Can we rely on the nhs anymore?

[Nc4post99]

I was reading a thread about a poor lady who’s been diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer, she’d been fobbed off with something for a long time before her diagnosis, got diagnosed in May and still nothing has been done.

there was another thread about a woman’s sister a while ago who was deathly ill losing weight and not taken seriously, i think in the end it was late stage cancer.

I was reading that our healthcare system is one of the worst now in developed nations. It’s such a sorry state of affairs. And 40k excess deaths last year. The GPs at my surgery have all lost their licences to ‘gross malpractice’ for sitting on referrals, refusing appointments. I know they are probably an outlier but all in all it’s just a really concerning picture

Then there is social care, with an older mother and a parent myself I find these things on my mind. I’m quite worried about what the future brings, things being missed, misdiagnosed, waiting lists. I’m genuinely worried one of us gets ill, needs the health service and it’s just not there the way it needs to be.

Tbh the case is quite scandalous, we had some limited info of what happened as we were affected but we overheard one elderly woman asking about her cardiology referral for months ago and the receptionist was fumbling and it has been sat on, im not sure why. but people died as a result.

I’m not sure in this case if it was burn out or opportunism and profiteering, my gut says the latter as to how the practice was set up, to ensure no one could be held accountable. One husband and wife dr couple and then the main practice GP was married to the practice manager. Only person that remained after the cqc inspection aside from a few receptionists was one nurse practitioner who is excellent, makes a few duff calls here and there but for the most part does her best and doesn’t lie to not do things.

Yep. Having had problems requiring NHS emergency care this week. It is atrocious! I am considering a complaint for lack of care and being totally inept.

And just because someone is private does not make them a good clinician.

I'm a specialist AHP in the NHS and I'm constantly picking up patients who have been wrongly treated by private AHPs who clearly don't keep their skills up to date, have zero accountability or supervision and rely on the 'NHS is shit, go private' mantra to source work.

Some of what I've seen is fucking frightening.

No, absolutely can't rely on the NHS and haven't been able to for a good few years now.
I've never felt more like emigrating than I do at the moment as I worry a lot about all the horror stories you hear and to think that you have a far greater chance of dying if you have a heart attack/ cancer/stroke etc in the UK than almost every other western country is heartbreaking and terrifying. Obviously healthcare in countries where they pay for it is going to be better. Funding a service the size of the NHS with the amount of people using it and an ageing population is just not sustainable no matter how much money is thrown at it. But we keep being told 'but it's free!'. Well personally, I'd rather have something that actually worked. I don't know what the answer is but it's all very sad.

It hasn’t been for for purpose for a very long time. My 10 year old daughter has brain damage after we were fobbed off by several doctors in the gp surgery, a&e, birthing centre etc when she was a newborn. Even my brother who’s 41 has sustained brain damage from gp negligence as a baby and when my sister was pregnant it was me that diagnosed her cholestasis which led to her having an emergency induction.
gps are only good if you need antidepressants or birth control or antibiotics. If you have any other serious symptoms then you have to be prepared to literally fight for your life.
nurses are the backbone of the nhs, they were there for us when doctors were not.

I work in the NHS in a surgery and we run it quite well tbh. We are one of the best in the area. However I've needed the NHS myself for the past 4-5 weeks due to a large cyst on my bladder & ovary. The pain I have been in for all this time has been absolutely horrendous. I've been chasing urgent referrals etc with no luck, the referral was suppose to be done 2 days weeks ago. I've been to a&e twice, the last time i thought the cyst had ruptured or twisted the receptionist wasn't bothered just told me to sit and wait. I waited 6-7 hours and wasn't even triaged even though it's a medical emergency. I don't know where to go from here. I'm off work, practically bed bound and scared to move even a inch.

There was a man screaming in pain in a&e last night on the floor 2 nurses was telling him to get up and walk. There was wheelchairs in the area why didn't they get him in a wheelchair. They all just seem like robots and don't actually care.I know they are busy but there's no empathy & care it's just like a one in one out and then sitting waiting on end.

For those saying they've got private insurance - there is no private emergency medical care in the majority of the UK. An accident or sudden severe illness and you'll be in A&E in an NHS hospital like everyone else.

