Why is the state of the NHS not a national emergency?

[Purpleturtle45]

Every day I read on here and in the news about the waits in A&E, cancelled surgeries, delayed treatments, literally costing people their lives. Why is this not a national emergency?

I keep on hearing a radio campaign about early bird detection, how your GP wants to see you as soon as you have any early cancer symptom for a better chance of a good outcome! I actually laughed out loud when I first heard that. What bullshit, first of all people seem to be robbed away from their GP at every turn and even if you do get referred it's a huge wait for diagnosis and treatment!

So many people signed off work with mental health conditions but unable to access treatments to help them and get them back to work. It all just makes me feel sick to my stomach.

No idea but I'm not in the field. I am in education, I could tell you how to fix that.

The NHS model doesn't work now and we don't pay enough for it. That's the problem.

Bet you can’t 😂

VERY few professionals see all pressures in a sector or organisation. It’s easy for front line staff- with no qualification in finance, regulation or policy - to dream up solutions but I’ll bet my house they’re not implementable

Yet in my previous years on MumsNet, while Tory policies were causing these problems, I can recall no such threads. At most they would have been few and far between. I wonder why?

Yes & it's odd that so many can see the NHs is now in crisis but question why so much of the population is sick.

It’s absolutely a national emergency.
Ive worked accross large government organisations for years and the problems the NHS has are present in all of them, but because the NHS is the biggest (and the culture is the most entrenched) it’s the hardest to fix.
I agree that overspecialisation is a problem (or rather “that’s not my problem”)
But the rot runs so deep and is so embedded the whole thing needs breaking down and rebuilding.
If I was in charge I would bring back proper bursaries, prioritise UK trained staff for jobs, have brilliant and well paid operations managers in each department who also work cross functionally to join up patient care. I’d have the best people in emergency medicine and triage, with actual doctors in waiting rooms so it’s not a case of wait 3 hours to see a HCA, and subsequently people dying in the chairs.
I would make it a lot easier to get sacked too, with an external panel investigating patient complaints. I’ve come across some fantastic clinical staff in specialised areas but also some absolutely appalling staff, particularly on the wards, who, if they were working in a restaurant or a call centre would be sacked for incompetence and negligence. But somehow they just get away with it. The loyalty in all departments is to the organisation and colleagues, with patients often seen as an annoying inconvenience.
And mostly I see patients pathetically grateful for the “free” care they get, and putting up with substandard care in wards.
So basically, streamline how things work
operationally, end the silos and fiefdoms, pay great people very well and get rid of the dross.
Oh, and make hospital consultants be present in hospitals so they can, yanno, consult, rather than stay at home most of the time until their weekend private work comes round.

Instead of a general tax rise I’d implement an NHS tax ( percentage of salary) which can only be spent on clinical staff and equipment, so
we can see what we are paying for.
What will actually happen though, is the government policy departments will write charters and pledges and nothing will change because nobody has the balls to upset the mighty NHS.

It needs a full overhaul, from top to bottom. It is a huge money pit. Throwing more money at it doesn't work. However, people also need to take more responsibility for their own health and actions. As part of this, the funding model also needs to be looked at.

There are plenty of good examples of well functioning health systems worldwide. The NHS model is most definitely not one of them. The whole system is hugely wasteful, but people are so fixated on free at the point of delivery that they won't consider other more effective and efficient alternatives.

The NHS is in some part a victim of its own success and has now reached a point where the expectations of the public about what it can and should do are completely unrealistic.

Number one on the list of things needed is that people need to be forced to take more personal responsibility for their own health and wellbeing.

System processes need to be more joined up.

Nonsense red tape and restrictions needs to be dismantled.

Some things simply shouldn’t be available on the NHS. A national review is needed and should apply to all areas….no postcode lotteries. If you want something that’s not on the NHS take out insurance or pay for it yourself.

The amount of missed appointments is a huge problem. Serial no shows should be made to pay a deposit for each appointment.

Stop prescribing medicines that people can buy for literally pennies at the supermarket.

Serial non-engagers who repeatedly don’t follow/do advice, recommendations, exercises, lifestyle changes should be made to pay for the time wasted on them.

Stop trying to ‘save’ everyone. We prolong life far too much for far too many people. Bed bound, seriously ill, on half a pharmacy a day elderly people with no quality of life whatsoever are kept alive rather than setting up a DNAR and allowing them to die.
Babies being born with severe illnesses and diseases are kept alive now when they would have died twenty years ago. Where is the quality of life? It’s harsh and I’m sure I’ll get flamed but it’s also true. Medical advancement is NOT always a good thing.

