To ask why the NHS is cancelling operations?!

[CFEC]

I'm due to have a (much needed and waited for) op in a few weeks time, I've just rung my consultant's secretary as I haven't had a pre-op appointment letter through yet and queried it, as I wanted to make sure the operation is definitely going ahead as if nothing else, I'll be off work for 2 weeks and my boss would ideally like confirmation.

She said 'Oh, well they're cancelling A LOT of inpatient appointments, but as you'll be a day patient no, I think yours will go ahead.'

I swear I will lose my sh&^ and cry if it gets cancelled again, this will be the third time!!!

Why is the NHS cancelling operations left, right and centre?! Surely it can't be due to Covid still? If it is, what is going to happen to us all, so many people are going to die surely as a result of not getting treatment? A lot more than with Covid! Most people are double vaccinated now, this virus isn't going away, why are operations for in patients being cancelled?

Another part of the problem is that some people who originally needed quick, straightforward, day surgery which was delayed due to Covid, are now sicker and need (at least) an over night bed. We’ve been really stretched for staff on my ward because we’re having to staff the daysurgery unit overnight.
Hope you get your operation soon, OP.

@CFEC
But what happens to all these people that need these operations? Do they just have to sit around in pain, probably with little quality of life for another 3-4 years? Not meant in a goady way, I'm genuinely curious, there just doesn't seem to be a contingency plan.

Sadly there is no contingency plan so patients have no option but to sit and wait, unless they can afford private care.
When the public complain about the poor service from the NHS I don't think many people realise how dire things are. It's easy to blame the greedy doctors who want more money and to work less or to blame the nurses who "aren't as dedicated as they used to be" etc etc but the reality is there's not enough money and no people to work so care may become non existent :(

I've been on the waiting list just over two years (was scheduled for April 2020). I'm still waiting and have no time scale. Reasons I've been given are :
Covid,
Reduced beds due to social distancing,
Reduced theatre slots due to extra cleaning,
Reduced staff due to isolation, sickness, taking holiday they couldn't last year,
No itu beds (even though I'm not expected to need one),
The consultants are choosing who they bring in when (which I read as your op will take a whole day's theater slot where as we can see 5/6 patients in the same time).
The list of reasons goes on and on and frustratingly I've had no contact with my consultant since January 2020 and not being kept informed of any developments (I learn more from the local news). I don't feel I can complain either because they'll just say everyone is in the same boat and covid is the reason (it's only part of the reason I'd already breached pre covid (having waited 9 months).

1. Years of chronic underfunding

1. Staff shortages due to

a) Recruitment and retention difficulties (due to being treated like shit and paid peanuts) b) staff self-isolating after contact with Covid cases c) peak holiday season so more staff on leave than at most times of the year

Have a read of this Twitter thread mobile.twitter.com/rupert_pearse/status/1428970205431144452 by an ICU consultant in London. Clear, concise explanation of what is going on.

Quite simply the NHS was on the brink before covid, it didn’t/doesn’t have the capacity to absorb a situation of high demand that’s ongoing indefinitely. Even with vaccines there’s an increased demand on care that simply can’t be put in a queue. We can’t train the knowledge we need in anything measured in less than years and that’s if we have enough people willing.

To answer your question ‘will people be left in pain’, honestly yes. If it’s not going to cause their death or life changing injury imminently then it can go in a queue. It’s a self perpetuating problem because treatment to avoid emergencies can’t be administered so conditions that could have been managed become emergencies.

If you have the ability to seek private treatment go for it although I’m hearing flickers that private care providers aren’t immune to the pressures of increased demands on a finite number of staff/resource.

Personally I think government will seize this opportunity to convince us all the NHS needs to go. It’ll work the angle from an individuals pov and hope that only a few cotton on to the bigger picture. I’m not completely opposed to a different system but I don’t think this lot will replace it with anything like what most people expect. The NHS as a model isn’t terrible but it has been badly neglected.

Quite honestly I can see our hospitals totally imploding this winter. The staff are on their knees, they will just stop coping and potentially all hell will basically let loose.

Still I’m sure old Sajid has got a nifty little rescue plan up his sleeve 🙄

Chronic underfunding for years
Staff burn out from Covid (and underfunding) leading to absence and departure
Loss of life and health amongst staff from Covid
Departure of EU staff
Continuing high numbers of Covid cases
Back log of all treatments and operations cancelled during earlier stages of Covid
Back log of patients who didn’t come forward during Covid so as not to be a bother
Staff being involved in a things like vaccination programmes
Depletion of physical and financial resources during Covid

It’ll be at least a couple of years before they catch up, if they ever do.

There’s no contingency plan or safety net due to cuts. They ran down the PPE sticks. Everything has been cut to the bone for a long time and there’s nothing left. We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t totally collapse.

