What’s the point in the NHS?

I find it odd that you consider being sent home to come back later because they were at lunch good service. I would view it as an inefficient NHS way of running an x-ray service. Those expensive machines should be being used 24/7.

Private is not really available in the UK for urgent care/emergency stuff. So even if you have BUPA cover, it is pretty useless for many things and you are stuck with the inefficient NHS.

You can self refer to physio via your GP website

Maybe if they weren't giving all this free medical care/dentistry etc to people who rock up on boats from France we might have some money for our own people.

Then there's Health Tourism. Government estimates put the cost of deliberate "Health Tourism" to the NHS at up to £300 million per year.

Broader figures of up to £1.8 billion to £2 billion are sometimes cited in political or media debates. However, experts and fact-checkers note that this larger figure does not represent health tourism. Instead, it covers the total cost of treating all non-UK residents, including legal visa holders, international students, temporary workers, and tourists who fall ill while visiting.

Would it even be possible to adequately fund the NHS and social care so that they ran efficiently?
Currently, the NHS is funded to the tune of £242000,000,000 a year! That's a whopping £663 million pounds a day!!

If we were to fund the NHS and social care properly, it would need another £45.4 billion pounds immediately.

Where would we find that kind of money from?

And for the people saying the solution is to go private where possible, it isn't possible for the vast majority of the people who use the NHS and social care the most!
Statistically, the people who use the NHS the most are the least able to afford private treatment.

I’m sorry your mum’s sprain was treated inappropriately. Thankfully we know better now that the muscles should continue to be used, strapping and crutches being unhelpful to a sprain.
Follow advice and it should resolve.
If you’d like a taste of private health care there are private clinics you can pay for advice instead of simply people here.

Unbelievable! How could they have ruled out a broken bone without x ray??
It's maddening and really careless service.
For comparison - only last year I had a chest infection and put on antibiotics, had to go for a second round as wasn't clearing up. GP told me I could have an x-ray IF I wanted to, though he didn't think was necessary. I opted for it for peace of mind, went the same day!

Yep. All the foreigners' fault. Sure the NHS would just be thriving otherwise 🙄

You don't need another scan. You have had an x-ray which has told you what is wrong.
You can self refer to NHS physio on most areas. There are also lots of NHS videos of exercises already on line for managing sprains.
You should have been given some crutches if you were told not to weight bare.

I never said that so don't misquote me.
If you'd read my post properly you'll see that having the levels of illegal immigration that we do have, is a drain on resources. That's a fair point IMO.

I had a similar mishap about 18 years ago and was sent home as there is nothing they can do if you haven’t broken your ankle. You don’t know if you’ll even need physio yet. You can pay for private health care though?

The point of the National Health Service, is to provide healthcare to people in this country.

It's free at the point of use.

This is why there was no charge for a medical assessment, diagnostic imaging, and advice on managing a sprained ankle.

I have lived in a country where this could quite easily have cost the OP £2,000.

You've sprained your ankle and it will get better on its own with appropriate self,care. You don't need any further medical attention. The NHS is there to give people the medical attention they need, free at the point of use. People are triaged and if their needs are minimal they will wait for longer than if they actually need urgent attention. You waited for hours because you were in no danger and other people needed the staff time more urgently. What's wrong with using amazon or googling for self-care instructions? You are used to doing this for a headache or a cut finger if you need a paracetamol or a plaster you don't expect the nhs to cope with the little things. A sprained ankle is a little thing. You've been x-rayed and there's nothing complex to worry about. You don't need anything else really.

I'd advise caution about using crutches if you don't absolutely have to and haven'tbeen instructed not to put any weight on the ankle. I had an ankle injury as a teen and when I eventually got to a physio they said 90% of the problem was damage I'd caused by using crutches when I would have been better off resting it as much as necessary and hobbling around weight-bearing as much as necessary, which is what I'd been instructed to do but my parents got me crutches to reduce the missed school time - a few days off with my feet up would have been a lot better than ongoing pain due to not following the instructions.

The amount spent on people "rocking up on boats" is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to how much is spent on older citizens in the last years of their lives. We need to be having serious discussions about the future of geriatric medicine, and whether things should always be treated.

There's an excellent book called 33 Meditations on Death, written by an NHS gerontologist that talks about this. The average person who ends up in hospital for end of life care in their 80s costs hundreds of thousands of pounds, well beyond what they ever paid in over their lifetime. People who are being tube fed (a painful experience) are still being vaccinated against flu for example. Folks in their 90s are still given chemo if a tumor is found.

My own grandmother was kept alive for 2 years with 0 quality of life. She had a DNR order which was ignored. Do you have any idea how traumatic to the body being resuscitated is in your 80s when you have dementia and brittle bones and the rest? And for what, to suffer for a few more months.

