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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Shocked at how terrible the NHS is nowadays

342 replies

ConfusedBoobs · 29/10/2021 19:13

I had a mammogram a month ago that showed I have calcifications that they don't think are cancer but they won't know for sure until after I've had a biopsy. Today I found out that the biopsy can't be prioritised as urgent and so will still be another month away. AIBU to think it's terrible to leave people in limbo like this?

OP posts:
GreenLunchBox · 29/10/2021 22:17

@BananaBlue

I wonder how private healthcare would be better if the U.K. moved to an insurance/private healthcare?

Doesn’t private healthcare currently work due to higher resources/fewer patients?

If most of the country go private surely that system would be inefficient as well?

Unless of course we suddenly have a mass of medical staff immigrating to the U.K.?

I wonder this too
StealthPolarBear · 29/10/2021 22:18

Yes we all need to pay morw tax to fund ot and they need to stop the endless reforms and let one system run for a while.

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:18

@BananaBlue

I agree with Gin and Julie.

Thing is large parts of the NHS already is privatised or outsourced and they don’t necessarily work well.

Healthcare will go the way of care homes if we are not careful. They were largely public once. Now they are constantly in crisis while providing huge profits to equity firms.

I wonder if medical staff having full control of NHS structure/function instead of DHSC would work better?

And yes I remember NHS being much more efficient under Blair.

My gran was in a council care home. It did not look posh, but the staff were brilliant and she was so happy in there. The private care homes now physically look better, but most have an incredibly high turnover of staff and much poorer care than my gran had. The private service is good at surface appearances. But make money by squeezing staff so they struggle to hold onto anyone good.

Look at how the Priory group has just been condemned for its services. Undertrained and low paid staff that couldn't provide the service Priory were being paid to provide.

We keep having this. Services are privatised, and then there is an expose of how awful the services are. But it keeps happening. I guess because it makes some rich people even richer.

holidaynearlyover · 29/10/2021 22:18

My dad has had to pay for a private consultation. With measures put in place his prognosis may be ok, if he'd waited the 6 months the NHS were telling him it could have been a very different story.

A huge error was made during lockdown in stopping nearly all appointments. I had an X-ray and people were laughing, joking and doing bugger all, if they'd kept some appointments ticking over then they wouldn't have the same backlog as they have now. It's shocking

ChocolateDeficitDisorder · 29/10/2021 22:19

Why do so many posters talk as if there is only one alternative to the NHS and that it's the American system?

Which system do you reckon the Tories would be more likely to adopt?

The one where the money is spent fairly and is invested back into a system where all the citizens can access it equally or the one where massive profits are made and diverted into offshore accounts while paying low wages and cutting resources?

Hmmm....tricky one.

Takemetothe90s · 29/10/2021 22:19

@Viviennemary

It might as well not exist for all the use it is. Totally and absolutely hopeless.
Maybe it’s a postcode lottery? I’ve nothing but fabulous experiences with the nhs, to this very day.
StealthPolarBear · 29/10/2021 22:19

Private healthcare would 'work' because the rich would get it (i include myself) and the poor would die quicker. Or at least not complain.

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:20

@Viviennemary there is this thing called covid that has been allowed to run rampant leading to staff off sich and covid patients in hospital. Of course there have been delays. It was inevitable. But most people don't care because - we have to get back to normal.
Actions have consequences.

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:21

@StealthPolarBear

Private healthcare would 'work' because the rich would get it (i include myself) and the poor would die quicker. Or at least not complain.
Yeah, I am in the poor and would die quicker.
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 29/10/2021 22:21

The NHS itself isn’t bad, people thought it would be good to have a conservative government and they have failed to manage the NHS or fund it properly. The people who thought it would be good to vote conservative did so because they either didn’t like the ordinary man who wanted to bring essential utilities under the people’s control and working for the people, or instead wanted to vote for the Etonian elite guy who told them that leaving the most powerful and beneficial trading arrangement in the world would be “better”.

greenknickers · 29/10/2021 22:21

I feel for you OP, that’s not good enough.

I think it varies very much by where you live. Here in Wales I had a biopsy a week after my scan and a CT scan within a fortnight.

I’m sorry your service isn’t as quick (maybe it’s a sign your cancer isn’t v.advanced though, hence why they’re bit rushing? Could be a positive sign even though of course you wish it was quicker.)

Sending you love and best wishes at this worrying time x

Helenluvsrob · 29/10/2021 22:22

I’d suggest you don’t go privately.
Cancer treatment is something the nhs really does well.

