Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be scared of how poor healthcare is now

81 replies

Rinoachicken · 11/04/2023 12:30

So I dislocated my kneecap on Sunday. I’ve done it many times, - I have an mis-formed kneecap and will need a new knee in the future.

I don’t always need medical attention, depends how bad it is, but this time was a bad one.

Called 111 and went off to the walk in centre. They said that I really needed a knee brace but unfortunately they’d ‘run out’?!

So now I am left with a wobbly unsupported knee while I wait for my appointment at the knee clinic - a wait I know will be long.

I can’t just buy a cheap knee support off Amazon as my knee structure is not ‘standard’ so they would do more damage - I need a hinged open front brace. Which are about £100.

Ive tried calling the knee clinic at the hospital, to see if I can get the brace for while I’m waiting, also tried the physio department. No one answers the phone. No email address. No voicemail. No way to contact them at all.

I am worried about doing further damage to my knee while it is unsupported, but cannot access the equipment I need.

Ive been told I will get a new knee eventually, but won’t be eligible until I’ve lost my mobility or am past 65.

Now, I am currently 40, despite arthritis in that knee I’m reasonably fit, not overweight. If I had a new knee now, the prognosis for full recovery would be good. I would be able to run around with my kids again and drive without pain.

But instead they will wait until I’m old and in a wheelchair, so less mobile, my muscle tone will be worse and prognosis for recovery will be poorer. But hey it’s cheaper - since the knee will likely outlast me. 🧐

How did we get here? Where you can access even basic healthcare and where it’s fire-fighting rather than future-proofing quality of life.

OP posts:
Oneearringlost · 11/04/2023 14:52

OP, what about, instead of private operation, to get a private one off private physio consult? She/He can examine you and prescribe an appropriate brace?
My mother did this with a perfect result, diligent, conscientious and very competent physio.
Good luck

PrincessHoneysuckle · 11/04/2023 14:55

I'm suffering with gynae issues.Next appointment is September

februarysunset · 11/04/2023 15:40

I guess it may come to that @Felixss but the op keeps being dangled as a possibility by the NHS - every month we're told "just one more month". We've been quoted £50k to go private and that doesn't include aftercare (or if something goes wrong, god forbid). We could take out loans to get the money and indeed that may be our only option. But as a point of principle, it's wrong, wrong, wrong. 52 years of paying tax and NI and he's got to go to another country and pay thousands for a life-saving operation? FFS. This is a man who goes litter picking in his spare time. Volunteers for a charity. Has spent years scraping by in the public sector out of a sense of duty.

Which is not to say he's more "deserving" of treatment than anyone else. Everyone who needs treatment should get it. I just feel angry on his behalf.

The NHS is meant to be our crowning glory and it's in tatters. It's shameful.

Vinvertebrate · 11/04/2023 15:57

Just my experience but it was a bag of shit for me in 2006 - diagnosed with cancer while having emergency surgery for suspected appendicitis because neither my GP nor the hospital could be fooked to investigate it. I sued and won - care was shameful.

Monopolies do not work for customers/patients, and money won't solve all the NHS' problems.

MavisMcMinty · 11/04/2023 16:15

And did the money you “won” from the NHS solve all your problems?

MavisMcMinty · 11/04/2023 16:16

I mean, suing the NHS is basically just suing yourself and everyone else who pays for it.

AlltheFs · 11/04/2023 16:19

Sympathies @Rinoachicken
I have exactly the same condition- very few people understand how bloody awful it is!

I kept my knee brace and crutches from my last episode, never returned them as I had issues last time and that was well before Covid when the NHS was supposedly fine!

I hope you get some help soon. That pain was worse than childbirth.

Allblackeverythingalways · 11/04/2023 17:00

MavisMcMinty · 11/04/2023 16:16

I mean, suing the NHS is basically just suing yourself and everyone else who pays for it.

Generally people that sue the NHS do it to get an apology because they sure as hell won't get one any other way.
It was the only way I got an apology and a change in policy when they killed my partner through sheer incompetence.
I didn't get or want any money on a technicality. I just wanted an acknowledgement that they fucked up. Badly.

MavisMcMinty · 11/04/2023 17:05

Of course, @Allblackeverythingalways - but in the face of an increasingly litigious population, admitting mistakes and accepting the blame for them leaves NHS Trusts even wider open to suing. Not saying I agree with that attitude, as a nurse I never argued when people had complaints, always acknowledged their feelings and promised [whatever] would not happen again, but all the suing has caused all the defensiveness.

jenandberrys · 11/04/2023 17:11

If you have done this ‘many’ times then it would have made sense for you to buy your own knee support years ago. Yes the wait for the surgery is ridiculous in terms of long term costs and less good recovery in older people, but IMO people should be supplying their own one braces etc if they have something that keeps happening over and over again.

Bucketheadbucketbum · 11/04/2023 17:15

Uk has basically fewest hospital beds and doctors per population in Europe

Population has massively increased last decade, doctors and hospital beds gone down

Doctor and nursing pay rock bottom- they have or are leaving

= shit service

Go private

Bucketheadbucketbum · 11/04/2023 17:16

jenandberrys · 11/04/2023 17:11

If you have done this ‘many’ times then it would have made sense for you to buy your own knee support years ago. Yes the wait for the surgery is ridiculous in terms of long term costs and less good recovery in older people, but IMO people should be supplying their own one braces etc if they have something that keeps happening over and over again.

