What’s the point in the NHS?

@bafta16 - that what painkillers are for

It's very painful.

You can report the nurse to PALS, she obviously doesn’t sound like the NHS and care that you deserve. Working in it myself, I know this is the minority that work for them and not the majority. We wouldn’t survive in the UK if it wasn’t for NHS!

A sprained ankle is very painful.

This is exactly the attitude a lot of people complain about.

Yes, I would rather be hit by a bus in the UK than anywhere else in the world, but its quite cruel to suggest that life saving and emergency care is the only healthcare people in one of the largest economies in the world should feel entitled to.

Having experienced both I would not say the US system is better. You mention sprains are taken seriously in the US, you are right if you have really good health insurance. However the downside is that conditions are overtreated causing their own problems. I am an osteopath and the amount of unnecessary scans and indeed surgery for chronic pain/musculoskeletal issues that I see horrifies me and the outcomes are often worse than more conservative treatments. Moreover the costs are truly shocking, much, much more expensive than private treatment in the UK.

exactly this!

I must be quite lucky. I had hip pain after walking awkwardly for a few weeks after breaking my little toe. (I hadn’t sought medical help for that, as I knew the treatment would just be to strap it to the next toe, and I could do that myself).

I filled out the online triage at my GP surgery explaining the issue, and within 24 hours was given an appointment with the first response physiotherapist. I was given a diagnosis, based on my description of the area of pain, shown the physio exercises, and a text to download written instructions.

The pain diminished in the timescale advised, but I was invited to return directly to the physiotherapist if a complete recovery didn’t follow.

Jolly good NHS.

Our GP surgery feels like the third world compared with the teaching hospital 20 miles away. Primary care really is the Cinderella service.

The issue I have is that despite worsening outcomes, difficulties with access and sub-optimal care, we are still supposed to be grateful and to treat doctors as they are some sort of demi-Gods. It's wholly unacceptable. It also isn't new.

In other countries they charge you a huge amount for things that aren’t needed.
sprains, for the most part, are not serious and should heal on their own. The only people getting a scan for a sprain are professional sports people.

It is a postcode lottery. Sometimes even a GP surgery lottery tbh. Mine operates so much better than many other people I know even locally, the physio has come in over the last few years and I do think stuff like that probably eases up the out patient referrals to some degree.

Your husband's experience is insane. All for trying to do basics to ease the pain as much as possible but if you don't know what you're even dealing with how do you know you you won't do yourself more damage 🤯

Unfortunately the statistics show worsening health care in the the UK. The UK has the highest avoidable mortality among comparable countries, and more than 60% higher than Japan, Sweden and Australia. Infant mortality is higher than in most peers and roughly double Nordic/Japanese rates.
And on and on. So it's just not one employee, it's systemic and the numbers show it.

I don't think you will ever get a balanced response on here @younknow . Most of the people on here are so unbelievably lucky that they have never lost anyone due to the incompetence of the NHS. I have, twice. The last time was the most horrific thing my family have gone through and resulted in someone we loved dying in pain, frightened, ignored and with not one shred of dignity.
The first time was equally as traumatic but we needed to try to forget, so attempted to stumble on. We didn't do that the second time.
Same hospital.

I do not know what the answer is but I know change needs to happen. It won't, because some people make alot of money from it running the way it does. They do not want things to change.

Nevermind though eh? Posters on here have been treated well so sod everyone else. Nothing to see, stop complaining. God bless the NHS.

Oh and stop using the USA as an example, it is stupid. There are other, closer countries that do it better than us, what are they doing?

I live in the USA and yes an MRI is at least $2K

Granted this experience is 10 years old but my husband was told an 11 month wait for an initial physio appointment and that he wouldn't be referred for scans til he had the physio appointment. This was for a back problem that was so severe he couldn't work.

We went private and the doctor said only surgery would fix the issue.

It's such a postcode lottery.

The point is that your visit cost you nothing. In the US you’d have paid +$1000.

Same for me. As a clumsy child I frequently sprained ankles, and they'd strap me up and send me on my way. When I needed more support and equipment, I got it. This was last year, by the way, not in some fictional golden era.
I've seen private medics give disastrously wrong diagnoses too. The only advantage was that the patients paid to be given the wrong treatment much sooner than they'd have got it had they waited. Wahey.

15 years ago I had a nasty sprain to my ankle. I was seen in A&E, had an x-ray. Crutches, and physio appointment. No scan. Doesn't need it. Yes, soft tissue injuries are pants, but you only need a few physio sessions to show you the rehab. Seeing a physio does nothing - it's your commitment to rehab outside of a clinic setting. Ice, elevation, physio - motion is lotion.
You got seen, your got an x-ray and for the princely sum of whatever the car-park cost. If it's not getting better, see your GP for onward referral. You'll get your scan is after a few weeks of standard treatment there's still significant instability and pain hasn't improved. Clinicians have clear treatment pathways based on symptoms not patient preference and almost all sprains will resolve that way. Can you imagine the no of MRI scanners we'd need if every little sprain got a scan so the patient can feel special and not whinge on social media?

So you went to minor injuries - it can take a few hours, not always, but sometimes. It is what it is. It feels like you spend a lot of time being triaged between different things. I think an x ray to rule out a break is probably the best it will be.

MRI's are very expensive, try paying for one privately. The NHS seems to avoid doing them as much as possible. Because of the cost I think they tend to direct to physio.

Big waits are not my experience with physio but I think it's luck of the draw. I saw someone quite quickly after a broken finger and my GPs have a physio that comes in a couple of times a week and appointments tend to be quite quick. Appreciate not everyone has this. Some things you are better off paying for if you want speed, sometimes you might not agree with the cost vs risk weigh up (ie, it's quite unlikely this will be a severely torn ligament so we won't spend this much money till we know there is a problem).

AI is quite handy for basic routines and you can see the sources it's pulling from, so will be good in the interim at least.

I would also say, as you get older particularly, you injure yourself and it might not be totally realistic for it to mend so you would never know, and no amount of resource will change that.

How would a scan change your diagnosis or treatment? You have a sprain, the scan will tell you, you have a sprain. Treatment is look into physio exercises, the treatment wouldn’t change because you have a scan.
this is the problem with people who come in to A&E they expect a magic wand and to feel better instantly. You had an accident, you had diagnostics, you got a diagnosis and treatment. Stop trying to cost the NHS more money.

How long do you think the OP asking if she could get a scan and physio actually took?

My daughter's broken hand cost my insurance €680 in total. That is for A&E, xray, two times plaster cast and a specialist doctor checking her over. It cost me 0 as children are added to their parents insurance for free in the Netherlands.

It's just America that has all these crazy charges.

France isn't like that, nor are many European countries. Don't judge every country by US standards.

Just be glad you were seen and reassured. There's not much more to be done, your body will heal naturally, just take it easy for a while.

If you were in America you wouldn't have been seen without first showing evidence of insurance or ability to pay.