I've been saying for years that it should be privatised/ or have an income threshold to be able to access it and YES I KNOW it couldn't be as simple as that, but SOMETHING needs to be done as ultimately, through no fault of the hard working employees, it just isn't fit for purpose anymore and seems to be failing just as many people as it's helping.

And to the poster who said losing my sh^& at the secretary would make me look like a dick, yes it would, which is why I wouldn't do that, I'd certainly lose it privately in my own home though.

I know NHS workers are on their knees, I know they are, I know it's not their fault which is why I'm always meek and sweet on the phone etc. Except the problem with the NHS is, it's the people that shout the loudest that get seen at the end of the day, you literally have to fight to get treatment nowadays and if you don't then the people that do will get seen/ treated before you.

I rang a private hospital a few weeks ago to get a quote and wait time and even there wait times are now 4 months long so if it does get cancelled and I go private, I'm still looking at next year now anyway.

or have an income threshold to be able to access it

So what income do you think it would be unavailable at? Slightly higher than yours I suppose?

@CFEC they wait or go private. Far from ideal but the pot is fairly empty

Plus the recruitment and retention issues. I was an NHS nurse once but got sick of being worked to the bone and treated like a dick head. Nonsense like me being on nights, literally about to leave my house and then being rang to say l was now on days Crap money, bad shifts, abusive patients, unrealistic managers etc. Thousands of nurses feel like me plus large numbers are retiring so there aren’t enough nurses

1. not enough beds of the right colour green and amber
2. Staff being pinged
3. Staff exhausted and getting sick with anything
4. Staff leaving
5. Shortages of drugs, blood bottles and various other things
6. Staff entitled to a holiday

Multifactorial but am not aware of anyone slacking. The ask is for more and more overtime and people have had enough. I don't want to go to work at the moment because the atmosphere sucks, the pressure is immense and even if oyu are on annual leave - there are no limits and people call constantly for you to just do something - it is not like you are away...... I last had a week of holiday when no one called me from work to just do something in December 2019

You think the NHS should be privatised, yet you have savings that would cover your procedure and don't want to use them?

I have a relative that was taken into hospital weeks back as an emergency. They needed surgery and were added to the emergency list. 12 days later, she discharged herself, still on the emergency list for this surgery. Which was, of course, a stupid move and now puts her surgery on a further waiting list. Thankfully, she's been stable since then, but could have to wait months and months now, unless she becomes critical again.

12 days for an emergency operation which didn't happen.

That's the state of the NHS.

Except the problem with the NHS is, it's the people that shout the loudest that get seen at the end of the day

It really isn’t. The people that get seen are the people that are dying right this second or you get lucky. And that’s how it will be forever now unfortunately.

Oh yes, in those 12 days, they were not able to source 2 of her regular medications to give her (one life saving, the other one with very nasty withdrawal effects)

We have lost a lot of EU workers from the NHS.

Covid still having a massive impact. death rate yesterday was the highest since March apparently.

Be careful what you wish for.

Can I just reassure you we find it upsetting cancelling patients and will do all in our power to make sure a patient is not cancelled more than once.
I would hope that all Trusts schedule theatre lists by clinical need and best utilisation of time so normally 1 bigger case and a few small routine depending on surgeon and procedures not by who shouts the loudest also length of wait
You also have all the services needing additional theatre lists. With exhausted and broken staff expected to cover these additionals

Recruitment is going to emerge as a huge problem. Our traditional approach has been to source medical talent from abroad in the past but every country is basically in the same predicament and global demand for doctors and nurses is sky high.

Even with the massive success of the vaccine program there are still nearly 7000 people currently in hospital with covid.

Add that the the normal patient numbers and I doubt there are any systems that wouldn’t be struggling

In my local hospital, they obviously still need to stick with social distancing guidelines so there are less actual beds from this as well and they have to prioritise cancer patients and those that will actually die if they don't get their operations. If you won't die without yours then you're not priority unfortunately. It's terrible but it's not the staffs fault. We are doing our best in dire circumstances

I honestly believe that the current governments plan is to run the NHS completely into the ground so that it's no longer sustainable. Then they can ride in and save the day by privatising it and making us all pay for healthcare.

@MissyB1

OP I’m also not being goady (honestly) but the general public have been dozing whilst our NHS has been falling apart for the last 10 years. No one has been taking notice. It was in no fit state whatsoever to cope with a pandemic, waiting lists were already at their highest for years.

No there isn’t a “plan B” that I know of although you could try asking your MP to ask that question in parliament.

This- and when NHS staff have tried to highlight this they have just been labelled as 'whinging' rather than telling people what has been going on. I'm really sorry about your operation and really hope it isn't cancelled.

I think the NHS is also having to play a lot of catch up after not carrying out a lot of surgeries over the last year. Its affecting so many peoples lives and wellbeing and it’s just crap

@PhoenixFreesias well yes, lots of people say they want private healthcare. But they don’t realise how much costs and how EVERYTHING is charged for even for paracetamol