To be really worried about the NHS this winter

[AtlasPine]

Just that really. Lots of issues around GP access, backlogs of people waiting for treatments and overstretched A&E departments. Flu season coming, Covid cases rising, staffing problems linked to Brexit and the rise of private practices offering better terms and conditions to doctors.

What can we do to support the NHS?

Vaccinations (flu and Covid) and look after ourselves as much as possible I suppose. I can’t afford private health care like most here I suspect.

If 40 brand new additional hospitals were built ( not sure that is what the Government had in mind when it made that promise ? )that would mean about 5,500 extra hospital beds for those 10 million people who have joined the population in the last 30 years.

@purpleflowerlegs exactly those deemed unable to pay will be those on a very low income. Maybe families are entitled to free school meals?
On paper, I would have to pay co-pays. In practice, I would have to pick and choose what treatment I had for my chronic health condition and for my teenager. In reality, I would forgo treatment so the teenager could get treatment. Which I know will in the long run put me back in hospital as an emergency case, or I will die.
In reality I will move to Scotland.

If you can leave A&E because the wait is too long you don't need to bloody be there in the first place.

Some people have commitments to care for other more vulnerable people, and they can't just abandon them, because they are in A & E.

DS took baby DGS to A & E a few weeks ago, as he was struggling to breathe - on the advice of the GP. Six hours later, not having been seen, he had to leave, to pick up the three year old from nursery. What would you suggest - he left the three year old to walk home and let herself in with a key, under the plant pot?

A baby really struggling to breathe would not be left for 6 hours.

A baby really struggling to breathe would not be left for 6 hours.

I didn't say really struggling to breathe. I was not there, I can only go on what DS said, who said DGS was "struggling to breathe" and he was in real pain with an ear infection. DS rang the GP at 8 am for an appointment, but the GP refused to see DGS, as he didn't have a negative PCR. The GP told them to take DGS to A & E, which is a good half an hour's drive away, as they have closed the three nearer A & Es, in the time we have lived here. DDIL can't drive.

DS did say NO patients in children's A & E were seen for 5 hours - the staff just kept coming out saying

"A doctor will be here soon!"

They were there for 6 hours, and then DS had to leave to pick up DGD from nursery, and DDIL had to go to work. They went back to A & E sometime in the evening, and were eventually seen at 2.30 am. They said a little girl, who had been coughing and vomiting when they were there in the morning, still hadn't been seen, when they left. DS told the doctor, they saw eventually that DGS is ill all the time, as he catches everything off DGD, who started nursery recently. The doctor who examined DGS didn't know why he was struggling to breathe. He told them to buy a nebuliser for next time - I am not sure why, as surely something has to be prescribed to put in it?

Anyway, DS and DDIL went to Poland last week to see her family. They were able to arrange a face to face appointment with a GP there straightaway for £30, who said DGS had a chest infection. (So GPs are not afraid of Covid there)

@Intercity225 Okay sorry. The baby had an ear infection and was snuffly. Yes you would wait a long time.
I got an appointment with the GP on the same day with my GP for my teenager face to face. But then it was an issue that needed dealt with and I have never said my kids need to be seen urgently unless it is needed.

@Intercity225 And yet when ppl film these issues they are accused of privacy invasion or faking it. If they dont film it they get accused of lying or exaggerating.

@MercyBooth some people go to A and E with very minor issues with their kids. Yes they will wait a long time.

some people go to A and E with very minor issues with their kids. Yes they will wait a long time.

Apparently it is the protocol here for GPs to send a baby struggling to breathe to A & E.

@Intercity225 where you live that is the protocol? I wonder what struggling to breathe means? Obviously, a baby really struggling to breathe needs the hospital, but people say this when it's a cold.

where you live that is the protocol?

Yes, it is. He had had a cold, but he was over it by then. He had an ear infection, which was really painful, and according to the GP in Poland, a chest infection.

Anyway, they had been told in a Zoom appointment with the GP to take DGD to A & E for a throat infection a few months before, as antibiotics weren't working. The one where she lost a 1/4 of her body weight, because she didn't want to eat.

DS does not take DGC to A & E for what he considers minor snuffles - he only does it on the advice of a doctor.

I mean personally I never aim to become ill. But if I am I'll use the health service I pay into.

[quote julieca]@Intercity225 where you live that is the protocol? I wonder what struggling to breathe means? Obviously, a baby really struggling to breathe needs the hospital, but people say this when it's a cold.[/quote]
Suggest you read the advice given plentifully on here about rise and fall of stomach, when judging whether a child needs extra care. When a GP refuses to see a child hospital is your only option

@Courtier

I mean personally I never aim to become ill. But if I am I'll use the health service I pay into.

Think you need to know where exactly your NI contribution is going, IT'S not just hospital GP

some people go to A and E with very minor issues with their kids. Yes they will wait a long time
Im surprised how parents will go to A&E with their children if they have a fever over 39 degrees, are coughing non stop for 3 days, are a bit whizy, or not eaten as normal for 4 days.

I would never have occured to me to take my children with these ailments. However, I appreciate that it is under recommendation of the NHS. In the end, in 100 kids going to A&E, the very large majority will be fine, but there is always the one and we prefer to treat 99 who are fine to be sure not to miss the 1 who really needs urgent treatment.

The problem is this results in huge pressure on the system and long waits.