AIB to ask why people expect/feel entitled to 'first class' treatment by the NHS?

[depressedhealthprofessional]

I ask because, having worked frontline in the NHS for nearly 20 years it feels like peoples expectations are becoming more and more unrealistic and out of step with the reality of what can atuially be achieved within the resources available (limited and shrinking in real terms each week)

I can honestly, hand on heart say that I have yet to meet any health professional who has 'survived' more than a few years in direct patient care who does not give more than 100% each and every day. yet all I hear is people grumbling and complaining that the NHS did not get this or that 100% right. I am not saying that we get it right absolutely all the time but for gods sake, if I have to hear about someone moaning about the quality of the mashed potato on the ward , the fact that the home help (provided by the NHS/social services) is refusing to wash the net curtains, or that it took (gasp) more than one investigation to find out what was wrong with them (they don't know what they are on about'/they are incompetent/ they are wasting my time') I am going to scream. It isi just so soul destroying that the nhs saves and improves the lives of countless millions each and every day yet all we get (in the main) is negative pres and individuals having no idea of what we are up against and just how damn hard we work.

I bloody challenge them to get on and step into our shoes!!

Rant over!!

YABU.

I don't understand why you are bringing home services into the discussion as they are no longer statutory provided.

I have been a user, worker in both Healthcare and SS and there are workers who don't do their job even adequately.

The service users don't understand the process etc and also they are at a time of crisis, so of course they are not at their best.

If you work with the general public, you accept they come in all types and you get on with it.

It is the patronising attitude of those who have the power in the situation that is the most annoying (and i speak as one with the power). I see incidents that are not acceptable.

I don't think it's unrealistic to go to the GP with a chronic, named, manageable condition and expect to be prescribed the medication your consultant has put you on. My PCT has decided it is.

I don't think it's unrealistic to expect doctors, nurses and other HCP's to actually give a damn about their patients. It's what they're paid to do for fucks sake!

You've completely shifted the goal posts there op. no one expects a hotel. I do expect my loved ones not to be left to die needlessly. It's not much to ask.

I think our patients should expect first class health care, I believe it is our duty as nurses and doctors to deliver it but what I think is difficult is providing the unreasonable expectations that unfortunately some patients have.

The NHS was started to save lives, not fund peoples life style choices. You suck money out then the in-need are disadvantaged. I really have little truck with people complaining (rightly) they cannot get cancer drugs etc when you have breast augmentations or rhinoplasty etc on the NHS.

And with that bone to munch on, I'm off to bed, night all.

Nobody is paying a large percentage of their salary towards the NHS. They pay peanuts but luckily don't get monkeys.

People whine about everything when they are lucky fuckers.

OP which country are you in?

I, and those I know, have never had anything less than (generally) first class care.

Of course you get the occasional cock-up.

And I'm sure you get lots of whingers with unrealistic expectation, but these are the sort who haggle in shops, and give bus drivers abuse for the last bus not turning up.

I am in Scotland though, and am aware that the NHS here is outwith Westminster control, and thus not being systematically dismantled in the same way.

I am going to scream.

You are in burn out, use your supervision process, swithch departments, to help.

Oh thanks penis. How lucky we are my uncle died of cancer which could have been treated.

With reference peoples comments about NI contributions, there is no way that what the average earner pays in NI would cover the degree of health insurance, pension rights and rights to state benefits that it does if each were purchased individually.....just a point as I do think there need to be realistic expectations about what we all 'pay in' and how much that actaully buys us all (or can do).

"And I'm sure you get lots of whingers with unrealistic expectation"

Whilst i was in hospital, i complained about the way a blind woman was treated, the lack of pressure cushions being put under patients being put in chairs all day, the lack of willingness to hoist a lady out of bed to feed her, when she was happy to eat like that, but didn't in bed, on the second day without food, i did that. The giving of [atient pillows to other patients (risk of cross infection).

I have read care plans that have scored a patient completely wrong, which has put them at risk, i could go on.

With the best will in the world, I just don't beleive that people can be offered the degree of choice and service (ie hotel lie surroundings, virtually no waiting times, high nurse/care staff to patient ratio) in the same way as can be provided by private care

I'd settle for clean wards and not having to listen to the cries of patients desperate for someone to bring them a bedpan after they've been asking repeatedly for it.

We all know the NHS is understaffed and the staff are overworked but in many hospitals basic cleanliness and humanity is all too often missing.

Vhub I am really sorry about your uncle....my dad also died of cancer in his 40's, it wasn't picked up intil it was advanced and yes I was upset about that, but looking at it in a dispassionate way there were reasons for that (bad luck and timing being two) and I never blamed one person in particular.

