to state the NHS has gone to the dogs, run by monkeys and staffed by halfwits?

[DameHermione]

The saga........
DD has infected looking pussy blistery spots.

It is friday evening. No hope of seeing locsl GP until at least monday.

I ask the MN hive mind for advice. Possibly impetigo. Definitely sore and pussy. OOH is suggested.

I trundle off 15 miles to OOH.

We arrive. There is a notice pinned to the door, 'If you are not expected please report to the Emergency Department'.

Odd. And not what it was a few months ago but off we trot to A&E round the corner.

In A&E i say to the receptionist 'We came for the OOH GP.'

'No problem' she says. Takes some details and we get asked to take a seat.

An hour later DDs name is called.

'Senior Sister' triages DD.

First she looks me up and down and snaps 'who are you?'

I explain what the problem is and say once again 'we came for the xxx unit, the out of hours GP'

She asks not once, not twice but Four times how long DD has been pussy. I tell her Four times it has been getting worse over the last few days.

She shouts at me. 'This should be seen by your GP'.

I replied 'I know. Thats why we came to the OOH unit.'

At this point she tells me the OOH unit has moved 5 more miles away.

Then she tells me to take DD to the GP tomorrow.

I say 'but tomorrow is saturday, which is why we csme to the OOH unit'

I am then told i need to take DD the extra 5 miles to the real OOH unit which closed in 5 minutes.

I give up at this point and suggest maybe they should put a notice on the door of the now ex-OOH unit or tell their receptionists to redirect people.

Only 'they can't do that as they aren't clinical and patients need triaging'


So at this point i tell the half-witted monkey who is masquerading as a nurse that as i too am a nurse, with considerably more braincells than her i will just treat DDs pus myself.

i might then have gone and purloined approriate dressings snd stuff from my mates upstairs but that would be theiving so i shant admit to it oh no

I will be wtiting to PALS.

[DameHermione]

GP surgery. No.

Drop in OOH unit. Yes. Clue is in the name. Or used to be.

[worrywortisworrying]

YABU for calling people who work for the NHS halfwits or monkeys.

They work under extreme pressure, extreme stress and, often, extreme abuse.

I once had to take DS to Urgent care early on a Sunday morning (so what many people would call a Saturday night) and it was CARNAGE. HOrrible drunk people with stupid, self inflicted injuries wailing about how their night had been ruined because they were being made wait.

And, I can honestly say, when the chips are down... I'd prefer to be WITH the NHS and all of it's problems than without it.

[COCKadoodledooo]

Oh. Never heard of a drop in OOH, always had to phone first. Mind you, until I had the dc's I'd never heard of ooh

[cutegorilla]

Not all places expect you to phone first. Our OOH is provided by the "walk in centre" the clue is in the name there too. There is no need to phone first. It's so frustrating when people can't apply a bit of common sense. When you first rocked up to A&E saying you were looking for OOH surely the appropriate response was "That's not here it's at... "

There are, of course, some wonderful people working for the NHS. I'm very glad it exists. It has huge problems though, and some idiots working there too, sadly.

[slacklucy]

well stupid signs & rude staff are a PITA but the NHS is still the best thing this country has & we should all protect it.

So YABU one bad day doesnt mean the entire NHS has gone tits up

[Primrose123]

YA partly BU.

DS has been in hospital this week, it may possibly be run by monkeys, as I wasn't impressed by how things were organised, but I have to say the staff were amazing. Without exception, each nurse, doctor, paramedic, cleaner and everyone else that we met was friendly, professional and kind.

[featherbag]

You turned up at the wrong place, instead of calling OOH for an appointment. A quick google would've told you that you needed to call. Then you booked in at A&E. Once you're booked in, a nurse has to see you before you go anywhere. As someone who's spent many a frustrating shift in triage, I can tell you that if you waited an hour for triage the department was being battered. The number of people in the waiting room is no indication of what's going on behind the scenes! So you go to the nurse, who can only send you away to consult GP land (whether in or out of hours is irrelevant, to her, this has no bearing on whether or not the problem needs to be treated in A&E), or keep you in A&E for treatment. She cannot do anything else - she can't get you an appointment, she can't bump you through NHS Direct's queue, she can't just bung you some dressing and antibiotics because she'll lose her job if she's caught.