The majority of private hospitals also have no ICU and won't deal with people who have multiple health conditions.

Private healthcare tends to only cater for planned appointments and surgeries.

There was a man screaming in pain in a&e last night on the floor 2 nurses was telling him to get up and walk

No excuse for inhumanity

I agree it’s definitely not a total safe guard but it is some security as my big fear is going to the GP with a lump or some concern and being fobbed off, it will expedite investigation and then treatment

Plenty of the London hospitals have ICU and will perform everything except emergency surgery. There are others too

@hotinthebigcity most of us don't live in London. There is also some limited provision in Birmingham and Manchester (mostly not 24 hour). Nothing elsewhere as far as I can see.

No you can’t. And it’s not much better if you can afford private healthcare or have insurance through work. Massive labour shortages in the private health sector and insurance companies refusing to provide cover under the flimsiest pretexts.

That’s not been my experience with bupa, horrendous admin, but appointment found within a few weeks (it was years on the nhs) a referral was made and bupa paid out no attempts to not

We're in Gloucestershire and using a London hospital wasn't an option as it's a good 2.5 hours each way for us, longer in rush hours.

Plus there's the added expense of travel/hotels etc.

I bought myself some artisan salt (sel De Guerande). OMG did that kick me off into UTI disasterland! As soon as I copped on I cut it out and it went away.

Because until we pay for the staff, provide the correct training and reduce stress. Then there are going to be more mistakes made on a regular basis.

Does someone really need training not to tell a man in excrutiating pain to get up and walk?

In this case, it wasn’t mistakes, it was intentional and repeated and the culture of the practice but I do agree with your general sentiment

No, I wish I did support them but I have just had to pay private for important life changing surgery that the NHS wouldn’t pay for, ( without insurance) it wasn’t surgery for vanity or to make myself feel better, I needed it for serious health reasons and they refused so no, I’m not a fan of them.

I do appreciate I have free contraception but I needed life changing surgery and they wouldn’t help! I’ve not had kids, rarely ill, never been to hospital or the doctors ( except for contraception) so I’m not a drain on resources, they just refused point blank to help me when I needed urgent medical help and it’s ended up cost thousands of pounds

We can't rely on it, as the government would like to replace as many doctors as possible with unqualified staff.

It's a lottery unfortunately. I found a lump last month and have had mammogram, chest x ray two blood tests including cancer marker ones stool and pee samples and appointment with rapid diagnostic, and ultrasound in next week or so. Not out of woods yet but can't ask for more personally just desperately sorry others have hit time wasting walls for treatment. My aunty for example however has metastatic cancer due to COVID delays in referrals. Frightening.

I had to pay for my daughter to see a consultant even though her G.Ps who are amazing tried twice to get her referred and knocked back. Thank god I could pay the £220, an MRI was arranged and they have discovered a benign brain tumour which has to be removed due to its continued growth and problems that it will cause. The consultant told me the NHS is broken.

We have now been referred back to neuro surgery in the NHS, the first surgeon has retired, the next surgeon she was registered under has left, no reason given. We are currently waiting for another surgeon to be allocated, time is getting on, the tumour was discovered in January it’s very distressing, absolutely piss poor. There needs to be more investment in the NHS and I don’t mean pay rises. We have been in and out of hospital with my daughter for the last five years for gynaecological issues culminating in a hysterectomy, believe me the staff there weren’t run off their feet, communication was poor and they wanted to discharge my daughter at 9pm after coming up from theatre at 8pm. They wanted to clock off, there wasn’t any need for the way they behaved, and it’s not a 9 till bloody 5 job, it’s a vocation.

I sadly think it's a lottery.

My son was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition in March and he's had all of his appointments now but someone I know whose son has the same condition has to wait as they have a 12m waiting list.

He was in hospital last month for a week for suspected seizures and he's already had an EEG and MRI.

I'm really thankful we got the help we needed but this isn't always the case and I don't know what the answer is.

The GPs at my surgery have all lost their licences to ‘gross malpractice’ for sitting on referrals, refusing appointments.

Which surgery was that, that story had to be in the news and published. Avg surgery has like 12,000 ppl registered with it, so not outing to say which surgery.