Has anyone else noticed an improvement in the NHS recently?

[Hyroplate]

I know it's slow progress, baby steps etc but my most recent experiences are vastly improved from say, 4 years ago.

Then I would be on the phone for hours trying to get an appointment or a repeat prescription.

Now I send an electronic request and they come back to me same day, the one I just sent was literally within minutes.

Then, it wasn't unusual to be offered an appointment 6 weeks away, now it's within days.

I had blood tests yesterday. The appointment was 3 days after the GP appointment that requested it and the results are already on the App. The surgery has already been in touch re follow up.

I also need a non urgent Utrasound. It's been booked for less than 2 weeks after the GP appontment. I already have an appointment to discuss the results as week later.

My Dad had a hip replacement, 4 days after the consultant said it was required.

DP has just found an NHS dentist after being without for a decade or more.

Thankfully I don't use the NHS that much, but my recent experience seems much improved.

No. But I live in Scotland where things are getting worse.

As someone who works for it, definitely not!

I’ve had a couple of very positive experiences recently as was thinking the same thing.

Got an invitation to flu vaccine clinic, forgot to book in time. Turned up anyway, was seen within 5 minutes.

Toddler hurt themselves at nursery this week. Called 111, call answered within 5 mins, went to a&e at their suggestion, had been triaged and redirected to minor injuries within 15 mins. Waited less than half an hour to be seen by a very lovely patient nurse who spent about half an hour assessing and treating his injury and considering next steps. In and out well within 2 hours. Whenever I have to go to a&e I psych myself up for being there for hours and hours.

Contrary to everyone else locally, I love the digital online triage system at our GPs. Repeat prescriptions issued within hours, appointments given same day recently, all by completing a form at a time convenient to me.

Nope. Got referred for an urgent appointment following a CT scan and an ultrasound. It was supposed to be the via the 2 week pathway. Finally got seen and had biopsies taken, 4 months later.

Absolutely not.

No, also in Scotland.
My dad waited 6 years on a knee replacement and had to have a heart attack before being diagnosed with coronary artery disease despite visiting the GP several times in the months leading up to it complaining of chest pain and severe lethargy. They also failed to notice my mum's dramatic weight loss and impending stroke despite the fact she was being seen regularly for other things.
This is all in the last 12 months.
Don't even get me started on my own healthcare. 2 years to get a fibroid the size of a full term baby removed, by which time my career was destroyed. Oh and it's back, along with some friends, so here I go again battling for another procedure. It is absolutely exhausting constantly having to advocate for yourself.
I have no faith whatsoever in our GP's, it's actually terrifying how awful they are. If I had any Idea our healthcare would become so substandard I'd have prioritised private health care years ago.

Oh and it's still call on the day, dial 159 times to get in the queue where you will sit at caller number 17 for the next 40 minutes only to be told there are no appointments

Absolutely not

Blimey OP where do you live? I've just been given a referral for a serious condition and the appointment is next June.

That sounds a lot like my experience when DH had and ultimately died from cancer 5 years ago, so I've been very pleasantly surprised by my more recent experiences.

Is there a reason things are particularly bad in Scotland? All we hear is free prescriptions!

I guess it depends what kind of referral it is. In Essex.

No, I think it's got worse. I've actually not had bad experiences with it in the past, but a family member has been very ill for the past three weeks and the care she's received has been TERRIBLE! Samples mislabeled and so not analysed, no one called her to tell her, so a huge delay in diagnosis, GP just utterly clueless and not thinking about what else it could be other than the most obvious diagnosis (which has turned out to be completely wrong). She's now being investigated for something very serious, no thanks to the fucking NHS 😔

Yes! I am in SE London. Could never get a GP appoinment. Now I get it in two weeks or thereabouts for non urgent conditions via the Evergreen app. Just had some tests done. Got results in two weeks.

It's a neurological condition that can lead to paralysis. North West.

No.
My GP surgery for 13 years would akways fit me in if I called with my asthma, I have type 2 brittle asthma, and now it's, no, go to A&E in a different county with no direct public transport because we won't possibly even prescribe you absolutely necessary antibiotics/steroids.
It gave me a real fright when it happened because I thought I could rely on them.

My doctors is really good, usually get an appointment same day or within 2 days, prescriptions are processed same day. Unfortunately the pharmacy is a nightmare and hospital referrals take ages

Yes! North Yorks here and yes I really have noticed an improvement especially with hospitals & referrals

might depend on what you need and where you are

GP says I have peripheral neuropathy (numbness, weakness, tingling, hot legs. On examination I cannot feel being poked with needles in my legs or feet, also numbness across face affecting balance and sight perception) referred to neurology.

waiting list 45 weeks, So next August. Doesn’t feel “better” to me.

(private neurology isn’t much better, first appointment I can get is February)

We are quite heavy users of the NHS (at least a couple of family members are anyway). I haven't noticed an improvement, but broadly speaking it's mostly been fine where I live anyway. There are things we are waiting too long for, but most things already seem pretty efficient and when things take need to move fast, they do.

Same.

No, my urgent cardiology appointment has taken months. Referral in May and still waiting.

The prescriptions thing has improved I think. It’s super easy requesting a repeat one via the NHS App. I’ve been receiving good maternity (antenatal) care so far. But I’m a first time mum and have nothing to compare it too, but I’ve been impressed with the care I’ve received so far!

No I haven't seen an improvement. At my GP surgery a routine blood test is a 6 week wait. My husband has been waiting for an operation since January. He was told he would be a priority. It's a shambles.

No. It’s diabolical. You can’t get an appointment with a GP. Waiting lists for referrals are horrendous. Operations are cancelled multiple times. The whole system is hopeless.

I’m in West Sussex and our local hospital is second to bottom on the NHS league table and has been for years. Yet there appears to be no plans to improve it.

I'm in the North-West, 2 very efficient recent A&E visits, one for me following abdominal pain and collapse, then for my daughter who suffered a nasty injury to her head.

A recent routine blood test I had also showed poor renal function, straight back in with the GP face to face for further tests and an appointment within 6 weeks for ultrasound.

My son was also attacked by a dog in Spain in May, and had quite severe wounds to his face. The state childrens hospital over there was dire (and I say this as a nurse with vast experience in maxillofacial surgery) From looking into it that experience was fairly universal amongst locals also. The treatment upon returning home was miles apart, the empathy, clinical care and time given to him has absolutely turned his fear of hospitals around.

I dont know about overall but I’ve had a very positive experience this week. Bad hip pain, did an EConsult thro the NHS app on Wednesday, saw a physio at my doctors surgery this morning and have had an email with exercises this afternoon.