The NHS has collapsed.

[brahmahda]

It's great that no Covid wards have been overwhelmed for lack of ventilators - Clap Clap. But ...

1. My regular preventative treatment for a chronic condition has stopped, with no sign of it restarting.
2. My 13yo son needs diagnostic tests for symptoms he's had for several months, but the diagnostic clinic is closed, again with no sign of it restarting.
3. A vital service that the GP would normally provide has been redirected to a "hub" with a convoluted appointment booking process and a very long waiting list.
4. My elderly, isolated/ing mum who urgently needs a face-to-face with her GP due to a sudden decline in her health has been messed around with a complicated process that changes depends on who she speaks to (she was phoned and told she'd need to get a Covid test 10 mins before setting off for the appointment, so had to cancel it).

Of course issues of delayed cancer treatments etc have been widely reported in the news, but it's clear that they are just the tip of the iceberg. The problems must be impacting almost every family in the country to some extent, and there's no sign of them being temporary. I just can't see the NHS getting back onto it's already-shaky track in the foreseeable future.

Anyone else find this terrifying?

Our GP and local services are running better than ever tbh. Clearly we’re the lucky ones but some health issues with myself have been dealt with quicker than in the past!

The NHS has never been great for non-acute orthopaedic stuff (since I've been old enough to notice...). Actual broken bone, great, soft tissue damage not so much.

We have always gone straight to (private) physio/chiropractor for anything not broken.

Stuff that's acute has been fine. Last couple of months have had to deal with Appendicitis (referred to OOH GP, who referred up to ward, bypassing need to wait in A&E, then 24H wait (monitored including bloods) for Covid swab result before surgery. Suspect pre Covid they'd have operated sooner but clinically it wasn't worth the risk to staff or me (GA with asymptomatic/pre symptomatic Covid is risky) to do a surgery that was urgent but not emergency without that information. 20 month old had a fever that was not responsive to Calpol then weird balance stuff, seen at OOH GP and A&E, the spoke to GP who sent us on to A&E where he was seen by a consultant for a thorough exam. Also 5 year old put Lego up nose, was seen really quickly at A&E minors where the Dr efficiently removed the offending item (30 odd minute wait not a problem with an otherwise well child) and was pleased we'd left removal to those with the proper tools as most "self help" attempts end up making the job harder...

No one has any chronic conditions, managed to catch 20 month old's vaccines up to date (little git needed lockdown to not dodge them through illness!)

So generally happy with the NHS in our limited (and privileged) experience.

Our hospital is doing catch up appointments at the weekends plus putting in preparation for a winter peak .

I would say that GP services here have improved. A new website has meant that many more admin or query type things can be done or requested online. This has made it much easier to get through on the phone when you need to. The system for appointments also cuts out a lot of time wasting I imagine - an initial phone consultation & then a face to face appointment if necessary.

On the other hand, hospitals are chaotic. I work in one. Clinics, outpatient services & non emergency service are all resuming slowly. However the backlog is understandably huge & the stories of patients who have literally died waiting are coming through. Yesterday our trust (a large one) was put back on Covid alert. Our numbers of Covid patients in ITU have increased dramatically over the past week, although the local news obviously hasn’t got wind of that yet.

Non emergency surgery.

My DH is a hospital manager and they've been on 'Back to Normal' planning for a good few weeks now and kept many of their cancer services going throughout. I expect there are different pictures across the country.

@1neverending

And hospitals are working hard to prepare for winter and any potential second waves

I don't buy this.

I was at A&E over the weekend, in Paediatrics - I went in with my kid at around 5.30am. Obviously not the busiest time, but it was actually empty i.e. the lights were out and I had to go back to A&E reception so they could phone over.

Because it was empty we skipped the triage room, straight back to the examination room, discussed the issue and they pretty quickly worked out that he needed emergency surgery (timely, but not life-threatening).

They said they'd have to call up to theatre and see how busy it was - all in all, he was being anaesthetised by just a bit after 7am.

We were discharged by about 1pm (minor surgery).

Now I'm not complaining, it was fucking fantastic - we joked that this was what it must be like to be a billionaire. I can't say enough about how great the doctors and nurses were; I've very rarely had a bad interaction with any clinical NHS staff.

But surely this can't be right that a normally busy central London hospital could be so not busy that this could happen?

a&e often has a front door and a back door - so one for those able to walk in and one where the serious cases are taken. It's possible for all the a&e staff on at night to be tied up with an emergency but 5.30 a.m is a good time to go - you'd find it busier at midnight or 9 a.m. Also some a&e are now trialling a system whereby you phone ahead and are given a time slot if your injury is not actually time critical.

