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.

This is what many of us have to endure in small businesses btw. But without the job security.

There is massive waste in the NHS. I just wish I knew what to do about it, but throwing more money at it isn't the answer.

Junior Dr here. 2 years under my belt,I should still be fresh and sprightly. I'm exhausted and burnt out. As are all of my colleagues. We are consistently being asked to do 2 even 3 people's jobs with thinly stretched resources and staying hours late every single evening to investigate, treat and dischare our patients. The gaps are known about months in advance and yet my hospital management can't think far enough ahead to send an email out asking for people to fill the shift until days sometimes hours before. They refuse to pay us any more than bog standard rate and then send us out emails, instead of thanking us for our hard work, berating us for not stretching ourselves even further and helping our colleagues out.

Not once have I ever been thanked. Instead criticized for minor things that I haven't been able to do because I have been managing critically unwell patients, often single-handedly. I feel every time I do an on-call shift I am putting my registration on the line working in such unsafe environments.

Of my cohort less than 50% are going into training next year. No one I know wants to be a medical registrar- the doctor who runs the medical take of patients coming in the front door. Who will we have doing it in a few years??

It is an utter travesty and it runs deep through nursing staff, HCAs, admin staff too. It is so short-sighted to burn your staff out. None of us are in the job for the pay or the work-life balance, but good will and empathy are now running thing with lots of shouting matches and bitching going on behind the scenes due to stressed out, overstretched and overworked staff.

Twice in the last week I've been told to go to A&E by my GP surgery. I need to see a GP for a just in case prescription & to discuss the Epley Manouevre & if I need it. I'm not currently ill & I don't need to go to A&E.

NHS workers have good sick and maternity pay because their normal pay is rubbish. Nurses had to wait 10 years for a pay rise and even then it was not in line with inflation. NHS staff work really hard in difficult situations. Those saying it doesn't work - perhaps you would prefer to privatise it? An intensive care bed will cost you coming on for £1000 per night. That's including costly medications, highly skilled medical and nursing staff, all the other NHS workers involved in your care - physios, OT, radiographers, admin staff, domestics, Hcas, kitchen staff, porters etc etc. I will fight to keep our NHS. Also agreed that the public should be more aware of NHS costs.

Vote tory, get cuts. Not really a surprise though it's the same tactic they use over and over. Underfund it, claim it doesn't work, sell it off to their mates. Blame the people who keep voting for the selfservatives.

I'm an HCA on a surgical unit. I really enjoy my job. It's interesting, we have a tight team & I enjoy looking after the patients.
I don't notice underfunding particularly here if I'm honest.
It's only when you're looking for a special mattress or an IV pump & you realise there's a hospital wide shortage of them do you see that we need more funds.

An intensive care bed cost £1000 a day 30 years ago. It must be significantly more now. Thing is when your life’s on the line the NHS is unbeatable, fortunately few of us ever experience that and only know about the way things are when we have more minor conditions. Some of the horror stories here about postnatal care are dreadful.

@AforEffort9

Thank you.

I was blue lighted into A and E in Kettering on Tuesday, with chest pains (unstable angina). The paramedic said I was the sickest patient she’d had in months, the rest has been inappropriate ambulance use.

I agree it’s dire at the moment. I work in specialist area of oncology. 3 staff working in areas it should be a minimum of 4. Legally must be 2 staff in roommat all times so covering 8-5 with that many people taking into account lunch break (30 min) is an absolute nightmare. It feels like absolute breaking point. Today we were working 8-8, 2 staff 8-4 2 staff 12-8 and machines were breaking. Staff were exhausted and the service was around 1.5 hours late. It’s an absolute disaster waiting to happen.

I was ill one night, could not breathe, was choking on my own spit. Boyfriend called 111 (despite me insisting I’d be fine) they sent an ambulance. The paramedics then insisted on taking me to the hospital where I spent 5h in a waiting room before being seen. I was mortified a the thought I was wasting resources like that, despite their insistence the machines said take me in. Turns out it was a viral AND bacterial chest infection turning to pneumonia and bronchitis. Still to this day months later feel guilt about the ambulance thing. Because I would rather the resources go where needed

Addendum to above; I made sure when I was discharged the next day to thank the staff profusely. They had some bad shit to put up with that night and thanking them was the least I could do

The NHS needs to (a) start charging people for missed appointments

What happens if the letter for the appointment was typed after the appointment was meant to be

I wonder how many people going to A+E have had to go there because their illness or ailment has got worse either because
a. they cant get a GP appointment
b. they have had pressure from their employer not to have GP appointments during work time which obviously restricts their choices as other employees of other companies will have been told to do the same thing

Or they have been to the gp over and over and finally at the point of collapse they have to go into A&E

As a wife who has had her weekend plans ruined by DH (Dr) being called (with less than 4 hours notice) to cover ICU tonight ‘because there’s absoloutley nobody else who can/will do it’ despite him JUST having come off a brutal run of nights. I totally understand what a pants situation the NHS are in.