I think this is a problem with having national state run healthcare. It's a serious proposition to dismiss clinical staff because there's only one employer for them so when you do get rid of someone all the investment and time that went into their training is lost. They're not going to use that training elsewhere because there is no "elsewhere".

not all consultants do private work

A ward my daughter was on was like hat. Heat blasting out and windows wide open

There’s been a slew of “Why hasn’t Starmer declared a national emergency over…” threads recently. Last one I saw was about knife crime (OP got arse handed to her when stars were posted showing knife crime has decreased since Labour entered power). This is a laughably transparent attempt by a Reform supporter or two to try to emulate the Trumpian idea of declaring a war on/national emergency over abc or xyz in order to “send in the troops” or instill some sort of authoritarian, parliament bypassing form of governance. It’s pathetic.

What is with all the 'national emergency' posts?

Am I the only person who thinks national emergency applies to things like 'we're currently under direct attack'; 'France have just invaded', 'Tsunamis have overwhelmed the East Coast'.

Not things that have been going on for years and will take years to fix like the NHS.

There is so much waste in the nhs. The nurse found a polyp when I went for my smear and referred me to have it removed. I had an appointment yesterday at the hospital. Arranged childcare, drove 40 mins to the hospital for the consultant to ask me what kids I’d had and how I delivered them, what medication I was on, did I drink, any allergies. And then said I’d get an outpatient referral to have it removed! What an absolute waste of time. I left the room a bit shocked and asked the nurse is that it, could that not have been done over the phone, and it’s stuff that’s in my notes anyway!!! I was there so shortly, even the car park didn’t charge me. Ridiculous!!

It's got too big to manage effectively and leaks money no matter how much it is given. It's needs radical reform because it can't survive in it's current format.

In a short answer- because no one wants to pay for it- everyone wants everything for free and thinks someone else will pick up the bill

It has become a sacred cow in political terms and even the merest hint of reform gets cries of privatisation and USA style healthcare rather than consideration for other European models.

There was a poster who up thread mentioned waiting times were declining and I am wondering whether there has been an increase in those accessing treatments privately. I know several people who are doing just that who are not particularly rich, don’t have insurance but are using credit cards, life savings to pay for treatment rather than wait up to a year of enduring pain, discomfort, off work and watching their quality of life deteriorating drastically.

We do need to have proper conversations about the nhs before it really does become a state of emergency.

Every day I read on here and in the news about the waits in A&E, cancelled surgeries, delayed treatments, literally costing people their lives. Why is this not a national emergency?

In my 47 years of life this has been continuous. Under every government, we've whined and moaned about the same things and nothing changes. It's just not fit for purpose and hasn't been for decades.

I've worked in the NHS for 20 years.
There are more staff now that there was when I started and there have been many new developments and additional capacity etc.

But it's just so much busier.
I'm not sure why the numbers are so much higher.

Are people just getting sicker?

Do people seek treatment now for things they used to just put up with (or wait to go off?)

Are people more informed about illness now so they get symptoms checked out more?

I don't know.

I also don't know the answer.

Some parts of the NHS are great. Some are terrible.

Not sure it's national emergency but it isn't great.

Because we have brought it on ourselves. If we allowed our politicians to bring in proper reform, in a system that we properly fund, then it may be different. But we have made a "free" NHS a sacred cow and something of a cult. You get what you pay for, tbh.

Because a national service is not about one individual having the good luck to get a GP appointment. The vast majority of people have poor experiences across all elements of the NHS and there are publicly available statistics to back up concerns over waiting times, delayed treatment times etc. It has not been fit for purpose for over 20 years and now it is totally broken. That is why it should be an emergency.

My job involves working with the elderly a lot and I'm just hearing many of them say they have virtually given up on even trying to see a GP. They can't hold on for hours trying to get an appointment and many can't use online booking appointment systems. many just don't even bother trying to see a Gp for things like arthiritic pain as they are just finding it too difficult so unless it's life threatening they give up. They just feel like a burden. Many also feel completely fobbed off by GP's who seem to offer nothing useful/ won't refer anywhere other than to community physio.

All of this. I have friends who moan about the state of the NHS yet take their children to the GP or A&E for such minor things. A friend recently was horrified mine had only been a few times each in their lives (seizures, serious cuts requiring stitches, routine jabs, broken collar bone, eczema treatment and one of them once for a very bad virus/ear infection). I don’t understand how people don’t connect their own behaviour to the crisis.

Old people living decades longer and needing heals of treatment. Similar with extremely premature babies being kept alive despite a highly likely chance of severe disabilities to start with.

I think you are being unreasonable,because the NHS is not an homogenous blob.

A very small number of hospitals contribute to the most waiting lists. Some GP's are crap, some are great.

In the last year I have had a mammogram, a cervical smear, a poo test. I have had an annual blood test, and medication review. I need a vaginal scan, and got a referral from GP and an appointment within two weeks, not urgent either.

DH had a positive on his poo test, they arranged a call the same week. So from posting the test, to results, to a phone call, one week..... Amazing.

Now, obviously there are issues with A&E and GPs, but generally, ourselves and friends who have been diagnosed with cancer got treatment very quickly. I think for those kind of things it's great.

As a balance we had to pay £18k to get DH a new hip because of the wait.