Do you have faith in the NHS after covid?

[Plumface]

Given that patients were discharged to nursing homes, and other patients not admitted despite hospitals not being full, also that GPs and dentists seemed to close down, but PR/marketing story professionals still got paid, are you still happy to entrust your care to the NHS?

YABU = I trust the NHS and it's great
YANBU = I don't trust the NHS

I’ve worked my ass of in the NHS for 20 years. Covid has had some impact in my area of work but our cancer patients are still getting excellent care where we give life saving treatment to acutely unwell people. I still make sure my patients get the best of me. We are all wearing masks, and visiting is still being restricted somewhat, but world class care is still being delivered and I’m really proud of that. Some of my team had have psychological help after our COVID placements. But we battle on.
A local GP surgery did one of those cringe dancing videos whilst patients died alone without seeing their GP in the first wave. I see that, and it reminds me that people’s trust in the NHS has been damaged for good reasons. But for many of us, we have continued as “normal” and you can trust us and our service. If you come into my wards, you will still get the care you need, when you need it.

@MontagueLeo

Since you asked, yes.

Yes. They've been massively underfunded for years. It's not free but it's better than private for someone with as many health issues as me!

[quote Phos]@MontagueLeo

Since you asked, yes.[/quote]
How lovely for you!

Bugger everybody else, eh?!

No I don't. I trust the HCPs who work in it and I know most of them to be incredibly hard-working, principled people who are doing their best.

But if you're asking me if I have confidence that the system can safeguard mine and my child's health, the answer is no. I can't get a GP appointment at the moment without effectively taking two full days off work because the bureaucratic burden of setting aside hours to sit on hold indefinitely only to be told there's nothing available until June is something I literally don't have time in my life for.

So I've bitten the bullet and gone private. I never wanted to. I'm not under any illusions that the clinical care will be any better (in fact I think its often worse). But I'm just not prepared to be in this indefinite holding pattern if I want to see a GP.

The system is broken. I'm not saying this from an ideological point of view: I profoundly want it not to be broken and I hope it can be saved. But its very patently not able to cope any more. I don't know whether that's a deliberate act by the Tory government to destroy it or if its more of a demographic and financial collapse. Ultimately it doesn't really matter for me. It's not good enough to rely on any more and I'm not taking chances.

I didn’t trust it as an institution pre covid. We’ve had too many problems over the years. It’s not fit for purpose.
We’ve scrimped and saved every single penny to be able to afford private healthcare, as a result.

Trust it to do ... what? Save my life in emergency, offer a lot of possible medical care, yes, sure.

Given that patients were discharged to nursing homes
Given there's been a bed-blocking problem for 30 yrs, how was covid going to suddenly make the solutions to bed-blocking obvious and easy?

other patients not admitted despite hospitals not being full
Given that hospitals were (your first point) a prime place to catch covid because that's where the covid patients all went to -- should it have been as easy as ever to let patients into hospital?

GPs and dentists seemed to close down, but PR/marketing story professionals still got paid
Is there supposed to an insinuation there that PR/marketing types worked for NHS or govt?

Totally, I’ve just finished treatment for breast cancer and could not fault the level of care despite Covid.
As an NHS dentist we have received financial support to continue working albeit under difficult conditions. After reopening ( they closed us down for owe own safety due to the nature of the job, many dentists, including myself, had Covid before the first lockdown many were unaware due to lack of community testing) we had strict guidance to adhere to, as did all of the NHS. Much has been learned and going forward we are hoping for radical changes but it will take time.
Unfortunately treatments for chronic, often preventable disease has suffered. One of the best ways forward is to develop an NHS cantered on prevention. But of course this takes time and compliance. Maybe future generations can learn from our generations inability to prevent the common diseases that soak up so much of the NHS funding.

Centred not cantered

@KellyJonesLeatherTrousers

I trust the truly amazing clinicians, doctors, nurses, support staff that go over and above every single day. I trust my local NHS Trust to make the best decisions they can in very challenging circumstances.

Do I trust the government that currently makes national decisions about the NHS? Nope.

This.

It’s a goody question, IMO. It ignores the fact that for almost 12 years we’ve had governments which have not funded the NHS properly. And developed policies during the global pandemic which put the NHS under even further strain.