Given that , had you not had a mammogram you wouldn’t have known about this ,and you don’t know how long it’s been there, a month , whilst not ideal isn’t awful.

You could have the biopsies taken privately but thrn to transfer cate back to nhs would introduce a delay at least equal to the 2 weeks beyond “acceptable” you will have to wait on nhs. Your case would have to be re reviewed at nhs MDT etc etc and that’s assuming the nhs service is happy with the quality of biopsies and the histology report and don’t want to repeat them again.

Calcification doesn’t always mean cancer x

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:23

@holidaynearlyover I am sorry your father had those issues. But no appointments were not stopped. My father had his first heart operation during the first lockdown and had many appointments and tests.
The NHS wanted to set up non covid hospitals at the beginning and were told no by the government.

onelastgoatthis · 29/10/2021 22:24

I've been undergoing lots of tests lately and I have to say the NHS have been amazing; from my first gp visit, to attending a&e and then outpatient appointment/scans.

StealthPolarBear · 29/10/2021 22:24

Julie die quietly will you love? Im trying to
enjoy my champagne in peace.

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:26

@StealthPolarBear Will do my best.

Changechangychange · 29/10/2021 22:26

[quote AlphabetAerobics]@Serenschintte you’re not wrong, but people don’t want to look to Europe… they just quack on about the US. I was under EU health insurance during the Blair years - knocked “labours nhs” into a cocked hat.[/quote]
We do look to Europe. I’ve worked in Canada. Those systems cost 2-4 times as much as the NHS, and provide less (medications aren’t covered in Ontario, for example - you need to purchase separate drug cover, or pay out of pocket. Antibiotics cost about $70 for a week’s course).

The NHS would run just fine if it had 4 times as much money!

bestcattoyintheworld · 29/10/2021 22:27

@bloodywhitecat could you try and contact Marie Curie?

Unlike Macmillan, Marie Curie nurses actually nurse and support cancer patients.

Grida · 29/10/2021 22:27

I wish people didn’t only compare it to the American system. Why don’t we look at other countries in Europe for ideas?

2Two · 29/10/2021 22:28

I went from a diagnosis of anaemia to quite a gastroscopy and colonoscopy with impressive speed earlier this year. However, having detected some pre-cancerous cells in a biopsy, I was sent a supposedly urgent appointment in June that wasn't going to happen till October. Then it was postponed to December. When I gently queried why I was told it was due to Covid.

Thanks, anti-vaxxers and mask refusers.

LagunaBubbles · 29/10/2021 22:28

Well what do people expect really voting for the Tories sadly.... hardly the party of the NHS. Hope you're OK. Thank fuck I'm in Scotland and we've got a small hope keeping our NHS Tory free.

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:28

@onelastgoatthis

I've been undergoing lots of tests lately and I have to say the NHS have been amazing; from my first gp visit, to attending a&e and then outpatient appointment/scans.
Glad to hear it. That has been my dad's experience. He was literally having tests, check-ups or appointments about 3-4 times a week for a month, as well as phone calls to see how he was getting on. Then an operation and medication, then a second operation when they discovered more issues during the first one. God knows how much it would have all cost. A bloody fortune.
holidaynearlyover · 29/10/2021 22:29

@julieca I had to argue to get an x ray they refused to see me as were doing very limited appointments- suspected breaks only. My dr told me I had to go as I'd fallen 2 weeks previously and was starting to get pins and needles. When I phoned they said I couldn't go in as it wasn't a suspected break due to it happening 2 weeks previously. I explained it was still suspected 🙄 and eventually they let me in. Usually it would be full but there wasn't another person there so appointments must have been stopped.

Also my daughter had no ENT appointments throughout the time, these were all cancelled too.

My friend's dad died due to not seeing his heart specialist as he had a phone call instead of his face to face appointment.

My dad had his colonoscopy cancelled due to covid.

Very glad you didn't experience this but where I live appointments were most definitely not happening.

holidaynearlyover · 29/10/2021 22:30

Oh and my arm was broken and then I had to walk around another week before they bothered to tell me 🙄

julieca · 29/10/2021 22:31

@Changechangychange yes you cant pay 4 times less tax than other systems and expect the same results.
We wouldn't do it with anything else. Why is my £50 hotel room not as nice as that £200 hotel room. I mean the answer is obvious.
Instead people suggest paying some of that money to more private firms to make a profit. I mean how in the hell would that help when what we really need to do is spend more money on the NHS.