Pingu Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 this is not a snidey dig or owt I am seriously interested in what people think of the NHS and the service it provides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockergirl Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think that the NHS is severly underfunded, understaffed and mismanaged and I think the so-called 'health chiefs' are crap but the doctors, nurses, paramedics and auxiliary staff who do their best in extremely difficult circumstances are most certainly not! I will have a think about this, I may have more to say later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACKYSIAN Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Interesting! I'm 100% an NHS supporter. The people at my old hospital were absolutely wonderful with me and I will remember their kindess and support forever. The nurses are most definately underpaid and under appreciated! Some of my doctors were arrogant ar*es but my consultant was extreamly good! The hospital was fairly new, very clean and well equiped. Since my gran being in hospital in a North Wales I've seen the other side of the NHS, an old run down hospital that needs money spent on it...but still the nurses were the back bone who literally gave my gran the will to live again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trallwm farm Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Can we have a poll on the police next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pingu Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Can we have a poll on the police next fill yer boots... my thoughts are: good bits and bad bits. some doctors need a good slap but in the main the nursing staff are great. waaay too many managers and non medical staff involved in the running of hospitals and I am not a big fan of the centralised approach to hospital care. yes centralise the specialist stuff but more A&E etc type services should be provided locally IMO how PCTs ever manage to buy anything though is beyond me. We have a service\application that could save our local PCT much much money but to try to work through the procurement process is tortourous. we gave up in the end after the 4th programme manager asked to come in and demonstrate it all again and then told us that yet again there had been staff reshuffles so we would have to resubmit all the paperwork etc.. was just far too much hassle. We know the deputy Chief Exec too so god knows how others cope, from chats with him we reckon we could have saved the PCT about 250k over 2 years... anyhow too much bureaucracy is killing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I read bad things in the papers sometimes, but then you'd expect the bad bits to get more reported. I would have thought it would be different according to what services you use and where you are. Our family has had great experiences with the North Devon District hospital, but then, we know people who work there, which may or may not have helped. I've heard sooo many dodgy things about Derriford in Plymouth, but also many good things. My local health centre is a bit bureaucratic and irritating, but then I'm not really relying on them for anything very lifethreatening, so I have no idea if they are the sort of place that would be like that about a serious problem, or if they reserve the annoying bits for the irritatingly healthy people. In short, dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khanu Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I dunno how I feel about it really. I know I am lucky to live somewhere that has free health care, and that I'm also lucky to work for a company that provides me with private health care too. My experience with hospital staff has been good in the main, however my experience with GPs has been far less than satisfactory to the point where I haven't even bothered registering since we moved. I really don't see why I have to have a medical to register at a practise, it involves me taking a whole day off work since I can't get an early or late appointment to allow for a half day. I think nurses are probably underpaid (I say probably because I don't actually know what they are paid in comparison to others in a similar position). I think senior doctors/consultants/surgeons are over paid, but maybe that's just cos I've had to work for just as long and just as hard to qualify as an engineer who are under appreciated and under paid in this country I think that the NHS is run incredibly inefficiently and haemorrhages money in bureaucracy and middle management. As ever the function as a whole is mismanaged, but the individuals provide a quality service despite it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murtle Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think the NHS is an over funded but shockingly badly managed organisation. The money they *Government* manage to flush down the toilet rather then making a difference with is shocking. All these lists of who is doing well and who isn't need shredding and let the Doctors and Nurses do the job they are there to do. