Why are hospitals in the UK so horrible when everyone will end up in one at some point?

I worked in the NHS during the last labour government. It was infinitely better than now. Targets were largely met and waiting lists were down . It was all threadbare and shabby but the basics were good.

It's very much a postcode lottery though. If you are lucky enough to have your cardiac / cancer / paediatric care in a leading hospital you have no idea what it's like in a district general. The best doctors want to work at GOS or The Christie not Grimsby or Blackburn. Investment goes to those shiny hospitals not the backwaters.

I agree that money could be saved though. Not from the obvious "management" but from all the sideways hangers on. I volunteer for a cancer group. There are countless highly paid ( band 8+) NHS staff who have little impact or influence on actual patient care.

Rich people are paying Scandinavian levels of tax and getting third world levels of care. Poor people are just dying whilst on waiting lists but not paying enough.

What an ill informed and ill educated post.

My local hospital takes back crutches and other walking aids, sterilises and reuses.

Paper? Most trusts are now running paper-lite systems that minimise paper. Letters sent to GPs electronically. Appointment letters to patients via mobile phone. etc

Management and admin ensure that the clinical staff can actually spend time with patients. Other healthcare systems of similar sizes have larger numbers of management and are more efficient because of it

Diversity? Are you aware that health outcomes for people of colour are worse that those who aren't? Look at the stats for black women in maternity units. The diversity officers are trying to improve these types of health outcomes.

Of course it's not perfect, but it's far better than your poorly informed rant suggests.

"Labour broke the country", my arse did they. Brexit and the Tories broke it. Look at the stuff they sold off to their mates, the Royal Mint, Royal Mail, they even tried to privatise the probation service.

you can give crutches back. They don’t even need to be sterilised

Vote for a socialist party then.

I’ve spent a lot of time in hospital this past year (cancer) and the care has been phenomenal.

The facilities are tired, yes. But I’ve also spent 30 years in a country with privatised healthcare (no NHS) and I wouldn’t say facilities are massively different. Yes, some places do have posh private rooms you can buy into. But when my parent and grandparents were ill, in more high dependency care (not like Lindo Ward style maternity), you wouldn’t have known it wasn’t an NHS hospital.

But the answer why they aren’t nicer is that (a) it doesn’t necessarily improve outcomes to make it fancier and (b) as you can see by all the moaning about the budget, people don’t like paying taxes, even when they could properly fund public services that they want to use.

When I was in hospital this summer the hospital was lovely. It was modern, clean and comfortable. The nurses were brilliant and helped me out a lot. They were all incredible.

Tosh

the fact is the NHS is so bloated and under performing has money thrown at it and continues to ask for more

whats needed, and what no government will do, is a drains up exercise to look at how it can be improved, the waste is horrendous, take something as simple as crutches, they hand then out, but won’t take them back for re use, why not? It’s just a case of sterilisation and of we go

take test results, I had a mole removed, instead of just sending me a letter as they do with mammograms or bowel screening, and despite me saying I would be happy to get a letter I get called in to literally sit down, told it’s ok and off you go, literally 2 minutes. That clinic could have been used to see people on a waiting list

Why is there so much paper? You see the dentist it’s all on line, should be the same in hospitals, how much money is wasted in paper?

then let’s look at management, why so many? Why so many diversity officers? Remove and invest in nurses and doctors

procurement should be centralised, why so many care trusts!

There is bucket loads that could be done but no one will do it

edited to add I remember the shit show that was Labour when they were in before, they broke the country

Hospitals where I live are generally fine, so are GP services. A&E can be problematic at times, but not all the time.

My son was in hospital last year and it wasn't perfect but it was overall a good experience. I wouldn't have expected him to have his own room, especially as side rooms were for those who had infections etc so it wouldn't spread around the ward.

I really can't complain after our experience.

You're right, OP. Healthcare standards are through the floor- there are people starving to death in NHS hospitals for lack of care. My experience having a baby was a massive eye-opener. I think to answer your question, it's because people aren't very good at imagining a future version of themselves.

My advice to anyone would be that in hospital you basically need a family member or friend's support every day and ideally for multiple hours a day. Don't take what HCPs say as gospel- be ready to challenge them if it doesn't make sense because it will often just be wrong. Be the PITA patient, don't be compliant and sweet. You're basically in a hostile environment and need to behave as such.

This is not the fault of the HCPs but the system that makes it impossible for them to do their jobs.

Assuming you mean NHS hospitals, it's not about healthcare or decent survival rates, it's the mere fact that it exists. It's a bit like a religion at this point. You can't criticise it.

