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?

In my trust (I work in elective care team) lots of elective surgeries and routine are being cancelled to focus on red flag cancer diagnosis.
There are three hospitals in our trust (northern Ireland) one of the day procedure units have been entirely switched to cancer diagnosis.
One is doing non cancer on 2 days and then operating 5 days as a further cancer diagnosis centre. They are even paying a private company to run it at the weekend as the waiting lists for these urgent appointments are so long.
The third hospitals day procedure unit is closed except at the weekend when it is again being staffed by private practitioners. There just aren’t enough staff available to run it non to Friday due to redeployment to icu

You've shouted , nothings changed , just go private then !
I work in NHS , you really have no idea what you are talking about ...

If your condition was life threatening you would be saved .. that's all you need to know !!
Ignorance is bliss .. and in your case
EXTREMELY SELFISH .. good luck with the pain !
Can't be that bad though ? can it ? as you'd rather cope than pay ??? Hmmmmm ... no words !

@Refreshpage

Maybe a few people might 'think a little' prior to voting for the same old same old underfund the NHS party?

But then again the usual bollocks of .....but but it would be worse under....blah de blah

The problem is that Labour underfunded it as well. Are we supposed to believe that wouldn't happen in they got in again? I'd happily vote for a party that said they increase income tax to better fund the NHS but that party doesn't seem to exist.

My next door neighbours are both drs. At our local hospitals the staff have been almost halted as a hell of a lot literally struggled mentally due to covid. I can’t blame them. It’s been horrific for them. They’ve had to deal with incredibly long working days. They are truly burnt out. They were on their knees about 6 months ago

Basically anyone who isn’t having W life or death op where I am. Is being held back. Not enough staff. Or beds. It’s a huge problem. Always would be.

I second someone else’s question. What’s the cut off to access the NHS? Would you come under it?

If you need it done. Pay private. It’s always been that way. GP now struggle to help. So lots of people are turning to A and E. which is the wrong place right now for anything other than life or death.

@Justabouthangingthere

You've shouted , nothings changed , just go private then ! I work in NHS , you really have no idea what you are talking about ... If your condition was life threatening you would be saved .. that's all you need to know !! Ignorance is bliss .. and in your case EXTREMELY SELFISH .. good luck with the pain ! Can't be that bad though ? can it ? as you'd rather cope than pay ??? Hmmmmm ... no words !

Hugs ❤️❤️❤️ It’s been hard for you guys. I don’t think people who don’t work in it realise.

Trying to get operaitions now must be really tough . There is still a lot of knock-on from Covid; problems which should have been dealt with earlier have become emergencies; and Covid levels are still high enough to put pressure on the NHS. Vaccination is helping but it only slows down spread and makes the illness more likely to be mild, so with lockdowns lifting a fair number of people are still getting ill enough to need hospital for Covid. Also some staff still need to isolate and extra hygeine is needed, so that slows everything down too.

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

If you can afford private now then you would might have to pay if there was a threshold.

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.

And they might still cancel or postpone too. I'm not sure this is a private/NHS thing, there is only so much capacity and Covid has stretched all of it to the max and beyond.

If you can go private and it would be quicker then I would do that. But I hope your NHS operation goes ahead very soon!

@Christmasmcchristmasface

In my trust (I work in elective care team) lots of elective surgeries and routine are being cancelled to focus on red flag cancer diagnosis. There are three hospitals in our trust (northern Ireland) one of the day procedure units have been entirely switched to cancer diagnosis. One is doing non cancer on 2 days and then operating 5 days as a further cancer diagnosis centre. They are even paying a private company to run it at the weekend as the waiting lists for these urgent appointments are so long. The third hospitals day procedure unit is closed except at the weekend when it is again being staffed by private practitioners. There just aren’t enough staff available to run it non to Friday due to redeployment to icu

My friends just been diagnosed with metastasis breast cancer. My other friend was rushed into ICU and ventilated due to a rare genetic disorder.

The NHS has been phenomenal. On their knees. But they helped so much. Amazing. Can’t fault them.

@tiredanddangerous

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.

Although I posted something similar, I’m not entirely sure how they’re going to sell it. I suspect that it’s thrown any privatisation by stealth plans into a bit of an unknown because I think the resources needed, private or NHS, simply don’t exist.

If they can keep the public convinced that it’s all down to an unwieldy NHS then maybe, but I think covid has thrown a curve ball in that it’s not really a viable option to drip feed changes to the public when so much is needed at once. Handing over what is in, the public mind, their right to a pretty high standard of healthcare leaves it open to a lot of trouble when market forces are given free reign to control those prices.

I suspect that the immediate future holds a much lower standard of healthcare no matter who’s paying for it.

Winter crisis already, today had 64 patients who were fit to leave, but had no where to go.

There was a backlog before Covid. It will now be worse. We are also coming into flu and noro virus season.

