AIBU to wish the UK healthcare system functioned properly?

[DickEmery]

Or at least tolerably well. Because what we have now is woeful and it impacts on all aspects of life.

You realise that there are millions of people on waiting lists who cannot access treatment???

For every story about the amazing nhs there are dozens of awful ones my obviously autistic son who clearly has dyspraxia has been trying to get diagnosed for ten years he keeps "falling off the list" his details were involved in a "data breach" (why that stopped him getting an appointment I don't know) four assessments (at least) all agreeing he is autistic and needs assessment for dyspraxia but randomly he has ended up at the beginning of assessment AGAIN and is off to be seen once again in a couple of weeks he will be 16 soon and will age out of the system

His brother? Took three years start to finish

My neighbour? Six months

Ridiculous system

As an NHS consultant of 30 years, it terrifies me. And people don’t know just how bad it is and it will likely get worse.
In a few years, private medicine won’t work either. With so many younger UK-trained doctors leaving, they won’t be becoming private consultants here.

I see the list of problems becoming insurmountable. New GPs can’t find work even where they are needed because the funding is for ‘additional roles’ like physician associates and cannot be used to employ GPs. How crazy is that.

I despair right now. The NHS is run on goodwill. Some people go above and beyond and yes I include myself in that. Full time NHS with no sick leave for 30 years. I treat patients, relatives and colleagues with kindness and respect always. But there is only so much we can do.

And I am no staunch defender of poor practice. There are some shit staff and there is waste of resources as well as chronic underfunding and social issues which affect the NHS. But there is no easy way of getting rid of underperforming or difficult staff as the processes are so complex. It all needs to change.

Your comment about foreign nurses is ridiculous. How are earth is that going to help anything? It’s interesting that this was your first thought.

here in the UK there would be squwaks about racism
This comment says a lot. Let me guess, you use the term ‘playing the race card’ as well?

The waiting lists are a political choice made by the previous government.

I want the NHS to be back to where it should be, but it's important to recognise the political choices that got us here.

This.

I went to Basingstoke hospital yesterday for the final element of cancer treatment over the last three years.

Care and service has, at all times, been outstanding, Covid was not allowed to get in the way. On one occasion when a radiotherapy machine was broken, they managed to find me another slot at at different hospital on the same day, so the treatment plan would not be interrupted.

Diagnosed through routine screening during lockdown, I was seen by a consultant surgeon within 17 days and had surgery shortly after. I had health insurance at the time but they could not compete with the NHS.

Grateful thanks to North Hampshire Hospitals Trust.

Foreign staff are already penalised by disproportionately high (compared to other countries) visa costs and NHS surcharge.

I’m pleased for you however vast numbers around the uk aren’t so lucky and are experiencing nightmares accessing treatment. They have every right to be critical.

This!

Totally understand where you're coming from. I've had 3 very bad experiences with close family in a row where two died because of misdiagnosis and then very poor treatment and the other was mistreated appallingly in hospital getting multiple infections on a filthy ward, coming out worse than she went in. Add in a shocking labour experience myself and I have zero faith in the nhs. We just got private healthcare too and we don't even attempt to use our gp now as it's utterly pointless. If you can even get an appointment they seem clueless and unhelpful. On numerous occasions in the past I had to research and self diagnose because the doctors had no idea. For example, going to GP for two years with classic peri menopause symptoms but not being diagnosed as in peri menopause just getting a lot of shrugging and no idea what's causing that. Once I was diagnosed privately and put on hrt all the symptoms went away. I didn't need to go through two years of hell if the nhs gp had diagnosed me correctly.

One of the worst experiences which left multiple family members either ptsd was when a very close family member was told to cut out gluten and see if her headaches went away 8 weeks before she died of a brain tumour. She had been to the gp repeatedly for 6 months and fobbed off every time with ridiculous reasons for her headaches. By the time she staggered into a&e it was too late. It's totally broken as a system.

Why is it that everytime someone posts about a positive experience with the NHS, they get roundly shouted down and told that it's a rarity?

I get that lots of people have had bad experiences and of course that's awful, but what do you hope to achieve by shouting down those of us who have had better experiences than you?

Foreign staff should be paid exactly the same as we do - they do the same job! We would be absolutely fucked without them, we rely heavily on them. I'm a 3rd year student nurse. The bad stories are awful and terrifying to hear about an industry I'll be going into in ten months, but all I can do is my very best to not provide poor care and try my utmost for my patients.

Private is not always better. Patients' experiences can vary massively based on who they encounter during the course of their care.

I've had multiple surgeries over the last 2 decades. Mostly in NHS hospitals but also 3 in a private hospital.

I've had a real mixture of experiences.

