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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Are they all hiding in a fucking fridge?

627 replies

noblegiraffe · 02/01/2023 22:37

The government? Where is the leadership? The reassurance that the problem is being addressed with urgency? Cobra meetings? Horrendous stories coming out of A&E departments right now.

Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary today announced on twitter that people should download the Couch to 5k app to reduce pressure on the NHS.

twitter.com/stevebarclay/status/1609957311610556416?s=61&t=rHTkCD1w_H9OmH9UB2E4UQ

Do your fucking job, Steve. And Rishi, show some leadership. You bloody wanted this job so badly, where have you gone?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64142614

OP posts:
Bakeacaketoday73 · 04/01/2023 20:10

I was in a&e the other evening - not a great Christmas TBH Grin and everytime they kept calling people about 50% of them had gone home before treatment. Remove over entitled people from a&e and you would solve half the problem.

TheYChromosome · 04/01/2023 20:15

Rowthe · 02/01/2023 23:09

Yup-
Dont drink over Christmas
/ boxing day.

If you have a fever dont send your kids to school.

Dont go to work if you have a fever.

What a load of shite.

Why cant they make the actual system do what it is supposed to do?

The healthcare systems in many European countries are directly funded by each individual. A significant portion of one’s income goes directly for medical care. There are protections for those out of work etc, it is nothing like the private system in the US.

Often people have to pay additional fee when they go to visit the doctor (it might be once a year only but if you don’t need the GP for the whole year no fee needs to be paid)

The point is as NHS is ‘free’ people do treat it as such and don’t think twice about how they use it. And as there is no specific payment going directly to the healthcare system the funding is much more complicated.

I’m very glad I don’t have to pay the monthly medical contributions that I would have to if I lived in Europe. But I do believe people’s behaviour is undoubtedly different as it is ‘free’ and it does contribute to the pressures.

Mackymacmacface · 04/01/2023 20:15

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 02/01/2023 23:57

My family and I (in Canada) were just talking about this. Where are the protests??? Bungled Brexit, insane energy prices, double digit inflation, higher rates of COVID deaths than in most of the western world, the NHS on its knees… in France, this would cause a shortage of tyres for the number that were being burned in the streets! I understand the stiff upper lip to an extent, but enough is enough, Britons need to find their rage and actually channel it in a public and organized way. The current government is such a shambles, and there seems to be such a high tolerance level for its incompetence. It’s truly shocking to outsiders.

We're all too tired and fatigued by the last 3 years of constant and incessant bs from this government. Most of us are holding our family units (and our own mental health) together with the merest of threads

Clavinova · 04/01/2023 20:18

The Tories have deliberately destroyed the NHS. Lack of funding for 12 years

What were Labour's "efficiency savings" in 2010?

30 March 2010
Alistair Darling came under fire today over his bid to save up to £20 billion a year in NHS efficiency savings.
The Chancellor was forced to defend his plans for the health service less than 24 hours after he criticised the Tory claim to be able to find £6 billion of savings this financial year to fund a cut in Labour's National Insurance rise.
Mr Darling was grilled by MPs on the all-party Treasury select committee on the issue including whether the efficiency savings were, in effect, cuts.

The Cabinet minister argued that they could be found without harming frontline services, adding: "We can't just go on spending more and more money."

He said efficiencies made in "protected" parts of the health service would be recycled into patient care as part of the drive to be saving between £15 billion and £20 billion a year by 2013-14.

But Mr Darling was accused by Tories of failing to be more open with voters.

www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/alistair-darling-defends-savings-in-health-service-6700951.html

tobee · 04/01/2023 20:18

"Thats happening now.. all under a Tory govt, that has been in for 12 years and its getting worse.

You do know the Tores are in power don't you? maybe you don't."

Yes, look at this story about a delightful Tory councillor saying that rape victims are likely prostitutes; read it and see if you think the Tories really are the party for women:-

www.lbc.co.uk/news/tory-councillor-alleged-rape-victim-likely-prostitute/

Clavinova · 04/01/2023 20:27

borntobequiet
Water Magazine is proud to be a member of British Water
Which is absolutely fine, but hardly unbiased

They were quoting stats from the Environment Agency;

www.gov.uk/government/news/97-of-english-bathing-waters-meet-required-water-quality-standards

Cuppasoupmonster · 04/01/2023 20:30

tobee · 04/01/2023 20:18

"Thats happening now.. all under a Tory govt, that has been in for 12 years and its getting worse.

