To hate what covid has done to the rest of the health service

[Dishwashersaurous]

I need an operation. Haven't seen a consultant in over a year due to covid. Finally, following telephone appointment I've been listed for the surgery.

I'm in constant pain and barely able to get out of bed most days.

I phoned to find how long the waiting list is. Due to covid its over a year.

I then investigated taking out a loan to go privately. The private wing at the hospital have just told me that due to covid they are not doing any overnight stays for months.

So I will probably lose my job ic I have to wait until a year. And I will be in constant pain. And all due to covid

I'm so sorry for your loss & for what the OP is going through.

Personally I think in a world of finite resources there should be less spent on prolonging life at all costs and more on stuff that transforms the quality of life, but no-one is willing to have that hard discussion.

I think we should be able to have that discussion.

Even pre covid I always the thought the NHS is great for an emergency but not so for non life/death situations.

Ive never told anybody to be quiet or stop. I've offered my perspective the same way everyone else is on here and I wont be bullied out of here by you. As you said everyone is allowed to be sad and what I'm sad about is having to tell a woman she couldn't go to visit her miscarried baby in the chapel because she was too sick to leave the unit. Sharing experiences is an important part of getting support or moving towards healing.

I would like to point out that 99% of people on here say they blame the higher up decision makers yet find it funny how that translates to a hell of a lot of attitude to nurses and doctors on the shop floor. People are CONSTANTLY having a go at us for decisions we've had nothing to do with and can't do anything aout. A year ago I'd ove to have a lovely conversation about how this had all been managed and what could have gone better when my patients want to rant about it instead of talking about what the appt was for but I'm fucking exhausted, I haven't seen my parents or siblings for over a year, and I have a lot of the stressors at home as everyone else does. I do wonder how all of you behave when you go in for appts because there is constant NHS bashing on this site and I'd be surprised if half of you aren't the ones I'm seeing who want to have a rant whenever you come for an appt.

The government are to blame for all of this. Full stop.

We’re on week 31 of waiting SALT. 😬

Totally agree with @Pupster21 if the NHS had been adequately funded in the first place not as many operations would have been put on hold.
You cant magic staff for the nightingales or additional ventilators and trained staff to help care for those patients.
But a properly funded NHS and people who use it properly (not ringing ambulances for broken nails etc) then we could have continued with more operations/treatments or had less time in lockdown as there was a greater capacity within the NHS to save

The whole system is badly organised.

I need to have the op done by a specific surgeon. I appreciate that he's only one person.

But it seems crazy that he operates for NHS one day a fortnight and operates at three private hospitals on the other days.

Seems to very much be a mixed bag. I know several people who are having cancer treatment in Scotland, not early stages, having been diagnosed before and during the pandemic, so it seems there is some inconsistency.

The staff have worked incredibly hard, I have been blue lighted twice & had an urgent referral to hospital. However the referral & one hospital trip could have been avoided if my GP could see me which seems like a waste of resources.

I agree. The indirect covid deaths may in time be greater than the covid deaths. It’s a horrible situation and I don’t blame hospital staff. But the consequences are awful for so many of us. I have a long term condition and I haven’t had a consultant appointment in 18 months now. The last 3 have been cancelled. It seems like unless it’s life or death you’re not important, but there are more situations being pushed into that level of severity (life or death) due to the lack of routine care

[quote VegCheeseandCrackers]@natty13 please just stop. We are talking about our own experience and I am sick to the back teeth of basically being told to shush about my experience because of Covid. Yes our doctors and nurses are brilliant and I know this pandemic has been a shitstorm but I'm allowed to be sad, everyone on this thread is allowed to be sad and you do do not have the right to bully us out of this.[/quote]
This.

I agree with bitter experience that chronic pain is an incredibly low priority for the NHS in general. As it's already low priority I can imagine the shuffling done to keep people alive during the peak of the pandemic has disproportionately affected patients caught in this hellish trap.

However locally the NHS have been responding incredibly for my parent's care. In the last year they've been diagnosed with MND because of the diligence of the professionals trying to help, since diagnosis I've never seen healthcare mobilised so compassionately and well organised. I'm currently in awe of the NHS and everything they are doing to give my parent a dignified journey towards the cruel and horrible inevitable future in front of them.

@rarari

It's bad, a family friend had to have a very serious operation privately last yr. If she waited till it freed up then she may have died or at the very least deteriorated seriously. It was £££££ but they were lucky to be able to afford. What about those that can't?

The GPs are useless at the moment, why are so many not seeing patients.

