To be disappointed at waiting list.

[NachoAddict]

First things first I am super greatful for the NHS and I do know how lucky I am to be receiving treatment for free.

BUT am I being unreasonable to be disappointed at the length of the waiting list.

I am on the list to have double jaw surgery. My teeth have been ready since the end of June and I was put on the list. Heard nothing so gave them a ring today and they have said they have my paperwork but they haven't got a date for me yet. They are currently booking January appointments so it will be at least into the new year.

I feel like crying. That is at least 7 months in braces just waiting .

Anyway I will zip up my woman suit and stop moping now, just wanted to unload how disappointed I am.

Blame the current government. Didn't used to be waiting lists before austerity.

That's standard unfortunately. My heart did funny things in pregnancy and the consultant wanted it checking to make sure I was safe for labour. That appointment happened with my DD was 2 weeks old.

At least you got seen. I've been waiting 4 months just for a bloody appointment.

Wow I didnt realise the waiting lists for urgent things were so long too. I feel like a proper brat now!

I actually have private health insurance through work but the consultant said I would be on the same waiting list either way. Literally the only difference would be who paid for it.

OP I do share your pain, I'm waiting for a cataract operation but if your private health insurance said it would be the same waiting time I can't see where the NHS comes in.

As for PFI - it was started by John Major as was the introduction of middle managers, both were continued by Labour and George Osborne added to it significantly with PFI 2.

In August this year the Business Sections of most papers highlighted it's been 10 years since the start of the financial crash. The bank which started the crash was French - PNP Baribas (sp?) - in which Northern Rock had invested heavily in their sub prime mortgage scheme (the biggest scam ever) and then Lehman brothers. Nothing to do with any politician and it doesn't bear thinking about what would've happened if Brown had let the banks go bankrupt. 100,000 of UK citizens would've lost everything. Brown saved them. The Americans recognised it was their sub-prime system that caused the crash. If Thatcher hadn't de-regulated the City in 1986 the UK would've been fine.

My health insurance didnt say that, the consultant did. He said he doesnt usually do it privately but if I wanted him to he would but I would be on exactly the same waiting list. The only difference would be who paid in the end.

My ortho says he is one of the best at what he does and it will be worth waiting for him. I am just disappointed, it seems such a long wait. Just need to keep telling myself that this time next year it will be but a distant memory.

YANBU OP, it does suck but good luck, it will go quickly.

NHS IS NOT free, and people should be reminded of that fact both ways. One, because we do pay for it through taxation (private AND corporate, it's not only your NI that finances it).
More importantly, because time wasters have no clue about how much their behaviour cost: cancelling for no reason, calling ambulance when not needed, visiting A&E for a cold, the list goes on.

I've been waiting 3 months for surgery on my arthritic shoulder. Every now and then I get a couple of days when I can hardly move my arm and the whole shoulder goes into spasm.

When it happens, I seriously consider going private (it's around £3.5k, so pretty cheap as surgery goes), but am ideologically opposed to private medicine. Luckily, it seems to settle down before my pain outweighs my conscience.

The lack of investment in the NHS is a bloody disgrace imo.

The NHS is great. However I've been on the waiting list for surgery since the start of the year. It was supposed to be a six month waiting list. I've been told that I'm not supposed to lift my children while I'm waiting. I have a 2 year old and 4 year old (both 91st centile!), and it's impossible in the case of my 2 year old who is always climbing etc. It's meant not being able to walk for more than half an hour without it becoming painful (and I don't drive). If I lift the 2 year old too much it's painful. If I take him to the playground, where he needs to be lifted in and out of swings then I'm in pain for days afterwards, so we rarely go. I was finally supposed to have my op last month and they cancelled! In the meantime I'm not able to do everything that I would like to with my children. I've got a new date however they've said it could be cancelled again (and I need help with the children for six weeks afterwards as it's essential I don't lift during that time, so it also has a knock on effect there too).

That sounds like a nightmare Auto.

I have never needed treatment before other than pregnancy so I had no idea that this is how things are! I have been really shocked and this thread is opening my eyes all the more.
Don't get me wrong, I knew the NHS was struggling but I didn't have any actual experience with it.

OP, and other sufferers, I am very sorry for what you are going through.

Since the referendum in June 2016 this country has become increasingly uncomfortable for nationals of mainland EU countries and they have been leaving positions of expertise and necessity. So have many UK nationals who see the writing on the wall. Those positions have not been filled. We cannot recruit. The brain drain is not only in the NHS but that is where most people will feel it first.

Bearing in mind we have a tory party ideologically committed to privatising the NHS this sort of story is becoming more and more common.

"Official figures revealed that in March this year there were 30,613 vacant full-time positions advertised by NHS England – up from 26,424 in the same month in 2016 and 26,406 in 2015." ... "Nurses said the true number of unfilled jobs is “far higher than the number of online adverts”, citing a figure of 40,000 in England alone, and warned patient safety is suffering as people are put off the profession by “low pay, relentless pressure and new training costs”.

