To think you don't quite realise how badly the NHS is suffering until you witness it first hand

[DaisyCat33]

My parents are sitting in A&E today. They've just hit 12 hours. My dad was sent there by his GP for severe neck pain this morning. He's had morphine and an MRI scan, but they're now endlessly waiting to see a Dr about results. He hasn't even got a bed to lay on, despite debilitating neck pain. Many people are standing or sitting on the floor.

The couple sitting next to them have been there since 3am, for difficultly breathing.

I'm shocked. Honestly I knew the NHS had it's issues, but this bad?! It's frightening. I also had an email the other day saying my NHS dentist is closing, and it's basically a "well sorry no dentist for you any more, bye bye"

I don't really know the point of this thread really, I just feel shocked and upset that this is how it is. And I think a lot of people don't even realise? My parents definitely didn't until today. They are losing the will to live sat in that hospital.

Does anyone else just feel utterly helpless and anxious about this?

We just don’t have a functioning healthcare system and that’s scary. 😧

Friend took her husband to A&E thinking he'd had a stroke. Driving would be faster than an ambulance. 36 hours later they confirmed the stroke he was admitted. When discharged he got a letter for physio. He got one appointment there and an exercise sheet.

I suggested my physio would be useful for him. He wouldn't go at £40 an hour. A month later his wife had to go to the bank to sort out more ISAs etc. because their current accounts had built up again. She had to invest 10k that day.

I gave up advising them.

My advice to myself is to pack a bag as you do when going in to have a baby. Pack snacks, water, wet wipes. Add meds, phone charger, kindle, Etc

We have too many people in the country for the NHS to support. That’s the bottom line.

So sorry you had to go through all this.

I was also injured with serious fractures Sep last year, bad enough that I was seen within 30m in a very busy A&E
But no 999 refused to send me an ambulance. I'm a single parent with no support. I had to ask on a local FB page for a lift...

Going back 10 years, I had severe hyperemesis and at 16 weeks pregnant and having kept no food or water down for days, I called NHS111 for advice. They went through the usual flowchart. I was concerned about dehydration. They were more concerned because I mentioned heartburn. They said that since I mentioned “chest pain” they would send an ambulance. No amount of explaining what heartburn was, and that it was from throwing up bile , would stop them sending an ambulance. The crew were a bit confused too. They did take me in, for dehydration, at 10pm or so, and I sat in a cubicle with no food or water until 8am when someone eventually put me on a drip! 10 hours sitting dehydrated with no food or water whilst 16 weeks pregnant, all because I said I had heartburn!

Beginning of 2022 my DP fell through the ceiling from the loft. Knew it would be faster to drive to A&E rather than call an ambulance.

Was triaged and seen quite quickly because it was a fall of more than 2 meters. Once it was established that he could move his toes etc it was so slow. Almost 7 hours before x rays were taken and another 4 hours before they were seen by the right people with no one keeping us updated about anything. As it turned out he had fractured his spine in two places and also fractured his heel.

That's only half of it though DP is blind (yeah I know in the loft?!) the NHS has absolutely no provisions for disabled people which is bloody ironic when you think about it. Peeing in one of those cardboard bottles was interesting the first time. He was put in a sideroom to begin with and at times forgotten about, literally forgotten, missed a few meals because they didn't come into the room and because he didn't see them he didn't know they had been and gone. Once he got moved onto the ward and had people around him he was fine.

I was only allowed to visit for 1 hour a day and had to wear a visor, a mask, an disposable apron and gloves and our ds who was 17 at the time wasn't allowed in at all in the week he was on the ward because it was over 18s only. Oh and to top it all off we were moving the day after the accident.

