To think sometimes you can’t win with the NHS

[Merryoldgoat]

I’m NOT bashing HCPs at ALL.

It’s the conflicting information we get given. It makes us feel confused and utterly defeated at difficult times anyway.

Photos are from a leaflet from the hospital my son was admitted to with croup (steamy room may help) and the NHS web guide to dealing with croup (don’t put in a steamy room).

When I was admitted for my ELCS the midwife asked if I’d shaved. I said no and she got irritated until I showed her the pre-admission notes from the same hospital advising no shaving.

When pregnant the literature from my GP and NHS website had completely opposite information about eating nuts in pregnancy.

When admitted for an operation under GA pre-op assessment asked if I’d eaten or drunk in the last 12 hours. Said I’d had water. Again they started to tell me off until I produced the letter FROM HIM advising me to drink some water prior to admission.

It just leaves me feeling like a twat.

Maybe I’m having a bad week. Very unwell son, autism diagnosis for him and a hard week at work has exhausted me.

Pics!

definitely can't win, and even worse now we are all to kneel at the NHS altar.
a few years ago, hadn't ever been ill and felt sick the whole of January -GP told me I had probably overdone it at Xmas and to lay off the booze, told him I was teetotal and he told me to improve my diet- basically dismissed. This went on for months until went to see a locum, 2 days later in hospital for scans, etc. had ops and long-term medication. Was told off by the consultant for ignoring "blatantly obvious symptoms" -told him to read my notes again to see the 10 doctor visits.
Also like you OP given contradictory medical advice .

@masterofthechef

I must say my GPS are generally excellent but hospital is generally patchy

Training is out of date and seemed to be randomly allocated when I worked NHS.

Hcp are supposed to keep themselves upto date and relevant through continual practical developened (CPD) which is required by the hcp regulatory bodies but this is very much an individualised process as to how much the person takes in, is able to change or influence work place practices.

For instance I was a nurse. We were all supposed to under go the same education and training. I'll give you one example. We used to use a body wash called octenisan for patients who had mrsa. Instructions said "apply directly patients body, leave for 5 minutes then rinse". Sounds simple right? The amount of nurses and hca I caught using it like bubblebath. We had all sat through the same lectures from infection control, we had all read the instruction label yet people still didn't use it correctly.

How bizarre - I find stuff like that really strange.

Why wouldn’t you just follow the instructions?

When DD1 was about 5 weeks old, she started vomiting and was very sleepy. I took her to the GP and was told, as a newborn she was meant to sleep alot, and the vomiting was probably reflux. I was told I was just an anxious first time mum and she would be fine. Less than 8 hours later, she had been admitted to the high dependency ward at the local children's hospital, was on high flowing oxygen and being fed through a tube. She was fine in the end but was in hospital for 10 days.

@Merryoldgoat

How bizarre - I find stuff like that really strange.

Why wouldn’t you just follow the instructions?

Some people seem to be incapable of following clearly printed instructions. It even had pictures. It's like smacking your head off the wall. It's not a language thing, it's an attitude. Some people just seem to want to do the absolute bare minimum to skate by in their jobs.

Unfortunately in healthcare this causes harm to patients and more expense to the nhs.

Apparently according to Chris Hopson we have to accept the new normal

When my DD was 14 she went in to A and E with acute abdominal pain, and throwing up stomach acid every 10 minutes. The triage nurse rolled her eyes and said “Oh, got a big have you?” despite DD withing in pain.

She was admitted and the ultrasound showed he appendix was inflamed, not massively but they took the appendix out anyway (that’s fine). The next day on doctor’s rounds the consultant mentioned the surgeon had found blood in DD’s pelvis and she seemed concerned about it but there was absolutely 0 follow-up. I was eventually convinced by another doctor it was just because DD had been on her period at the time but it was all incredibly odd because the doctor who brought it up was very concerned and then she just sodded off!

The problem with some HCP's is they think they are an authority on an area they know nothing about as it isn't their specialist area, or they refuse to acknowledge that a patient will be treated differently by another HCP due to that second HCP's own implicit biases about the patient.

It does mean as a patient that you need to stick up for yourself when questioned about treatment, referrals or your lifestyle every single time.

What did they say when you showed them the letters?

Sorry as an aside OP what's the correct advice on consuming nuts in pregnancy? Bit concerned now as I've been eating lots...

