The state of the NHS right now is terrifying

[Faciadipasta]

I am feeling genuinely scared for us as a country health care wise. I was reading today about a chap who died of internal bleeding while his family were kept on hold to 999 for 10 minutes as nobody even answered the phone.
Then there are all the people who die while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, because they are all lined up.outside the hospitals unable to offload their patients.
People can't see a GP at all, so there are bound to be loads who are dying of things that could have been prevented if they'd been seen. Waits at A and E are enormous and they don't even have enough chairs so people with serious injuries or illnesses are having to just sit on the floors in the corridors.
We're actually starting to feel like one of those warzone countries that you see on the news and it is scaring me shitless.
I mean even in the US you wouldn't just be left to die because there was nobody to answer the phone although admittedly you'd probably end up bankrupt for paying back the care, but at least you wouldn't be dead!
I personally feel like we have no care, no safety net. And it's scary.
Will it get better? What can be done?

Why should the nhs fund woo?

If you want that, pay for it yourself

Off to lands where there are better healthcare systems?

mobiledesktop
I'm a GP and it's clear you're not and probably haven't spoke to anyone personally who is...
Days are long between 10-12 hours for me. They are also relentless with barely any chance to go to the loo/ eat.
We see patients for approx 60% of the working day and the rest is admin. Your suggestion is that we outsource this admin to other staff but they are not trained to action blood test results (we can get up to 100/day of these),hospital letters (maybe up to 50 a day but take longer to action) and do the prescriptions (legally not allowed to do these) We also have endless sick notes, queries/tasks and insurance documents or other paperwork eg am I fit to fly/ take part in a dance show/ run a marathon type stuff.
At our practice we have streamlined as much as possible.
If your conditions are 5 days or nothing, I can almost guarantee it would be nothing for most GPs.
I work 2 days because I cannot mentally cope with more. The days are too busy and stressful and I have nothing left to give for my own kids when I get in.
Patient distress is much higher than it ever was and so I listen and care and try so hard all day but I am worn down by the end of the day. I can't give everything to my job when I have 3 kids and a husband. I need some life for myself.
I do work other days but in an allied role that isn't so intense. I come home tired from this other role but not like a shell of myself.

If woo saves me from back pain, stress, heart strain, obesity, fatigue, mental illness............. then yeah.........

I'll go for 6000 year old proven therapies over pharma.

@TheNosehasit

Out of health care all together for some.

Did you know incidentally, that police officers don't get breaks in their shifts? They don't get a 'lunch hour'.

@TheNosehasit

Excellent.

You can self fund your own health needs

Those in a strong position to negotiate terms of employment need to prioritise health care insurance over everything else. £250 a month for most families. If youre a 40% tax payer its a no brainer.

@TheNosehasit

Actually, pain clinics / physio do provide acupuncture and massage. Yoga can be provided via a 'social prescription' by a GP.

There is also the Royal Hospital for Integrated Medicine www.uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/our-hospitals/royal-london-hospital-integrated-medicine (previously known as Royal Homeopathic Hospital) which provides a lot of complementary medicine services. But only those with an evidence base. NOT homeopathy any more thank heavens!

@TheNosehasit

Neither do nurses.

So what?

Oh they do.

@Kendodd @BananaBlue as convenient as it is to blame the tories, the NHS has been struggling for far more than 12 years. My first encounter was under a labour government and my experience was dreadful- not enough staff, not enough beds, not enough supplies, poor coordination of care, long waits for simple tests, impossible to get follow up care consistently via my gp. Maybe the decline has accelerated- covid and brexit and Tory cutbacks all probably contributing, but the current situation was a long time in the making. Systematic overhaul is needed, bigger budgets might alleviate strain but aren’t going to solve the many many problems.

I don’t have party affiliation and don’t get to vote anyways, but it is utterly depressing that neither party shows any real vision for addressing this.

How many hours do you work a week? Do you do on-call, overnight, weekends?
Can you be hauled before your professional body and lose your career because you’re so exhausted you make a mistake?
Do you get to choose where you live and work?
You do know that junior doctors hourly rate isn’t exactly huge?
You know GPs work goes well beyond the times they see patients?

Walk a week in their shoes and you’d soon be wanting to double their pay and halve their hours.

Also, a doctor's pay is high compared to the general population but it's not as high as I think you may be imagining. Most GPs get about £9k/session so if a GP were to work 3 days (approx 33 hrs a week) they would be on £54k/ year. This is a salaried GP as opposed to a partner who will be on a bit more but have hugely increased workload and stress from the typical day I've already described.
It's not the pay that is the big issue, it's the working conditions.

@TheNosehasit Police officers used to get breaks just like nurses used to get breaks, I wonder what has changed ?

Nonsense. A GP friend was SUSPENDED and his insurance covered £250k per year i.e. his salary prior to his suspension.

Don't throw out bollocks.

I always presumed they had breaks, it never occurred to me that they didn't. I guess it's why they're eating on stake-outs in the movies.

Was in ED once where a teenage girl was crying because her false nail had been ripped upwards and was bleeding, nurse pushed it back down and put tape around it, she had sat there wailing, holding her hand mid air for ages, when she could have done what the nurse had done at home by herself, stupid idiot

@TheNosehasit

Do you think the 'better' health care systems provide alternative therapies for free?

Nurses don't get paid for breaks. And they certainly don't get a lunch hour

thenosehasit
Genuinely I don't know a GP who earns anywhere near that.... Were they doing private work?? In Central London? Its really really far out of the scope of what I and all my colleagues and friends are paid. I'm not trying to create a 'woe is me' situation and I'm not lying. That figure is hugely out of kilter with what most GPs earn......

You've just hit the nail on the head. Your working 2 days a week and seeing patients 60% of the time.
All the admin could be done by other people who aren't on close to your salary.
When you say "they're not trained to do X, Y and Z" So let's train them!
This is not putting a man on the moon, this is admin and organisation.
There is no point paying you to do admin.
I personally think you shouldn't have the option to work 2 days a week. It is too important to the UK . If you can't work a full week then we'll get people who can.
But I agree you shouldn't be writing letters and filling out forms.

thenosehasit
And if it is true, please can you pass on the name of the practice paying these rates, so I can apply?! (I'm being facetious here as there is not a cat in hell's chance this is correct for a bog standard GP!)

Private GP's can early 6 figures easily (£250k though? I don't know any) but those that provide NHS services, unless the most senior partner? I only know one GP who earns over £100k (as senior partner). Most salaried are on around £60-£70k once they are an established GP (so after 12 years of training etc). They still pay their own insurance and further training costs.

Both my DH and me would be dead if it wasn't for the excellent health care we have received over the last two years from the NHS. Endless appointments and monitoring and life saving surgery.

mobiledesktop
To train people to interpret blood results, do prescriptions and process letters would need a medical degree. You can't issue a medication without understanding it's interactions, the benefits and risks etc.
How are you going to interpret liver function tests without fully understanding why someone may have a raised ALT, which if their meds may cause it and what the next steps should be..... This 8s all medical work.