BUT having said all this I am still so so glad the NHS was there for us because it was a really scary thing and although it goes at a snails pace at times it's still better than some of the alternatives

It is absolutely shocking & really really sad! But that’s just what happens when people think a broken fingernail (not even joking) causes a trip to A&E! Seriously for the last 15-20 A&E aswell as a lot of other wards, tests ect have been absolutely wasted on people who take drugs, idiots going out & getting absolutely wasted on drink will inevitably end up there too- so so so much is taken advantage of and the poor staff- from the consultants to the janitors are slogging their guts out to HELP people who will give the staff nothing but abuse, then just go out & do it all over again the next weekend- I’ve long said people like this who abuse any of the emergency services should be made to pay for each unnecessary call out- I’d bet the frequency & the queues would reduce something drastic!
thank you to all our wonderful NHS staff and I’m so sorry what you put up with.
p.s op I hope your father is ok and has a safe & fast recovery x

I work for the ambulance service and it's soul destroying. I used to love my job, answering emergency 999 and 111 calls. Now, I spend most of my shift telling people due to demand we are not sending an ambulance - make your own way, or apologising for delays to ambulances. Someone waited 9 hours on the floor the other day, strokes taking hours, it took 45 minutes to answer a 111 call, there was a queue to answer 999's. We had no crews to send anywhere, at all, because they are stuck at A&E.
Worst part is, this was just a standard Monday. I don't remember a shift where we aren't in escalation, where our policies to not send ambulances kick in.
I came into this job to help people, and right now, I dread going to work. I am applying to work in coffee shops because at least I can give someone a coffee and a kind word. (I also got feedback in my audits to stop saying please and thank you as it extends call time and impacts those waiting. We are talking a total of 8 seconds here on 111...)

@motchapudding I am so sorry, please know our hands are tied at this point, if we are in No Send we literately cannot generate one. I hate that we have to do this, but the powers that be decide it. 😔

My 92 year old aunt collapsed in a care home on Monday and was, after a 5 hour wait, taken to hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night with the paramedic saying she had a severe chest infection and he did not think she would make it through the night.
The hospital rang her sister the next morning (who is in her 80s).She rang me and I went to the hospital arriving about 1pm.. She was in a cubicle alone, muttering complete nonsense, was on oxygen and on a fluids and antibiotics drip. She was wearing a nightdress unbuttoned to the waist, soaked in urine and blood. One arm had what looked like a huge blister which was red and sore. The floor was littered with used clumps of tissues- which I realised were phlegm filled, and her bed had a bundled up urine soaked sheet at the bottom. On her table were two sandwiches- just lying on the table, no packaging, no plate, just on the table next to used phlegm -filled tissues. She had knocked water over and it was soaking the sandwiches and the tissues. A nurse/Health care assistant came in to 'do her obs' and took her temperature, heart-rate and blood pressure which was 179/98. She said everything was fine. I asked about the blood pressure which seemed high to me. She then agreed it was high and took it 5 more times across 10 minutes and it fell to 169/93 which she said was 'fine'. and left.At that point my aunt indicated the arm which she had been taking the blood pressure on was sore where the IV went in and there was a large blister of fluid the size of an orange- the skin was pink and sore looking on that arm too. I called the member of staff back and showed her.
She said 'That doesn't look right' and called another nurse.
She told the nurse 'I just took the blood pressure there and didn't even notice it' T
he nurse said 'Don't worry.'
I piped up with 'Well I think it is a worry that it was missed as she was holding the arm and took the blood pressure 6 x in all. What is the matter?'
The nurse said something like 'the tissue has torn'. She took the bandage and plasters off the arm and removed the IV and said 'It will go down. The same thing happened on her other arm' and put the stained, used bandage and plasters on the table with her sandwich and the phlegm-filled tissues and the spilled water.
I said 'None of that seems very hygienic'. She looked and agreed and put it all in a 'clinical waste' bin that the lid was broken on. No attempt made to clean/sanitise the table top.
I asked could she be made more comfortable and cleaned and propped up as she was lying at an awful angle and clearly in pain. They hauled her into a more seated upright position but she was not cleaned up or propped up with pillows
The nurse was about to leave and I asked about the fluids and antibiotics- given we had been told she had a double pneumonia and was on strong IV antibiotics. Did she need another IV? She said a Dr would come in and sort it out.
No Dr appeared in the next hour although two were outside the room in the central hub on fiddling their phones. I went out and asked for one to come in. He did and I explained the situation. He looked at her arms and said 'They look sore.' He then went to read her notes and came back to say she would need another IV line but didn't do it as 'she is being moved to a proper ward'.
I asked about the urine soaked sheet balled up on her bed and he said 'I'll get you a bag for it.' I said it wasn't mine and he said he would have it moved.
I asked if he was aware my aunt is blind and has scoliosis and osteoporosis. He said he wasn't but looked and confirmed they are in her notes.
By then she had been there 14 hours.
He said her dementia was influencing her ability to communicate. She does not have dementia-she is very sharp.The confusion could well be caused by the infection- he had just assumed she has dementia.
I was fuming and gave him my list of concerns about hygiene, filthy phlegm filled-tissues on the floor and table- with her food, the state of my aunt, the blood pressure readings, the missed arm issues, her notes not being read, his assumption she has dementia, the lack of cleaning. He said 'It's not the best I agree' and left but did nothing about it.

