Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Politics
Original poster

I witnessed how fucked up the NHS is

221 replies

Bloom15 · 28/05/2024 13:33

Last night I had an asthma attack and got a taxi to the nearest A and E. it was like a scene from a zombie movie!

I was rushed through triage and given 2 nebulisers and some oxygen, along with some steroids. After I was stable I was told to wait in the waiting area. It was mostly full of people on drugs, drunks and people asleep on the row of chairs surrounded by multiple carrier bags. I am not trying to disparage these people as they were also patients and needed to be seen. Just describing the waiting room at 11pm on a Bank Holiday Monday in a city centre a and e department.

After 6 hours I still hadn't been seen by a doctor but had to leave as my DS was staying over at my parents and they were dropping him off at 8 am as they were going on holiday. My DH was stuck in Newcastle following a stag break and couldn't get home at 4am. Usually I could have stayed.

Now I am at home with a tight chest (DH rushed home early but a taxi from Newcastle to Liverpool at 5am was too much money). I tried to call my GP for an appointment to get more steroids but after 45 minutes of ringing from 8 there were no appointments left.

This is not the fault of the doctors, nurses, other staff, any patients. This is the fault of this government dragging the NHS to the brink. Please vote them out in May

OP posts:
littlegrebe · 28/05/2024 22:29

Screamingabdabz · 28/05/2024 18:03

Has Labour got a lock up somewhere then with thousands of doctors and nurses? I hope you’re all not pinning your hopes on the NHS suddenly recovering overnight if Labour get in. And good luck on the wards if you’re heavily medicated or incapacitated… Labour will happily let any random men in the same ward as you - even if it’s supposed to be single sex.

I'm not sure "it's not possible to fix 14 years of deliberate underfunding of both the NHS and the educational systems that generate its staff overnight" is a very compelling argument for letting the Tories have another term to make it even worse.

Sunshinedaytoday · 28/05/2024 22:24

Rowgtfc72 · 28/05/2024 20:55

@Shortkiwi same sort of experience here.
My dad was knocked over by an ambulance in the car park on the way to an eye appt. Xrayed his head when he insisted it was his leg. Took him home totally immobile where he rang me 3hrs later to say he was stuck on the floor. Waited 5 hrs for an ambulance and another 4 in a and e. No pain relief and sat in his own pee.
3am he was taken to the ward, given paracetamol and put in a gown with his wet clothes shoved under the bed.
Two days of agonising physio and pleading for pain relief and an xray, they decided he'd broken his knee resulting in a thigh to foot cast.
He was in for 6 weeks. Left in wet clothes because he couldn't get to the loo and noone answered the bell. Rang me at home when he couldn't breathe and asked me to ring the ward because noone answered the bell.
Horrendous bedsores.
Wouldn't listen to him when he said he had stomach pain.
Didn't give him his wafarin, diabetes and blood pressure meds were hit and miss.
He died of a perforated bowel. They knew this was the case at 3am. They didn't ring me till 8 when he was already unconscious.

Nhs is very broken.

That is absolutely horrendous and I am so sorry.

25percent · 28/05/2024 22:22

I hope you are ok now. If you were well enough to go home I don’t understand the problem. My mum was 24 hours on a trolley in A&E last year and nearly died. It was hellish in there. Another woman had her clothes off in front of everyone. My mum had to piss on the floor because there was no one to get her a bed pen. In the end they sent her home to die saying they couldn’t cope with her dementia.

GiantTagliatelle · 28/05/2024 22:21

Bloom15 · 28/05/2024 17:59

Thanks - yes happens a couple of times a year as I do have severe asthma. My previous GP surgery used to do this - but it doesn't seem to be something offered at my current one, which surprised me. I'll speak to them again

Show quote history

You can get a prescription privately if they won’t. We have a supply of steroids for my son in the event it flares up… from private GP

holidaydramalama · 28/05/2024 22:13

KnickerlessParsons · 28/05/2024 15:38

You were seen pretty quickly though, to be fair.

I would hope so she could have died

AlltheFs · 28/05/2024 22:12

It’s like a registrar as they used to call
it - I’m not a medic but work in HE and have previously been working in a medical faculty. My knowledge is rusty but it’s that stage before you become a specialist on the way to eventually becoming a consultant.