Again it’s not the GP’s usually. It’s the practice and how it’s managed. There is no central you should be seeing patients now, it’s left to each practice because they’re all outsourced. It’s not the GP Doctors saying, nah I don’t want to see anyone. It’ll be staffing levels or funding. My GP surgery has 12 GP’s, only 2 are over 50 and one had to shield so worked from home. Some were pregnant so worked from home, the remaining GP’s have been on a rota of working from home and being in the surgery seeing people face to face. I’ve been seen throughout. But if your practice is made up of cev staff you’re less likely to be seen. If there’s only 4 GP’s and they keep having to isolate, your less likely to be seen. My GP practice has 2 GP’s permanently running the vaccine hub also at the moment. There’s a lot of other things going on in the background.

Yes sorry I meant GPs as in my local organisation/surgery as opposed to individual docs if that makes sense.

My GP is a big London one with fairly young GPs. However the vast majority are not f/t & even ore covid an appointment was a nightmare.

It does and I know what you meant but I’m forever seeing posts saying why are GPs not doing anything and not seeing anyone. They are but every single person I know in the NHS is doing extra duties right now. I know that’s not helpful for people waiting for care but they are working hard and trying their best. I’ve been off work for 5 months with Covid and I’m not the only one in my small team. There are 9 of us and 2 of us have been long term sick, 1 shielding, 1 pregnant, 1 redeployed so that leaves 4 people managing 9 people’s workload as well as their own families. Most of us have primary children and non-keyworker partners so weren’t eligible for school places and none of us earn the most out of the couples so couldn’t afford for partners to take unpaid leave. It’s been a nightmare.

This is not the case in my area. Urgent referrals have been put through as normal. I can see my GP face to face, same day if urgent. This does make me question why other trusts can't do the same.

And I guess that my point is a more fundamental one.

In a modern, civilised society and one of the tenth richest countries in the world, why is it actually considered acceptable to leave someone in debilitating pain for over a year. When there is a really simple solution that will remove the pain.

Otoh dd spoke to the GP on Monday about her back which has been painful on and off for a few months, then got constant a week ago. She asked for a telephone consultation at 11:30am, had it at 3pm. They referred her for physio. On Wednesday she got the call from the physio, today she's having her first session.

@Pupster21 my surgery told me they are not doing face to face appointments. If they had listened to my chest & prescribed me antibiotics I would have been unlikely to go to A&E & have IV antibiotics, surely that a bit of a waste.

YANBU op and sending sympathies.

I am in a similar position though not in bed all the time, but in severe pain 24/7 for over 10 months. I need a discectomy.

Where I am they haven't even restarted these ops, can't/won't tell me when they will or how long the waiting list is, apart from it being very long and growing.

I've decided to bite the bullet and get it done privately. The private chain (BMI Healthcare) I'm planning to use are allowing stays, so it might be worth looking around? But it is £thousands

I've had to spend hundreds of pounds on private physio and acupuncture too as the only thing I've been offered is physio on the phone ffs.

I am a big fan of the NHS, and massively sympathetic to their plight. But am also gutted that I've had no NHS care for what has been my worst health problem of my life.

@Dithercats

YANBU. I'm sat here at the hospital, waiting to discuss surgery that was urgently needed April 2019 🙄. The surgeon is running an hour late on his morning clinic so I'm sat outside with a pager. How is he an hour late already 🤷‍♀️

Because he will may have already done ward rounds or have to come into hospital/be contacted by phone about other inpatients over night and this morning. He may think some patients need longer to process and understand the information he needs to share with them before they can make a decision.

We’ve mostly been lucky over lockdown, I’ve had prompt diagnose of mastitis over the phone and the antibiotics deliver to my house - ideal with a young baby and when feeling ill.

MIL had cancer diagnose within 2 week of GP referral. OP within weeks and she has just finished chemo.

My own DF has been discharged too promptly from hospital but this has also happened pre- covid.

@rarari they should be seeing people but what I was trying to demonstrate is there could be reasons why the GP’s at your surgery can’t. Ideally if they were all cev or shielding they’d hire a locum but finding etc. I’ve had face to face out of hours GPs to my house in all this.
Because they’re all individually run not centralised they can’t say right x surgery has no GP’s able to see people because they’re shielding so we’ll swap 2 staff with staff from y because they have more staff able to physically see people. But the government outsourced it all so it’s not centralised in any way.

Funding not finding

What @Natty13 said. Completely agree with you. The expectation of the public that nhs staff are immune from all the other pandemic stresses has been apparent. We’ve had staff off sick, self isolating, not able to see family, redeployment, childcare and other caring responsibilities and anxieties around the pandemic. And yet we are expected to deliver the same level of service as previous. My staff are on their knees with exhaustion and when they read threads like this it makes them think why do we bother. We have van cancer we can’t fill-if people want to retrain to be health care professionals then please do.

[quote VegCheeseandCrackers]@natty13 please just stop. We are talking about our own experience and I am sick to the back teeth of basically being told to shush about my experience because of Covid. Yes our doctors and nurses are brilliant and I know this pandemic has been a shitstorm but I'm allowed to be sad, everyone on this thread is allowed to be sad and you do do not have the right to bully us out of this.[/quote]
Well said.