What’s the point in the NHS?

Partner stumbled a little dec 2023, thought just sprained something in his knee but it didn’t improve, docs sent for x-ray feb 2024, nothing broke so ‘must be’ tendon told to rest it for 6-8 weeks, still no improvement, he also lost job in this time as according to docs notes it was a tendon and he ‘should’ve’ been back to work, had an MRI after having to repeatedly go back to the doctors to say it wasn’t improving, this was then June 2024 which shown full acl tear, meniscus tear and cruciate ligament tear, November 2024 for eventual consultant appointment to review, waiting list for surgery to rebuild knee, October 2025 surgery!! Gotta love the nhs 🤬

Same experience. Nasty fall. GP instructed straight to A & E. X-rayed - no breaks but ligament damage from hip to toes: Told it’ll take 6-8 weeks and self-refer for physio at GP if required. Asked GP after 3 months, seeing physio in 2 weeks - 9 months later. Still in pain. Only just getting back to normal.

Decades of under-funding.

I’m sorry you hurt your little ankle. You must be very sad. I suggest you pay privately for your treatment and let the NHS take care of people who are actually ill. The money you pay does not mean you’re entitled to absolutely everything for free, it’s not a savings account.

So you were seen, X-rayed and given advice. But you are pissed off because someone else with a similar injury years ago got different treatment?

It is a sprain. Yes a sprain can be nasty and painful but it doesn't need a follow up appointment.

That’s good that you got physio. I didn’t. I also didn’t get pain relief as they refused to allow me to see a gp. Anything which is muscular skeletal you’re now only allowed to see the physio for. Who wears a suit and doesn’t touch you and can’t prescribe anything. 🤷‍♀️. I argued on more than one occasion that I wanted to see a dr not a physio and was told i couldn’t. I told the physio I wanted pain relief and he said over the counter stuff would be sufficient.

Oh well next time just pay and go to a private hospital then.
Plenty of people would have been very thankful just to be seen at all.
Urgent care is exactly that. They see you, patch you up and then you follow up with your GP if it's not life threatening.
I hope your ankle feels less painful soon.

No it isn't. It's a sprained ankle. The advice is RICE, rest, ice, compression, elevate.its a very basic low scale injury.

You sprained your ankle, get a grip

So the problem starts at a local authority level?

My DF is in the UK and he gets appointments and referrals very easily. He’s in a small Cumbrian town and his GP surgery is fantastic. The downside is he does have to travel 40-50 miles for any specialists such as cardiology or dermatology. He’s still a good driver at 85 so okay so far but I can see that being difficult when he can’t drive any more.

A young woman I know who has been nursing for about 4 years now was attacked by a patient last week and has a torn rotator cuff. There needs to be serious changes all around. Quite honestly you couldn't pay me enough to do their job!

That’s the trouble with the NHS, it’s a lottery..what happens with one person on one day might not be the same for the next person on another day. It feels like it’s down to chance which is scary when it comes to health.

It feels anecdotally, from seeing complaints on here and elsewhere that the first place everything breaks down is at the local level - the GP’s surgery.

So many people not being able to get appointments within a reasonable timeframe.

In the OP’s example best practice taking into account triage and resources would be do the x-ray - establish not broken - advice on RICE given for the next 48 hours and to see GP in five days if no significant improvement.

The GP would then be able to assess - advise on ankle supports, boots, crutches or not, refer to PT.

But if the follow up care is not likely to be available the OP is left feeling that something may be missed / worried etc.

What’s going on at so many GP surgeries?

I left the UK over ten years ago but it wasn’t hard to get a that week appointment or even a same day appointment if it was serious.

I completely agree that the NHS is struggling right now. But it's naive to think that you'd be better off directly paying for services unless you're banking on being fit and well indefinitely. About 20% of the average person's tax goes towards the NHS and the NHS as a whole spends about £300 per person per month.

This is broad brush maths, but there are fun calculators out there where you can work out if you're a net beneficiary or contributor based on how much tax you're paying. Look up "where does my tax go calculator".

It's shit when you're paying tax but feel you also need to top up privately. The NHS does need radical change but I don't know what that will look like.

I got hands on physio, naproxen and a couple of steroid injections and then hydrodilation for my frozen shoulder. All NHS

I am glad for you both. However that is not the point of the nhs, all ailments deserve to be treated not only life threatening. The level of care at the moment is alarming

Urgent care is just that I am afraid. If it’s not fractured, you will simply be asked to rest and ice it (RICE). There is nothing they can do and they would not scan it in urgent care.

if you truly cannot weight bare, they probably should of provided some crutches.

in most areas now it’s self refferal to a muscular sketetal team for a physio assessment. But you cannot do that until the swelling is down, so they won’t see you straight away.

Did they not give you any advise on resting it etc for now? That is literally all that can be done, and then it’s back to GP if it’s not healed in a few months time.

you can of course see a private physio too.

Mine was until he had an operation that had a conservative cost of around £300k. He’ll be in deficit for the rest of his life now.

So has my DH, but he is the exception rather than the rule!!!

You don’t know your sprain is exactly the same as your mum’s. If they refused to scan you I’d feel differently but you had an x ray! And just because you didn’t get the exact treatment as your mum doesn’t mean there is no point in the NHS.

Haven't read the whole thread but - why would you need a scan? You had an xray - it wasn't broken. What difference would a scan have made to any treatment plan??

My daughter had food poisoning in Mexico and was hospitalised for 24 hours. Abdomen scan, antibiotics, paracetamol and saline drip. Total bill $15,000 !! Thank fook for the NHS. She was insured thank gawd.

There are many things I’d improve in the NHS before I started messing around with the funding model. The cost would be extortionate and the money would be far better spent on improving patient care.

@Reluctantlyonhols my point was that the service I received was quick, personal and efficient.
This is a small unit in a semi rural town.
Without this I would have had to travel 40 plus minutes to a larger town.
They knew where I lived and suggested I went home and came back, instead of waiting.
I was happy with that, and don't resent staff in a small unit having a lunch hour.
What an odd thing to say...

Quite. Everyone talking about how wonderful the continental models are are completely ignoring that in those counties people usually pay more tax - and their citizens government uses that to spend more - sometimes a LOT more on their healthcare system.

Then in addition most people will still need to top up with monthly private healthcare premiums PLUS co-pays at point of service.

If the UK had been funding the NHS to the same levels as France as been funding their system for the last 30-40 years then the NHS would be so different.

So you want a different system and pay more in taxes and premiums to get it but you (not you Quiet Comet the poster you replied to) don’t want to fund the NHS to the same amount to get a better system?

Yes, I agree. Most who don't have insurance will probably either suffer from many untreated conditions, and sadly quite a few will probably die. 😕