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?

It won't be our problem much longer anyway. It'll be sold off and then we'll be stuck.

To be honest we've had better NHS provision here than before COVID, which is sad.
My GP surgery is normally, like most, a nightmare to get an appointment. Add onto that insufficient parking and long waiting times it was always a stressful experience.
Since lockdown we've been able to get same day telephone appointments, with a face to face within an hour afterwards if needed. No parking issues, no waiting times just walk straight in.
My surgery is also offering an online request service for medicines. I had a prescription for antibiotics electronically sent to my nearest pharmacy within a couple of hours. Its been brilliant.
I also had a hospital outpatient appointment over the phone which was much better than the hassle of going to the hospital. My mums cancer check ups have gone ahead face to face as planned too.

@daysofpearlyspencer that's great news. I hope the appointment goes well.

Not a matter of being smarter or better, but knowing said GP's medical disciplinary record and brushes with the local authority's housing department you get a feeling for a bad'n.

I think the call back service being quicker is because more are having telephone calls so more can be squeezed in and photos are being used more. I also wonder if the time wasters that do exist can’t be bothered with telephone calls. They’re not the same as a cosy chat.

With a family of 5 we’ve only used the GP as we normally do ie only if absolutely necessary. Why wouldn’t we have asked for telephone calls during lockdown if absolutely necessary?

@Xenia talking rubbish as usual "which we all now know for sure is never there for us in a crisis for many people or in ordinary times either)"

If you turned up at a&e the NHS was most definitely there for you. It continued to provide emergency care, maternity care and even continued with some elective work. Yet we fund our health care at a lower level than most developed nations.

Lucky person if you have an NHS dentist, they dont exist everywhere and they certainly havent been working during the pandemic. But as most dentistry is now privatised (even NHS dental care is mostly paid for by patient fees, another difference in how they are funded) we dont get Tory bots complaining about that.

I see 4 consultants at the hospital for various conditions.

My ENT consultant phoned me instead of me going into see her and rejigged my medications. The telephone consultation was actually better than the face to face ones I'd had.

My pain consultant, also, phoned me. She offered to give me some Botox for my migraines, something she doesn't usually do, if I wanted so I had that done back in May.

At the end of February I was listed for a hysteroscopy to be done within 4 weeks but lockdown happened and I'm still waiting. I phoned 3 weeks ago and was told that there's no plans to start the gynae lists before August.

I'm, also, waiting for orthopaedic treatment under a GA. I was put on that list 2 weeks before lockdown so I've no clue when that will happen. I phoned my GP because I'm in absolute agony and his precise words to me were "you've lived with it for a long time so what do you want me to do about it now?" .

I'm stuck in limbo atm, in severe pain. I don't blame the people working in the NHS but life is pretty shit.

I wonder what all the GPs and hospital Drs are doing.
Fewer routine hospital appts
Fewer hospital clinics
Fewer operations
Less treatment taking place
No surgeries at GP

In our area there were 3 diagnosed cases last week.

They are hardly overwhelmed.

I had a blood test yesterday with a nurse and there were 3 staff involved. A receptionist who unlocked the door and would not allow me into the building until I wore one of their masks (not allowed mine) and used the hand sanitiser. I sat n an empty waiting room
A cleaner who immediately sprayed, wiped and cleaned the doors and table that the hand sanitiser was on and then my chair as I left it and was at the door with her spray and wipes waiting for me to go through as I left so she could clean it again.
The nurse who took my blood and blood pressure and asked me to touch nothing in the room- not allowed to put my arm on the table while blood pressure or blood was taken. She wiped everything immediately. All the internal doors were open. There was no privacy.

Dentists too- tomorrow I have an appointment - to plan treatment as I have a broken tooth and a chipped filling. I had an appointment for the day of lockdown and have waited ever since. The broken tooth will now need to be removed - it is painful and had a large filling in it. The other will need re-filling. However, they are not doing fillings or extractions! I don't understand why not, they wear face shields.

No the NHS hasn’t collapsed. As usual there is something of a postcode lottery going on.

