To ask what YOU would do to help save the NHS?

[TamiTayorismyparentingguru]

I don’t care if you’re an HCP or not, I don’t care who you vote for, I don’t care what you think about Brexit - all opinions welcome.

Opinions on practical suggestions on how to save the NHS only though.

Our local hospital is getting worse and worse with regards to staff shortages and waiting lists getting longer and longer. I will say that our GP is really great and we’ve never really had a problem with getting appointments etc, but as soon as you are referred to the hospital things go massively downhill. (We did have a GP misdiagnose/miss DH’s cancer which was pretty shit - but I wouldn’t say that was a particular problem with the system - more just one of those unfortunate things that happens, that really shouldn’t happen, but that are just a matter of course.)

The hospital is a different story though - wait lists for some departments are insane (current wait time for an initial cataracts appointment is 42 weeks and then up to 18m for treatment, paediatric dermatology is a min of 30weeks, paediatric podiatry is approx 30weeks also. I have been on a wait list for max fax for 14mths so far. I also had an 8week wait for an appointment at the breast clinic after seeing the GP with a noticeable lump.)

DH has also had to fight for every single appointment since his cancer treatment last year - instead of the 4-weekly appointments he’s meant to have had, most of his appointments have been 7-8 weeks apart and have been cancelled at the last minute (sometimes just an hour before) at least 4 times in the last year.

It’s awful and yet I do trust that the doctors, nurses, receptionists etc etc are all doing everything they possibly can.

What’s the solution?

I should say that these examples are simply a small sample of what is going on at my local hospital. I know it is just as bad, if not worse, at many/all other hospitals around the UK.

I love the NHS and having lived in a country without freely accessible healthcare, I am passionate about my only saving it but seeing it work well.

I honestly don’t know what will work though?

I would charge people for not missing appointments.
Unless there is a valid reason for not being able to ring up/email/speak in person to cancel the appointment.

Sorry I mean CHARGE PEOPLE FOR MISSING APPOINTMENTS

£50 charge walking into A and E.

Free tuition for nurses too, more work based learning.

1. stop schools from insisting on doctors letters for low amounts of school abscences

1. stop giving contracts to Virgin Care.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3384842-Virgin-Care-GP-surgery-voted-one-of-the-worst-in-the-country

Charge definitely for missed appointments. Don’t prescribe ridiculously cheap things to buy like paracetamol etc

@Dontfeellikeamillenial Doesn't that defeat the object of the NHS though?

What if a homeless person needed urgent medical care?

£50 charge walking into A and E.

And the person going in with chest pains etc who doesn't have £50?

What happens to them?

Stop people being able to go to the doctors with a cold.
Charge misuse of ambulances.
Charge those who can afford it to go to the doctors.
Not give prescriptions to those who can afford to buy it themselves.
No cosmetic surgery on nhs.

I agree with charging for missed appointments, and I really wish it would happen.

I don’t agree with charging for A&E though. (Apart from anything else - I have 4 DC and in the last 6mths I have had 3 of them in with broken bones (1 of them twice!). All accidents and all requiring an A&E visit for X-rays and casting/splinting. I can afford that but many can’t)

Cut out the beurocracy. To see one of my consultant I have to go through my GP who then requests it. Which results in a consultation letter being sent which their PA rings up to cancel and puts me straight onto their procedure list. They know me by name, know my situation yet we have to go through this circus at least every 6 months. I can't go direct as computer says no.

GP thinks it's stupid as does consultant but 'It's the way it works.'

How much time, energy and cost does that take if it's done for everyone?

@TracyBeakerSoYeah that should be the first thing.
Not a big charge, but enough to really motivate to come.

I think NHS should motivate more people in. They used to subside uni, but don't do it anymore. I think something towards education would be good to bring more staff in. There could be local scholarships ordinary people could pay towards (like a donationa £1- whatever can you afford) with conditions such as the recipient joining the hospital which gave them scholarship for x years at least. Keeping education, people and jobs local?

Hold management properly accountable for bad budgeting...

Oh where to start...

I’d sack 90% of the admin and clerical staff and start again.

I’d change the sick leave/sick pay policy as it’s currently abused by loads of staff.

I’d get rid of a whole layer of middle management and loads of “project manager” jobs.

That would just be for starters.

Allow pharmacists to diagnose and prescribe certain medications to relieve some of the pressure on GPs.

I'm retrain to work for the NHS...as a radiographer. Encourage kids to go into medicine if they like science. There will be jobs as all the Europeans are leaving.

