The Nhs Crap/not Crap?

[mandy]

As a totally demoralised NHS employee I'm afraid I can't bring myself to read the responses....or vote as I don't want to see the results.Maybe the next poll should be Private Medicine Crap/not crap/should the NHS help it out or not?

Sorry but

[kimthecat]

I think a lot depends on where you live and whether you are an out patient or an in patient.

I attend two local hospitals as an outpatient and can't fault them, I've never had to wait more than a few weeks for an appoiment and they provide support if you are disabled but I hope to God I never have to have an op and stay in because people come out sicker than when they went in

Alison

[Trudi]

I'm split in 2 on this one - from my own personal experience the actual people involved in patient care are on the whole wonderful, the beaurocrats however seem to make life for everyone so much harder than necessary.

I had to wait nearly 8 years for my hearing implant and have now lost it because I contracted MRSA.

Both my brothers have/had progressive MS and both recieve/d specialist 24hr care on the nhs which was fantastic, however my eldest brother withdrew liquids in an attempt to shorten his life expectancy which resulted in a stroke just before christmas. Prior to this stroke he could communicate his wishes quite well and had a DNR notice put on his file - the doctors in ER failed to see this and resuccitated him and he is now tube fed and has IV fluid - all against his wishes but because a mistake was made in ER once he was resuccitated they now have to maintain a life he doesn't want (sorry probably a different topic altogether).

[Brenda]

I think we are extremely lucky to have a National Health service. I know it is far from perfect and care does vary depending on the PCT/Hospital. When my mum fell down the stairs and suffered horrific brain injury the staff at the A & E where she was taken to were brilliant. She was then transferred to the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in Cental London and they were fantastic. Back to local hospital on a ward, filthy and not enough staff. Transferred to rehab unit at another hospital, staff generally excellent, facilities good, could have been cleaner. I think the lower end of nursing staff are badly paid, but specialist nurses can earn a reasonable wage. I work as a Marie Curie HCA in patient's homes so they get 1:1 care. However, we now have to work to set annualised hours and not allowed to exceed these even if there is patient demand. Palliative care is generally good I think, paediatrics & surgical too, but in my experience geriatrics and medical wards not such a high level of care.

[Kathyw]

Well based on my families experiance over the last couple of years I would say absolute crap.

 

I include everyone in that docs,nurses, everyone. I would like to say that one person helped and promised but nothing happened to change anything so I cannot say she really helped in the long run.

 

My Mum caught a bug because of lack of hygenie, lack of care and being left to lie in her own mess for hours until I screamed about it and even then standards dropped again within days.

Mum caught the bug in a london training hospital.

Mum had the bug for 6 months in a hospital that was supposed to be spotless, in a ward with no more than 20 patients at any one time.

 

Mum is in a residential home now with 52 other elderly people, no one has a bug. The standards of cleanliness are far above those in the hospital. It is not private, it is council run.

 

Ray was at risk of dying on an operating table because of a so-called doctor being too up his own arse to read Ray's medical records properly.

Another training hospital.

 

In 1996 I had brain surgery and was unable to move as my head was in a brace thingy. A so called nurse came to give me a bed bath, she stripped me and then went off to make a phone call. she left me laying there helpless and naked till the woman in the next bed's husband covered me up.

This same nurse also banged my arm so hard on a table that I was bruised from elbow to wrist. This was reported.

The nurses on this brain surgery ward should have never been nurses. Except one.

 

Her name was Karen and she was from Yorkshire. She was one of the night nurses.

The day staff had left an elderly lady out on the balcony all afternoon, August 1996 heatwave and the woman had a stroke. The other nurses just left this woman's food on her table, the woman couldn't feed herself at all but they didn't care. I was opposite so I saw this for myself.

 

Karen would spend an hour feeding this woman a yogurt then get her to eat something else. Karen was a nurse if the fullest meaning of the word. She made sure the woman was clean and dry, tbe others never bother with the woman.

The other lot should have been sacked.

 

 

I know that there are good and bad and these are just my own experiences but they are happening all the time to other people I know, very few people have good words to say about the nhs.

[kirisox]

I think my thoughts about the NHS are split in several ways. When my mum needed an emergency hysterectomy she went from 1st problem, through referral, scans and op in about 3 weeks, her cyst burst the night before the op so the timing was near perfect, and I am grateful for what they have done for her. Similarly when my dad had a minor stroke he could not have been dealt with better.

Both my parents are on statins for cholesterol (and many other meds) and they like many other people have been moved from the brand name statins to the generic version, although they are not quite the same formulation. This is to save money, and was reported in the press today. I feel the NHS is being bled dry by the govt and funds managers and it is a damn shame.

However, if I am trying to get a GP appointment I find it very akward due to the time they want you to call to make the appoinment; either on the day you need it or a week in advance I think that is to meet government targets?

If I feel unhappy about the NHS, all I have to do is imagine life without it, where we all had to pay for everything. And them i'm glad it's here, and that people are prepared to be paid peanuts to do a job they largely love and take pride in.