Meanwhile younger folks are suffering from poor quality of life due to things like unfit maternity services, A&E overfill, and lack of access to physios.

This is not new. Twenty-five years ago I hurt my ankle badly. The NHS gave me an x-ray, told me it wasn’t broken but just a bad sprain, gave me an elastic support bandage and left me to it.

When it still wasn’t right after a couple of months I went to my GP, who suggested I could either go on a waiting list to see an NHS physio or pay to see one privately. I did the latter. Seems reasonable to me.

My DS has type 1 diabetes. He receives free insulin, needles, blood glucose monitors, regular check-ups etc.

My sister has a chronic kidney disease. She has seen her excellent NHS consultant at increasingly small intervals (currently down to every month) for many years. She is now on the transplant waiting list.

My DH has several medical conditions and has to take 10 different medications daily, with regular blood tests to check everything is OK.

All free at the point of use.

There are about 700,000 illegal immigrants in the uk out of a population of 70 million - that's 1% - they are not a significant drain on resources. When an asylum case is eventually at the top of the huge backlog for assessments, about 60% of asylum claims from people who arrived illegally are found to have a legitimate claim and are granted asylum. there is no legal route to claiming asylum without getting here illegally. A nation that doesn't grant asylum to those with legitimate need has no business pretending to be civilised or ethical. These numbers are not big enough to be a "drain on resources" and we have no greater share in the world's refugee population than would be entirely fair if shared out between safe countries pro-rata to population.

you said yourself you were told a severe sprain. Why would you need follow up planned now? Take the sensible precautions, ask for follow up if no improvement in a months time.

yesterday at the A&E I worked at, we had 131 patients in the dept at a single point in the day. 6of those on deaths door in resus, 10ambulances waiting outside. 2hrs for triage due to volume of patients and that was with 4 triage nurses. Everyone is sick, everyone is impatient but the priority will always be the sickest first. Believe me when I say there are a lot of selfish entitled people out there.

If you had actually torn ligaments if would be obvious and you’d be referred to the hospital for orthopaedic doctors. You can pay for private physio if you like but ChatGPT will show you how to do it yourself at home which is prob what this medic was trying to tell you.

its really great that you don’t believe the nhs is fit for purpose, by that admission I would expect you to never use it again thus freeing up their time for other people waiting!

If it wasn't for the NHS I wouldn't have a Dad. I also wouldn't have my best friend for much longer. Finally, I also wouldn't have my stepson. The NHS saved my Dad after a massive heart attack and are currently treating him for lung cancer. The NHS are currently treating my best friend for stage three breast cancer. The NHS diagnosed and managed/treated my stepson's neutropenia.

You have a sprained ankle, what do you actually expect to happen?

Whilst you are moaning about the lack of treatment for a minor injury, the selfless NHS nurses and doctors are saving actual lives. All without an invoice being presented to the patient later.

In the past year I’ve had, likely in excess of, £150000 of NHS treatment. i haven't had to “push for” or demand any of it. I’m grateful for the system and will use my voting power to protect it.

Is there good evidence for improved outcomes with boot wearing?

Also we don’t get to hear much about fatalities and injuries in the UK private system. Most settled and NDA’ed.

This is very true and applies for chronic care too. I recall David Cameron’s late son was cared for by the NHS as the care he needed would not be available privately.

Sorry op, while i’ve had a very mixed experience with the NHS, including needing to pay for private surgery for both my kids, I have voted YABU for this one.

I did the same thing 12 years ago, slipped down the stairs, heard something in my ankle snap. The NHS xrayed it to confirm it wasn’t broken and then sent me on my way in the middle of the night.

Reality is that it was sore for a few weeks and was dark purple, but it did get better without treatment or follow up.

How many countries have to sprained your ankle in to know that? Maybe you need to be more careful.

I don't know how much it is to be seen and have an x-ray in the US, but I imagine it would be expensive and unaffordable to some people. That's why we have the NHS

Sounds nasty, hope you recover quickly.

Have you googled/AI checked what the evidenced based management for an ankle sprain or torn ligaments is? It seems advice is to avoid a boot and to use a firmly fitted soft support to allow early mobilisation and weight bearing. Ice, elevation, etc. and if not healing well/quickly see a physio. Small short term role for a boot in small number of cases. I wonder whether your mum’s treatment was based on out of date evidence.

It sounds like your overall experience could’ve been better, and the doctor’s explanation of the management plan might’ve been better communicated, but seems the advice is broadly correct/current recommended practice. Though I do agree that you should’ve been provided with a support rather than directed to Amazon!

Overall I voted YABU as broadly correct management but do agree yanbu in that it seems was poorly communicated.