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?

There are not enough GPs and the government is trying to phase out the role and have more input from other staff (who sometimes create more work for GPs as they refer matters back to the GP when they feel they can't deal with them). Soon there will be no GPs at all to see and you'll be lucky to see a Physician's Associate who has less training and won't have the support of a GP as the role is on its way out. The public is being conditioned to be grateful for suboptimal care.

The government has cut GP funding and given it to other sources like pharmacies (who are supposed to be treating minor illnesses but are really not interested) and wasting money on pcn's providing nothing roles like social prescribers and other unsupervised remote working staff and because of this GPs have been on a major pushback of the work they are now not adequately funded to do with the result being everyone sitting in A&E. Hopefully a change of government will bring a radical change and GPs can go back to doing what they trained to do!

We were desperate for a defib machine in this incident, someone who lived in the road where the bus stopped drove for one, as there were none nearby, she legged it back but it never actually got used because of a massive faff over getting the code for it. And the ambulance arrived before they managed to get the code for the machine. It was a shambles, even with tons of people helping in different ways.

If you think it’s bad now just wait till 2036 when the population will be 74million because of immigration. You won’t have a hope in hell in getting to see a doctor or getting any services in this country. So unless you can afford private healthcare you will be

And some elderly aren't having a terrible quality of life, are quite enjoying themselves and want to go on living.

So on the one hand we have people who want to end their life because they find it intolerable being refused any assistance to do so, or finding it difficult to arrange to avoid life prolonging treatment, and on the other we have people on this thread wanting to withdraw medical help from the elderly because they're "at the end of their life" without any consideration as to whether this is actually true (an 80 year old can be in the last weeks of their life or have another 10 or 20 years to go) and what the elderly person in question wishes.

recently my 2yo woke up gasping for breath. Ambulance arrived within 20 minutes (about the distance we live from a hospital) and she was seen immediately in a very quiet A&E. we were lucky

Well...the situation is shocking. I was a fool 20 years ago, thinking my life in Prague was "inferior". I'm starting to hate this country with
passion. I know, go home then, to Eastern Europe! 😊 The minute these proverbial doors open again, I'm outa here like lightning!!

Since after 2020: our dentist has turned to a MONEY GRABBING BUSINESS CENTRE , any treatment and all to make as much money Off our family! It is scandalous!

YADNBU - I'm a nurse with 36 years experience. I had a nightmare experience, which literally traumatised me, as a patient in A/E. I am mortified / embarrassed anytime I have to visit someone, in hospital,due to the standards of care they have received. I had an ill relative on a trolley in A/E for over 24 hours yesterday. It's bleak.

That sounds so utterly distressing. Your poor mum, the lack of dignity is just horrible.

We’ve emigrated to a European country (like so many people we know, post Brexit) and the situation is far better where we are. All of us used to pay £££ in taxes (whilst using private healthcare). I doubt the UK will be better off with the new type of immigration. It can only get worse.

It absolutely terrifies me to be honest. My GP is great, when you can get to them. Which might take an entire day of phone calls. NHS dentist is hanging by a thread - I haven’t spent more than two consecutive minutes in their chair since the start of Covid. It’s an “open wide” then they tick the box collect £30 and see you in six months. I’m absolutely petrified of needing anything more and am seriously reconsidering trying for a child given the state of maternity services.

Credit where credit is due, they've always prioritised my little ones when unwell and have been amazing.

After my DS had anaphylaxis at 6 months old, an ambulance was there in 5 minutes.

When DD's breathing suddenly deteriorated when she was 2 weeks old, the ambulance was there in about 10 minutes.

However, yes, when we got to the hospital they were terribly under staffed. After we arrived with DD we were told the doctor wasn't available yet as there were 3 doctors working and 15 critical emergencies.

I have a huge amount of respect for all of the NHS workers doing they're best in a broken system.

Fully agree.
I spent 10hrs waiting to see a doctor in A&E back in July. I was sent there by a walk in centre as I had cellulitis and they were worried I was showing signs of sepsis.
I cannot fault the care I received once I got it but bloody hell it took so long to get it. I remember thinking afterwards "if it's this bad in the summer, what's it going to be like in the winter?".
I'm subsequently on 18-month waiting list for dermatology.
I've never known waiting lists or waiting times to be this bad. I've turned up at A&E multiple times over the decades (car accident, sports injuries, stepping on broken glass, burns...) And have never waited anything like as long ever. I can remember being referred to cardiology (for a routine matter) in about 2001 and my GP apologising for the length of the wait... It was about four months! Oh how I wish we only had a four-month wait now.
It's so, so sad to see the NHS in this state. So many of the problems are entirely preventable but we have a government that is - essentially - ideologically opposed to the NHS.
I really worry about the future and about getting ill again. It's terrifying to be sitting in A&E when you're really unwell and in pain not knowing how long you'll be there or whether you're going downhill.
I hope your dad is okay 💐

I went to A&E recently following an injury. I’d taken pain relief before attending, but was waiting for 6 hours. There were frequent messages on the tannoy that if you were in pain you could request pain relief and they’d give it to you.

