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?

It is a really sad state of affairs. I've ignored so many health issues because I know I'll never get seen by the GP and the hospital are just as bad. This last year I was meant to have so many important appts and procedures all forgotten/cancelled (due to lack of staff), not followed through etc. Even now I had one cancelled yesterday because only one surgeon was around but that doesn't take away from the fact I'm in a very very risky position. I'm having to call private today and may take a loan just to have it done as Lord knows when/if I'll ever get seen by the NHS, they've already left it so late. The most frustrating this is when staff get arsey as if they aren't getting paid for their jobs and are doing it charitably so can never be criticised and should be showered with gratitude for simply doing their job. Ok my rant is over.

Sometimes ambulances could take patients to other, quieter hospitals nearby, but choose to sit and wait outside very busy ones for up to twelve hours.

I don't know a single paramedic who chooses to sit outside a hospital for 12 hours.

The government wants us to start blaming each other for this mess. They want us to sit there and say so and so is abusing the system / causing delays etc. There will always be time wasters but equally the vast majority of those who are turning up with ailments that their Gp should manage are doing so because they cannot see their GP. The whole thing is a complete and utter mess.

My ex bil had a heart attack last week. He was working in someone’s garden and collapsed with chest pains. The family called 999 and they waited an HOUR for an ambulance. He then waited 6 hours outside the hospital to be seen. He’s been in hospital since, waiting to be transferred to a specialist hospital to find out what caused his heart attack and have treatment. He’s been waiting for days now. Not even given painkillers. Just monitored and waiting.

Total mess. And yet people keep voting conservative.

I'm a GP and agree it's failing. If I refer someone, the wait can be up to 2 years for certain specialities. It feels awful to have to explain this to patients.
Most of my friends and colleagues are looking for a way out of GP as it's unsustainable. And there's so much GP bashing in the press (and on this thread already) that it doesn't feel worth it at all. It's total moral injury as we know what a good service looks like but are unable to deliver it.

We need to drastic overhaul. We simply can not afford to adequately serve the needs of 70 million plus people. It’s entirely unrealistic.
The quicker people accept we can not go on the faster we will find a solution similar to the Australian model

We can’t carry on like this.

Patients are and can be diverted to other hospitals. It’s not down to the crews to go oh look it’s full let’s go somewhere else. My trust was even more ridiculous than normal a few weeks ago and ambulances were diverted by higher up decisions. Some hospitals are specialists centres like trauma or stroke and the patient needs to be there. No good taking to an urgent care now is there.

please tell me where there are these quiet emergency departments I’d love to work in one!

**A drastic overhaul

I was in a paediatric a and E the other day (essential reason- emergency surgery related) and reasons that people came in in the hour I was sitting there were:

a blurry eye- no other symptoms
a uti
A toddler who had a temperature and had been sleepy (it was 8pm) but was now running around
a stubbed toe

Whilst the whole system has indeed fallen apart, there needs to be another place that people can take these issues. There’s no point in just telling them not to come to A and E because people panic with their kids and need reassurance.

Aside from that, I agree that it feels very unsafe at the moment.

I have said this on other threads but will repeat that the focus needs to be on Community services. If social care was properly funded and patients could leave hospital when they no longer need a doctor, there would be plenty needs in our hospitals and A&Es would function so much better as they would not have cubicles filled with patients needing to be warded.

Not true

beds not needs

I can get an online GP within a few hours because I get private healthcare through my company. That's probably similar to other countries where you have to pay for healthcare... I do think we are becoming like the USA through stealth, where more and more people opt for private but expensive illnesses like cancer would be inaccessible for most.

And of course no private A & E

Saying we need a system like Australia, the Netherlands etc where patients pay some costs won't change anything without an increase in government funds.

These countries governments already spend more per capita on health care than the UK.

I work for a very internationally diverse company. Many European colleagues are horrified by the poor quality of care, choice, speed of treatment offered by the NHS. Nobody wants to go down the US healthcare route; but could we not look to Europe here for some inspiration about how best to reform our health service? An NHS free at the point of delivery is no longer sustainable.

