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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

999 replies

TamiTayorismyparentingguru · 15/10/2018 18:40

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
pacer142 · 23/10/2018 10:09

Art really improves the environment and the patient's outlook.

So buy some cheap prints from Dunelm etc, not commission six figure unique pieces!

pacer142 · 23/10/2018 10:19

When someone fucks up in those professions nobody dies.

Maybe not dies, but they do have the jobs of hundreds/thousands of workers in their hands. I remember the stress I was under when I was the financial director of a tech/design firm that employed hundreds. I had sleepless nights when customers were late with payments and it looked like we couldn't afford to pay the wages that week. I remember the sleepless nights when work was drying up and we had to decide which workers to make redundant. I remember working 3 days solid, no sleep at all, not even leaving the building, just eating sandwiches from the vending machine, when the bank threatened to foreclose on our overdraft and I had to create forecasts/budgets to try to persuade them to extend our overdraft - otherwise the whole company would have closed. I helped get the company through several problems in it's early growth stages, and it still exists today, now employing thousands with turnover of hundreds of millions of pounds. And my wages weren't even enough to make me a higher rate taxpayer, no gold plated pension, etc.

And yes, I do understand consequential death, because in a different role, one of my client firm smade a small number of redundancies, and I was involved with the selection process, and one of the managers made redundant hanged himself that night! So, indirectly, I was responsible. That's the kind of experience that simply never leaves you. I could never go back to that firm, and still, 30 years later, can't even drive past it.

MereDintofPandiculation · 23/10/2018 10:20

I'm from the generation of feminists that fought for maternity leave and equal pay. That generation also fought to change depiction of women in the media - adverts with a man explaining to a woman how to wash up, chemistry sets with a little boy playing while his sister watched. The little things add up to shape expectations.

MorbidlyObese · 23/10/2018 10:33

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Justanotherlurker · 23/10/2018 11:07

Simple super light electric cars are replacing mopeds across South East Asia - and most of them don't meet the complex safety requirements we have.

More economical to move production over there, it would have been the same outcome if we wasn't leaving the EU.

Justanotherlurker · 23/10/2018 11:07

Wrong thread, sorry

Bluelady · 23/10/2018 11:28

As one of that generation, Mere, the vast majority of were completely frustrated by the kind of offence taking you describe. We realised that by getting women into positions of influence and power that kind of advertising would naturally disappear. Those women who were so easily offended lost the cause credibility and opened it up to ridicule. Some of us got very angry about it.

Want2bSupermum · 23/10/2018 13:43

Well the work I do makes sure those pension pots are well taken care of and can pay out to people once they retire and afterwards. I took that responsibility very seriously as did my colleagues. When the market blew in 2008 my boss sat with his hands in his face. He said the low rates were killing pensions and for every further downward movement in the market it would literally kill off the elderly next year because they don't have the money for air conditioning in summer or heat in winter.

Yeah we aren't doctors but we have a much bigger impact than anyone realizes. Certain people get paid very well but most don't and yes we work weekends, just like doctors. No we don't have final salary pensions. We have to save for our retirement. NHS employees have the best pension and salaries paid reflect that. For a £60k salary paid, including pension it's probably equivalent to a salary of £72-75k a year in the private sector, the range depending on the age of the employee.

TamiTayorismyparentingguru · 23/10/2018 14:05

Art really improves the environment and the patient's outlook.

So buy some cheap prints from Dunelm etc, not commission six figure unique pieces!

This is it exactly Pacer. I said in my previous post that we DON’T want hospitals to be sterile places, but there has to be some balance. I DON’T have expensive, individually commissioned works of art in my house - I am quite happy with cheap prints!

Yes - we want the hospital to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible, but there needs to be a line drawn and SOME of the art in hospitals is another example of downright waste. Whoever is authorising this waste has their priorities wrong.

OP posts:
florafawna · 23/10/2018 14:05

Sack the incompetent management.

Bluelady · 23/10/2018 14:20

To be fair most original art is gifted or bought with charitable funds donated for the purpose. If someone donates or bequeaths money for art, it can't be spent on anything else

Want2bSupermum · 23/10/2018 14:23

Artwork here in the US hospitals I've been in are the decals stuck to the wall or paintings by local artists painted directly on the wall. They look great and are easily cleaned. Auditing a hospital, they paid $1000 for each painting back in 2009.

pacer142 · 23/10/2018 14:28

Have you a link/source to prove "most" is gifted or bought from donations. The independent newspaper report below suggest otherwise.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cash-poor-nhs-spends-millions-on-art-despite-cuts-that-led-to-thousands-of-job-losses-9005439.html

Bluelady · 23/10/2018 15:01

No link - not even a five year old one - just nearly 30 years experience of working in hospitals, none of which funded artwork from core income. One did receive a £50k legacy specifically to fund art. In many cases the art is also on loan.

Luangwa · 23/10/2018 16:58

When someone fucks up in those professions nobody dies.

Lol! Tell me, all you doctors on here - are you allowed to treat your own children; or are you deemed to be too emotionally involved to make the right decision?

We have a DD with the most severe complex epilepsy, per a Professor of Neurology and she has been under three!
For the last 10 years, if she got hungry or cold or hot or bored or inactive or stressed or excited or in pain, she went into status epilepticus and after giving 2 doses of benzodiazepines, we had to call 999.

Her consultant told me if she had 10 seizures in 20 minutes to call 999. I told him that happened every day, and as we have 2 other children, I could not spend 4 hours a day in A & E! He told me I knew her epilepsy better than anybody and to call when I was worried! So everyday, I had to make a decision whether to call 999, having also been told she could go into a state of continuous seizures, suffer brain damage and die within a few hours at any time!