The quiet times are when the junior doctors get some of their teaching in, if they have not been asked to help somewhere else in the hospital.

I've phoned our GP practice 5 times now trying to book a smear test. Each time I've been told to phone back next week - all the appointments have gone. Due to covid they can't book appointments more than a week in advance - bloody annoying and designed it seems to put you off bothering. Things are definitely much worse then they were.

Healthcare in my area is appalling. A friend had an abnormal bowel screen result shortly before lockdown and was referred for a colonoscopy. That finally happened at the end of June. Thankfully he did not have bowel cancer brewing all that time. The delay is largely understandable.

However I saw another friend today who has been having gynae problems in lockdown, with severe pain and heavy bleeding. Hospital told her to go to GP for a scan. GP said they could do an internal exam but not a full scan because - wait for it - you must have a completely empty bladder and the surgery toilets are closed to patients. The waiting list for a hospital scan is 42 weeks.

In general things have continued as normal (No complaints). The issue I have is with medication supply due to Brexit/Covid. There are shortages of various genetic medications atm as the manufacturers are making what is "most profitable". That's great, but for those of us reliant on the drug that's now out of stock things are starting to get pretty bad. My surgery now employs a pharmacist full time - more of their job is taken up with sourcing medication for patients locally from pharmacies that have it/ can get it!

There is a report on the BBC news right now that 80,000 people in England are waiting for more than a year for treatment.

There are over 100,000 people waiting for more than a year in N Ireland.

What's it like in Scotland?

And Wales? Sorry Wales, didn't mean to ignore you.

I'm a practice nurse doing smears day in and day out, and all through Covid. We can book nurse appointments up to November in our surgery at the minute. Although they are filling up fast with the backlog!

@tearinyourhand

There is a report on the BBC news right now that 80,000 people in England are waiting for more than a year for treatment.

There are over 100,000 people waiting for more than a year in N Ireland.

What's it like in Scotland?

That's not the full story.

You are not wrong at all. My DF was seriously unwell during lockdown and needed an operation. He went private and even that was a horrific experience as the private hospitals had also been closed down. He has had the op now but if he were an NHS patient I’m afraid he’d still be waiting... I really hope you get the treatment you need from the NHS. Unfortunately, the measures they’ve taken will end up killing more people than saving.

I'm trying to get a referral for a check-up of something that could have a small risk of cancer. The wait time for the department used to be 6 weeks.....now it's 28! The referral was made in April and I have heard nothing yet. Brilliant.

That's not the full story.

I'm sure it's not, but no matter what way you look at it, no one wants to be waiting years for treatment.

Couldn't speak for The Nation, but where I live, in London - my son has been treated by the GP via phone for skin condition, unusual prescription issued and everything cleared up; I've had repeat prescriptions issued via phone consultation and a referral to another, non-urgent service, and am having other symptoms reviewed via initial phone consultation and uploaded pics. Same son has had fantastic treatment for a broken arm, been able to call up the clinic in the early stages and move appointments around, also pitch up on the same day . My elderly parents in the West Country have had, respectively, a cataract operation and an ultrasound scan, biopsy and a uterine wotsit inserted. Basically, one regular outpatient clinic was cancelled and the local Labour party helped collect prescriptions. They've been able to talk to their GP on the same day of contacting the surgery pretty much throughout.
I'm sure there are blockages and problems, but the stuff that used to take years to sort out when I began working for the NHS back in the early 90s gets seen to and sorted out very quickly these days. Even in the context of Covid, it seems. Maybe I'm just too optimistic.

My friend was told, on 7/7 that he had pancreatic cancer. He has had scans but no treatment and he has no named specialist nurse and has had no phone or other talk with a consultant. Today, after 9 weeks he was told he may start chemotherapy in October. He will very possibly die and that will be ,in part, the fault of the system.
GPs are inaccessible for the most part, routine procedures are cancelled or delayed. Covid symptoms are reported via 111 not via the GP. We don’t seem to have a fully functioning NHS anymore.

I’m sorry you and your family have suffered. The NHS has been through a massive pandemic (and is still going through it) so naturally things are different.

Patients need to take more responsibility for getting the appointments they need, eg ringing the clinic to book a phone app instead of waiting for it to be done automatically for us.

The NHS has to prioritise urgent conditions (like cancer) there aren’t enough resources. Many staff are off sick or isolating, departments are closed, GPs aren’t seeing people face to face in most areas.

We all need to be more proactive in getting the healthcare we need, even if it feels like nagging the doctor or clinic!