“NHS staffing levels are reaching crisis point,” said Janet Davies, head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN)."

From: www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-staff-vacancies-rise-10-per-cent-2017-86000-nurses-midwives-doctors-recruitment-crisis-brexit-a7858961.html

£60bn extra borrowing has been put aside in the last budget to pay for brexit. Money we should be spending for the benefit of this country.

We cannot talk about the NHS or any of our other public services without talk of the impact of leaving the EU. There has been a 92% drop in applications for NHS jobs from mainland EU nurses since the referendum.

For more see www.healthierin.eu/factsheet and then please sign and share this petition for a vote on the final deal on brexit petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200004

I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. The nation continues to vote in a government that is ideologically opposed to the NHS and hell bent on privatisation, and will carry on deliberately underfunding it until they can argue that it is no longer a viable service and privatisation is the only way forward. In the meantime, staff numbers get lower, hospital debts get higher, waiting lists get longer.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-deficit-crisis-one-chart-that-shows-how-the-nhs-is-headed-for-financial-ruin-a6687926.html

I was put on the list for cardiac surgery - without which I will die - in Janary. No sign of a date yet.

I blame the May, and the Cameron and just Tories generally.

You are being unfair. If you are upset about a long waiting list you need to go private. Your operation is non-urgent. Consider going private if you want it quicker. Resources are limited.

Orbitmic if you'd read all the OPs posts you'd know that even if she goes private it'll be the same consultant with the same waiting time.

I'm in the process if having this done privately, 5k (no insurance) but no waiting list. Honestly I find the price infuriating, obvs glad I can afford it but still not finding the NHS wait acceptable in a vountry claiming they give universal health services.

I normally pay privately now. It was a 20 or 26 week wait to see a gyne on the NHS, so I used DH health insurance from work. Saw a consultant of my choosing (who was also an NHS one) within 3 days. It costs us the excess on DH's policy which was around £42.

I am lucky that I can do this, luckier still DH has private health insurance via work. I need to have a hysterectomy the NHS has refused to do this as I do not meet their 'criteria' which is utter tosh, (my consultant recommended it as other treatments are not suitable and have failed) it's a cost issue and age issue if I was over 38 it would be bloody fine, sorry but I am not suffering for the next X years. I have discussed with dh and I will have it done via the health insurance.

I do think the NHS is failing and is now getting beyond repair.

I think if I had a choice I would always use private, and opt out of paying NI and use it to fund my own private health insurance. I am quite probably very biased tho as the NHS has failed me miserably in the past.

Jux that is appalling, I had no idea things were so bad. I just assumed urgent life saving surgery was readily available.

Orbit I have already enquired about paying privately.

I don't see my ortho again untill the end of Nov, I wonder if he can refer me to another private surgeon? The consultant I have has already done planning work and stuff though.

You have private insurance, you'll find someone to sort you out very quickly, phone consultants secretary and that consultant might refer you on, if not get your gp to refer you. I absolutely would not be waiting if I could afford to go privately and you can. Don't worry about planning work already done on the NHS, not your problem. You priority is being seen, with private insurance you will be seen very quickly. The NHS is shite, forget about the NHS.

Definitely offer to take a cancellation if you can. I started with pain at the end of March, saw a consultant, cried my eyes out when the bookings people rang me because I couldn't cope with the pain and hospital were talking about admitting me for pain control. Took the op date of 11th may as a cancellation. Luckily I accepted it as 36hrs before the planned date it turned into emergency surgery and I was first on the list and done in the morning

There aren't enough beds, money, nurses or doctors, the only thing that us in plentiful supply is very ill people with complex needs.

I cant have s cancellation as there are several appointments that need to be done in the 6 weeks prior. Its all so frustrating.

The ortho said this surgeon is one of the best at what he does, he does it every week. He definitley thinks I should stick with him since it is my face.

This thread has been a real eye opener for me, its something you know, the NHS is on its knees but I genuinely did not realise that urgent life saving care was so hard to come by. I am really surprised. I just wanted a bit of a moan but I have learnt something.

Quite surprised at some of the posts on here - in my trust from referral to treatment can't be no more than 18 weeks and if that's breached the the trust is heavily fined - like thousands for one patient.

There will be other good surgeons, you can pick whoever you want privately. Start the process again, ig will still be quicker than NHS, I'm astonished that someone with private insurance even considered using the NHS. In addition to quick, you will be seen in a clean private hospital with a private room and en suite bathroom and fed food fit for human consumption instead of the swill served by the NHS which I wouldn't serve to my dog. Abandon the NHS, you will be sorted before your NHS appointment comes up. Also very misleading of your consultant to let you think that privately you would be seen in the same timescale as NHS!

18 weeks applies to all trusts but nobody is being fined anymore. There aren't fines for failing the a and e target either but you don't get the 'sustainability' bonus. Nearly every trust in the country is spiralling down a financial hole and that's without fines being levied.
18 weeks is purely theoretical now, waiting lists are growing, elective capacity is knackered by acute pressures and it's the same staff who are on their knees.