My life was recently saved by the NHS and I have had an efficient, effective and caring service by the whole team at my local hospital, despite the stress they were obviously under and the crumbling building. Waiting times are actually going down. There's hope. It's not dead in the water yet.

However, people with the means aren't willing to pay tax. As soon as the budget came out you had people moaning about how their budget is so awfully tight once they'd paid private school fees and their massive mortgages.

In fairness we do already pay.

Anyone prepared to pay more gets absolutely hammered cost wise though in the UK, there's no in-between.

My local hospital was rebuilt under the PFI initiative and opened around 23 years ago. It looks very nice and modern but is much smaller than the old hospital and the town itself has grown hugely in that time.

Many of the problems with it aren’t due to the building, it’s the staff. Three of my elderly relatives died pretty horrific deaths there, one was dropped by staff moving her into a chair, one was exposed to MRSA due to poor infection control and she eventually died of more or less neglect, I witnessed meals being left out of the reach of patients, medication being missed or given incorrectly, buzzers being ignored for ages until patients wet their beds. The list goes on.

I’ve been to outpatient appointments with my mum and she’s had procedures done to her with no communication whatsoever from the staff. At a recent one she was semi naked on a bed with multiple staff traipsing in and out whilst leaving the door wide open for the entire waiting room to see straight in.

None of that can be fixed no matter how much money gets thrown at the NHS. It’s the culture of indifference and incompetence that’s the problem where I live.

I am afraid nothing has changed from the 80s. I used to work for the NHS and I dread when I become old and ill. The whole NHS needs a big change but I cannot see how this present government can achieve it.

My hospital is fine! I was there last weekend on a Saturday night. Ambulance arrived in 5 minutes. Waiting room normal, everything working well, doctors and nurses brilliant. I think there’s a lot of scaremongering online.

I also wonder why people often come out in a worse condition than when they went in. By that I mean, they may have had the condition they went in with cured or stabilised but there is no effort, in the case of older people, to keep them stimulated or mobilised. So by the time they are ready for discharge they have lost the mobility that they had and are often confused due to staring at the walls during their stay.
BIL was in hospital and tried to get some exercise. He was told off and wasn't allowed to leave the ward. As a result, his underlying long term medical condition had worsened after a hospital stay even though they'd cured the acute issue he went in with.
My DM was left to rot in bed/a chair all day as noone helped her up to get some exercise on her zimmer frame. Consequently she lost the ability to walk - not as a result of the condition she went in with.
Our main hospital has no tvs (paid for or otherwise) and no day room in the ward my adult DD was on. Poor old lady sat opposite her for 14 hours a day in a chair with nothing to do. She enjoyed chatting to me and did have an occasional visitor but other than that she was bored senseless. It's institutional neglect.

I spend a lot of time at GOSH and at our local hospital due to my daughter's chronic illness.

It's always brilliant and I'm so grateful for the NHS.

She has just had a two day stay at GOSH for a couple of procedures and they looked after her so well.

I’m pleased that you got the fast, prompt care and treatment that you needed. However, it’s certainly not the same in every hospital and it’s so often the emergency treatment that fails terribly.

I sat on a hard chair in an A&E corridor, outside the toilets for 8 hours with a drip in my arm trying to bring my high calcium down, whilst they waited to get me on the ward. I was knocked often, cold and even had the pleasure of my shoes being covered in vomit by the alcoholic who was chained to a policeman sat on a chair next to me. I do all I can to make sure that I NEVER have to go in again.

Because many in the UK do not want to pay higher taxes. Look at the fuss over the budget.

My DF was in hospital in Barcelona. Modern, clean, huge, own room etc etc. Fantastic care and treatment.

Generally Spanish people pay higher taxes.

@BillieWiper yes thank you.
In private rooms I can reassure you there are still people snoring nearby, the bins are still emptied noisily outside your window, the sandwiches are processed and a bit curly. It's not like a 5star hotel.

Well I'm sure some private places are but I've been in Circle and Nuffield a lot the last two years and the main benefit is your own toilet! They are also hot like NHS wards!

Thank you. I'm kind of glad they're just as bad in private! I guess it's a hygeine thing. I hope you're much better now!

1.People are living too long due to leaps in medicine.

1. Too many choose a shit lifestyle
2. NHS squanders our money

Even the Nuffield has crap mattresses. I was in there this year and I made the bed up to be flat rather than sitting up.
The mattress has been in the sitting position for so long there was a big permanent dent in it so lying flat was bumpy and lumpy at best.
And of course, plastic!