You do know the Tores are in power don't you? maybe you don't."

Yes, look at this story about a delightful Tory councillor saying that rape victims are likely prostitutes; read it and see if you think the Tories really are the party for women:-

www.lbc.co.uk/news/tory-councillor-alleged-rape-victim-likely-prostitute/

You can’t really take one councillor as a representative for the entire party can you? Much as I dislike the tories I don’t believe they’re racist or sexist - after all, labour have never even had a female leader let alone had them elected as PM

tobee · 04/01/2023 20:36

Yes that's true @Cuppasoupmonster. I'm sure there are sexist people in all parties. I'd just read that article just before catching up on this thread and it struck a chord with me.

tobee · 04/01/2023 20:38

Actually I think plenty of activists, members are sexist and racist in all parties sadly. It's much more complicated than people care to believe.

Rickx · 04/01/2023 21:02

YANBU at all! I work in the NHS across urgent, emergency, primary and some areas of secondary care. Pretty much wherever you look the service is under strain with some areas unable to cope due to a combination of unprecedented levels of demand, under-resourcing and the legacy of years of underinvestment in people and in capital, from IT systems to basic infrastructure including buildings.

I've talked to long-serving people who are looking to leave in all areas including GPs, clinicians, nurses and managers because of the pressures, lack of support, insufficient pay and conditions.

In terms of government policy, during the period from 2020 we have had 5 Health Secretaries counting Steve Barclay once although he has held the post twice in this period. There has been little consistency despite it being during a period we have needed support from the Conservative government. They all wanted to make their mark in different ways, for example Sajid Javid decided to reorganise the centre of the NHS which meant that while trying to deal with Covid, many NHS managers needed to reapply for their jobs - you can imagine how that affected morale and the mental health of those involved .... and the negative impact of his time is still being suffered.

One of the main proposals from Steve Barclay currently is to remove some of the KPIs so that there will be fewer targets to meet.

You also hear a lot about the 140,000 vacancies in the NHS. Actually this number is an underestimate because it doesn't include all the companies that supply healthcare under NHS contracts. One of the main reasons for them being difficult to fill is that the salaries have slipped back over time. Then there is the negative impact of Brexit meaning that the supply of workers from across Europe has been cut .... so the much maligned NHS managers are spending too much time recruiting staff and being forced to over-pay agency workers on temporary and fixed-term contracts.

You are certainly not being unreasonable to bring up these issues and to despair at the lack of political support & leadership in UK healthcare. The future for a number of areas looks very bleak indeed, with those who can afford it now paying for private care in areas from General Practice to specialist appointments and elective surgery. You can see how that might develop if you look at dentistry and social care in the UK, where the standards of care are closely correlated with the ability to pay. There are opportunities to improve the system, but only with the right level of political will.

CatsnCoffee · 04/01/2023 21:18

@catandcoffee

Great MN username!

PermanentlyinUAT · 04/01/2023 21:20

Not convinced the labour party is doing any better managing the NHS in Wales. As far as I'm concerned, they're the best of a bad lot.
This is the aftermath of a pandemic. Not sure what people expected.

catandcoffee · 04/01/2023 21:22

CatsnCoffee · 04/01/2023 21:18

@catandcoffee

Great MN username!

🐈‍⬛☕️😁

L1ttledrummergirl · 04/01/2023 21:30

Bakeacaketoday73 · 04/01/2023 20:10

I was in a&e the other evening - not a great Christmas TBH Grin and everytime they kept calling people about 50% of them had gone home before treatment. Remove over entitled people from a&e and you would solve half the problem.

I was in A&E before Christmas with one of my dc. They waited an hour and a half to be triaged, the nurse took one look and said she wasn't happy and took them straight through to a cubicle for immediate emergency treatment. Once dc had received this we were asked to vacate the cubicle and wait our turn to be seen by a doctor (over 8 hour wait).
We left, dc had been treated, there was no longer risk of imminent death and we went to the gp the next day for the underlying condition.

GP received a letter saying did not wait with no mention of treatment received. To all intents and purposes we would have looked as though dc had left without treatment although this couldn't be further from the truth. Both us and our GP were happy with us leaving A&E being the best course of action in our dc case.

*can't fault the staff, they were fucking amazing.

Lokiswife · 04/01/2023 21:51

Not even considering that some of us disabled folk struggle to walk without help, but hey, let's download an app, I'm sure that'll help a great deal.