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elricc Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Personal Experience I was misdiagnosed by a consultant and nearly died after what should have been a routine hysterectomy. All I wanted was an admission of mis - diagnosis, no money nothing, I accepted that we are all only human and that mistakes happen. This consultant refused and was arrogant in the extreme, I then found out that others had been very badly treated by him, he then committed suicide. I also woke up during an operation a few years later (trying to correct the butchery he had caused) I felt all the incisions etc. I still think that in the main that the NHS are good, I would just wish for a bit more humanity and humility. IME admin/Money managers are appaling, we have a friend who is an NHS manager and I wouldn't let him organise a piss up in a brewery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ailsas mum Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 It was a long time ago but my grandfather who had terminal cancer died a lot quicker than he would have because a nurse dropped him broke his bones ( where the cancer was ) and allowed it to spread faster than it would have. My auntie was also treated for cancer in the same hospital ( 2 years before my grandad ) they told her there was nothing wrong with her and that it was all in her mind and they were sending her to see a psychiatrist, she died a few weeks later at the age of 42. The hospital later admitted they knew she was terminal but they wanted to try something different. Same hospital saved my life when I was diagnosed with cancer 7 years after my grandfather died. I had excellent treatment but I hate that bloody hospital with a vengeance. There is a story in the papers up here just now about a Locum Doctor. Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocoa Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 well , i have a baby born at 27 weeks, they did it all for her when i went to a/e with her there where great have tub her 10+ times each time going into ICU they took her bowl out as that went wrong , have had her a a red light why they are tubing her , a team waiting out side they have made f@ck up but they are only people as it happens , have meet some doc,s i wanted to hit or kill ' but they did there jod and did it well then my 15 year very sick to with meningitis school miss it one gp and a 999 and doc,s waiting again at a/e but have seen mums going all out on the doc's 2 nurses, for a ward of 20 kids on nights and akid die ( not any thing they did ) but i was so happy not to be them and again people saying how they did not get meb's on time like 30 mins matter that much at 2am what mum would get up at 2 am at home to give meb's , you just would not do it but to see they get all up in the air , to 2 people that just help a kids die a mum cry and pick her up off the floor as she cryed a dad in bits seen a nurse hit full on in the face in a/e why trying to help some one i think they do very well to say what they have to work with and how much stress they are under Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melp Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think it depends what area you live in and what section of the NHS is treating you. Geriatric care in my experience is shocking, pediatric care is very good. I'm not sure if the NHS is underfunded or if it's bad management but there is obviously a money problem in some areas. General nurses, auxilliary staff and junior doctors are underpaid I beleive but I asked my sister who is a nurse practitioner, she thinks that she and other "specialised" nursing staff are reasonably paid.[though not when you compare them to GP's even though they have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in their field] I'm not sure how I feel about GP's and Consultants, yes they earn a high wage but for that we expect them to be Gods. There is clearly a vast difference between the earnings of a nurse and those of a GP and I do think there should be less of a gap. I've not really had any bad experiences apart from long waiting lists and overall I'm very grateful to have a free health service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border collie Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Overfunded, money badly used/managed Staff utterly disillusioned Understaffed. Some staff still battling against the odds to give excellent care (two nurses on my now deceased dad's ward) and people like Jules, Penny and Alexis and others on here Some staff it is just a job and they don't care. (all the rest on his ward) and other staff when daughter was in hospital. Strange funding decisions for certain drugs and treatments, allowing some but not others depending where you live and how voteworthy it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 In principle I think we are extremely lucky to have a National Health Service. However, I think that there are too many managers sticking their noses in and not enough medical staff and beds. Junior doctors are overworked and underpaid as are nurses and there are not enough of them. I would employ more doctors and nurses and less bureaucrats who spout on about 'targets'. I think the staff 'on the ground' do a great job with limited resources but the people who decide where the money is spent need to get their heads out of their backsides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard (The Sane) Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Overall I think the people in the NHS do a fantastic job. I mean the real people, the ones you see when you need help etc. But the NHS itself is a badly managed mess that could be so much more than it is. Doctors who work in hospitals are paid a fair wage but GP's - well they really are overpaid and certainly in our area are not worth a quarter of what they are paid. I have health insurance as Sam gets it though her work (She works for the solicitors that represent quite a few of the NHS trusts in their negligence cases) and it is about 1/3 of the normal price. It is also true that quite a few fundamental cokk ups happen on a regular basis which contribute heavily to why the NHS gets a lot of flack. Some justified, some not. Ask anyone who has had to use the health service more than 10 times in 2 years - I'll bet they would tell you about the 1 time it was a bad experience before the 9+ times everything went fine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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