To think the NHS...

[EsmeSusanOgg]

... Is great for emergency care, but terrible at preventative medicine/ dealing with chronic conditions/ help before things become an emergency.

Especially so if you are a woman and anything can be loosely linked in with 'hormones'.

Ideas welcome on ways to fix this issue if you agree.

One idea that I think would help would be having a proper computer/ records system, that is easy to upload to/ interpret and was universal across NHS services wherever you are in the UK. So many issues could be avoided/ identified if you had a decent admin program that flagged when people need to have blood tests/ scans/ BP monitoring etc. That would flag BEFORE a prescription is issued if it is possibly not suitable because of other medications/ conditions.

I’m afraid I also don’t think they’re great at emergency care, as last time I went a couple of years ago with kidney stones I was misdiagnosed and then left unmedicated with a massive infection for hours and nearly died!

They’re not great at much due to lack of resource/staff.

They can be very good at life saving treatment but they’re very poor any thinking else - particularly mental health and chronic ongoing conditions.

All of these things are in place except for universal software system due to GDPR …

It's not even great for emergency care in most places as DH found out to his cost.

Preventative ‘medicine’ begins with the individual!

Yes I feel like attention to early stage issues or chronic issues has got worse - in my old surgery you literally couldn’t make a non emergency appointment anymore.
I found myself just giving up and have been living with a number of chronic complaints and accepting that this is probs part of ageing (I’m 39)!
trying to access care for anything that is actually worrying me or affecting my quality of life feels like a massive battle!
im not sure about your solution though - my diagnosed conditions all appear whenever I have a consultation, and I get reminded about a yearly blood test for one of them?
I feel like it is a capacity issue!

NHS has failed.

So much resource and money wasted on poor admin too. Money that could pay for more staff and equipment. I'm on letter 8 for an appointment I don't need. I've made 3 phone calls about it too. They send appointment, I phone and cancel the appointment explaining why I don't need it. They send letter telling me that unfortunately the appointment is cancelled and to call to rebook. I ignore. They send me a new appointment anyway, repeat times 3. I'm hoping this time I don't get a new appointment through again as at least this time the person on the phone looked at the system and confirmed back to me that I don't need an appointment.

Yes exactly

One idea that I think would help would be having a proper computer/ records system, that is easy to upload to/ interpret and was universal across NHS services wherever you are in the UK.

This was tried under the last Labour government. It was so impossible to combine the disparate systems that the only people to do well out of it were the management consultants who pocketed millions for the failure.

See also: National ID card scheme, Track & Trace etc etc.

Preventative screening. I’m almost 50 and offered nothing unless I ask.

Agree about linking systems. The barrier in my old board was no-one would make a decision. Everyone liked their own system.

Clear decision making and outcomes. My husband took a morning off to attend a GP appointment the practice made for him. When he got there the GP didn’t know why he was there. Communication between specialties and teams is shockingly poor.

Not everyone is irresponsible with their health.

There are plenty of people that do all that they can but still don’t get the care they should.

The only way I could have prevented the majority of my issues was by not being born.

Womens health in particular is disastrous. Seven years for a hysterectomy unless it's cancer. Even with adenomyosis, endometriosis, cysts and fibroids. Then as you've a preexisting condition that complicates things further private hospitals won't accept you. You wouldn't let a pet suffer you'd tightly been taken up for neglect

The problem with screening at the moment is that for some things (e.g. diabetes) it would identify more people than the system can cope with. Therefore people end up not receiving treatment until it's chronic and that sucks resources that then can't be used for screening. It's a cycle that needs to be broken but I agree it does start with people taking more responsibility for their own health.

some patients might get great care

but we should all be getting the best care and that is not happening. I work in a highly funded area and we are struggling

that a few are getting great care is simply not good enough its time for serious reform and reform is what Labour are promising. Lets hope they are brave enough to dismantle the NHS and start rebuilding a health system that provides the care that we all deserve

There are obviously a wide range of conditions and obvs not everyone can do anything to help the conditions they have, but there are some who can and don't. When you get it down to an individual level there is usually mental health issues etc that aren't being supported but you could say that for most things and about most people. I don't think there is an easy solution and it's complex and there are barriers but simply chucking money at it isn't the solution.

I am currently going through a suspected ectopic pregnancy and they are doing a 3rd blood test in 5 days and won't even scan me until Thursday. I feel like unless I'm actively having internal bleeding from a ruptured fallopian tube they are not treating it with any urgency. It's ridiculous.

GDPR is not the reason why the NHS doesn't have a joined up software system. There is nothing in GDPR that stops the sharing of medical information once the people concerned have given their consent.

It is because it is not one organisation but many, each with different people in charge. People who are each playing their own political games rather than working together. This is not unique to the NHS by the way. All big organisations have similar power politics going on at many levels.

How many weeks are you? They won’t scan before 6 weeks as they can’t see anything before that date. What are you hcg results?

They aren't great at emergency care.

Friend of mine died in an and e of sepsis after being sent away twice.

I was diagnosed with severe asthma after an and e sent me away diagnosed with a cold.

Only 50% of the people who need it get acess to rehab after a stroke etc.

I have severe and permanent mobility problems after a complication was not identified after a major fracture.

None of my five conditions were diagnosed by the nhs and on multiple occasions I was told I was lazy/exaggerating etc.

@XjustagirlX I was 7 weeks when I found out it wasn't a viable pregnancy which was last Thursday and I'll be 8 weeks when they want to scan me

thats shocking you haven’t had a scan yet. Make sure you get your hcg results.

If it is an ectopic then if the hcg results are small and/or decreasing then your body can resolve the pregnancy on its own. Don’t let them take away your tube. I’ve know multiple women who get tubes taken away (coz it’s less risk for the hospital) including nearly me.

I badly wounded my knee a few years ago. I later found out that what it needed was surgical debridement/closure. What I actually got was a plaster and a box of antibiotics after 8 hours in A and E (it was full of gravel and bleeding profusely). Then followed four months of thrice-weekly dressing charges and two further infections. Eventually I was referred to a specialist wound nurse who was shocked at the state I'd been left in.

I'm sure the surgical option would have been cheaper than the four months of treatment.

It’s inevitable it will turn private.

What will remain is A&E, gps, maternity care, sexual health, those suffering from serious mental health conditions. Everything else will have to be funded through insurance.