NHS crisis is real. I've seen it

[sandyorsnow]

Obviously you don't need me to tell you, I know that I'm just so random person

But I just wanted to say what I saw yesterday

I was waiting in a line outside A&E yesterday and a woman behind me collapsed on the floor. She had oxygen on anyway

I escorted her to the front and I was pushed to the side forcefully by a man at the fronts who shouted 'wait you're turn!'

Thankfully a nurse came out to assist her. And then I finally got to the front myself

I went through to A&E with DD and sat in the initial paeds waiting bit to be triaged. My DD was called instantly and the woman who was sat there with her very bored looking teen said 'that's it. I'm fucking out of here!'

DD was having a seizure.

Came up onto the wards as needed a transfer to GOSH. 6 hour wait for an ambulance and the nursing station was nearby. The doctor was on the phone every 5/10 mins demanding updates as she wanted DD moved asap

When we were initially waiting outside A&E, the ambulance bay had a paramedic standing nearby explaining to another ambiance that they couldn't let them through and they'd have to go to another hospital (25 miles away)

I see ambulances queuing outside at the start of nearly every shift. Unfortunately it's a combination of people clogging up A and E with things like, alcohol/ drug intoxication, headache, tummy ache etc. And elderly people unable to leave the wards the other end due to lack of social funding/ care.

That’s your dh’s practice. Many closed their doors to patients during Covid.

places like British heart foundation are still getting reports of people not being able to see their gps.
Various health watches across the country still getting these reports.

My consultants, psychiatrist and mp are still concerned gps aren’t seeing us. There are 6 gps in the practice and a couple of nurses. They haven’t been taking new patients since they put the signs up back in 2020. The nurses however have been amazing and seeing patients. I see the gps floating around when I see the nurses, and the waiting room is empty. I am not alone.

It’s a shame because this is only pushing those like your dh out of the industry.

How much was wasted with the health and social care levy during its short existence I wonder.

It getting passed through Parliament. Time and money on the various reports.

All mounts up.

I've only skimmed the thread but luckily I don't think this has descended into a political bunfight.

But I hope people remember how bad it was under Labour too. MRSA, the obscene A&E waiting times, it's only 12 years later that it's even comparable to how bad it was then. I was only a teen but I remember it was constantly on the news.

Now we have ambulances being sent out on one job and they're sat outside the hospitals overnight, unable to attend to other people. It's ludicrous.

Sometimes I think if someone could come up with a legitimate plan to fund the NHS properly, they would be a shoo in in the next election. If I trusted they would follow through, I would vote for them.

I will never vote for Steve Baker MP again. Wycombe had a perfectly good A&E dept and he was instrumental in closing it. Now Wycombe people have to go to Stoke or Wexham. I find it truly shocking. I was in Stoke with a relative recently and it was shockingly busy, like a war zone. The poor staff and patients and we call this progress ☹️

@Mistletoewench I wasn't aware Wexham was taking from Wycombe too! It's bad enough with Windsor, marlow, Maidenhead, Slough and surrounding areas- that too was like a war zone!!! I loathe Steve baker- so I'm with you there!! We've got a right old Tory one in Windsor too- currently undergoing bankruptcy and doesn't do surgeries ever ! They call him absent Adam! And he has his own FB page dedicated to his lack of presence- mind you he has announced he will be stepping down

Sorry that should've been his own twitter page!! Luckily we move back to Bath next week and the Lib Dems

Data from the Parliamentare library shows that approximately 2.5m people were on the waiting list for hospital treatment in 2012 and this has risen steadily to a record of 6.5m now.
Similarly in 2012 5% of people attending a&e waited over 4 hours rising to 40% now.
In 2012 nearly 90% of cancer patients waited under 62 days from referral to treatment. This has steadily declined to 65%.
All these trends were apparent long before the pandemic.
So I'm afraid the facts don't support your argument.