Also this

People in the UK don't want to take any personal responsibility for their health. Time for that to change

Ylvamoon · 11/04/2023 17:16

RE certain items not available: "now stand up straight and say Thakyou to all the lovely Brexit voters !"

(Maybe you are aware of the little CE marks on soo many items ... it's faced out and has to be replaced with a UKCE. This means a lot of products will be temporarily unavailable!)

Vinvertebrate · 11/04/2023 21:38

And did the money you “won” from the NHS solve all your problems?

In the sense that it enabled me to go private for all my chemotherapy, the follow-up I need annually because I also had an undiagnosed genetic condition, and fund the adjustments I needed because the poor care had left me disabled, yes it did. That's kind of the point.

And you might want to look up how PI insurance works.

LizzieSiddal · 11/04/2023 22:19

I kept my knee brace and crutches from my last episode, never returned them as I had issues last time

And that’s why the OP can’t get hold of any!

Staffielove23 · 11/04/2023 22:26

My heart goes out to you. You’re 100% right. It’s sad but private healthcare is essential in this climate. It’s not ethical or equal, but I chose to put my family first.

girlfriend44 · 11/04/2023 22:28

Rinoachicken · 11/04/2023 12:30

So I dislocated my kneecap on Sunday. I’ve done it many times, - I have an mis-formed kneecap and will need a new knee in the future.

I don’t always need medical attention, depends how bad it is, but this time was a bad one.

Called 111 and went off to the walk in centre. They said that I really needed a knee brace but unfortunately they’d ‘run out’?!

So now I am left with a wobbly unsupported knee while I wait for my appointment at the knee clinic - a wait I know will be long.

I can’t just buy a cheap knee support off Amazon as my knee structure is not ‘standard’ so they would do more damage - I need a hinged open front brace. Which are about £100.

Ive tried calling the knee clinic at the hospital, to see if I can get the brace for while I’m waiting, also tried the physio department. No one answers the phone. No email address. No voicemail. No way to contact them at all.

I am worried about doing further damage to my knee while it is unsupported, but cannot access the equipment I need.

Ive been told I will get a new knee eventually, but won’t be eligible until I’ve lost my mobility or am past 65.

Now, I am currently 40, despite arthritis in that knee I’m reasonably fit, not overweight. If I had a new knee now, the prognosis for full recovery would be good. I would be able to run around with my kids again and drive without pain.

But instead they will wait until I’m old and in a wheelchair, so less mobile, my muscle tone will be worse and prognosis for recovery will be poorer. But hey it’s cheaper - since the knee will likely outlast me. 🧐

How did we get here? Where you can access even basic healthcare and where it’s fire-fighting rather than future-proofing quality of life.

You don't have to wait that long. Take out a policy and get your knee done privately.

Endlesssummer2022 · 11/04/2023 22:32

How many times have you voted Tory OP?

shutthewindownow · 11/04/2023 22:43

It really annoys me when people complain about the nhs. We are very lucky to have it. It's a hundred pounds just pay for the support while you wait no one owes you a favour get on with it and stop moaning

Staffielove23 · 11/04/2023 22:43

Endlesssummer2022 · 11/04/2023 22:32

How many times have you voted Tory OP?

😂😂

Desiredeffect · 11/04/2023 23:11

Your lucky you got that far I done my knee in February and only having a xray tomorrow and in constant pain and no date yet for physiotherapy as its 6 month wait in my area

Original poster
Rinoachicken · 11/04/2023 23:16

@Endlesssummer2022 errrr never, is that ok with you? Does that mean I’m allowed to expect some level of healthcare that I’m paying for with my taxes?

If we’re not going to have a functioning NHS then fine - stop taxing me for it and then yeah, I’ll have the ‘just £100’ to pay for my own healthcare.

But as it stands I don’t have the spare funds or means to get more fund to be able to pay for private healthcare. Like a large number of people in this country.

If there’s to be no NHS anymore then they need to get a property hybrid system in place so NOONE is disadvantaged because they cannot afford to pay for healthcare.

I do not want to live in a country where only the rich and the crooked can stay well and the poor and vulnerable are left to die and rot in the gutter.

OP posts:
Gigihadr · 12/04/2023 00:03

We get what we pay for.

you should write to your MP and ask them what they’re going to do about the junior doctors strikes. £14 to £19 an hour to maintain good services for our health doesn’t sound like a big ask. I’ve written to mine, it’s about time they start doing something about the nhs

endofthelinefinally · 12/04/2023 04:16

A new private policy will exclude pre-existing conditions for at least the first year. So it isn't a quick fix.

BrookeDavisQueen · 12/04/2023 04:31

I'm really sorry you have to experience this OP. And it is so worrying about the dire situation. If we take one thing from the strikes is that the NHS staff are telling us that things are desperate and have to change.

I get so infuriated with the posters on here trying to make toilets (eg trans usage) the issue you base your vote on when the NHS is the issue we ALL need to be basing our vote on.