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?

What happened to thank you NHS or has that gone out the window now that they aren’t quite so important anymore.

Not everyone has been virtue signalling and 'thanking the NHS'. This is a complete disgrace and it's absolutely right people should question it.

There is also a world of difference between front line NHS on COVID wards and the NHS as a whole. Many parts of the NHS have been more quiet than usual during the height of the pandemic.

Calling it 'NHS bashing' when people share stories of dealing with cancer, being told they're dying on FaceTime and in fact dying as a result of this just makes you look idiotic.

My dad’s cancer treatment was stopped in march. He hasnt physically seen his consultant since. He Did have an appointment last week, but wasnt feeling well enough to do the hour drive to the city he has to go to For the appointment, so he phoned the hospital The day before to cancel. The receptionist said his appointment is a telephone one, so he could still have it. Nobody had told him it was now a Telephone appointment. The letter certainly didnt say that. However, on the MORNING of his MORNING appointment, he got a phone call. It was A receptionist telling him him appointment with his consultant today would be a telephone appointment. If he had been feeling well, he would have set off BEFORE that phone call came. Who though phoning patients on the day if their appointment with information like this was good enough?

My mum’s health is declining and she just keeps being given painkillers with no actual GP appointment. She is crying daily over pain, and her worsening condition.

I also cannot believe There isnt more outrage over dentists. dentists are still not up and running. Yes i know their methods are high risk, but not seeing anyone for anything?! People being told to go to the chemist and get a repair kit and do their own fillings? Disgrace.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, it has been dismal in the main. My father has had cancelled appointments, incompetent GP's running phone appointments. Finally 6 weeks ago when he had a face to face with a new GP the appointments he needed were forthcoming. However, they were just too late and before he attended them he passed away 3 weeks ago, with his funeral yesterday. I wish you and your family well and hope that things pick up quickly

I think it’s a disgrace. The tag line “save the NHS” has gone too far in my opinion at the people’s expense. I have 4 friends who are GPs and honestly seeing their antics during this pandemic and put me off being their friend , two of which are family members. Barely working, going abroad on holiday etc.

I am so sorry this is happening to your OH.

I use sorry OP, it is all complete outrageous.

Does anybody know if it’s the same in other countries?

Not everyone has been virtue signalling and 'thanking the NHS'. This is a complete disgrace and it's absolutely right people should question it.

This. And i also wasn't empty virtue signalling.

Can anyone actually say that care has been at an acceptable level? Or have we just been brainwashed to accept anything because ‘it’s the NHS’?

@Yellowbutterfly1

I use sorry OP, it is all complete outrageous.

Does anybody know if it’s the same in other countries?

My parents are in the US, my father is American, on Medicare due to their age, and it's not the same there, no, even in a so-called Covid hotspot.

JulesCobb

You must get him seen by someone. I just started to phone everyone I could remember meeting during his treatment/leaving messages and luckily 1 doctor spoke to me and got him back in the system.

I'm an icu nurse so have worked throughout the pandemic and witnessed how bad it was at its height but I'm also a patient.
Went to have a long awaited ct cardiac angiogram in feb that was cancelled in the waiting room. Heart was too high due to nerves - my consultant knew I was anxious yet didn't prescribe a b-blocker (common practice apparently ) so wasted journey. Further 4 appointments cancelled due to covid/unavailable staff. Eventually had it done beginning of july and was actually a fairly laid back experience, not like the conveyor belt it had been months earlier. No outpatient appointment for the results, just a brief letter and no chance to ask questions.
Also developed pins and needles/hypersensitivity in my foot. Gp diagnosed sciatica over the phone and prescribed pregabalin, didn't get chance to discuss side effects etc. Wasn't even examined. Physio referral amounted to a 10 min phone call and advised to consult youtube for exercises
Spinal team appointment was again a phone consultation. No referral for mri scan even though my back pain is seriously affecting my quality of life and I'm on daily painkillers. Apparently a scan wouldn't tell us anything we didn't already know !
I get why we need to be safe but my gp's surgery is still not seeing most patients. And there's some complicated rigmarole if you do have to attend far beyond what is necessary. I just don't get it...

@Ilovewillow

I agree with you wholeheartedly, it has been dismal in the main. My father has had cancelled appointments, incompetent GP's running phone appointments. Finally 6 weeks ago when he had a face to face with a new GP the appointments he needed were forthcoming. However, they were just too late and before he attended them he passed away 3 weeks ago, with his funeral yesterday. I wish you and your family well and hope that things pick up quickly

I am so sorry for your loss.

Can anyone actually say that care has been at an acceptable level? Or have we just been brainwashed to accept anything because ‘it’s the NHS’?

It's Johnson and Co. trying to brainwash the country. The problem is with a fair few people, he has succeeded. They have given the NHS cult status and are scared of their own shadows.

That bastard has a lot to answer for and I'd love to spend 10 minutes in a room on my own with him. He'd possibly need the NHS again.

We have had non urgent routine stuff all dealt with. Orthopaedics appointment moved March to June in hospital, routine smear at the Gp in person early July and results within 2 weeks, routine childhood immunisations at the GP, orthodontics waiting list moved from April to August, one child had shingles dealt with over the phone in video call, one child needed antibiotics for a chest infection and prescribed and dealt with over video within an hour. So the minor stuff is up any running locally no problem at all. In fact the online Gp appointment system works well. Lots of consultants work privately and I would try and call the secretary to complain - at least a way to be heard? I am sure every single doctor wants to help. The system itself and its inefficiencies are the problem, it is just too big and too centralised. It would be so much better and efficient if every patient had a point of consistent contact with their doctor.

waitingtomove I'm so, so sorry for the loss of your brother. It feels as though he, my dad, and so many others have been judged to be acceptable collateral damage in handling the Covid crisis, and it's just not good enough. A pandemic hasn't been successfully managed if thousands of other people have died needlessly instead. Whether that's down to government underfunding (which I don't think anyone here is denying) or mismanagement within the NHS, something is very very wrong and thus needs to be talked about widely.