Makes me cringe but no amount of talking about it or pointing out will ever mean that Natalie doesn’t turn up in A&E because she glued her eyelids together with eyelash glue and ‘doesnt want to force it open incase she rips out her own eyelashes and looks weird 🤔😩’

The only thing that will make them realise and stop behaving like entitled spoilt idiots is when the NHS either start charging them or crumbles!

From personal experience though... I do think the abuse of A&E is MASSIVLEY down to the short comings of GP practices who ‘claim’ they are terribly over stretched and ‘can’t possibly do more’ but are in reality FAR better off than the hospitals themselves- which is where the patients they turn away go!

I wonder how many none accident/emergency issues turning up at A&E have been turned away from GP practices? GP’s should be UNABLE to just say NO sorry we won’t see you! That would reduce the strain on A&E dramatically!

I had a horrible infection once (usually a GP issue) only my GP NEVER has appointments. I’m not talking about a few weeks wait- NOTHING not a single apt available for any date in the future.

So what do they expect you to do? 🤔 What do they expect will happen? An infection isn’t going to cure itself is it? It’s just going to get worse until I ended up in A&E (being judged by nurses who think I shouldn’t be there)!

GP here for many years.

The NHS is dying by the day and the general public haven’t got a clue (and actually don’t care as long as their niggle is sorted ASAP). Unfortunately people don’t appreciate things that are ‘free’ so literally don’t think twice about booking GP appointments (or pitching up to A&E) for quite honestly utter drivel a lot of the time. Social media etc doesn’t exactly help as “Ooh it could be sepsis/cancer you’d better get it checked ASAP” seems to be the MN stock answer to any idle musing about something health related. We have totally lost sight of common sense with regards to managing our health these days and I personally can’t wait for the day (sooner I suspect than any of us think) when the NHS is no longer.

AforEffort9 - look after yourself, get out of the country/NHS if you can and at the end of the day remember it’s only a job and not worth wrecking your physical or mental health for.

DH believes that an ‘apt fee’ is the way forward. £20-30 to secure an apt and incentivise people to show up.

But my issue with this is that it would ‘free’ for those on benefits/ not working but chargeable to those earning low FT salaries but rudley expecting to live off them! Initiatives like this rarely have any impact on the ‘poorest’ in society as they qualify to get it free and financial support is given.
But those who are ‘just’ getting by and don’t qualify for any help/benefit - for them this could mean the difference between being able to see a GP and not!

That simply doesn’t sit right with me!

I’m the mother of a seriously ill child and I want to thank each and every one of you in this thread.

Children with my daughter’s condition in other countries are often only diagnosed at autopsy. in America, we’d likely lose our home due to medical bankruptcy.

We’ve had an amazing NHS experience, but I’m acutely aware that it’s increasingly difficult for the staff to provide the kind of care they want to/are capable of. Lots of charities large and small are plugging the gaps and it does kind of disguise how dire things are.

I’ll likely be a single issue voter for the rest of my life - when the NHS is at it’s best it’s so good it feels like a miracle.

You are all awesome (and especially the PICU nurses).

iamallastonishment92 - each department blaming the other isn’t going to get us anywhere. GP is at breaking point everywhereand this is getting worse literally weekly.

A ‘routine’ day now frequently involves over 100 patient contacts either by phone of face to face, and often multiples of this. Hugely unsafe for patients and just one poor judgement or hasty decision puts our career on the line. There is no point Primary care blaming secondary care or vice versa. The system is broken.

Thanks @Moodlesmoodle and @squeekywheel. Feeling particularly tearful and ranty tonight, probable combination of PMT and facing 2 8am-9pm long days over the weekend with an hour commute each way. Roll on next week when I am on annual leave (but can't afford to go away).

AforEffort9 I recommend New Zealand for your career. Doctors are paid better, tax is less, but crucially the Government and the public respect healthcare workers.

I would happily pay a bit more tax if I knew the extra money would go to the NHS but I know it would vanish in the Treasury coffers.

People go to A & E possibly because they can’t get an appointment to see their GP

The other reason is that medical science has advanced big time since the NHS was created but people forget the NHS can’t sort out, cure every problem, illness

I feel so sorry for the people working in the NHS, it must be soul destroying. About 10 years ago I was advised to take out private health insurance by my doctor, it speaks volumes.

I'm feeling the need to back the OP here. I love our NHS , and I think she does and is expressing valid frustration for how it's abused. Doesn't mean she's not fantastic at her job, and compassionate with patients.

@iamallastonishment92 Then it will be used as a stick to beat the poorest with. Possibly by those on the low FT salaries or the richer ones who have to pay

You only have to look at threads on social housing or benefits to see that this would happen on here and in RL

I’ve worked in the NHS for 10 years. It needs to be protected and invested in. Most people in this country do not know how lucky we are to have universal healthcare, it is taken for granted. Just holidayed with friends from the USA and they pay $2000 a month for their families health insurance and that doesn’t cover them for everything and they still have to pay an excess in some cases. If someone gets type 1 diabetes and haven’t got the right cover, they may not be able to afford their insulin ! Imagine if your child or parents got sick and you couldn’t afford to help them ?!? Most people who work for the nhs are underpaid, overworked and face the wrath of patients and their families for the short comings of the nhs, that needs to be directed at the politicians. The staff (in most cases) need a thank you