4 times I asked for pain relief over 2 hours. Everyone was nice, said they’d get it then never came back. Eventually I was in so much pain that I didn’t know what to do with myself. A lady sitting near me went and got a staff member - a HCA - to help me, who stood in front of me tutting, rolling her eyes and telling me that it was my fault for not taking pain relief before I attended. I explained I had but I’d been waiting 6 hours and was in agony and she just laughed at me! I was so shocked, in so much pain I just sat there sobbing and when the Dr came to call me a few minutes later I was inconsolable. I just couldn’t believe how vulnerable I felt and how unable I felt to speak up for myself when I was in so much pain - and also the fact I felt I needed to speak up for myself!

As it was I ended up being admitted, given morphine and having surgery.

As someone who works in the NHS and is normally proud to do so, I feel so sad and ashamed that this is what ‘care’ can look like. I’m well aware of staffing shortages and pressures from management, but I did not deserve to be laughed at when I was in agony by A&E staff.

You’re right. The reality of how dire the NHS is doesnt hit you until you have to use it. Brother in law has an alcohol problem, and was admitted last year for an alcohol related illness. He collapsed at home last week - couldn’t talk properly, was confused and slurring, and had all the signs of having had a stroke. Was taken to a&e, and despite him having the signs of a stroke, they didn’t test him and blamed it on an alcohol episode. Didn’t test him for four days, and when they finally did, they confirmed a stroke. It’s really important following a stroke that they are tested immediately and treated to save parts of their brain function. Absolutely have no words.

I am a GP and love my job. I've been doing it for almost 30 years. I love seeing my patients but I am broken. I am empty. I was duty GP today and worked 10 hours non stop. In that time I saw 30-40 patients, supervised our paramedic, had a practice meeting how to manage home visits, gave advice to our salaried GP, practice nurse and district nurse. Responded to a patient complaint and managed to go to the loo and eat! Whoo hoo.
But I started the day with 35 prescriptions to sign, 44 blood results to review and 39 tasks to action and left with 53, 55 and 45. I will log on tomorrow on my day off and do some of them but that is a full days work itself.
In my time I have seen a massive shift in care from hospital to GP. As GPs we are now expected to be able to do most of the hospital specialists work. We constantly have work passed back to us. Patients book with us because they can't get hold of the hospital, or are on waiting lists and their condition is getting worse or because a consultant has said start this medication and get your GP to counsel you on the side effects etc etc. Every one says "go and see your GP, we can't deal with this". Everyone does. Patients are so complex now I am working at the edge of my competency with little help from specialists.
Locum GPs now have no work because there is no money to pay them. The uplift for next year for GP practices is 1.9%. That doesn't even cover the minimum wage rise never mind pay increases that staff deserve. There will be lots of practices who will have to close because financially they can't continue. It's awful. Patients deserve better. NHS staff deserve better. I just feel so hopeless some days and the only thing that drives me on is my patients. Once that goes I have to leave because the essence of being a doctor for me is lost.

Yep, my sister-in-law recently waited with her blind 88 year old DF for 21 hours - a lung cancer patient with a serious chest infection - they had arrived in an ambulance not long after 9am and a bed was finally procured at 6am the next day.
She said the A&E overnight was completely awful - full of druggies and drunks, people in mental health crisis and rough-sleepers with nowhere else to go.
I pray that none of my loved ones need emergency care.

It's a scary time for our country.

The world in general feels very hopeless just now and it's the kids in my life I really worry about. What the world will look like for them.

Not to be all doomsday though!

My GP Practice doesn't do enough. They close at 5pm, close from 12 to 1 for lunch, don't open on weekends. I don't understand why a public service has these hours. You can shop 24/7 in supermarkets but you can't see a DR.

They should work later, do staggered lunches, and open on a Saturday. Otherwise, the pressure piles on hospitals, pharmacies, ambulances, out of hours staff.

It's what we voted for, It's not like we didn't have it spelt out for us. But yes, it's on its knees.

@WarmBlanketWinter all GP practices have to provide extended access hours which include Saturdays. Often they are provided by another service and cover all the practices in a local area.
If there are 6 GPs in a surgery even if they opened longer hours there are still only 6 of them just spread more thinly so the number of appointments would be similar. Every GP I know works at weekends evenings and days not in the practice, but they are doing the massive amount of admin associated with the job.

It's not just A&E and GPs - it's the huge waiting lists to see a specialist, and more huge waiting lists to get treatment. For conditions which are life-altering.

I need surgery, I struggle to work without it, but I waited 12 MONTHS to even see a consultant, then put on another 2 YEAR waiting list for surgery.

That's 3 years of my life, in discomfort and economically inactive. Then denied disability benefits as well. How are people meant to live?

It's in stark contrast to when I used to complain about an 8 week wait pre 2010ish!!

@chocolatenutcase that's an incredible amount of work - I do wonder if it would help if doctors had an assistant who was very well trained on aspects like blood tests and prescriptions- I know many yearsago when I was a nurse I liked technical stuff and would have enjoyed a role like that-

@Crikeyalmighty we have a pharmacist to do the hospital letters requesting us to prescribe medication, our nurses do a lot of the blood results and only pass the abnormal ones to us, our admin team filter out a lot of letters and action all the hospital requests to refer, check bloods etc and I have a fab secretarial team. But sometimes it just needs a GP. Most of my results are the result of me investigating the patients I have seen.

Neck pain is hardly an accident or emergency, no wonder the NHS is on its knees.