hospitals, and as they are not, is unfounded?

I was refering to the situation of the same doctors being used for both types of treatment. As in the situations so helpfully highlighted by malfunction and RedPutty

[steve threlfall]

The way i see it is its hot and cold, its the lack of cohesion betweeen the staff inside, and the fact that there is no urgency to get you out of the place, i waited two hours for pills.. it got to the stage where i left as i wasnt waiting any longer for asprin..

i cant fault the waiting time, but another thing that pissed me off was being told to go there at 9am for first day op, and be out same day.

But no, i get there at 9am they say you can wait here, siting in a ward with sick people with nothing to do, and they didn call me untill 3pm.. and because it was so late they made me stay the night aswell, it annoyed me so much i dont want to have this new hernia fixed at the same place.

You have a choice. You can travel to a different hospital for your op

[arbitor]

Thats good, as i couldnt face that one again..

Problem is just started a new job how am i going to tell them that i need a week off to recover from it..