I sat her up more comfortably but they could not give me pillows. I buttoned her nightdress but it needed changing and moving her made her cry with pain. She has morphine and had not had any-possibly for a medical reason but surely could have had something.

I left after another hour just really saddened by what I had seen. Lots of nurses, HCAs and what appeared to be 2 Drs for every hub of 16 beds. Very little active care of patients- only absolutely minimal care, awful hygiene standards, no cleaning or sanitisation at all , no care about the dignity or comfort of patients, time being wasted by staff, notes not read, assumptions made. It was awful.

Today, I rang and spoke to a Dr on the ward she is now on . He was pleasant but asked me 'Is her cognition usually as poor?' -I had already told the other Dr that one. Then 'Does she have sight problems?' In her notes and discussed with other Dr.

This is in Northumberland.

We don't need a system like America. If we moved to a system like France, Spain or Italy, that could work. The NHS isn't fit for purpose and hasn't been for a long time.

That is awful 😞

@LuluBlakey1 that was for. Horrendous care.

Its probably been mentioned already but a big problem is the beds situation and the knock on effect for a&e. So many patients not medically required to be in hospital (have been treated) but don’t have the social care package/care home place set up to leave. This backs onto medical wards who can’t move patients to the dome wards. Then a&e can’t send patients up to the medical wards. Then ambulance crew can’t hand patients over at a&e and so on.

Why?

I see this all the time on here and after 20 years of living in the US, I tell you, I'd rather need medical treatment here than in the UK. In fact, the shambolic state of healthcare in the UK is one of the factors that stops us returning.

I have three kids and a number of medical conditions and I cannot fault the treatment or the speed with which we've received it. Is the private insurance system perfect? Not by a long way. But this constant wailing of "the NHS is shit but god forbid we get something like the US".

You'd be lucky to have a US-style system, you really would.

It was awful. I had taken 4 clean nighties, incontinence pants, toiletries but I could not move her because of the pain.
The ward is apparently better- I will see tomorrow. She has improved slightly but is still 'very sick'.

There were other issues. Main reception was closed- despite 3 staff sitting behind the glass facing patients and chatting to each other. Two elderly (75-80 yrs I'd say) volunteers were directing patients to A and E reception which had a huge queue . They were very nice but like Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques, walking slowly and unsteadily and repeating themselves whilst smiling all the time. 'Just go down here, and through the door , through the door is it, and now to the centre hub, the centre hub that's the one, we'll get there, and now see the lady in blue and she'll sort you out. That's right. You just tell her and she'll see you right. They are all very good. Thank you.'

As I arrived an announcement was saying something like 'the oxygen supply is now working to orange hub' which was a bit disconcerting.

Only one barrier into the visitors/patients car park was working and the button on it was sticking so there was a long queue there. The car park ticket payment machine as I left the hospital building would not accept my ticket- it said it was the 'wrong car-park' but it wasn't. The man on the help button said it often happens and issued me a payment ticket which I paid and took to the car. As I reached the exit, the barrier machine said 'Invalid ticket' and would not let me out. Nor would the help button person respond. Meanwhile the queue behind me were furious but I was penned in. Eventually the help button person, who never spoke to me, lifted the barrier and I escaped. There must have been 20 cars queued behind me.