I've been treated with kindness and understanding but I've also experienced some really unacceptable attitudes by nurses/Dr's in both the NHS and private sector. To the point I felt scared and bullied by staff while very vulnerable.

My DH was in hospital (NHS) for a stint this spring and experienced the same mixed attitudes/treatment. Without the NHS, he would have lost his leg. Most of the staff who cared for him were absolutely amazing and we are both incredibly grateful for their care and the way they advocated for him. However, a minority were rude and unsympathetic, knowingly leaving him in pain and ignoring what we were telling them.

I'm not really sure what the solution is. Maybe there's not one.

When I broke my ankle recently the care I had from the nurses in a&e was awful. They treated me with such contempt. I was shocked by this experience.

If the UK paid foreign staff less even though they have the same skill and years of service they will just go to other Western countries. Here in Australia we also have a lot of Filipino, Nepalese etc staff in our hospitals - I had a stay a year ago and they were really good, professional, friendly and young. Both male and female. I feel bad for the sending countries who are losing such talent and they should be paid appropriately rather than ripped off.

Then you’ve been very lucky. The experience of my family and several friends has been entirely different. In fact my father very nearly died last summer following a catalogue of NHS errors that has been acknowledged by the NHS itself based on hard evidence.

I don’t feel inclined to put up and shut up.

When posters say and requote-“wish the bashing the NHS would stop and give the staff some credit.”

We have every right to speak up about the widespread serious failings we and friends/ family are experiencing.

It's not "shouting down". It's trying to get heard. Do you think the patient questionnaires and annoying patient satisfaction texts the NHS keep sending, are going to achieve anything positive for patients? I don't, because the resources are not there/mismanaged.

My current experience is that some hospital departments are very well-run and provide a good, if very bare-bones service. They are all chronically understaffed and overwhelmed. Some staff are under-trained and can't communicate in a way that is safe for the patient.

1 of the nurses on my recent hospital stay spent an hour of the night shift bitching about patients and complaining in earshot of patients about the job, the workload (half-empty ward with only 3-4 patients and at least 3 members of night staff) and also tried to guilt-trip me for staying in overnight for an op that is only a day case because the NHS is broken.

Things like that just raise anxiety and make your recovery needlessly hard.

And the GP system is mostly useless and sometimes dangerous and life-endangering, unless you already know more or less what treatment you need and are prepared to argue and fight for it.

Co-pay system urgently needed.

I was in A&E on Friday night through till Saturday with suspected Cauda Equina syndrome, sent by a GP. It was a major city centre and obviously not a great time. Lack of a doctors was the main issue there.

My sister had suspected cancer and I had an issue picked up with my heart and we both had hospital appointments within 2 weeks as urgent referrals in the last few months. I’m now in need of physiotherapy and her DH needs an op on a bulging disc in his back. This is where the system falls down, long waits for needed treatment but not treatment that means your going to drop dead because the conditions are chronic and not acute.

Thankfully myself or my dc have not had to use the nhs. Last time was when I gave birth 13 years ago. I am very lucky to be able to afford private care for myself and dc (dh gets it through work) which we've used for dermatology for both myself and dc (I had skin cancer).

I believe nhs trauma care can be excellent, but cancer care is dire and I'd be very worried if I had to give birth now.

It seems like one time you get great service and the next it's bad.

There seems no rhyme nor reason. I'm speaking from a few recent experiences my mum and I gave had.

The system is broken because people high up the chain don't realise what's happening further down. Maybe because they've not worked their way up and seen many roles before becoming a manager as they just came from external with hood business acumen.

And the people further down are exhausted so they don't have the energy to care about other things as they are caring for patients.

We all need to pay more. But no political party wants to admit that. But if changes were implemented we may not have to pay so much more.

And I don't mean in donations. I mean taxation. Or a two tier system.

Something needs done at GP level too to stop people going to the nhs out if hours. Honestly we need a 7 days a week service. People don't stop needing GPs or indeed dentists at weekends.

I am singaporean. Singaporeans get a lot more privileges than foreigners because it is a tiny country where citizens are conscripted. The government needs to make 'citizenship ' worth it (which is why I still get money from the singapore government even though I live abroad and will get money for giving birth to a singaporean baby abroad though if it's a boy, he would be sent to the army at 18). Also it is a city state so poorer citizens literally have nowhere to go, the top countries singapore emigrate to are countries like uk, usa, Australia and this is usually the upper middle class and above.

It is not in any way comparable to the situation in the uk.

The two tier system has already arrived. I’m paying £1.5k per year for it.

My experience of private care isn’t that great.

It's also different in singapore cos singapore is surrounded by very poor countries. The lower earnings is easily compensated by the lower flight costs to visit family. Uk isn't surrounded by poor countries
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