I've not personally experienced stuff like this but I know people who have and I'm sure I will once I have a child. I do think a lot of it is down to a lack of keeping up with current guidelines and CPD. Often CPD can just be an online module that you click through without really reading and you get a certificate at the end. So 2 hours worth of CPD can often be done and box ticked in 5 mins.

@Luckyelephant1

I still don’t bloody know! I don’t really eat them anyway so it wasn’t a massive issue for me.

I think it’s generally accepted you can eat them but seek advice if you have a family history of allergy.

@VettiyaIruken

The midwife was fine - sort of said ‘oh dear - we’ll have to sort that out!’ But didn’t address the confusion. Or difficulty a woman might have shaving her muff at 9 months pregnant...

The consultant was very dismissive any annoyed. I was supposed to have my tonsils and adenoids removed and he left the adenoids saying they were fine. I don’t really to this day understand why they decided differently on the operating table.

I had a breech baby and the advice then was not to attempt a ECV if you had a previous CS.

I had conflicting information at 4 appointments (I lived at that fucking hospital).

I decided on balance to refuse the version which was good as the little bugger was a spinner and changed from breech to ceph multiple times in the last 3 weeks.

Removing adenoids and tonsils together used to be standard but fell out of favour because of the high incidence of damage to the voicebox. In my family there are 3 relatives with very nasal/ hollow sounding voices because of this type of surgical injury and out tendency to get infections. I only had my adenoids removed as I had never had tonsilitis in all my many years of ear and adenoid problems. Perhaps the surgeon made a decision on the basis of having a good look back there?

I got bit by an animal. Rang 111 for advice who said it would be fine because it was a domestic pet. 3 days later in A&E because it kept getting worse and got a bollocking from the doctor for not seeking medical advice earlier. Ended up having surgery in hospital for weeks with an infection.

YANBU. I’ve just had a baby and the amount of conflicting advice I’ve received is ridiculous. I had severe infective mastitis and each shift of midwives gave me different advice on how to improve it. While also ignoring the frolicking enormous lump, telling me it would go away in a week or two. Three weeks later, still there, bigger than ever, having surgery to drain it as it was an abscess.

You’re right about having to worship at the alter of the NHS. The sooner we switch to a German or Australian system the better.

It’s the not NHS it’s HCP’s who aren’t keeping up to date with research (which they absolutely should). Once you qualify as whatever the only update training you get tends to be mandatory stuff. Not updates on theatre preparation for example, that’s up to the individuals to ensure they’re keeping up to date with research and actually read updated policies.
You’ve just encountered useless (in some areas) HCP’s of which there are some in every single job

@B33Fr33

Removing adenoids and tonsils together used to be standard but fell out of favour because of the high incidence of damage to the voicebox. In my family there are 3 relatives with very nasal/ hollow sounding voices because of this type of surgical injury and out tendency to get infections. I only had my adenoids removed as I had never had tonsilitis in all my many years of ear and adenoid problems. Perhaps the surgeon made a decision on the basis of having a good look back there?

I’d had several appointments leading up to it and was told I had the adenoids of a 12 year old (at nearly 30) and that they ‘had to come out’.

I don’t mind if there is clinical rational but it felt like he just didn’t want to.

You aren't unreasonable, people mistake criticism for specific NHS practices as criticism of the idea of the NHS its self, which is nonsense.
I had to go private for a medical issue, as the NHS waitlist was 9 months, with private I was seen in 3 days, every doctor was informed what the previous had said, everything was flowing correctly, no repeat information, no treating me like an idiot.
I find with the NHS EVERY doctor you go to, thinks this is the first time you've gone to the doctor, it can be very frustrating.

I must say that my GP surgery is excellent. I’ve never been dismissed my them, they’re diligent and I have always got a same day appointment if necessary. Doctors do the triage calls and are extremely efficient.

I've had good and bad experiences with the nhs. My Gps though are useless and absolutely lazy , they seem to be more worried about covering their backsides then actually treating me sometimes.

I had this recently. Had a blood test to check my cholesterol and was told I needed to come in the morning after fasting.

Then had another test 6 months later to check other issues. Thus was in the afternoon after a big meal. My levels had gone up quite a bit despite no change in weight, diet or exercise level. I asked if the fact it had been done in the afternoon could have had an impact. The GP told be they'd stopped doing cholesterol fasting tests 10 years ago!

@dontdisturbmenow

What? I have my cholesterol checked regularly and am always told to fast and they ask at the centre too!

Ffs