So I trust all the people who work in the NHS, but not the governments which make policy and siphon off national funds to their mates.

goady question, I mean.

It needs a massive overhaul but most people dont want to fund it themselves. That is for others to do...

Does anyone know how many people actually have private medical insurance?

Overall I do, yes, although there is good and bad in it, like in all things.
I'm a mental health nurse and I've worked across a variety of services. The care you can expect to get on an acute ward really varies - I've seen some poor practice and some brilliant. The main issue though is lack of beds (hard to get anyone into hospital when needed) and lack of time (nursing staff have very little time to do anything therapeutic with patients once they're on the ward).
I work in a specialist community team now and I can honestly say that the care my team offer is of a very high standard, other than waiting lists for certain interventions. I and my colleagues work very hard and regularly go above and beyond and take pride in what we offer.
My experience of private mental health care (particularly private hospitals) is that the care is really poor. Not evidence based, not very current, and shockingly poorly organised with crap communication. So the NHS is still better than most of the alternatives.

@Angrymum22

Totally, I’ve just finished treatment for breast cancer and could not fault the level of care despite Covid. As an NHS dentist we have received financial support to continue working albeit under difficult conditions. After reopening ( they closed us down for owe own safety due to the nature of the job, many dentists, including myself, had Covid before the first lockdown many were unaware due to lack of community testing) we had strict guidance to adhere to, as did all of the NHS. Much has been learned and going forward we are hoping for radical changes but it will take time. Unfortunately treatments for chronic, often preventable disease has suffered. One of the best ways forward is to develop an NHS cantered on prevention. But of course this takes time and compliance. Maybe future generations can learn from our generations inability to prevent the common diseases that soak up so much of the NHS funding.

I agree but one of the problems is that when politicians, especially the Tories mention focussing more on prevention, they get accused of victim blaming so….of course, the other problem is that virtually no politician of any hue would actually have the vision to invest in large scale prevention programmes, although it would be transformative.

They would save your life in an emergency. They would treat you if you had a chronic illness. It employs world class doctors and specialists. They treat you regardless of income, insurance or employment status. Yes

The trouble is that the NHS was never going to cope with the ever growing population we now have. Many older people are living into their 80s and 90s. We've had high levels of immigration for the last 25 years. And the funding wasn't made available to cope with any of this. Add in too many middle managers and not enough ground level staff....... this crisis has just been made sharper in our focus thanks to Covid.

We've looked in private health insurance recently, but as existing health conditions aren't covered, it seems a bit pointless as they're the issues we're struggling with. So we're just "paying as we go" to try and beat the NHS waiting lists......... DH has been waiting for cardiac surgery for 2 years. Without the cardiac surgery, he can't have his inguinal hernia repair....... both of which are driving him mad at the moment.

@Angrymum22

Totally, I’ve just finished treatment for breast cancer and could not fault the level of care despite Covid. As an NHS dentist we have received financial support to continue working albeit under difficult conditions. After reopening ( they closed us down for owe own safety due to the nature of the job, many dentists, including myself, had Covid before the first lockdown many were unaware due to lack of community testing) we had strict guidance to adhere to, as did all of the NHS. Much has been learned and going forward we are hoping for radical changes but it will take time. Unfortunately treatments for chronic, often preventable disease has suffered. One of the best ways forward is to develop an NHS cantered on prevention. But of course this takes time and compliance. Maybe future generations can learn from our generations inability to prevent the common diseases that soak up so much of the NHS funding.

The nhs still recommend the basis of a diet should be grains and starchy carbs, even though the excess consumption of these causes type 2 diabetes, obesity, ill health in general. They’re like stubborn dinosaurs.

In the ancient days doctors would drink the urine of patients to diagnose them, that’s dedication 😃

Now doctors think they’re being persecuted for being asked to see patients face to face. And declare earnings over £150K.

Really sadly no, not at all. I feel like it’s very unsafe at the moment.

Having just read that my gp practice is closing (seems more important to tell the local rag than patients) I don't trust my local NHS board. Which is tricky given I work for them.

I was in hospital two days last week. Whilst some things were abysmal (being made to wait outside in dark, wind and rain, for example), a lot of it was excellent.

Not the NHS but the management and mixed messages from the government.
The clinicians, nurses, doctors, auxiliary staff have been absolutely tremendous throughout and deserve to be treated a lot better all round.