My child had been in hospital rehab for 4 months (rest of the hospital is deserted!). We very fortunately have been receiving some (not much) rehab, however the NHS has to wake up to the fact that they should be working over the weekend (and certainly now, to catch up with backlog). I have lost count of the times we have had a problem and it will be sorted on the Monday as there are no doctors in on a weekend. The place is like a morgue literally. They would normally let some patients go home for the weekend, but obviously can't. The NHS also needs to realise that people get ill on a weekend. All the expensive equipment lying unused for 2 out of every 7 days................

I'm really sorry to hear all those stories. It's very upsetting.
However, the NHS has been underfunded for a long time.
Everything stopped for covid because there wasn't the infrastructure to cope with covid and routine care.
Not everything stopped everywhere.
In my trust there was cancer and high priority stuff going on. But all the specialities had to prove they needed it more for their patient then another due to limited space.
There were huge battles about this. Please don't think that no one is fighting for you.
Now things are difficult because where you used to be able to see 30 on a clinic now you can only see 10 due to social distancing and waiting room / clinic capacity.
This is as frustrating for clinicians as it is for you.
If you want to blame - blame the government. They slide through legislation preparing the NHS to be sold off bit by bit a few weeks ago. The NHS is now fully on the table for private overseas 'investors'.
It's just a matter of time now.

School nurses aren’t going in to school to do epi pen training. Instead referring school to an online course on allergy U.K. website.

@PhilCornwall1

I couldn’t agree with you more.
It’s scary just how easy it was for the government to brainwash so many.

'A telephone appointment can’t look at a lump, take a blood pressure or measure a temperature. Why are people accepting this?'

People aren't accepting this, for many it isn't even the case. The telephone or econsult is only there for illnesses that can be managed over the phone. Lumps always warrant a face to face consult.

I sympathise with anyone who has had treatment delayed but to suggest anyone with a new lump is not being seen by Gps is not correct ime.

DP has. He has a tumour and is looking at a likely cancer diagnosis but we are still feeling shut out and ignored by the NHS.

I’m waiting for 2 different surgeries
The pain and difficulty in movement is seriously impacting on my mood and quality of life
My incontinence is now so bad some days I can’t leave the house and it may mean I have to give up my job as there are a aspects of it I can’t fulfil

My dd 15 had started restricting food from The end of last year and completely stopped mid may she had been losing weight rapidly. I called the drs over and over and just got told it's just stress of lockdown even though they had records about her restricting before. When they spoke to her on the phone she made out she was eating fine and told them her weight was a lot higher than it was. I finally got them to listen to me and they asked for her to come in for a blood test and to be weighed (she refused to be weighed) it came back as having low iron so they told me it was probably just caused by her heavy periods and wouldn't listen to me that she hadn't been having them.

She collapsed the first week of June and I took her to A&E where she was diagnosed with Anorexia and a dangerously low heart rate. She was in for a week then sent home with nothing but the odd zoom meeting for support. I had to fight her into the scales every week to check she was gaining weight and it's just been a complete nightmare.

There does seem to have been some sort of post code lottery for certain services. Oncology services in my area seem to have run as normal, people continued to have their treatments. Disclaimer - I only see people who have been diagnosed and are undergoing treatment.

Community nurses have continued to provide the same service with additional PPE. Our workload has remained constant through out the pandemic. We have struggled to get GP's to do house calls, although I appreciate they have had their own issues.

I do wonder how the GP surgeries are going to cope with the roll out of Flu vaccinations ? Community teams used to do a lot of them, mainly the housebound patients, but funding was cut so we no longer do it. We give B12 injections to housebound patients and also take bloods and observations, amongst all the other clinical work we do. We are a agile and reactive service.

She's grateful she wasn't even given the choice just told no even though delaying the op could cost her life? 'No, you can't have this because of Covid'? That's astonishing.

She’s grateful because if she had it while there was a lot of Covid around she might have died. She had scans to check the size of the lump and they decided it was safer to postpone. She is getting it next week now there is little Covid in the community and hospitals. They fact that they acted quickly on national data coming through and saved many people from going through these ops and dying I see as a good thing. Like I said it isn’t black and white.

This is shocking.

I’m in Ireland and my friends dad had suspected cancer and was seen by a consultant the following week officially diagnosed and told he would be starting chemo in the hospital in two weeks time. Another friend whose mother has chemo has been treated throughout the pandemic . My aunt who is elderly had a heart problem was told to go to hospital by gp and was there for two weeks of tests before being allowed to be discharged with a plan and medication. I myself have had no issues getting even a routine appointment - although we do pay for our medical treatment here but the above cancer and heart issues were treated through the public system so no/minimal cost.

It’s a disgrace urgent treatment is being withheld.

Yep. Big lump on one of my testicles out of nowhere with a lot of pain. Went to Doctor's to be told "it's probably cancer and you need a scan to check it but urology's closed due to covid, so you'll have to wait". That was in April, I'm now having all the classic symptoms of testicular cancer and urology is still shut, so my choices as I see them are - Die, get better, or remove my own testicles just in case and die of an infection.

Not great and will be a great story for my wife to tell my kids if I do die that no-one gives a crap about you unless you're not wearing a mask.