The level of 'sickness' is off the scale.

That's because we are short 1000s of nurses, so the ones who are there are desperately over worked. Then theh burn out, and down the spiral we go.

Also, you still get paid 'shift' and various other allowances when you are off ill.

No you don't.

It heavily relies on 'bank' nurses that cost an absolute fortune.

No they don't, they get paid the same as the other nurses, they're on the same terms and conditions and often are the same nurses who work full time then have agreed to do a bank shift becuase they feel responsiblity towards their colleagues who will otherwise be left struggling if the shift isn't filled.

Why go fur an 'official' NHS job, when you can get paid the same for 2 day's work?

I think you're thinking of agency, not bank, and of course the big fees go to the agency not the nurse.

The truth is, A LOT is staff know how to play the system like a fiddle

That is not my experience. Every day I see staff run ragged, wards chronically and acutely understaffed to the point that both front line and managers openly acknowledge its not safe. I see them routinely working unpaid overtime, in fact I don't know the last time I saw a nurse leave on time. Is it a surprise some burnout and go off sick? They are worked til they drop.

Decisions are openly being made now that will result in patients dying, mainly beciase they are warehoused in unsuitable areas to get them out of a&e. Eg opening day areas as wards, with no crash cover, no bathrooms, no piped oxygen. Becuase its that, or have people stuck in ambulances outside a&e and therefore others dying in the street because the ambulances can't offload and get to them.

Its bloody scary, but it's not the fault of lazy cunning nurses. Ffs.__

I agree that they're over stretched.

I had to phone an ambulance a couple of weeks back. There was an initial wait on the phone maybe 2 minutes and the operator kept coming in to say 'please don't hang up' the first responder was here 2 minutes later followed another 2 minutes later by the bigger ambulance. I really couldn't fault how quick they actually got here. Whisked off to A&E and was seen and dealt with then given another line to phone if we needed to go back. I really couldn't fault there care.

I actually feel so sorry for them. They really are doing the best they can and something does need to be done, yes but I really don't feel the wait is their fault.

And I'm not bashing GP's but our surgery is a crock of shit. The GP's there are just not interested or missing vital things. We have locum GP's at the practice at the moment who are fantastic and have actually said there are failings in our practice.

Their*

The problem is lack of staff and ageing population. Neither of which more money will fix. Privatisation won't magic up 1000s more drs and nurses.

Since April our gp practise is only seeing emergencies. No online services anymore either. You also can't book at the surgery. You have to phone up - one person on the phone...you can imagine the wait times.

So...No routine appointments available for over 6 months.

Even going privately the waits are now long - I made an appointment with a dermatologist this week - can't get seen til January.

The last time mum was in a&e she wanted 15 hours on a hard chair and nearly died.

The nhs has, to all intents and purposes ceases to function.

It's time people woke up.

Shame so many hcps left after brexshit, eh?

Dentists, carers, nurses, drs, physios...don't remember seeing that on the side of a bus.

I though they had to take you to the nearest one to here they picked you up from. That was definitely the case a few years ago when I picked up at work and asked if I could go to the one near my house and they said no.

Not ‘choosing’ but not the best reason either.

If the government are so thick they can’t work out how to spend our tax money, why can’t our government look at the budget of another country that actually works and allocate funds the way they do? Is there some sort of rule that prevents them doing this?

(to sort out health, education etc)

It is still being cut - lack of increases in funding and rising costs mean real cuts or as the Tories like to call them 'efficiency savings'. Social care needs a massive overhaul - many people coming into health services actually need social care but those services are non existent. The Tories want to break the NHS so they can help all their mates in private healthcare take over. Having worked in healthcare in the US, anyone who thinks that is a good idea is an idiot.

Ask any NHS worker and they will tell you that there is plenty of money but very poor management and organisation. Waste has been tolerated for far too long. We should not expect a system designed in the 1940s to be appropriate for the 2020s. Add that to the misuse by so many of the general public, and here we are. Even the Labour party are starting to recognise the need for serious reform, so let's hope that some sort of insurance system will come along sooner rather than later, along with a more professional and commercial level of management.