Do non NHS people realise how bad it is at the moment?

[DoyouknowJo]

I had to justify to my managers manager why I needed to spend £7 on stationery. Stationery. Some biros, some staples and a box of envelopes.

One of my colleagues chairs broke and she was told to apply to charitable funds to get a new one.

Everything is held together with sticky tape and blu tac (literally and figuratively)

We have four members of admin staff bunched into a desk meant for two, because there is no money to pay IT to put a new port in on their desks.

Waste toner cartridges are on lockdown. If yours is full you should take a scalpel, cut the seal open, empty it and then stick it back together and put it back in the printer. Don't worry about all your printing then being covered in smudgy ink. We're broke ya know.

And some fucking idiot turned up to A&E today...because their arm has been hurting for two months and they are off on holiday tomorrow and could we sort it please.

I'm thinking of starting an anonymous instagram account to get all this crap out.

The NHS needs to (a) start charging people for missed appointments; and (b) stop paying exorbitant prices for some prescription medications where the supplier has a monopoly. The government needs to step in and help with the later problem.

Those who have money should go for private health care, as members of my own family do, because they can and have the choices that come with having a high income.
If you earn a very healthy amount you should , in all conscience, go private, it’s as simple as that.
All those who cannot pay at point of use , should be able to use the NHS, because that is who it was created to serve, and ALL OF US should treat it with respect and be grateful for the forethought of those who created it.

ruthboros I hoped you made an official complaint to PALS.
I work in the NHS we have no money and we're all stressed but that doesn't mean patient care should suffer because of someone's rudeness.
I am very angry at the government for defunding the NHS but that anger will never be directed at patients. What happened to you is unacceptable.

BOTH parties know damn well that the NHS needs to be reformed.

Lansleys reforms of the NHS cost billions, caused ‘profound and intense damage’ to the NHS and are now being binned.

Senior Tories admitted it was their biggest mistake, but that was before Brexit.

Chief executive of the Nuffield Trust commenter that a "significant unpicking" of Mr Lansley's reforms is underway and in time will be judged as "one of the most major public policy failures" of all time.

Apart from Brexit obviously.

I had to buy some sellotape for our office, because when I asked for it the answer was ‘no’.
No nice emails explaining why, no sorry you’ve had to pay for it out your own pocket but just a flat no.
It’s getting ridiculous In the NHS in general.
I’ve worked in it for nearly 30 years and it’s a very sorry state!

It's everywhere not just the NHS . Used to work for the biggest communications provider in the uk. No stationary supply your own , your start location changes daily and you have to travel up to an hour each way in your own time adding 10 hour to your week for no pay. Buildings in terrible stat not maintained, large building just had parts of then shuts off doors screwed shut and left . Toilets cleaned once every 3 months in small buildings. a lot of Rural buildings toilets and water disconnected to save money . Majority of buildings NO HEATING and kid you not a lot of furniture still original from 1950"s

Brexit will be used by whatever party or PM is in charge for the next few years, in the words of Edward Hastings , from Line Of Duty, it’s like grandma’s nightie, covers everything.

To the person saying part of the problem is 'emergency leave' for NHS workers - you do realise that when someone says they took 'emergency leave' they just mean they took a days annual leave without having to give notice - this isn't any extra leave

The various governments from both sides don’t care about drug monopoly, as a lot of their members will have shares. As long as the MPs get their expenses paid, very few of them really give a shit.

if you earn a very healthy amount you should , in all conscience, go private, it’s as simple as that*
I hugely disagree with this. If the wealthy no longer use the public system the quality will decline far further (see state senior schools Vs independent for a good example).

I'd support private health insurance as in Australia if needed, but the point should be to avoid a crap basic system for the many and comfortable private for the few.

ruthboros I can sympathise and know exactly where you are coming from.

The way it was broken to Dp that he had terminal cancer was the most unsympathetic way you could think of.

Dc were at his bedside in A&E at the time. I was parking the car. The doctor came in to the cubicle and announced he had got cancer and it had spread everywhere. Dd said he was almost beside himself with glee when he said it had gone everywhere.

Apparently Dp should have not left it for so long to get treatment .

I have total sympathy with all the nurses and doctors, including my own niece and her husband, who are working at in the front line. Pay a doctor or nurse to take charge of the NHS, not a bloody politician

di2004

What would happen if you didn’t buy the sellotape

The NHS need to take out outsourcing, which eats money, and set up it's own pharmacy.

Everybody pays more than that every single day week month year. So dont imagine you have any rights to tell anybody how to use the system they have been paying in since they have started working! Funds billions! get mismanaged and paid away by corrupted bosses but the culture of these nation is to blame the peasants the small people. Not a surprise everybody is so ill here - with mental and physical problems. Zero empathy to others but massive self entitlement in a same time. Stop judging others and understand why NHS is really struggling being overmilked by anybody who has access to funds ... if I pay same amountI pay into NHS EVERY SINGLE MONTH into private health insurance I will get massages and even discounts to the gyms and a week fast access to scans and specialists...

I am in an eu country and this morning, walked into a private hospital at 9am. Paid £50 Euros and was in and out within 10 minutes with a prescription for 4 different medications. Cost was under £50 euros for all 4 medications.

I would happily pay this in the uk. I am a higher tax payer and can afford it. “Free at source” should be means tested. I have always thought a mixed private and socially funded nhs should exist. But not fancy hospitals for the rich etc. Everyone goes to the same hospital and if you are “rich” you contribute to your care, even if it’s just a fixed feed. Those on lower incomes or with life threatening conditions don’t have to pay.

But there are also so many areas of NHS where money is just p**d up against the wall. Appointments. Always have to askto change routine appointments....notes please make appointment either early as you can or late as you can to save me having to take a day off work. Invariably appointment comes through at, say, 11.30. Phone up to cancel. Another appointment made (fine) but then always followed up by letter. I have a diary. Appointment is in diary as made, no need for confirmation letter, but it is ‘impossible’ to stop letter being printed and sent. It’s the ancillary bits of NHS which seem to fail.

Oh wow I don't know maybe because its accident and emergency! A sore arm for 2 months needs a GP appt. Boils my piss that

YES this exactly x

But there are also so many areas of NHS where money is just pd up against the wall.*
*
Couldn't agree more. Just today I picked up a prescription for eczema cream. I hadn't been prescribed my usual cream, but a different brand (strongly suspect it is cheaper). However, I've had this brand before and it does nothing for me. Hence many phone calls to surgery, new prescription and original medication. The 'wrong' cream I was given had to be binned as I'd already left the pharmacy premises with it before I'd realised. A simple phone call from the doctor to say, would you mind if I prescribed you x instead of y would have saved all of that wasted time and money. Such a small thing but I suspect thousands of these small inefficient things happen each day which are crippling the NHS.

Everything is held together with sticky tape and blu tac (literally and figuratively)

You mean Sleek. The NHS would disintegrate without Sleek, tea and toast and goodwill.

Couldn't agree more with PTW1234

No, it isn't. New Labour swilled money on the NHS, it achieved not a lot and just contributed to our huge national debt which will still be being paid off by our great grandchildren. New Labour proved for us that 'more money' is not the solution.

Utter, absolute bullshit. If you need to lie to justify your political position, then I suggest you reconsider that position, because it is not tenable on the claimed basis.

@DoyouknowJo you are right. I'm a process engineer in Pharma and one particular drug that is administered via the NHS via injection costs 26,000€ each time (!!!) and the NHS covers the cost. My German Pharma employer loves the NHS!