In my area getting to talk to/see a GP has been fine. If anything easier than before to get an appointment. 111 was also super efficient and helpful too. I was also sent for an abdominal scan during lockdown and my teen has had a telephone app with the hospital and has a drive through app booked for his HPV vax. No complaints from me personally.

It does seem very different in different places.

My DM for example has been called back by a GP quickly whenever she asked, as has her friend. Her friend recieved an immediate home visit for face to face assessment, both of them and another friend have been attending the surgery in person for blood tests. Another person local to her has had a skin issue promptly assessed in person by a consultant and sent to have surgery, another has been hospitalised following a fall and recieved in person GP assessment and daily carer visits. Less locally she has a friend whose chemo has continued throughout lockdown and says she can't fault her care.

I don't disagree that things are dire....just pointing out the local differences issue.

YANBU and it's not a dig at NHS workers but with government mismanagement. Both my siblings and my DH work in the NHS.

The way our family of 3 has been impacted so far:

• I reported breast lumps to my GP over the phone in May, was not allowed to come in for examination. Was referred to the breast clinic who did another Tel appointment and said they would see me in July for examination if the lumps remained. I had no appt so I called the clinic who advised they'd booked me a telephone appt earlier this month which I'd missed. Firstly, I didn't have a letter about this appt and secondly, what good is a telephone appointment when I need examining? They said they'd make me a new appt, and they have - another telephone appointment. For November. I've complained to PALS. I could genuinely have breast cancer (although extremely unlikely, I am aware of that) and even after 7 months (which would be the Nov appt) they have no plans to examine me?!
• DD is now one month overdue a routine dental appt and our practice are still only seeing urgent cases and can give us no indication when routine appointments will resume. I may move her to another nearby practice which a relative uses that is running routine appts.
• My isotretinoin treatment was 'paused' in March and I was given a hospital appt for August. Recently they've sent me another letter changing that appt to a telephone appt. This is utterly pointless as they cannot prescribe the medication without seeing a negative pregnancy test and it's a hospital only medication so can only be dispensed from the hospital. And that's not even the fact that it's a skin treatment and telephone appointment means they can't see my skin! What is the point in that appt? Sort of luckily DH and I have decided to TTC soon so I will be discharging myself from the service but I did miss months of treatment for my acne that has given me lots of scarring.
• DH has been on an ENT waiting list since at least January or maybe even earlier with no sign of an appointment.
• DD turned 2 and has not had a 2yr check from the HV team as they still aren't doing them at all.

We had bloods yesterday and only spoke to a receptionist behind a screen. Sat in empty waiting room with tape round chair for 1 min then PPed nurse came to collect, did it then lead us out the back.

In and out in 5 mins, extremely well organised.

We were allowed to use own sanitiser and mask and no instructions re not touching anything. No cleaner. But doors all open( she closed room door), everywhere spotless and no cleaner.

My GP service has been better than usual (I'm guessing because phone appointments are quicker?), normally you have to book 3 weeks in advance now you can get an appointment within 2 days.

Two london hospitals I'm under have been rubbish. The orthopaedic hospital I'm under has not started normal treatments yet with no date when they will start. My consultant told me in January I needed surgery quickly to prevent any more long term damage that affects my mobility (I'm mid 30's). The pain has got worse so I've had to up the morphine I take even though this also has side effects. Long term I'm very stressed that I will lose all mobility very soon without surgery. The ENT consultant I was supposed to see cancelled my telephone appt 4 times then told my GP I was a no show. I emailed the GP everything the hospital had sent me (no less than 18 letters) who then spoke to the hospital to get me seen again. Consultant prescribed meds over the phone after taking a full medical history, I called the GP as info with tablets said they react with morphine so couldn't take them. GP was furious as they react very badly with morphine and asked ENT consultant to contact me asap, receptionist called and obviously couldn't give advice and was confused why she had been asked to call me back. Now had 6 appointments through the post, each one cancelled and any call to them go straight to voicemail, and no- one calls back. The last letter I had was for December, so no idea when I actually will see him. It's very frustrating knowing your health is getting worse and you can't do anything. Both issues will cause long term issues, which means I will end up costing the NHS a hell of a lot more than if it was corrected.