Dibbydoos · 04/01/2023 22:04

And everyone needs to study maths until.theyre 18yo so they can manage their budget.

Out of touch with reality. 2024 can't come too quickly to get rid of this shower of sh1t.

Walkaround · 04/01/2023 22:12

PermanentlyinUAT · 04/01/2023 21:20

Not convinced the labour party is doing any better managing the NHS in Wales. As far as I'm concerned, they're the best of a bad lot.
This is the aftermath of a pandemic. Not sure what people expected.

Not for people to do an impression of an ostrich.

noblegiraffe · 04/01/2023 22:21

And everyone needs to study maths until.theyre 18yo so they can manage their budget.

I hadn't spotted that. Bastards!

Download a running app to relieve pressure on the NHS (you're all a bunch of fatties with lifestyle health issues)

We need to make everyone learn more maths because it's become clear you can't manage your money (it's not the fault of the cost of living crisis and government incompetence that you're having to use a foodbank, it's because schools didn't teach you to budget and you spent all your money. Probably on chocolate, see above).

OP posts:
Zazazoolly · 04/01/2023 22:27

catandcoffee · 02/01/2023 22:42

It really depends on the area you live in.

Family member in A+E suspected pneumonia in and out in 7 hours. including tests,bloods, and xrays.

I've also had 2 very quick hospital appointments when referred by GP.

Where on earth do you live? In September I spent 14 hours at a so-called urgent care clinic in A&E, even WITH a referral from my doctor for a serious unexplained 3 day headache, to be seen by an exhausted junior doctor and sent home to come back for an MRI six weeks later because they were overstretched.
Last month my 89 year old father sat for 15 hours on a hard seat in A&E with a bedsore on his coccyx, to be seen after a fall and then sent home without two paracetamol and no referral for investigation into the reason for the fall. We drove because there were no ambulances for at least 8 hours!
The nurses and doctors are completely exhausted so I don’t blame them in any way. But I absolutely blame this completely useless, arrogant government!
I want to go where you are in future. Even with a plane journey it’ll be quicker!

justasking111 · 04/01/2023 22:33

PermanentlyinUAT · 04/01/2023 21:20

Not convinced the labour party is doing any better managing the NHS in Wales. As far as I'm concerned, they're the best of a bad lot.
This is the aftermath of a pandemic. Not sure what people expected.

I am sure. We're not doing any better second critical incident publicised at the weekend in our health board. Scheduled surgeries cancelled, ditto clinics. This happened last month and it did help people stayed away. Not sure if we can continue in this manner when there's a chronic shortage of GPs. We keep getting told to see the pharmacy. They're cracking now. Staff leaving.

BooneyBeautiful · 05/01/2023 01:06

JenniferBooth · 02/01/2023 23:22

@noblegiraffe Its £17.99 for a flu jab here if you arent eligible. Im 50 in June so will have mine next winter.

Have you shopped around for prices? It's usually fairly cheap at local pharmacies and at supermarkets that have a pharmacy. It's always much more expensive if you pay to have it at your GP surgery.

Blueink · 05/01/2023 01:33

Totally agree OP, very worrying.

Zero leadership, tumbleweed followed by totally irrelevant noises about maths to 18 FFS.

Shauny098 · 05/01/2023 02:32

noblegiraffe · 02/01/2023 23:17

Lots of people in hospital currently with covid and with flu. Were they vaccinated? Were they eligible for vaccination?

Could we have a big vaccination push instead of tweets about jogging?

Did you not read somebody replying to you saying their daughters 28 year old bf had been having unexplained mini heart attacks…..have you read the statistics on heart problems in previously fit people under the age of 40? Have you read the statistics on excess deaths for 2022 that are “unexplained”?

Are you not going to put 2 and 2 together? 🤦🏼‍♀️….the vaccine is absolutely not a good idea!

DenaJT · 05/01/2023 06:35

I have been diagnosed with Peripheral Vascular Disease (restricted blood flow in both legs) and can barely walk. There is no appointment within 25 miles of home, inside or outside 18 weeks. I also suffer with loads of mental health issues. GP has advised me to go to A&E if toes turn black as gangrene has set in! I feel like I want to stand in front of the next train, if i can walk that far!

SmokeyPaprika · 05/01/2023 07:25

Zero leadership, tumbleweed followed by totally irrelevant noises about maths to 18 FFS.

But at least the maths to 18 is sensible - if only just catching up with the rest of the world who are way ahead of us.