Sounds about right. Fix social care situation (not easy I’m sure), improve population health and educate public on when to use what and NHS would be in better shape

My DH waited 8 hours to see a doctor after being rushed in by ambulance with extreme chest pains. The staff were amazing when they actually got to him but it was terrifying being left not knowing what was going on for so long.

@countrygirl99 sorry I was in my late 30s under labour up to 49 and MRSA was a huge problem before labour- in fact labour instantly did a deep clean of hospitals to try and get this down once in power - I both had a baby under labour and A&E a few times with my son and it was nothing like the shit show it is now!! It wasn't perfect but was a different league-

I'm so very sorry xxx

It is broken. I am convinced DH's cancer would've been diagnosed sooner a few years ago, he had a PET scan in the August which showed no secondaries then had to wait almost 12 weeks for surgery by which time he had liver mets. The type of cancer he had is well known for being silent and aggressive. I am also convinced that his blood clots were missed due to the pressures on the system. The night of his stroke we waited for what seemed an eternity for an ambulance to some from almost 50 minutes away and all the time we waited he was getting sicker and sicker, there was a 10 minute wait just to be connected to a call handler.

I'm so sorry.

@bloodywhitecat what a terrible shame, I'm so sorry for that, it's hard enough being a widow without these nagging doubts.

I am so sorry that your poor Dad had such a bad death. You and your Mum must be in so much pain. I feel for you so much. x

That is just awful :(

I worked for the NHS during the labour years, 1997 to 2010.
A&E waiting times were reduced considerably from before, waiting lists for referrals to a hospital were reduced.
The Tories have had 12 years to properly fund the NHS.

Thus is an independent graph of Labour funding the NHS compared to Thatcher and Major.

The stories on this thread are heartbreaking.

I feel very fortunate to have had nothing but good experiences locally (all the hospitals in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust) for both adults and children and while the GP has gotten very difficult re: face to face appointments we can get same day attention for via online triage, phone call backs and emailing pictures where necessary (and we lived in the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for almost a year back in 2019 so deffo saw a lot of the NHS!)

However, a year ago my dad died in The University Hospital of Wales (Cardiff) after being airlifted there from his car accident in west Wales. I was shocked at how dirty and disorganised the building was compared to RMCH/MRI/Wythenshawe/Trafford General.

Staff were similarly excellent in Cardiff as we are used to in Manchester but I felt really uncomfortable walking away and leaving dad in Cardiff, it felt as though the entire hospital system was one more removed jenga piece away from completely falling apart.

I had no idea how different things were from one area to another. Really shocking.

I'm really sorry.
Earlier this year, our GP said my husband was very seriously ill and when he called an ambulance from the surgery, none was available (90 minute wait minimum - it's a disaster where I am). He put my husband in his own estate car and drove him to the hospital himself. Our GP has now given up and his surgery is closed - it was just him and his wife who ran the show. We have no doctor now - we have been moved to a practice on paper but no-one will see us and I can't get to see anyone about my severe asthma. I wish you luck and happiness in the future.

Could've been worse - it could've been Watford. My DM came out more ill than she'd gone in after a week in Watford.

I’m really sorry for your loss. My dad died two months ago after being discharged twice with sepsis and plonked in a halfway care centre. After his third trip to A&E with an average of 48 hours on a trolley he was so weak he couldn’t fight the two superbugs and Covid that he caught in hospital. He was old, but fit and strong and had walked into the ambulance himself. Just before he died he actually said you should never have brought me here, I’d have been better taking my chances at home.

I'm not sure of your point, you aren't very clear. MRSA was a problem but it was one problem. Now it's what isn't a problem. The data shows a steady decline in multiple key performance indicators over the last 10 years of Tory rule. I also had both my DC under a Labour government, that doesn't show anything.

Sorry I think you are remembering the last Tory Government before Labour got in. I was working in the NHS from 1988 - 2014. It was so much better under Labour.

I refer you to @MissyB1 @countrygirl99 who has just posted. I'm sorry but I don't think I have ever seen a single health care professional post who didn't think the situation has hugely deteriorated under the Tory's- they have been in for the last 12 years - so current situation is all on them