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?

“I use a private GP (as do 30% of the population, I believe) to avoid the worry of whether I should ‘bother’ a GP, a question that wouldn’t even have been asked 20 years ago or in most other countries. If you can’t afford that, I think going to A&E if you are concerned, rather than waiting until things become more serious and less treatable, is the only rational thing to do.”

Who are these private GPs? The ones the NHS has lost?

@Newbutoldfather is that true that its up to 30%?

Not saying that they don’t. But the NHS isn’t working and hasn’t worked for a very long time. It’s time for major change and that just doesn’t involve additional money.

It's a bloody enormous bunion! It's not really that minor as it's pushing my whole hip out. But you have to pay for hip replacements now too and I don't have the cash for it - I am prioritising my mental health and have gone private for that - so I look forward to being a deformed old woman.

There are people on this thread for whom the NHS always was, and continues to be, fantastic and approaching to personalised Rolls-Royce levels of service.

There are people for whom it's never been equitable and always sub-par.

It's difficult to assess the relative proportions of the extremes and the experience of the people in the more middle range.

How many people on this thread use Care Opinion to comment on their local services? Both good and bad? Trusts use it for feedback and even to act.

https://www.careopinion.org.uk/

If you go to A&E, particularly on a weekend, then yeah it's always been full of people suffering the effects of being drunk/wasted. But they have a right to treatment too. What's the alternative - just leave them to die? Only naice middle class people get to use the NHS? (Some of them ARE naice middle class people!)

Healthcare is one of my top priorities. I put away some money every month in a "medical emergency" pot (account), not much, but enough to cover private GP and scripts. It is there if I have an acute issue that needs to be sorted immediately with a private GP appointment. I won't wait two weeks for an NHS appointment, or days to get through to reception. But not everyone has the spare cash for that, accepted.

On the other hand, if I had a chronic or serious illness, then of course the NHS is the way to go, once in the system I think they are great.

Primary care is the gatekeeper for chronic and acute care though. When that's not optimum, then A+E is the only option open to many now, and hence the awful experiences that many go through there. I'd say many issues in A+E are really for the GP or minors, but if you can't get that, what do you do?

Absolutely horrendous, you have been let down very very badly. Glad you’re getting positive treatment at (unforgivably long) last.

Yes let’s flood our MPs with our personal reports. Make our views and experiences known from us as individuals to the MP as an individual. The trouble with relying on the election is the first past the post system means many votes have no effect.

I've never lived close to a walk-in centre as far as I know.

Id put big containers drunk tanks outside for drunks and druggies with cots (which is all the army have). They can sleep, puke there. Depart and hose out the container.

"Are 'drunk tanks' the answer to the UK's booze binge epidemic? - Mirror Online" https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drunk-tanks-answer-uks-booze-691265

I'm surprised by this. We've only ever had good experience of the NHS. I can see a doctor within 20 minutes with this new online system which gets rid of people who have e.g. a cold / just need a prescription. I fill in a form online, two doctors reviewing them constantly and they ring me for an assessment and usually ask me to pop in.

A & E can be worse but my son was blue lighted several times by ambulance and they were here within minutes.

I saw a news story recently about a Gp who is setting up training packages for secondary schools - teaching older students how they can get the best out of the NHS- when is a situation is urgent and when it is not Etc how to make greater use of text and video call appointments where they can get advice use of charities and support groups/ what kind of illnesses and condition can be managed at home basic healthcare in the home etc - I thought this was a good idea - going forward we need to teach the next generations how to preserve our free at point of delivery healthcare and improve its efficiency.
People now on the whole take our health service for granted and it amazes me as an ex nurse how little people understand about their own health and what constitutes an emergency etc.

"It's a bloody enormous bunion! It's not really that minor as it's pushing my whole hip out."

OMG, I have a big bunion and my hip hurts, but I hadn't put two and two together.
I'm not in the UK so I could get an operation for my bunion, but it puts you out of action for a few weeks so I'm putting it off.
I thought my hip pain was because I have one leg longer than the other.

Sometimes people turn to alcohol or drugs because they are mentally ill, depressed, have been abused by paedophiles or rapists. Sometimes they end up dead because they cannot get any help from anyone. Sometimes their families have tried and tried to get help for them and are left distraught and devastated. Addiction is an illness and is known to have a strong genetic component. Of course these people are deserving of help. There is a mental health crisis at the moment and the lack of support is a disgrace.

Your dad was really lucky to get an mri scan as an emergency !
Not sure we would have this facility available at night all round the country ? I thought it was usually ct scans

A good idea in a way yes, but also blaming the victim. We shouldn't have to need lessons in how to use the system and text and video call appointments should be limited to very basic things where no diagnosis is required.

What, every single Friday night is the depressed and the mentally unwell because of abuse that fill the A&Е across the country?

The difference in this country is that the NHS is free at the point of delivery
This means anyone of any financial means can see a aGp or go to A&e or access maternity care without having to pay up front or have insurance cover.

Yes.

In Ireland there's 100 euro charge for using A and E if you don't have a medical card (that means if your income is above a certain level) and if you weren't referred by a Dr. So if you just turn up at A and E, you will be billed. I know that the NHS is meant to be free but maybe a charge like this should be introduced.

Well that might work for the ones who haven't injured themselves or overdosed, but wouldn't be much use to those who have and are in A&E for actual treatment.

This.

MIU are way quicker if you need an X-ray. They see dc from age 2 so no need for paediatric A&E if you suspect your dc has a fracture or minor injury.

My local MIU is 45 mins away vs 20 mins for A&E, but MIU takes about an hour to be seen, x-rayed, seen again and given crutches whereas A&E was 7 hours.

what this Gp was saying was that people Do need lessons in how to access the system. She felt if you give a series a lessons as part of Phse classes at school then the next generation would be able to understand how the NHS works.