AIBU to think everyone has an NHS horror story?

[corygal]

Because I have, and he died. Went from ok to dead in 3 days. Violently. In hospital. The details are so simple, and so distinctive, that I can't out them on yer interweb. But at the inquest the doctors lied. Then lied again in court, as it happens, so no one can talk about it even 5 yrs on as it's still doing the court rounds.

So what has happened to you and the people you know? I'm posting because the expression 'everyone makes mistakes, even dedicated NHS staff' on a current thread has made my teeth itch.

The girl misdiagnosed with anorexia WAS in the last year. She only died the day before the summer holidays started.

Strangely, her mother insisted on staying OUT of our PCT for the remainder of her illness.

I think smaller PCT's get away with more, tbh. In a small PCT with only one main hospital serving a huge population in a wide area, there are no alternatives.

I think it's possible to find good medical care, but you have to work incredibly hard at it. Eventually you can find someone who is serious and caring - not easy, though. And it's all pretty much trial and error. You may be disabled in the process of trying to find a good practitioner.

If you're not fully compos mentis, you should always have some kind of advocate working on your behalf.

I have too many horror stories to begin to relate.

I have good and bad experiences.

I've posted some bad ones on the other thread, and there are more.

They saved DS2's life but left me permanently disabled!

I haven't a bad thing to say about the NHS. I'm Irish and I lived in the UK for a while. It kind of blows my mind that I got free medical care in the UK but not in my own country! so, no, I definitely don't have an NHS horror story.

Elective surgery when I was 13, I was left shivering, on a pillowless, blanketless trolley. Recovering from anaesthetic completly groggy and shivering (very violently) like mad. Was treated as though I was a nuisance, and was told I wasn't allowed a blanket or pillow, was shouted at and manhandled when I tried to change position. (apparently I had to stay in the recovery position)
Fast forward about 15 years. I have to go for more elective surgery. I was scared. I needent of been though! I woke up, warm tucked up in bed being looked after, and given pain relief. It was such a difference!
My dad was saved by an experimental drug in the fifties (TB meningitis), then 3 times when he had pneumonia, then by surgeons when he had a haemorrhage, he's had various help to get him walking and had his hip repaired when he broke it!
My mum died because the GP would not take her headaches seriously.
My nan died because she told the doctors to let her die.

My grandad was admitted due to blood in his urine and was kept into 2 weeks as it was continuing 10 days into his stay despitevall tje treatment , that my dad realised they were continuing my grandad's usual daily aspirin.... Funnily enough, the bleeding stopped once the aspirin was stopped...,
Most of my family works for the nhs, and I believe as a whole, it's a great thing, but it's down to the individuals that deal with a person.....

despite all the

No horror stories for me either but am very sorry for those that have, especially as someone who hopes to work for the NHS one day.

No horror story here either so YAB a bit U bt understandably so given your OP.

I think the NHS can be wonderful, the care my aunt received when terminally ill was fantastic and my cousins who are all Swiss just looked on in amazement at the care she received. I asked one of them if they had this in Switzerland and she nodded but said "not like this though" and they pay a massive amount for private health care.

The NHS can get things wrong though as your OP shows.

Yes I have had some dire experiences. My first labour. My Dads illness only being diagnosed when it was far too late despite our pleading, my Mums misdiagnosis that could have killed her.

However, I have also had some excellent experiences and can honestly say that my DH only has the 'normal' life he does thanks to the NHS and a dogged (and grumpy but we forgive him) consultant.

So sorry to hear about your experience OP and that you have no resolution.

Kladdaka, are you me? Although they did get my father with Parkinsons inside and put him in a chair in the front room at 3am out of reach of the phone and all his medication. Any time he goes into hospital they screw up his medication and set him back months. One of these days it will kill him, I'm in very little doubt.

And when my mother had a hip replacement they spilled a full bedpan over the incision site and then did absolutely nothing about it bar a quick wipe up with a regular cloth. Unsurprisingly she developed a significant wound infection.

In contrast every interaction I and the DCs have had with the NHS has been very positive - OK, yes, sometimes rather inefficient and I've had doctors make mistakes but nothing with lasting consequences, and I've had plenty of NHS staff go out of their way to help. But I'm scared of getting old.

Get your dc to be vets, Casey. Then you'll be OK - they can treat you.

I've thought about posting similar myself.
I'm trying to remember whether any member of my family has not had a disaster to one degree or another thanks to the NHS, I think maybe my 4 year old.
Like others I can't post them way too identifiable, however IMHO and IMHE it is very variable, one family member had a terrible time at a very 'up itself' teaching hospital but once we got him to a real specialist he had first rate treatment. It is also deteriorating at an unbelievable pace, again IMHO/IMHE.

My most recent birth was a catalogue of cock ups, arrogance and disasters from start to finish the fact that the entire staff were agency, they had no access to drugs other than those they had stuffed in their pockets before the day staff left, they gave me no food or drink for 24 hours, tried to throw me out then stop me from leaving because they couldn't find the paperwork, had no access to the machine they needed to do the tests because they were agency, spent 20 minutes screaming at each other in the corridor in front of me debating whether or not they were going to speak to me, and could not open the security door to exit the ward resulting in me having to climb over the security desk then vault back and run for the door before it had shut 24 hours postnatally with my newborn was the least of my problems should have alerted me to the dire state this again very arrogant teaching hospital was in. I actually find that an amusing tale suitable for providing light relief compared to what followed.

