To wonder if we should expect anything of the NHS?

[HickDead]

I don't mean this to be a goody post but I seriously am wondering if I ABU to expect anything but basic lifesaving treatment from the NHS and if I should maybe invest in better private cover.

I have been suffering from pain for at least the past year and I haven't even been called for any diagnostic scans yet. The pain is so bad now that I've been signed off work but still no urgency seems to be attached to my referral. I hear similar complaints from others and wonder if I'm genuinely being too demanding and should just pay myself for better private health cover.

Just wondering what others' thoughts and experiences were?

Sorry goady post!

Can't comment on urgency without relevant info but have you confirmed with the hospital the referrals have actually been made (I'm assuming by your GP?) & spoken to appointments about being available for a cancellation? They'll be able to give you a rough idea of waiting times too.

I work for a crisis team and often people think they've been waiting months for an appointment and there's no referral to be found on the system. It's frustrating as hell for everybody involved.

Yes I have checked all this. I was referred initially as routine and then changed to the Rapid access clinic, that was downgraded to routine and nobody told me until I rang. Have asked to be considered for cancellations but as I'm quite far down the list I don't think I'm eligible for that yet either.

we have family private healthcare it costs pa the equivalent to a 2 week holiday abroad but I would sooner spend my money on health insurance rather than anything else.

www.nhs.uk/Services/Trusts/ReviewsAndRatings/DefaultView.aspx?id=89552&SortType=1#cmnt1881842

Welfare systems like the NHS are supposed to cover the shortfall and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable members of our society. Anyone who can afford private healthcare but uses the NHS instead is an entitled CF and are directly to blame for the completely terrible quality of healthcare that the NHS provides. Please be socially responsible and pay your way if you can afford it.

It's not a shambles, but it is under pressure and I do understand your frustrations. But Sometimes I find people that are not happy with the NHS have often not had to use it in a life or death basis, of which I think they really shine!!

The NHS saved my daughters life, without it she wouldn't be here, the care she received was second to none and all the medical staff involved deserve every penny they earn... and more! And unlike many other countries I did not pay a single penny.

Spare a thought for all the lives that have been saved, and all the families that have been kept together all because of our wonderful NHS

Ttbb I totally disagree that 'welfare systems like the NHS are supposed to cover the shortfall and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable members of our society'. If so I must have missed the memo

Yes I pay tax for many things, not just the NHS. What I meant by my statement was I was not presented with a £20k bill as i took my daughter out of the hospital ward.

She as as child has never paid tax and still received free, yes free treatment.

I must have missed that memo as well. The NHS is not Medicaid.

The NHS have saved my life in the past and I am very grateful to them. This isn't an NHS bashing thread at all, more of a what kind of care should you expect from it. I realise times have changed and they can't give the same level of care you would have expected 20 years ago.

I can afford very basic cover which is more like a money back system for services you have gone private for.

The NHS isn't a 'welfare system' it's a health service.

I agree, for diagnostics I would just pay if you can and save your mental health from taking a hit.

You can't now do the 'pay to see a consultant privately once, then get brought in under the NHS' to jump the queue a bit, but scans and simple things I would now just pay if I could and know the result sooner.
I'm sure the NHS often has a policy of making you come back over and over to see if you are serious - which just makes genuine people suffer needlessly.

Hick have you been back to your GP to chase the referrals up?
As unfortunately things can get "lost" in the system due to human or IT outages.
FWIW the care my family & I have received has been excellent 98% of the time.
The thought of living in the USA with their shambles of a health insurance fills me with dread.

Also missed that memo Ttbb.

The principle underlying the NHS is free healthcare to ALL at the point of delivery. It's funded by primarily by taxation, so we pay for our healthcare as part of our taxes, according to our means.
As an old socialist I am so proud of our NHS & the principles that under pin it - I think it is a measure of the decency of our society & values.
As an NHS employee & user I agree that we are facing serious challenges in the NHS.

You can't now do the 'pay to see a consultant privately once, then get brought in under the NHS' to jump the queue
You can if you , are seriously ill . I’ve just done it , 2 consultant appts , a shed load of private blood tests and now I’m back under the same consultant on the NHS . My GP has also been very helpful throughout with writing prescriptions . That said I did have 3 referrals in ( normal / expediated and another NHS consultant) the NHS system before we went private . We just couldn’t wait any longer because I was likely to end up back in hospital .

Its tricky.
I have had 2 ops in the last 4 years on the nhs. One was a hysterectomy. Referred as a 2ww and then fast tracked for surgery. Surgery was fine. After care poor.including being fed when i should have been nil by mouth. Second op wrist surgery. Took 15 months from referral to surgery. Poot aftercare again. Not given the sheet of instructions after surgery so compromised recovery.
If i had the funds i would go private tbh.

Lostmymojo- Mixed ward? Mixed sex or mixed specialty?

If it's mixed sex then you're unreasonable to expect whole wards to waste time moving patient's around each time there's a majority of the other sex and that's within a ward. Even mixed bays I couldn't care less about as long as I'm being treated well.

Mixed specialty I can understand as nursing staff have more knowledge in one area and mixing them up wastes time with the nurses having to check and double check what they're doing.

You are wrong to not expect more than life saving treatment from the NHS because they offer more. It's not like they are an emergency only service but people expect them to provide routine health care. They proffess to provide all levels of health care. It is on that basis that we pay our ni taxes and we should therefore expect a reasonable level of care for all aspects of their service.

What kind of pain / where is the pain? I ask because I have had chronic back pain for a year now and have only just been referred for a scan after I basically pleaded with the gp. I have been on Gabapentin, amitryptiline, diazepam etc and had physio. I was told that basically for back problems they don’t tend to give scans etc unless you have incontinence issues as there isn’t much they can do even if they do see something So I’m not sure about it all really.

On the other hand, I do have Addison’s disease and asthma and thyroid issues, all of which have been dealt with amazingly by all on the nhs and I couldn’t have asked for better treatment / information etc.

I think we should change our expectations of the NHS, and we need a frank discussion about whether it's the right place for lots of elderly people to die. By that I mean, if I'm 95 with my 10th chest infection of the winter, is a hospital really the best place, or is it time to move to palliative home based care.

I don't actually know the answer, but with a rapidly aging population it's a conversation we need to have. I think I would personally rather bow out at home, than be on a hospital ward having IV antibiotics which will work for a bit but then just get another chest infection anyway, all the while getting frailer and frailer with a poorer quality of life

I'm doing hospital tests with the NHS now and it's pretty dire. Two local hospitals had nothing so got third closest and it put my doctors in Northumberland when we live by London.

My symptoms are bad so OH let me wfh 4 days a week I'm lucky but something like cancer would have gone undetected - they've just ignored lots of internal bleeding. I don't have much confidence in them at present but I'm lucky work have offered to fund me going private. I don't think its right you should need to go private but for anything serious at the moment if you can afford it I would seriously consider it. I'm doing a scan which is already set up then likely to shift private. For day to day things I think its fine still.