. . . to think this letter from the NHS is depressing, upsetting, frustrating . . .

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Had a routine eye test at a high street optician and the retina scan (which I paid extra for on a "why not?" basis) showed that the layers of my macula are separating, with what could be fluid - possible macular oedema. The optician gave me a letter for my GP asking for an urgent referral to the eye hospital as this needs investigating. The GP made the referral, and I got this letter (pic) back. It's been a month and still nothing - the optician said she would really want me to be seen within a couple of weeks.

It just makes me incredibly sad and depressed. This is an urgent referral, but it isn't life-threatening (assuming it's just fluid) but it frightens me to think of all the people that aren't receiving treatment for what could be serious issues, made worse by urgent referrals no longer being treated as such, and we're still blaming covid.

I feel a bit overwhelmed by how bad things have become.

There is NO way this is about Covid.

20 years ago it was frustrating because you had to be at aGP door first thing, or first on the phone to get an appt on the same day. But now you're lucky to get something non-urgent in 2 weeks.

That is systemic changes over time, lack of funding and gradually reduction in services.

There are more people, and less money, less hospitals, less beds, less staff.

The cost to the economy of all the petiole unable to work is vast. The ripple effect of carers, doctors giving up because of the work load, it's endless.

For all the people saying the NHS was to expensive, I'd compare that to the fallout costs. Not to mention the money wasted in other areas, and the lack of taxes on the multinationals etc. If you mention taxes, everyone freaks out about putting hard working millionaires on a 50%.

The thing is, the divide has become so great, you'd only have to tax the to one percent an extra 5%, and the conglomerates to pay the tax they actually bloody owe, and the economy would look very different.

The only thing that covid did was speed up the problem, but we would've been in this place in 5-10 years anyway.

The NHS used to make sure that nobody without other options went without medical care, and now it has often become the opposite, ensuring people without other options have no access to medical care.

I’ve never been to an outpatient appointment without spotting multiple redundancies and areas for efficiencies. Staff moving like molasses and repeating process steps.

Not for eyes, but this happened to me.

Then I got a few missed calls from a private number and a letter a few months later asking if I was still wanting to “be on the waiting list”
what is that about?
I have private healthcare and the only reason I’m on the list is because there is not a private consultant in the country who is a specialist in this issue, only in a specific nhs unit!
why on earth should we have to travel out of the U.K. for healthcare (I am going to) but why would the nhs be blocking certain procedures and consults from the private industry, it would definitely take some pressure off them as some people certainly would pay if it was available elsewhere.

Exactly. It should be an utter scandal but somehow it isn't.

Often fussiness and picky eating is linked to deficiencies like zinc, your GP can do a test if you persist.

The NHS has been underfunded for years. It is being privatised by stealth. Look at how many private health enterprises there are now. The current government have been actively encouraging privatisation and making inroads with American companies to foster this. Sunak was in the US in cahoots with them about 6 months ago. Hunt had written a look about it before he got the health ministers job.
Covid has expedited the demise of the NHS and the govt are delighted, all their monied mates are leaping at the opportunity to make a fast buck. Things are so bad now that if you have some extra money people are willingly seeking out private health care because they see the writing on the wall.
The Brexit promise of £350 m obviously hasnt transpired but none of it was to bolster the NHS anyway.
I am paying for an MRI because it would take me years to get one. A local service isnt taking GP referrals for MRI because they're too busy.
Post Covid we are on the back foot like never before. Nurses and Doctors pressurised like never before, if they can get out they're leaping at the earliest opportunity. I wouldnt advise any relative of mine to go into healthcare. I've been a nurse for over 35 years and as bad as it has been at times this is the worst I've ever experienced.
Of course it will be those who aren't financially comfortable who will pay the highest price.
I'm mid 50s so if I book myself in now all being well I'll get the appointment for my hip op when I'm 90. 😥

Too few people pay into the system. Everyone has an unrealistic expectation that they should receive expensive care for free.

Not eyes but teeth.
We recently had a letter from the NHS to ask if we'd like dd to remain on the list for orthodontist treatment. She's been on the list 4 yrs- and there's currently a 4 yr wait.
She needs braces as many of her teeth overlap and cause pain when eating.
We've been assured she will be seen before she is 18 as she went on the list as a child.
Just 3 more years to wait then.
We are actually fortunate as we are all still registered at an NHS dentist.

My sister paid £200 approx for an eye examination with a Consultant, it's a company called Newmedica, they do private and also some NHS.
Would that be an option for you?

It sounds like the content of the GP's letter to the Eye Unit maybe got lost in translation and you weren't prioritised as urgent. Your optician should be able to make a direct referral to your local eye unit's Rapid Access Centre. You could also try contacting the Macular Society to see if they have any suggestions. Oh and OP, when you do get your appointment, don't try too hard with the eye chart because if you do need a specific treatment, your ability to read down to a certain level may rule this out until such time as you can't.

Could you ring your opticians and ask if they could put pressure on them for you?

I’m in Scotland. My friend is diabetic, he had hos annual review just a couple of weeks before lockdown, we’re now 3 years in, he was offered a telephone appt (how would he get feet/eyes etc checked?) but it didn’t matter, it was cancelled anyway…he has only recently been given a face to face appt, cancelled, nurse is off sick, so, he waits again. Luckily, he keeps well and looks after his diabetes well, but there are others who aren’t so fortunate.
Another friend was in the health centre waiting for the nurse, to have bloods taken, she was the only one in the (large) waiting area, the phone was ringing off the hook while the two receptionists at the desk completely ignored it! It would stop for a minute and start again….no-one answered. You cannot, for love nor money see a GP in my particular part of the country. More people will definitely die because of the complete lack of care than anyone ever did of Covid!! The NHS will die itself shortly.

