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?

Plenty of admin staff get band 5/6

HR/ Recruitment/MDT pathway coordinators to name a few
Band 2 Admin is entry level

My friend and her husband did get taken to another room after 30 hours and were offered tea and toast

In our hospital they had job notices ground floor on the walls as you walked towards the lifts. All admin team some over £100k none under £60k. I thought that particularly tone deaf

You shouldn't really need a course on how to make an appointment should you. It shouldn't be that complicated. Get a properly funded system and enough doctors and start fixing it.

I'm a nurse in the NHS. Nobody seems to realise until they work in it, or need to use it. It's no one person/group of health professionals' fault imo; I squarely blame the government.

That is too blurry to read. Do you have a better image?

"if my husband was with another dentist in the practice I could be swapped over."

Discriminatory if you ask me, when most people can't get an NHS dentist.
A few years ago someone told me that if you moved, you could be referred from one NHS dentist to another. Totally unfair for people who don't have this option.

They don't deal with emergencies so there is no need to be 24 hour.
If you're in such pain that you need to see a doctor at 3am, it's probably not a GP you need.

More out of hours centres open on weekends and evenings would be good though.

"What I have read indicates that European models still require significant investment from their governments, individual insurance payments are in addition to and do not replace that funding."

Yes, of course, but health is worth funding isn't it?

I always see stories about how people can't get a GP appointment.
I don't seem to have a problem at my surgery - maybe it depends where you live
I live in a medium sized town.
I have relatives who live in the city and they say they can't get through on the phone.
They have a two week wait for an appointment etc.
But why can't people on good income use a private Gp ? It is surely a viable option good on you for doing that. A&E will be there for u should you need it -(,thought I had better say that before the ' that's what I pay NI contributions for brigade turn up

Your post had all the clues in it - folk need health insurance and / or the ability to pay. Those that can’t should be treated at tax payers’ cost. What colour government is going to put that to the electorate? Who’d vote for that??

Are you sure?

If you're on holiday with an EHIC card you're likely to be in the public system aren't you?

If you're resident there and working then you'll also be in the public system, to the extent that a public system exists in that country.

The private/public distinction isn't the same everywhere of course. Where I live, it's more about whether the practitioner charges "contracted" rates or not (maybe a bit like private-NHS dentists in the UK).

@justasking111
Who gives the Welsh government money?

I am not saying that the Welsh government haven't got questions to answer but the Tory's and their austerity strategy / policy have done so much damage to all of our public services

Do you think Rishi Sunaks announcement about making more use of pharmacists with consultations for the 7 different conditions announced yesterday will be a good thing to free up GP appointments?

For me the issue isn't A&E or hospital appointments, it's being unable to get a GP's appointment for 'non urgent' matters. Took me nine months last time. Yes, I managed to get an appointment before then with the only doctor with appointment slots (turns out it's because he's pretty rude and fairly rubbish) - he dismissed what I'd gone to see him about, something I'm actually having surgery for next week

Yanbu op it's terrifying. My dh is a paramedic and we live by the beach. He regularly has to go to central London for work. It's so scary that he is the nearest/ most available person.

Sorry no I can only screenshot

I think a lot of the issues stem from the government not training enough GPs and having no regulations around GP practices.

My GP is fantastic and it is obviously that they care about their patients. I think it's weird that you can't book appointments in advance for things like medication reviews, but it does seem to work well at my practice. I have never been denied an appointment, nor has anyone else I know at my practice.

That said, I have friends at another practice who haven't been able to see a GP since 2019 and always get sent to A&E, even for something like a suspect UTI or sore throat. There isn't a chance of these patients receiving preventative care.

The nearest NHS dentist to me is over 60 miles away and they aren't taking on new patients.

It varies so much and it will absolutely have a knock-on effect in hospitals and people needing emergency care.

I don’t know, but I imagine it was to sober them up a bit? They brought out a small pack of sandwiches and hot drinks, not from the vending machines, for two of them. It was a nurse that handed them out. I don’t know if it’s standard practice, perhaps someone will know?

Welsh Labour are mismanaging the Welsh NHS. However, as I've mentioned before, the main issue is funding and the Welsh Government have very little leeway on that as the budget is decided in London. Wales gets a percentage of what the Conservative Government decides to spend on the UK.

During COVID the Welsh government were paying millions a month to private hospitals which they kept closed. My friends daughter was paid all the way through when her hospital was mothballed

9 MONTHS sounds a very long time
Was it a specialist appointment
We're you offered an alternative? Like a nurse specialist for instance.
Did you ask to be put on a cancellation list ?
Did you ask for a particular gp ?
Did you look into changing surgeries ?
Have you put in a complaint ?
There are lots of ways a patient can influence their care in the health service

I think you may find that the pp was in Greece during the crisis years. The dad of a friend of mine was taken critically ill in Zante, airlifted to Athens and the hospital, which was one of the big ones, was like a Gaza bombed building. It was falling apart because of cuts due to capital controls during the 2010-2018 crisis. They were utterly shocked. Not a the doctor´s expertise, but the fact that their health system had been basically dismantled.

@CHRIS003 from what our practice pharmacist has told me on the pharmacy forums they are vocal about the lack preparation and training they have had to provide this service. I believe they will get £15 per consult and a bonus of £1000 if they see 10 patients in a month. Compare that to GP practices who get paid £104 per patient to offer a full year of healthcare, irrespective of how many times a patient is seen. Not forgetting the admin staff working behind the scenes for them which this £104 also pays for. If I got £15 per patient consult for this type of illness I could employ an army of staff to provide the extra appointments.

And just to lift my mood. I've had an email from my amazing salaried GP who left us due to work life balance. I think the final straw was a patient shouting at her for not being able to get a follow up appointment for months. Accusing her of being on holiday. Eventually my salaried GP had to divulge her personal medical details to explain she had been absent due to cancer treatment.
So she and her husband are emigrating to Canada to the town where his family live. He's a hospital consultant. So the U.K. loses 2 fully trained exceptional doctors who search for a better work like balance and better opportunities for their young daughter. 😔