How many people have been failed by the NHS during lockdown?

[Polnm]

My DH has cancer.

His appointment in April was by phone
His appointment in August was postponed until October

How is this acceptable? Hospitals are empty whilst patients can’t access care.

GP appointments by zoom with a 2 week wait for a basic blood pressure check in person or to take bloods

Why isn’t there more publicity and outrage about this?

We can’t be the only family going through this surely?

You know what is absolutely incredible on this thread? There is poster after poster describing an ongoing refusal to provide medical care because the NHS shut up shop in March and millions of people have been denied treatment. Who is responsible for this ongoing dereliction of duty? Where is the media outrage? The NHS is failing its patients whilst its defenders continue to deny the problem is systemic.

@BovaryX I really can’t engage with you -you seize any opportunity to criticise the nhs.

@canigooutyet so sorry to hear that. Care provision seems very inconsistent. I can only speak of where I work of course.

My dbil. Diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer 3 weeks ago. Sent on his way with a vague 'we will be in touch'. Can't eat or drink. Had already lost over 21bs before the discovery in the space of 6 weeks. Since then the 'care' has been appalling.
No 2 agencies can marry up their services so as to support him. Not one will action anything until the other has 'assessed' him 'further'. Yet when we chase one avenue of care they respond with 'it's not up to them, they need the other agency to do their bit' and round and round in circles we go. Meanwhile my bil slowly starves to death in front of his DD's and my DSis
I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. And apparently all the blame is put on covid.
It is the scandal of our time that ill and dying human beings are ignored, sidelined and denied the dignity of care in what is and may well be their final days.
We can't change the fact that my dear BIL is going to die but we thought he would be granted some sort of graciousness in the way he did it.
Apparently not.
My heart aches for all of you going through this absolutely appalling, devastating and cruel mismanagement of loved ones.

Deaths other than CV should also be posted alongside the updates. How many are dying needlessly because of a lack of treatment. It's neglectful.

I haven't come across stories from senior nhs demanding things get back to normal now. I haven't come across a letter with hundreds of signatures for departments to be reopened like they did to get schools back.

A friend is a nurse in a GP in another London borough, at times it's been skeletal staff but they've been doing various injections and even smears, that's her main role!! They cannot understand why other gp's have cut back services.

People keep voting this shower of shits in even though they're totally incompetent. The NHS has been systematically dismantled and SURPRISE we had to down tools and focus on Covid because it couldn't cope with 'normal' day to day running and the demands of a global pandemic.

And I say this as someone who has been failed during this pandemic by the NHS. And I lay the blame firmly at this fucking government and the stupid shits who voted them in. I hope you all rot.

It surprises me not in the least that @Pomegranatepompom 'can't engage'. In a thread filled with examples of the National health service repeatedly failing its patients, who should be its reason for existing its cheerleaders remarks sound even more hollow than usual. This thread should be headline news. Why isn't the media outraged about the failure of the NHS to serve its patients?

I have been working full time in my usual role in the nhs, my service continued as normal but in more difficult circumstances . So need need to address your nasty post at me. I’m not sure why you are having a go at me tbh.

@elliejjtiny

My 7 year old's grommets fell out in June. Because he was born with a cleft lip and palate his hearing suddenly got worse as the glue ear came back with a vengeance. It's a 6 month wait to get a hearing test to confirm what we already know. Then goodness knows how long to see the ent consultant and then have the operation. We are probably looking at a year to 18 months at least before he gets grommets and he will spend the whole of year 3 being unable to hear. Meanwhile we get no support at all and I am trying to learn some basic makaton via YouTube so he can communicate better.

Ask for a contact mini hearing aid from audiology whilst you are waiting. Our ent opd was cancelled in July but thank god we got the hearing aid just before lockdown at least DS has been able to hear!

Yes several family members and friends have had treatment postponed indefinitely. It affects their life and has the potential to have long term consequences.

Our GP surgery is still closed to patients. If you need to be seen F2F (after phone/video appt) you have to get 5 miles to the sister practice. Still not doing routine blood tests. Young and fit friend who has high cholesterol was given 6 months last Dec to try and get levels down through diet or go on statins but now can't get a follow up blood test. Our dentist is still closed for all but telephone advice. Our local hospitals have closed their Covid wards as there are no patients. We are in a low incidence area. They need to get back to some sort of normality before winter arrives and everything comes to a halt again.
MIL was diagnosed over the phone during kickdown as having a trapped nerve in her leg. When she could no longer walk due to the pain she eventually got a scan (2 weeks after initial problem). Turns out she had fractured her hip! Once she got the correct diagnosis her care was speedy and excellent but 2 weeks of trying to walk on a fractured hip ffs!

And every time I hear someone say "we dont know the long term consequences of covid yet" I want to scream "but there are people already suffering the consequences and they've not even had covid what about them"!

Er, you chose to claim you 'can't engage' with my criticism of the NHS pomegranate. I never asked you for any response at all. But if you pipe up with an unsolicited efusal to 'engage?' Don't act surprised when you are called on it. This thread should give employees working for this dysfunctional institution pause for thought. Not an opportunity for trite denials.

You specifically aimed a post at me. Don’t be ridiculous.

Anyone I don’t want to derail the thread. I’m sure you’ll have the last word anyway.

Op and all the other posters who have had treatment delayed some with devastating consequences I’m so sorry for your all.

This thread should give employees working for this dysfunctional institution pause for thought - I think this depends on what area of the NHS you work for. The situation is very complex. Could more have been done for some patients absolutely. Could the NHS run a full service during this period of dealing with COVID no

The NHS needs to be held accountable for mistakes and poor treatment. Mug if this comes back to issue of underfunding and how the NHS is run it needs to change and more money isn’t the only answer

Mea Culpa, I did Pomegranate

@FluffyKittensinabasket

I’m fortunate that I can pay for a private midwife for extra support, expectant mothers have largely been abandoned until their first face to face appointment at 28 weeks.