OP and so many others on this thread, I am sorry for what has happened to you/your relatives

I live in fear of getting old too.

I am a Registered Nurse (not practising at the mo) but my thoughhts are that what people want from NHS nurses who, lets face it, are often the front line staff is:

To be treated with kindness, respect and compassion
To have a clean ward and bed
To be able to get to the loo if needed
To be able to get food, fluids and any medication into themsleves with help as needed.

And they'd like all this with a smile

It isn't rocket science.

As soon as nurses (or any other NHS staff for that matter) lose sight of the human being they are caring for then things go wrong.

Yes I do.

But it's all masqueraded as a days work, so being called a cunt, having your shoulder dislocated and being told your you'll be cut up into little pieces is the norm.

I have some wonderful NHS stories, things that were good because of hospitals. I laugh at waiting list complaints considering I saw my GP 5:30pm last Friday and had an appointment for the hospital for 10:30am Monday (would have been next day if it wasn't Friday). I wouldn't have my children now if it wasn't for the NHS, I have heartbreaking similar stories from US friends who weren't entitled to the treatment I got that saved my children.

I have got some bad doctor stories and I think that mostly when things go wrong it's down to individuals who get it wrong. My dad calls his mother's death "passive euthanasia" but I don't for a moment believe that it is NHS policy or any policy to treat people how they treated Grandma. My aunt's GP who told her she was neurotic and left my cousins close to death is an idiot (I know him from our old church and he really is) but he's not the NHS.

I've always had excellent service as a patient from the NHS, couldn't fault it. However as a mw, I far too often witness how the NHS is failing its patients but this is no fault of the individual frontline staff but is down to poor resources, stupid wastage and incompetant management.
I cannot begin to explain how frustrating it is to those on the frontline who can no longer do the job they want or expected to do.

I can only praise the NHS for the treatment we get with my daughter who was diagnosed at the 20 week scan to be missing her hand.
We have had nothing but care from all the professionals, from the GP upwards, we deal with. They have taken time to phone me at home to check things are going okay, give more information and just check I and her were okay.

On the NHS we get OT appointments when I ask for them, we get prosthesis (cosmetic and functional at present-and if we had need of more we would get them too) whenever she grows, Christmas party with Santa, summer picnic, they'll speak by phone/email if we need help.

I believe in many countries that rely on private insurance, you would be spending over £200,000 on prosthesis alone by the time the child reaches 18, because it would not be covered-and that is a basic prosthesis, starting from older than we got them from, and assuming no more than one at a time.

We are very lucky to have the NHS. I don't deny their are faults, but there are in any profession-there is always going to be human error where humans are involved, and there will always be nasty people in every walk of life, anyone who denies that is as wrong as a school which claims no bullying.

One of my friends IM'd me on Facebook to ask for advice about inhalers as she knows my eldest is on them and her child doesn't like taking them. I asked if she has a chamber and was told she couldn't afford the $70 for one! I offered to buy one from Boots and send it to her or even one of our spare ones.

I'm on daily Aspirin, I know many people who aren't able to get a prescription because their insurance doesn't cover it. It's one of the things I hate about online support groups, the shocking difference in treatment. I wouldn't swap the NHS for anything.

I wouldn't swap the NHS for anything.

But my grandmothers sinus cancer wasn't spotted because the dr sent her away three times as he didn't have the correct instrument for checking it. No, "I'll make sure I have it next week, when can you come back?" Just, "I don't have the right instrument to check that. Come back if it gets worse." This was when the tumour was already so big that her eye was obviously bulging and the pupil was unable to look straight ahead IYSWIM. I can't fault the palliative care she received however.

My other grandmother spent some time in the local hospital and had generally excellent care apart from very basic things like needing to use a bed pan. She ended up soiling herself more than once because she would ask to use a bed pan and then be ignored for hours and repeated requests ignored. Which is just not fucking on when you'e in your mid 80s and unable to move from the bed. Some nurses then treated her like she was a disgusting disgrace for having the affront to poo in the bed even though she had begged for a bedpan.

I have encountered both good and bad, and hope that I talk about both in equal measures, but I have heard more bad experiences from family and friends than I have good ones.
People remember the bad stuff more because it can have such a profound effect on their or their loved ones. And considering how big and underfunded the NHS is, I imagine it isn't that unusual that you get both extremes even within the many professionals you encounter on the same visit to hospital.

One thing I do wonder about is just how true it is that the NHS was so much better years ago than it is now, you know the whole "bring back the matron" theme. My dad trained in it in the 60s and even he has some stories that would make your blood boil if you heard them now.

I've only lived in England for four years, and my contact with the NHS has been normal GP stuff and having two babies. Everything was great, no problems at all. Buuuut I live in a city with a particularly good service, I believe - it does seem to vary regionally.

I am lucky enough to be able to mix and match a bit though, and sometimes go to a private GP (i.e. for mastitis when my NHS GP wasn't keen on giving me antibiotics immediately).

I don't know anyone with a (well-founded) horror story about the NHS, but then, I only know people in my own city.