At the beginning stopping everything was fine but my GP made a comment that she thinks hospitals are not starting up non urgent treatment as they are preparing for the flu season. I'm starting to think she was right....

So Tuesday last week I rang the GP after being nagged by DH (I had post menopausal bleeding) I spoke to the receptionist, The Gp phoned me backthat afternoon to tell me she had arranged an appointment for me at my local hospital on Friday.
Local hospital very organised, everything done to make patients feel safe. Saw a consultant who referred me to another hospital within the trust.
Upshot by the following Tueday (1 week from initial phonecall) I was having a proceedure under local anestethic, yes it was grim but all sorted.
It was the same proceedure that I had previously 2 years ago but under general anestehic, which took much longer to arrange and meant I had to spend a night in hospital, and in cost terms would have used far more resources.
So OP the NHS where I live hasn't collapsed, they seem to be proritising and acting very efficiently.

My dd2's eczema flare up was triaged and treated via email/photo.

My ds had a perforated eardrum treated via photo, antibiotics prescribed within half an hour.

His paed and dietician appointments have been replaced by phone calls due to shielding, but he is scheduled for a heart scan next month. His CAMHS appointments have happened via Teams. SALT have been in regular contact. A member of his orthotics team delivered his new support boots on her way home.

My mum had a catastrophic cerebral haemorrhage last month, the ambulance was there in minutes, I was able to visit her briefly in ICU in PPE, all the staff that treated her in her last hours were incredible.

Personally our experience of the NHS on this unprecedented time, for non Covid related things, has been amazing.

I couldn’t disagree more. My care for two conditions has been amazing on the NHS during lockdown. I have always been able to book a GP call the same day and they have really gone above and beyond in getting me specialist advice when I had some potential red flag symptoms. I was able to have hospital tests as an outpatient within a week, and within another week had an hour- long video consultation with a specialist, and that was in a case where the red flags turned out to be nothing particularly serious after all, thankfully. Just to check, the GP then got me a letter with advice from a leading consultant.

It was the best care I’ve ever had.

@AnneOfQueenSables thanks for that. I think this is post code lottery unfortunately.

Just to say, I know it’s a bit of a lottery and I know people have had bad experiences. But it’s sensationalist and plainly untrue to say that the NHS has collapsed.

‘Postcode lottery’ is one of the things people always say about the NHS. Everyone is in favour of local decision making rather than centralised bureaucracy (usually denigrated as ‘Stalinist’), but everyone also wants exactly the same service whether they’re in Truro or Newcastle. It’s an unsquarable circle for NHS leaders and policymakers.

Does seem to be dependent on where you are. I’m helping shielding neighbours and they have had their regular blood tests, visits from a community nurse (which they didn’t have before lockdown), a overnight stay for treatment for a uti, phone consultations with a specialist. They have been really impressed with the service.

I agree OP. Reading some of the replies, it seems to be very different in different places. I'm in one of the places where nothing is happening quickly or at all a lot of the time and I don't know if any face to face appointments are available unless your are on death's door.

I'm chronically unwell and my appointments have continued throughout covid. Weekly phone call now which is fine. I have to email photos which works fine for me. Blood tests every 2 weeks at the GP. Super easy to get an appointment now, easily fits around work.

My GP is the same, I had mastitis and the GP's receptionist Bev (don't think that's her name but she sounds like a Bev), said I'll have to wait a few days and its not "within her power" to put me on a priority list.

Two days later after a raging fever and not being able to breastfeed, they call and send a script for antibiotics, but I already had gone to A&E with sepsis. Mean time my milk supply has gone right down, and we're now formula feeding while I try like buggery to build it up again.

Meanwhile, dentists cannot run their businesses because the infection control requirements e.g. leaving the room for an hour after using a drill, make it impossible.

Difficult not impossible. My dentist does aerosol generating procedures, like fillings before lunch. They can leave the surgery empty for an hour, when nobody is using it anyway. He plans to do a filling for me that way!