It must be a postcode lottery as I haven't experienced this at all. I've had every single routine midwife appointment, face to face at the hospital along with every normal routine scan (and a couple of others as I was worried about a small bleed very early on which turned out to be nothing but the EGU got me in the next day for scans to check).

Some awful stories on here I'm so so sorry for all of you dealing with the consequences of delayed / cancelled appointments and treatment, and likewise I'm astounded that there isn't more vocal criticism of just the royal fuck up this government seems to be making of literally everything, and am very worried about worse to come.
My DP has a chronic health condition and has had appointments pushed back it seems indefinitely. I hope in his case at the moment that's more just inconvenient / mildly affects quality of life rather than anything more serious. He's very reasonable and really likes his consultant so 'doesn't want to kick up a fuss'. I'm one of those annoyingly persistent women who do kick up a fuss as I think that even if it's not necessarily the fault of the nice overworked, understaffed NHS staff you are speaking to, you still often have to 'be that person' just to get seen / get the care you need.

More worryingly, it turns out my DP saw a doctor just before lockdown because of prostate concerns (and typically really should have gone a LOT sooner, only because my DM finally persuaded him....), had an MRI, then lockdown happened.....months and months later he's been told he needs a prostate biopsy, but it will be a further 6-8 weeks before the appointment. I think they only told me as I happened to be visiting a few weeks ago when the hospital phoned to tell him about the biopsy. So I'm very very worried about the obvious, and the potential negative consequences of there being so much delay.........and likewise every instinct I have wants to phone and phone and be a PITA to try and get his appointment sooner but obviously I can't do that on his behalf.

to everyone dealing with these consequences at the moment and hoping for positive outcomes.

We are all aware that the postcard lottery exists in some areas of treatment

This along with how COVID is impacting different areas and this in turn impacts how hospitals and clinics etc can run

The NHS needs to be held accountable for mistakes and poor treatment. Mug if this comes back to issue of underfunding and how the NHS is run it needs to change and more money isn’t the only answer.

Some of it is due to underfunding, some of it however is just sheer incompetence and a little bit of laziness. It's like they spend half their time making excuses for why they can't do what they're being paid to do. And I'm talking about before Covid before anyone says anything.

The service we're dealing with currently are so useless they've had the wrong e-mail address on their letters for months. We only found out it was wrong after they asked us to send them a picture of my referral letter. Did they check we had the correct e-mail address when making that request? Of course they didn't.
Meanwhile we're having exactly the same argument as yesterday, they deny the letter was sent out at their request. The appointments people have confirmed it did indeed come from the service in question but they're still denying it. They "lost" my first referral, and now they're doing everything they can to avoid doing anything about this one. What the hell do they think they're getting paid for?
Now they're claiming that they've spoken to the appointments people and they told them the letter didn't come from their service. Which is the opposite of what we were told yesterday by the appointments people. I feel like a character in a kafka novel.

Nobody has been failed by the NHS......

Everyone has been failed by Johnson/Cummings - their plan or lack of it has caused all of this......

Don't blame the NHS for the Conservative Party failings

Jan I wouldn’t deny that some staff are lazy some are incompetent and that the culture of the NHS needs a shake up. I can spend hours myself chasing information

The systems need updating but they only work efficiently when they are used correctly and all info is constantly updated. That’s all well and fine when there isn’t a number it other issues to deal with that are a priority

@GabriellaMontez

And every time I hear someone say "we dont know the long term consequences of covid yet" I want to scream "but there are people already suffering the consequences and they've not even had covid what about them"!

Even when you've had Covid it's not better care. I had it back in beginning of March (yes confirmed). Wasn't until around June that my temp finally dropped for more than 24 hours that I could start isolation countdown.

Since then I have weakness in my right hand. I get excruciating pain in my joints. I can feel how the right hip/thing joints work as I walk and it's weird as fuck to be able to feel it. Other times I am aware of every bone in my body. This is all new and needs investigating can I get an appointment? Not a chance.

London back to normal, even the buses have passenger restrictions lol.

I don't understand how it can be so variable when the risk is surely the same across the country (barring places with local lockdowns).

I have been horrified reading posts where people cannot be seen by their GP at all. I live in the SE in a busy commuter town. So far in Lockdown my son has had a face to face hearing assessment at hospital, and my GP surgery quickly set up an online triage service (and phone equivalent also) and offered phone appointments to anyone that wanted one and if they felt it was needs they would arrange for you to visit the surgery. My son was seen just last week for the GP to examine his shoulder.

So if it’s happening in some places why is it not happening everywhere?

That's why I don't understand why the government are fully to blame when some places have stayed open.

How many medics signed the school reopen now letter because of x, y and z?

Where is this same kind of campaign to get the departments open?

People waiting to be seen for 5 months now. How long are they expected to sit around and wait? The impact from that will cost more to the nhs, tax payers and the economy.

The places we want to go get cleaned down between patients to begin with, or at least should. The have the blue paper stuff on the beds as we slowly slide into whatever machine.

Heart echo test, again the area gets cleaned down, and new sticky things used on us. Mammograms and smears the same.

Bloods, the chair is wiped down, they change gloves etc between patients as standard.

Yes there was a massive PPE shortage for the clothings and masks. Didn't hear anything about a shortage of cleaning supplies they use.

FFS it's the NHS who deal with infections as standard on a daily basis. They already had protocols in place to begin with for infection control. When wards were hit with things like MSRA, Sars etc the whole hospital didn't close down, those minor essential appointments were still going on. Operations were still going on.