After all of that, you tell the poor woman that you'll treat it yourself?! Of course she's got an attitude problem, you're probably the 200th person she's seen today who's rocked up at A&E because they don't fancy going through the proper channels, then got all huffy with her because she couldn't help!

YABU. Except for expecting the nurse to behave in a professional manner no matter how stressed she is, YANBU to expect that, I hope that I manage to do that in RL with real patients!

And the word is 'purulent'.

[FiftyShadesofViper]

There is a good point here though, the NHS is a fantastic service delivered by incredibly good healthcare professionals (generally) but sometimes the planning of services is just shit.

Having said that, we are just dealing with issues for a sick elderly relative in a country with a private, piecemeal healthcare system and i think we all need to be very, very afraid if this is what "call me Dave" has in mind for us. Our NHS level of shit just does not begin to compare.

[Anniegetyourgun]

If DD was pussy perhaps you could have talked the vet into seeing her.

[Salmotrutta]

Hmm ... my DH works in the "back-rooms" of the NHS.

If he and his colleagues were half-wits a fair few people would die actually.

And that is a fact.

I'm not going to say what he or his colleages do because it might be identifiable but it is crucial to saving lives.

My DH and his colleagues are not half-wits or monkeys.

You don't give the location of the pus-filled spots but if they are mucosal in origin (as opposed to epdermal) then they needed to be seen. Don't muck about next time.

[Salmotrutta]

epidermal

[sugarice]

How's dd and her oozy pusticles this morning Dame?

[DameHermione]

Oozing.

[cwtch4967]

In my area you have to phone OOHs then a GP phones you back to triage and ofers advice or an appointment - you wont be seen if you just turn up at OOHs. System works well here..................

[valiumredhead]

Have you covered her yucky blisters? Has she picked up her dirty towels yet?

[DameHermione]

The pustules are covered. The towels are on a 90 degree wash.

She tried hugging me a while ago so i flapped her away and ran shrieking to the bleach cupboard.

[valiumredhead]

I would too! In fact I'd send ds off to stay with Granny

[StepOutOfSpring]

YANBU. How hard is it to put up a notice? It's just common sense - but that left the NHS a long time ago!

[FioFio]

surely you can treat impetigo at home?

[valiumredhead]

You need anti b's for impy tiger.

[FioFio]

i thought it was just anitbiotic cream? i have got it over the counter

have things changed so much

and i find the nhs fine with my very severely disabled child with chronic epilespy so I do it find it weird that people complain so much about minor skin complaints that spread like wildfird tbh

[PropertyNightmare]

Yanbu. What a carry on and what a pitiful excuse for healthcare.

[ceeveebee]

Whenever I call NHS Direct they always just tell me to go and see GP or go to A & E

Outside normal hours we have to call OOH line, they triage over the phone then tell you to come to the OOH centre if serious enough. You can't just turn up

There is also a walk in centre for minor injuries etc, don't think they would prescribe anti biotics though (not sure)

[angeltattoo]

The NHS is generallly wonderful. But I would say that - I work for it and witness wonderful care and treatment being to given to all people, regardless of their ability to pay on a daily basis.

However, as a patient - i turned up for the second appointment of the day, to be told I won't be seen before 11:45am - this is shocking, doctor not even in clinic! As a user of the NHS' I can see this is frustrating. As a staff member, I suspect that said doctor was on rounds and giving people the time and attention they deserved, like they did for me when they eventually turned up in clinic.

OP is a fine example of one of the many wonderful people working on behalf of an NHS that the con-dems are trying to ruin, because, clearly, if you are special/important/dishonest enought to be able to pay then you are much more deserving than a poor person.

Actually, that wasn't what you asked was it? Ignore me! The nurse in me too adopts a 'watch and wait' approach, because unless it's falling off, it can't be too bad, can it? Having said that, when my Dad was ill with SPINAL CORD COMPRESSION I expect this to be treated, even on a Sunday morning, and the poor 22 year old girl who could barely do a neuro exam on him was representiative of your experience of fuckwittery!

[angeltattoo]

So I feel your pain and YANBU.

And miserable and unorofessional nurses give us all a bad name.