Its not a scandal because we keep voting for second rate public services.

Staff shortages, not least caused by EU workers leaving the UK and almost no social care.

None of this is being addressed, 2 years after CV exposed the lack of preparedness of the NHS, AHP students still leave Uni with 50k of debt to earn little more than the Min Wage and care workers still earn £10 ph haven't seen their mileage rates increase despite the hike in fuel.

You can reform the NHS as much as you like but we will still end up with the lowest number of beds, nurses and Dr's per capita compared to similar economies.

Tax rates are much higher in Scotland and it hasn’t raised enough revenue.

If it's urgent, can your optician not refer you directly? Mine did this a couple of years ago, when my regular check-up showed something concerning. I got an appointment within 2 weeks. (Luckily it was ok)

Please note I was specifically refering to Scotland. I have just spent an interesting 30 minutes looking at OECD statistics and yes, we are a bit lacking on the staff front. As regards actual spending things are not nearly as dire as is often stated compared to other European countries which was news to me. Section 5, also elements of section 6
www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/82129230-en/1/3/2/3/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/82129230-en&csp=e7f5d56a7f4dd03271a59acda6e2be1b&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book

My husband recently had a cancer 2 week referral. 4 weeks later we'd heard nothing. It took 6 weeks to be soon. Luckily he was OK.
My son has stomach problems and has to be seen regularly at paediactrics. Wasn't seen at all through covid obviously. Then had two appointments sent that were both cancelled. Finally got seen after 3 years!! Arrived at paediactric outpatients for our 10am appointment and we were the ONLY people in the whole department. Nurses standing around chatting and drinking tea. Consultants in their offices sitting at their desks. NO PATIENTS. I think it's disgusting quite frankly

That was my experience also. With the appointment and the scan the consultant sorted out, totally empty waiting rooms apart from patients being wheeled down from the wards.

There's a 2% difference in cancers being diagnosed in A&E between Scotland and England. But Scotland has a more aged population than the other UK countries and part of the reason for diagnosis at A&E is because older patients tend to delay accessing healthcare and symptoms can be vague. (Those details are in the same study you're quoting). The figures are also from 2012 to 2017 so not particularly relevant to a discussion about what is happening now. Although, of course, cancer education and diagnosis need to improve. But those figures sit in the middle when compared to other countries with a similar healthcare system.

The most-up-to-date figures show that in Scotland 98.1% of cancer patients started treatment within the 31-day standard. (from decision to treat to first treatment) 84.1% started treatment within the 62 day standard (from cancer referral/suspicion to first treatment). That fits our anecdotal experience. We had two friends diagnosed during the first lockdown and DH's colleague was already in cancer treatment and continued to be so.

I can't find the English figures to compare because the NHS England webpage includes lots of different spreadsheets to download rather than providing a summary. And the spreadsheets don't have % breakdowns against targets either. If you find a summary, I'd be interested to read it.

It's posters on MN who are giving the impression that the NHS in England is much worse. it happens time and again. They complain they can't get urgent referrals; that they can't speak to a GP; that they can't get through to their surgeries. Then other posters counter that isn't their experience. Healthcare shouldn't be such a postcode lottery.

Tory Britain

Google nhs eye a&e go to one near you. They will look at your eye on the spot.

I had a referral to the physio that was sent in February and I still haven't been sent an appointment.
February LAST year.

I think issues in Scotland present at a different point in the care pathway.

Recently moved to Scotland. Tried to register at a GP surgery. Everywhere has a very specific registration protocol involving registering a very limited number of patients (5-15) at a specific date and time every week (eg 7.30am on Wednesday morning).

Turned up the first week to be faced with a long line of people and were turned away. Returned the week after 90 minutes before the stated time and were not the first in the queue but managed to get a registration form.

Then there were more issues, because NHS Scotland uses a different patient identifier (the CHI number) to England and Wales (NHS number) so they didn't know who we were and weren't going to bother trying to contact our previous GP for our medical records. It took a month of calling and hassling to get the mythical CHI number and another month to get confirmation of my English Covid vaccines, allowing me to get my booster. It was totally dysfunctional.

I work in NHS Scotland (mental health not physical health) and there are definitely other issues too. One team I work in is picking up referrals that are well over a year old. Some teams are working at very reduced capacity because there are restrictions on how many people can be in the team hub at once. The idea is that we switch to online / telephone appointments and do these from home, but that's really not appropriate for some clients and is generally a much poorer service. It's so frustrating to me, because running this reduced service is causing harm to our patients, but nothing can be changed if it's seen to increase Covid risk.

Last year, I was working in an inpatient service (in England) and we took the impact of that. Community services basically shut down so no-one received support until they reached crisis point - at which point they were admitted to hospital which was largely running as normal because there was no other option. That was a justifiable trade-off at the beginning of the pandemic, but it seems incredibly disproportionate that community services are still not up and running properly again after 2 years.

I'm not really sure I see what the problem is if I'm honest. It's not nice to have it in black and white that you shouldn't call them, however, they've never wanted people calling up constantly. Top tip. Find out if your hospital has an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (ECLO) It should be on their website or you can call switchboard and ask. Make friends with them and it's amazing what they can do.

I guess people worry about politicians with their fingers in US pies.

It's politicians that are looking at US system rather than better systems.