Doctor pay is shit though I agree with that, earn a pittance until you are years and years qualified.

ForlornLindtBear · 28/05/2024 22:09

DistinguishedSocialCommentator · 28/05/2024 20:36

I was not aware of that. Where would they get the nurses these days??

I guess we can all become experts with the help of a few hours training and a question and answer AI on our computers and this is where 111 comes in - yes, phones are manned by, often by non medically qualified staff and they ask you standard questions, then deviate from the standard questions - then they either tell you to go to A/R or await a call back from doctor/etc

I want a better NHS, but I'm certain Labour is not capable as they are the friends of unions

Show quote history

You want a better NHS but you also want to treat junior doctors like sh*t. Wasn't it you who said they shouldn't be allowed to leave the country to work abroad and they shouldn't dare to strike for a pay rise? Maybe you personally are just getting the NHS you deserve?

ChocHotolate · 28/05/2024 22:02

AlltheFs · 28/05/2024 22:01

That’s a junior doctor post, with research responsibility- not a consultant. I’m rusty in the terminology but I’m sure that’s not a consultant role, nowhere near.

I stand corrected then, thank you

AlltheFs · 28/05/2024 22:01

That’s a junior doctor post, with research responsibility- not a consultant. I’m rusty in the terminology but I’m sure that’s not a consultant role, nowhere near.

MisterMagnolia · 28/05/2024 21:55

Sloejelly · 28/05/2024 21:43

Full time??

Show quote history

It surely can't mean a medical consultant? Don't they mean a consultant in terms of external business management? Unless it's very part time.

AlltheFs · 28/05/2024 21:54

I waited for 12hrs + in A&E under a labour government more than once. It wasn’t any better.

MisterMagnolia · 28/05/2024 21:53

The people I blame is all the drunks and druggies, who haven't taken responsibility for themselves or end up getting into fights die to bunge drinking/drug taking. That said, i have sympathy for those with genuine addictions, just not the friday/sat night twats brigard that waste vast amounts of NHS resources. If only there were a way to fine them/make them pay, in a way that doesn't prevent the most vulnerable from reaching out for treatment.

Eggmoobean · 28/05/2024 21:48

If they start billing the people who come
in pissed, that might help? I have to say I get very angry when I have been in A&E with a serious emergency and it’s full of people drunk from a Friday night bender who have then started punching each other. If they faced and £200 bill the next day they might think twice .

its tragic what has happened to our NHS but it is being abused and people who really need help are not getting it.

Chaoseverywhere · 28/05/2024 21:47

Absolutely agree. I’ve had 13 months of terrible experiences with the NHS. Negligence several times over. It’s not the doctors and nurses skills it’s the whole infrastructure. It’s not working anymore

ChocHotolate · 28/05/2024 21:47

Yes

Sloejelly · 28/05/2024 21:43

ChocHotolate · 28/05/2024 21:42

NHS Cardiff is advertising for an
A&E CONSULTANT at just under £38k
A highly skilled professional with at least 15yrs post qualification experience. Who will carry the responsibilities of a full A&E dept on their shoulders, for £38k. Fucking joke

Full time??

ChocHotolate · 28/05/2024 21:42

NHS Cardiff is advertising for an
A&E CONSULTANT at just under £38k
A highly skilled professional with at least 15yrs post qualification experience. Who will carry the responsibilities of a full A&E dept on their shoulders, for £38k. Fucking joke

I witnessed how fucked up the NHS is
YouwouldthinkIhavemoresense · 28/05/2024 21:33

Yes it’s shit. But look at Labour run wales NHS: they’re fucking diabolical.

It’s a mess regardless of which political party is at the helm.