How many doctors have to make sure in all their waking hours, that their child never gets hungry, cold, hot, bored, etc or else they will be in A & E and an admission to HDU? An example, DD wet herself during a seizure. I was cooking dinner and she told me she was going upstairs to change! She had a seizure, coming down and fell down the stairs - all because in the split second, I did not think when she has one seizure, another one often follows! She has suffered numerous head, neck and back injuries, broken teeth and bones falling down in seizures! All it took in the winter was to open the front door, and as the cold air rushed in, she fell down unconscious and hit her head on the radiator! Likwise, stepping outside could mean a trip to Minor Injuries for the nurses to scrub all the grit out of her chin and stitch it up! Her sister was sick and fainted at the sight!

Equally, she can is in the highest risk group for Sudden Death in Epilepsy at any time. We go to bed, knowing she could be dead when we wake up! Every day, we wake up, knowing she could die in Status or a drop attack that day (think stairs, escalators, pavements on busy roads, train platforms....) So often, we have seen horrific drop attacks, with her blood over the furniture, the walls, carpet....and we thought she was dead!

It is accepted by Social Services, the CCG, care agencies and specialist epilepsy care providers, it is too stressful for one person to look after her. She needs an on-site medical centre 24/7, trained care staff, audio/video/mattress monitoring all night, onsite consultant neurologists managing her epilepsy - yet it has taken 10 years for all those people to accept this, while we looked after her on our own!

It is known parents are likely to suffer Major Depressive Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress, PTSD, grief and anxiety with a divorce rate of upto 75%! We all have PTSD, and her sister has attempted suicide 22 times in the last 5 years, due developing BPD at all the trauma. We never know if we say the wrong thing to her, if she will go off and attempt suicide again! Her consultant psychiatrist said it was an intolerable situation for any parents to have 2 daughters who could die at any time!

So, yes I do have a fucking clue about life or death responsibility 24/7, where the slightest mistake could cause the death of one of my children - and then we have to go and shout at junior doctors in A & E, who don’t know what they are talking about, that they need to ring up Queen Sq for advice! (As we have been told numerous times by her consultant neurologists, we must do - because they tell us, DD is safer with us than she is in A & E with junior doctors!)

IrmaFayLear · 23/10/2018 17:00

Yes, it's nonsense that all accountants are sleazy weasels trying to save tax for celebrities. If you are the FD of a large company, especially one in trouble, you are probably suffering the same stress levels as a football manager (well known for being the job most likely to give you a heart attack).

I have also had senior civil servants carping that they don't earn as much as those in private sector. No, not as much as a very few people whose share options etc have worked out, but considerably more than most schmucks who can only dream of your pension/sick pay/guaranteed career progression etc etc.

I think with doctors there has got to be a brake on so many (and it does seem to be women) aiming to be (part-time) GPs. There seem to be a lot of doctors where I live, and the usual pattern is one of them (usually the dw) being a GP, the other a consultant etc. I was talking to one doctor the other week who said she had wanted to be a paediatric surgeon, but no way was she going to be on call at nights.

Want2bSupermum · 23/10/2018 17:08

luangwa Flowers

I'm so sorry your family have been through that. It's stories like yours why we haven't returned to the Uk.

For everyone saying how awful it is here in America, Thursday/Friday DS started making darting movements with his eyes to the sides. He has a diagnosis of autism. Neurological issues come part and parcel of his condition. Both DH and I are really worried about this. DH cancelled his travel plans yesterday to be around in case he needed to be seen as we are a sitter down. His temperature rose yesterday and got an appointment by calling at 2pm for 4:30pm. Tomorrow he will be seen by the opthamologist and neurologist to rule out more serious issues. We have a consult with the developmental paediatrician who has a specialty in neurological issues for Friday. Total cost $150 for copayments. If we earned less than $200k a year we would pay nothing and be seeing the same doctors at the same times. This doesn't happen in the UK. It should. The gap is money but also professional competence of those working in the system. It's not the doctors but the admin who are making this possible. Notes have been shared, I've done the intake on the phone etc.

aquashiv · 23/10/2018 17:11

Note vote conservative🤕

shouldidoitspoilt · 23/10/2018 17:11

I've got a thing about them opening new packets of canulas to get a cap for one that's already in.. £60 a pop

The wasted medicine they give out

The individually wrapped biscuits..

The silly sized portions of food

The clinell branded wipes?? Why not just another own brand?

Start small

Graphista · 23/10/2018 18:04

"So buy some cheap prints from Dunelm etc, not commission six figure unique pieces" exactly! It's one area that my local nhs is actually ok on because they display artwork created and donated by patients and relatives - areas made "cosy" for free, patients and relatives enjoying seeing their artwork used. Absolutely NO need for stupidly expensive work to be commissioned!

"One did receive a £50k legacy specifically to fund art. In many cases the art is also on loan." I'm guessing the art is insured - who pays for that?

Bluelady · 23/10/2018 18:43

The owner, Graphista.

Graphista · 23/10/2018 18:51

But if the owner is nhs as bought with donation/legacy then how much is that costing?

Bluelady · 23/10/2018 19:03

The public sector is famous for never insuring anything.

Graphista · 23/10/2018 19:13

Even more reason to use cheap prints.

FishesThatFly · 23/10/2018 19:24

Sort out elderly and social care first. This will then filter down as beds are available.