Charge for none medical services such as hospital transport. Millions spent picking up patients for hospital appointments and taking them home again.
All free to all, regardless of means. I'm not in favour of means testing as it's costly.
A modest charge, less than a taxi, more like a bus fare and many of those patients would find they could get a lift (or take the car).

I would charge for missed appointments (unless dire circumstances can be shown)

I would go ahead with a monitored, safe drunk tank to let people sleep off drunken binges safely. Charge for that afterwards too.

I would pay more tax. I know that's not popular but I believe we should all have to pay an NHS tax in our pay packet/tax point. It would be completely ring fenced and run/managed by an independent body - so basically keeping it funded by the public purse but stop it being a political football. Obviously the NHS body and Government would have to liaise on when to raise the NHS tax etc.

The ethos of the NHS is amazing and long may it live. However is a whole massive behemoth of a beast compared to what the U.K. was like when it was conceived. We need to pay for it. We need to cough up more.

No politician around right now wants an honest discussion about the NHS because it's sacred and their too scared to talk about it properly.

My two pennies worth anyway.

Stop hospitals sending out letters requiring you to call to make an appointment. You call, only to be given an appointment (can't choose) then you receive another letter confirming the appointment. Such a waste of postage costs and administration.

I also agree with the prescription thing. I have been offered so many prescriptions for creams for DD (she has eczema and psoriasis) which are available over the counter. I always say no unless it’s actually one that needs to be prescribed, but I am annoyed that they even offer it.

I always wonder about the amount spent on stuff that’s not actually the necessities - artwork for instance. I know that we don’t want hospitals to be bare, sterile places but surely when the organisation is in such dire straits we should be focusing on staff, not niceties?

Oh yeah...and don't let the tuition fees put you off...it's a student loan that comes out of wages. It should be free but this government want to run it into the ground...which brings me onto...don't vote Tory!

Fed up patients have joined forces to demand change at what has been branded the worst GP practice in the country.
10 comments

More than 130 disgruntled residents have shared their experiences of Church Lane Surgery, in Braintree, as part of a new Facebook group.

The surgery, run by Virgin Care, was ranked the worst in England for overall experience during the last nationwide GP patient survey.

Patients now say they have had enough.

Tamasine Peppiatt, who is part of Action to Change Church Lane Surgery, has spent five months waiting for the correct post-surgery care

She said: “After numerous complaints online, people in the surgery themselves complaining, a Facebook group with more than 130 unhappy patients and my own personal experience, we are now demanding change.

“We want answers with a business plan on how Braintree residents can get the care and
service they deserve.

“The surgery is ranked one of the lowest in the whole of the UK, and it is obvious why.

“It is disgusting and abhorrent the way the citizens of Braintree are being treated and used to make money.”

The surgery has faced criticism in the past by patients who are unable to get through on the phone, with just seven per cent of patients describing the process as easy, compared to a national average of 70 per cent.

Linda Kirby, who the Times spoke to in April, waited on hold for 52 minutes while trying to get an appointment for her terminally-ill mother.

Members of the Facebook group have now shared their own experiences at the practice.

One person said: “I was sent in to see the diabetic nurse who incorrectly carried out the test on my feet.

“I questioned her and she told me to stop talking as she hadn’t had a cup of coffee all day and I was giving her a headache.

“I made a complaint to reception in writing and heard nothing more.”

Virgin Care says it is committed to improving the surgery, which is the largest in Braintree.

To be honest mine is fine and the ones my family use are fine and we have chronic illness, death, all sorts. I’ve had an x-ray post accident at a minor injuries this week and was in and out in half an hour. Used gynae, A&E. No problems at all and no excessive waiting.

We live in areas with good trusts though. They’re urban and certainly not wealthy areas but they are established trust areas with experienced staff and well run.

People who have bad experiences usually live in areas with poorly run trusts. I think some sort of arrangement to parachute staff with a proven track record of success in to sort out some of the failing trusts might be an idea.

Only offer treatments that are actually needed, so no purely cosmetic surgery, e-cigarette prescriptions and sorry no ivf.

Everyone has to pay for prescriptions but a much lower charge. No prescriptions for paracetamol, calpol, headline treatments, moisturiser etc that are easily available to buy over the counter.

A nominal fee for meals.

Pay rises inline with the private sector.

More cleaners to keep the wards clean.

A smoother transition from hospital to social care.

The ethos of the NHS is wonderful but it's a 1950's model that can not cope with today's expectations. No amount of money will improve it unless it is completely overhauled from grass roots up. No political party wants to admit it needs to be overhauled or be responsible for an overhaul.