New hospital just 3 or 4 years old.

It’s ridiculous! In my trust - I am 4 months in on a 9 YEAR waiting list to be seen. I have already been diagnosed privately by a doctor working in the exact same trust, but I have to wait 9 years to be diagnosed on the NHS. That means I have to pay privately for care and medication myself until the NHS will see me. Fortunate I can afford to do this as my last resort - but would rather not pay for it privately as I pay enough in NIC and taxes! Completely broken system.

Experienced recently with my stepdad

Mum rung an ambulance at 1am because he couldn't breathe, was told it would be an 8 hour wait, she bravely drove him herself and panics driving in the car,

18 hours later. On a chair in a corridor a junior doctor waltz over and said "sorry mr stepdad, you have lung cancer" and walked away, no option to ask questions.

Four days later he was sent home with his symptoms under control. They weren't, he wasn't breathing well, he was in agony, he was vomiting, by the time I was up to date and back from holiday he had t kept anything down for 2/3 days,

Rung his allocated cancer nurse, who rung his gp (this call took place around 10am) by 6pm gp finally called me back and told me to call an ambulance because then he would be seen quicker in A&E. which I know is bollocks,

Called ambulance. 6-8 hour wait, thankfully a consultant from ambulance service went out to see him and deemed him fsafe enough to travel by car via a day assessment unit,

He was finally re admitted at 1am.

3 weeks later, after being told they can't rule out cancer until they take a biopsy of the mass. Biopsy cancelled. Been told it's an abscess! I hit the roof, rang the consultant myself and he has a repeat scan next week to check it's reducing or the biopsy will be rebooked.

But on the other side, I'm also a burnt out nurse, I work 12-14 hour shifts without a break most nights,

It breaks me that I can't physically give my patients the care they need (itu, should be one to one, often one to three!)

I used to do a lot of overtime, however, for the last two months I've spent all my days off fighting my wrong pay to be paid overtime I did in August and Sept, I STILL haven't had it nearly 6 months later. So I've stopped doing it. Im owed 48 hours of double overtime pay. Its about £2400

Put it this way, im glad my days of having babies are over, because I see the bad side of births gone wrong, and I see it very often, because maternity services are so over stretched and under staffed too

I am sorry op but it’s been like this for YEARS
You just haven’t experienced it.
The system is overloaded. It doesn’t work in 2024 - the quicker we all realise that the old model doesn’t work the sooner we can move towards a solution.

The nhs was never intended to treat every ailment under the sun for 70 million plus ageing population.

Also, when I did my nursing degree 6/7 years ago, it was fully funded. I got a full bursary which allowed me to study and qualify without going into debt.

Tories have taken than away.

When I applied for my place at university, there was 800 applicants for 22 spaces

Now they are struggling to fill the spaces. The new nurses are coming through, and being put in such horrific traumatic situations, they are leaving almost immediately. I feel for them, but I wouldn't encourage any family member or friend to become a nurse these days,

I am constantly exhausted and broken, my own health is shit because I'm so run down.

I've contemplated giving up nursing, but despite the shite, I love my job

@LuluBlakey1 that is the most harrowing post I've ever read. I can't imagine how you must have felt.

We should all be angry about this.

I work in it, trust me I KNOW it’s bad.

I always say if people could see behind the scenes just how bad it was they would be in the streets rioting!

We have had an enormous population explosion - when the nhs was first conceived to now - who exactly do you want to be angry WITH?

We are pouring billions into the NHS. It’s never had so much money, it’s a bottomless pit. it’s not a money issue. It’s a mathematical issue.

You can’t adequately treat 70 plus million from cradle to grave for every symptom they experience for the best part of eighty years. Do the maths yourself. The projections are that the issue is going to get significantly worse, not better.

I live in the US so no yelling at me. I read you have free healthcare but if some are dying waiting to be seen wouldn't it be better to have people pay for healthcare. My son went into our local ER in December and had to wait 3 hours due to 2 car accidents and they apologized. Our system isn't wonderful but I've never had wait times like you.