I have no idea of your uncles situation of ourse but sometimes people do forget that not everything van be fixed.....

to be realistic expectations about what we all 'pay in' and how much that actaully buys us all

The mistakes are not cost related, in every case, i spent months in hospital, which cost more than my needed x ray would. My blood tests must have been mixed up, or were just incorrect, which i have never got an explanation for.

Getting it right can save the NHS money.

My little DD2 has been in hospital lots of times and I remain completely indebted to the staff at our local hospital. I use a physio service there regularly which is brilliant and I couldn't be more grateful. I wish I could send all the people who have helped us flowers and choc and give them all a pay rise!!!!!!
OP I salute you.

I'm sure you're a good nurse op. but there are some shockers out there. Believe me. My mother used to think all nurses worked to her standards. after a brief hospital stay she realised they really don't.

The pressure sores that i have seen cannot be justified, but no hospital is ever charged with neglect. The pressure sores then cost more money to treat.

Birds yes I think burn out may well be the issue, and the reasons for burn out are many and varied. Unfortuantely my supervisor is more stressed out and under pressure than me and there are no jobs in other departments (at least not in my field). So its give up or keep going.

OP - so you are fed up. Sorry to be so blunt but if you're really that unhappy change careers. If you really want to know about 'first class care' ask my mum who recently broke her hip. She was given a half hip replacement because her surgeon 'doesn't do full hips'. She has been left in permanent pain with a severe limp and has been told she will need a full hip replacement in the next 12-24 months. Or you could ask me (and several other people on the thread I'm regularly on) about why it is their surgeon did not carry out all the procedures necessary to relieve their symptoms resulting in them needing a second operation (at least). My sister works in health care and I applaud her efforts and staying power..... But sadly I have come across too many HCP'S in this country who are lazy and can't be bothered to have much sympathy with you. (And maybe you should ask my dad who recently went to the drs with a numb area on his face - he hasn't been to the dr for years - to be told to 'keep an eye on it'.

I've had 7 out patient appointments and 2 in patient appointments cancelled since April!

Last Friday I went for an out patient appointment, the Consultant was running 2 and a half hours late. There were nurses and admin staff wandering around and not one of them gave those of us waiting any idea of what was going on. It was only when DH asked, after an hour and a half, that we were told. I said to the nurse it would have been more helpful and reassuring had someone had spoken to the waiting patients and she got really, really arsey! I was polite to her but she couldn't be polite back. Then to cap it all, I had to go to pharmacy for some drugs and there was an hour and a half wait there too!

The 'care' I received when pregnant with DS2, his birth and a subsequent operation have left me permenantly disabled!

I don't expect the NHS to be perfect, but sometimes I expect it to be better than it is!

Nobody should ever suffer because of poor care in any health setting (and private hopsitals IME can be just as bad for that)

But getting away from that side of things I do think some people are unrealistic in their expectations when it comes to little things. Having to wait 5 minutes for a bottle because everyone is busy is a PITA maybe but it's not the end of the world, having to wait in a and e to be seen is annoying but complaining because a child with breathing difficulties has gone in before you in just selfish.

OMG there are shockers out there I couldn't agree more, but I want to believe there are sooooo many more HCPs that do care about your friends and relatives.

I love the NHS and have always had, sometimes brilliant, always satisfactory care.

The NHS has gone to the shitter. It really has. People see the basic caring role of the medical profession as beneath them and I genuinely think nurses believe the hype that they're worth more than, well, a nursing job. Why should they clean out bed pans, change beds, wash out wounds, clean up vomit, help the old lady with dementia onto the commode? They've got degrees y'know. Leave it to the HCA's that's what they're employed for but oh they can't do those jobs because they've not had the training or been on the right courses that you can only get because you're a nurse...

DP's grandmother died from dehydration and, ultimately, kidney failure, in hospital brought on through negligence. She was bed bound and should have been on a drip but no bastard put her on it. She was in agony, should have been on morphine, by the time they finally found the medicine trolley key she'd slipped into unconciousness as the pain had got to much. She never regained consciousness. It was a cruel way to die, and she died far too soon had she recieved proper care.

NHS staff need to cover the basics. Feed, water, wash, provide comfort, talk, listen. It's not hard. It's not beneath you. Try being more compassionate it's not difficult.

chub I am sorry for your loss. It is an individual case which deeply affects those involved (you). However I do see where the OP is coming from I also work for the NHS and it does seem that some people feel that the NHS is only worthy of being abused but they have no reason to (eg, poor hospital food). Speaking as an employee of course there are some awful cases that are inexcusable, but this does not mean the NHS should be abused as a whole (not meaning you do this chub). My own experience as a patient is a little mixed but people can be very harsh and yes OP I do think some believe it is their right as it a service they'pay' for. But as penis (!) said we're lucky really as we don't pay a lot for what is available if we need it, and when it is implemented properly. This is getting very long winded but I know what I mean!