The problem is that Labour underfunded it as well. Are we supposed to believe that wouldn't happen in they got in again? I'd happily vote for a party that said they increase income tax to better fund the NHS but that party doesn't seem to exist.

I think you need to visit a fact check website rather than listen to Tory politics. The fact check website compares years of Labour spending on the NHS and years of Conservative spending - interesting reading and you can see why the NHS has massive problems now. There is underfunding and then there is massive underfunding! Why people actually protect the tory complete and utter contempt for the NHS is odd.

The first paragraph was a quote from a tory supporter!

Everyone's made excellent points - I just wanted to add, Covid is still very, very much affecting hospitals. Deaths are the highest since March, people are still being admitted, ICUs are still full. It just isn't in the news as much because people are sick of it, and sick of Covid, so we're collectively pretending that everything's fine so we can keep stuff open. I know 2 double vaccinated people who've been in ICU just in the last 3 weeks with Covid - one, a marathon runner 30 year old, is now dead leaving 2 kids behind.

I hate to be the voice of doom but it's clear people really have no idea how bad things still are because as far as the Govt are concerned you no longer need to isolate if you're double vaxxed and everything's back open so largely, it seems like life is back to normal. But because of all those things, it's really not.

@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.

Far longer than 10 years. Blair/Brown threw money at it but didn't bother improving efficiency etc. Far too obsessed with arbitrary targets than actual patient outcomes. They need to stop re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic and get to grips with the inherent failings within the NHS. Once that is addressed, more money will end up where it's needed.

If you can afford it, I would go private. You'll get a definite date and won't be hanging round just to be cancelled last minute.
Also , helps free up a space for someone who can't afford it.

I just want to say thank you to all the front line staff on this thread. Ds is medically complex and the last 2 years has been tough with all the changes but his medical team have all done all they can to keep things going against the odds!

Whatever the behind the scenes issues the vast majority of front line staff are run off their feet yet still trying to do the best they can with what they have

I've had three operations during the pandemic. Two were due to an accident. The first operation was botched leading to life-changing paralysis and complications. The second operation was to clean-up the first operation. I am now awaiting another operation in September out of area. This is a major procedure because the local hospital surgeon's were under so much pressure while doing surgery months ago that mistakes were made. Be careful what you wish for. If I didn't have life-threatening issues, I would be giving surgery a miss until conditions in NHS hospitals are better.

Because COVID stressed the resources of an already-stressed system further. Health systems are complex systems involving people.

Because there is still a remarkably high level of infections that impact on the operations of acute and primary in terms of staff absence, availability of ITU, availability of beds and so on.

Because some HCPs are the walking dead in primary and acute after 18 months of exceptionally tough, changeable working conditions.

Because the resources that are available are being somewhat prioritised to some conditions, such as urgent cancer care.

Because many think privatisation is the goal but IMO, that won't solve anything and will reduce spend on front line delivery by directing resources to transaction costs unless the UK is willing to spend more on healthcare. As the UK wants Western European levels of social provision with USA levels of taxation then that won't easily happen. What will happen is that the financial interests of larger corporates with shareholders and opportunities to be NEDs for MPs will be promoted compared with the current system. BTW, these corporates would be the organisations making large donations to political parties, MPs and Ministers now.

For a metaphor, what did the UK look like in 1918 or 1945? How long did it take for the country to recover?

What most people do not realise is that 80% of the private healthcare in this country is delivered by the same NHS staff who do it in their own time.
They are not separate they are integrally linked

My Bf is waiting for a knee replacement. Has been told by the consultant that it could be at least another 9 month wait.
She has already been waiting since before covid. She offered to go private £12k and he said if she could find an anesthetist
as there is a chronic shortage. Never mind a surgeon.
Her and her DH have phoned at least 30 hospitals some out of the area and have been told nothing within 9 months.

You think that privatisation would improve the NHS?
You’re a fool.

Do you vote Tory, OP? I suspect you might do as you think the NHS should be privatised.

The Tories underfund the NHS. They want to privatise it so their mates can make money, which would be fine for you, but rather difficult for the millions of people who cannot afford to go private. The pandemic and Brexit have accelerated their plans. There is no Plan B, there is no contingency, it will just be shit.

We’ve had 11 years of a Tory government.
There’s your problem in a nutshell.

To privatise you sell off the bits that can be made profitable - similar to that done with other former public sector organisations. The unprofitable bits will be left to the state so mates can make money.

You start by underfunding massively. People that can afford use private healthcare and others start to think that way. The demand created suggests it is what people want..... so lets privatise some of it and see how it goes....

Meanwhile continue to run the rest into the ground.

The poor staff. Brexit so people from the EU that would work for the NHS and other companies etc etc no longer feel welcome or want to work - understaffed, underfunded and a pandemic - what could possibly go wrong.

To actually believe that those that shout go to the front of the queue is quite stupid and untrue.