[kimthecat]

Trudi, I'm so sorry about your brother, that is tragic and about not getting your cochlea transplant,

 

Alison

[simikins]

I work for the NHS, please do not blame us, the fault lies with the many many vastly overpaid managers, i have 6 bosses, ideally i should have one!

[Owlish]

I think the NHS does a startlingly good job in extremely difficult circumstances.

 

Get behind th NHS people - before we see it privatised... NOT unlikely at all

[LyndaTaylor]

Are those poor salaries? Compared to whose? We can't compare nurses' salaries to those of doctors - the qualifications and training are completely different. If nurses feel they should earn as much as doctors, why don't they do a medical degree?

 

Liz.

 

Actually most nurses qualifying now do have a degree, a BSc(Hons) in Nursing.

 

Lynda

[scotslass]

Actually most nurses qualifying now do have a degree, a BSc(Hons) in Nursing.

 

Lynda

 

They may well do, but it isn't a medical degree. I am not sure of the figures but I wonder if "most" have an honours BSc, based on the following information from the RCN site? They do say that any universities will require more than the basic listed here, but you certainly wouldn't get a look at a degree in medicine with 5 GSCEs, surely?

 

"Qualifications

 

The minimum entry requirements are given below, but note that many universities will require you to hold more than the minimum, including A' levels:

 

5GCSE/GCE O levels, grade C or above (including English and a Science/Maths subject for entry to Midwifery); or

 

5 CSEs Grade 1; or

 

5 SCEs grade 1 (Scotland); or

 

5 SCE ordinary, grades A-C (Scotland); or

 

GNVQ Intermediate level plus one GCSE/GCE O level, grades A-C; or

 

GNVQ Advanced Level or NVQ level 3; or

 

SVQ level 3; GSVQ level 3 (Scotland); or

 

SVQ level 2 (Scotland) if the programme began after Sepetember 2000

 

A Kitemarked Access to Higher Education course; or

 

EDEXEL Foundation (BTEC) National or Higher National Diploma; or

 

Passes in the Northern Ireland Grammar School Senior Certificate of Education;

 

A qualification awarded by the NNEB dating from 1985, including the Diploma in Post-Qualifying Studies"

 

Liz.

[mum24dog]

Anyone watched the Gerry Robinson programmes on BBC2 the last 3 evenings?

They covered his efforts to improve the efficiency of Rotherham General Hospital and even to get the different sections of the staff to talk to each other.

Very enlightening as to what is wrong with the NHS (and much of the rest of the public sector too).

 

Pam

[greyhound pal]

When my daughter was 3, she had constant tonsilitis. There was talk of taking her tonsils out however they weren't keen. She had several bouts a year and when she started school they appeared to stop. A couple of years ago the tonsilitis started up again and has got progressively worse. She is now 14 and has had 8 course of antibiotics in the last year for it. This includes two month-long courses of tonsilitis. In October our GP said that her tonsils are large even when not inflamed and said as the anti-biotics aren't working, they'd refer her for a tonsilectomy.

 

Just before Christmas we got a letter from the GP to go in to sort out this 'new referral process for tonsilectomy'

 

Our appointment was today. What this 'new referal' is is to cut out the need for her to see a consultant BEFORE she has the op. However this is where we and the GP got very confused. She satisfies the procedure for tonsilectomy in all parts of the criteria. However a large part of the info sent from the hospital was trying to disuade us from going ahead with the referal. It kept mentioning how she'd 'grow out of it' and that the operation has such a long recovery period it might be better just to put up wth the tonsilitis. Bearing in mind part of the referal criteria is five courses of antibiotics in a year for tonsilitis

 

So - we satisfy the criteria, tonsilitis is preventing her from doing things, she's had a lot of time off school and is in almost constant pain with her sore throat that doesn't respond to antibiotics. What next?

 

A period of 'six months watchful waiting'

 

THEN they'll put her on the waiting list for her tonsilectomy

 

This appears to our GP that they're trying to talk people out of surgery and I have to say, I don't disagree with her... We're all a bit

[alexis]

ok slightly off topic , sorry, but in response to the previous post.

The majority of tonsillitis is viral not bacterial and so will not respond to antibiotics and it is very common in children. Some do grow out of it although I would think this is unlikely if they haven't done so by age 14! So I can see the reasons behind the watch and wait approach but younger children seem to get over the surgery far more quickly and having seen some adults have their tonsils out they have a much tougher time of it! I think in the past doctors have been too quick to remove tonsils tho so the whole situation is difficult!There has been some research done that suggests tonsillectomy doesn't actually reduce the amount of infections either so it is a bit of a dilemma!

http://www.besttreatments.co.uk/btuk/electsurgery/18622.html

[greyhound pal]

Thanks for that

 

I'm trying to say that because of the new referral procedure, she isn't being treated as an individual - they cut out the consultant therefore they no longer look at individual cirumstances. This is going to be prolonged because she won't even go on the waiting list for the tonsilectomy until at least July. We dont' know how long the waiting list is But she is feeling ill most of the time. She currently has tonsilitis still since November and I know the op won't stop throat infections but surely they won't go on for months like this current bout of tonsilitis has?

 

I think this is a sign of what our NHS has become We were suppsoed to have a fantastic welfare state. What happened to it?