Thethruththewholetruth · 28/05/2024 21:28
  • funding. Very complex- I see so much money wasted every day, that simply flinging money at the NHS won't fix it. It does need more money, but there needs to be an urgent review to look at what current funds are being spent on (in my opinion)
This in spades!!! the waste the NHS is shocking, management are generally crap and been promoted way past their skills set, people being paid £100k for “transformational change” bullshit that never works. It is far too top heavy. The procurement system is shocking and a huge waste of money most of the time, I understand the reason for it but it’s shocking. There’s obviously other things but looking at costs needs to happen. managers need to manage units not just sit on their computers, get on the A&E floor and direct staff properly and safely.
LondonLass61 · 28/05/2024 21:24

Rowgtfc72 · 28/05/2024 20:55

@Shortkiwi same sort of experience here.
My dad was knocked over by an ambulance in the car park on the way to an eye appt. Xrayed his head when he insisted it was his leg. Took him home totally immobile where he rang me 3hrs later to say he was stuck on the floor. Waited 5 hrs for an ambulance and another 4 in a and e. No pain relief and sat in his own pee.
3am he was taken to the ward, given paracetamol and put in a gown with his wet clothes shoved under the bed.
Two days of agonising physio and pleading for pain relief and an xray, they decided he'd broken his knee resulting in a thigh to foot cast.
He was in for 6 weeks. Left in wet clothes because he couldn't get to the loo and noone answered the bell. Rang me at home when he couldn't breathe and asked me to ring the ward because noone answered the bell.
Horrendous bedsores.
Wouldn't listen to him when he said he had stomach pain.
Didn't give him his wafarin, diabetes and blood pressure meds were hit and miss.
He died of a perforated bowel. They knew this was the case at 3am. They didn't ring me till 8 when he was already unconscious.

Nhs is very broken.

I'm so sorry for you and for your family. 😞

SummerWillow · 28/05/2024 21:20

@Rowgtfc72 that is a shocking story ☹️. My Dad was in hospital in 2020 during Covid with a severe infection. For 2 months he was alone with no visitors allowed, frequently unable to get to the loo, no one answering buzzers, not once in 2 months did anyone clean his teeth, comb his hair or help him to shave. Despite multiple chaotic exposures to Covid, he never caught it. Thanks to extreme persistence from my brother, he was able to spend the last week of his life in a hospice where he received his first teeth clean and shave for months and treatment for his terrible bedsores 😢

Snippysocks · 28/05/2024 21:18

18 months ago my father had numerous falls and collapses from unknown causes. I honestly can't fault the ambulance service in our area. Paramedics came very quickly each time we called them out and the only time we had to wait in an ambulance outside A and E, it was only for a short time. There was one occasion when he was kept in the A and E assessment ward on a reclining chair overnight - and that certainly wasn't ideal - but our NHS experience was fine. It seems that there are areas in England where our experience isn't the norm, but it's not awful everywhere.

MaryFuckingFerguson · 28/05/2024 21:10

Sounds awful. I can however only go on my own experiences of the NHS.

Husband broke his collar bone going over his handlebars - he was seen within an hour at minor injuries and had next appointment to discuss options within a week.

Son broke a bone in his foot playing football - went to A&E and was triaged almost immediately and x-rayed within 1 hour.

MiL has cancer. Her treatment has been nothing short of fantastic.

Our GP service however, is pretty crap.

Snippysocks · 28/05/2024 21:10

gocompare · 28/05/2024 19:27

How have things gotten so stretched in the last few years?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but why all the delays with being seen now? Are there more people and less nhs staff or what?

I've heard that during Covid, people who needed a hospital referral / appointment were not seen as Covid patients needed to be seen first. Now the people who had their appointments deferred are much sicker, so they need more aggressive treatments which take up more time. Also, some doctors, physios, radiographers and nurses have left the NHS due to Covid PTS so there are fewer medics around to deal with the backlog. Any medics around to confirm or deny this?

VolvoFan · 28/05/2024 21:09

I'm sorry for what you went through, but the NHS has seen a record amount of money pumped into it for over a decade and is in it's final stages of decay. It will eventually fall and take out private healthcare with it, and then nobody will have access to any healthcare.

Changing the ruling party doesn't fix anything and more money doesn't fix anything. Labour privatised parts of the NHS over its 13 year tenure, the Tories then ramped up spending and are printing money like never before to try to keep up. The country is fucked six ways from Sunday, which is why Sunak called a GE.

It's not about party politics and it's not about money, it's about how the NHS is run and how money is spent. I don't know how many more years of chucking money at stuff it's going to take for people to realise this.

I'm far and way beyond sick of paying taxes these days.

Swipe left for the next trending thread