What’s the point in the NHS?

[younknow]

I fell over at work today. My ankle was immediately black and blue and swollen, so I hobbled off to urgent care in a taxi.

I waited for four hours, I was x-rayed and told there were no breaks and a severe sprain. The doctor told me I’ve likely torn ligaments in my ankle and will be sore for three months.

I asked what sort of follow up would be given and she all but laughed at me, saying that I could get myself a support on Amazon if I wanted. I said I couldn’t even weight bear and she said I could also pick up crutches if needed. She then said I could refer to physio but “ChatGPT would give me a plan”. I asked if I’d be scanned to find out how badly damaged it is and she said there was no chance.

What is the point? Genuinely, what are we paying for when even things like this are being directed to Amazon and A.I?! I can’t believe it.

I remember 15 years ago my mum tore ligaments in her ankle and she was scanned the same day it happened, put in a boot and on crutches for six weeks, had a course of physio and consultations with an orthopaedic surgeon to discuss a plan if it didn’t improve.

What’s going on?!

I find it odd that you consider being sent home to come back later because they were at lunch good service. I would view it as an inefficient NHS way of running an x-ray service. Those expensive machines should be being used 24/7.

Private is not really available in the UK for urgent care/emergency stuff. So even if you have BUPA cover, it is pretty useless for many things and you are stuck with the inefficient NHS.

You can self refer to physio via your GP website

Maybe if they weren't giving all this free medical care/dentistry etc to people who rock up on boats from France we might have some money for our own people.

Then there's Health Tourism. Government estimates put the cost of deliberate "Health Tourism" to the NHS at up to £300 million per year.

Broader figures of up to £1.8 billion to £2 billion are sometimes cited in political or media debates. However, experts and fact-checkers note that this larger figure does not represent health tourism. Instead, it covers the total cost of treating all non-UK residents, including legal visa holders, international students, temporary workers, and tourists who fall ill while visiting.

Would it even be possible to adequately fund the NHS and social care so that they ran efficiently?
Currently, the NHS is funded to the tune of £242000,000,000 a year! That's a whopping £663 million pounds a day!!

If we were to fund the NHS and social care properly, it would need another £45.4 billion pounds immediately.

Where would we find that kind of money from?

And for the people saying the solution is to go private where possible, it isn't possible for the vast majority of the people who use the NHS and social care the most!
Statistically, the people who use the NHS the most are the least able to afford private treatment.

I’m sorry your mum’s sprain was treated inappropriately. Thankfully we know better now that the muscles should continue to be used, strapping and crutches being unhelpful to a sprain.
Follow advice and it should resolve.
If you’d like a taste of private health care there are private clinics you can pay for advice instead of simply people here.

Unbelievable! How could they have ruled out a broken bone without x ray??
It's maddening and really careless service.
For comparison - only last year I had a chest infection and put on antibiotics, had to go for a second round as wasn't clearing up. GP told me I could have an x-ray IF I wanted to, though he didn't think was necessary. I opted for it for peace of mind, went the same day!

Yep. All the foreigners' fault. Sure the NHS would just be thriving otherwise 🙄

You don't need another scan. You have had an x-ray which has told you what is wrong.
You can self refer to NHS physio on most areas. There are also lots of NHS videos of exercises already on line for managing sprains.
You should have been given some crutches if you were told not to weight bare.

I never said that so don't misquote me.
If you'd read my post properly you'll see that having the levels of illegal immigration that we do have, is a drain on resources. That's a fair point IMO.

I had a similar mishap about 18 years ago and was sent home as there is nothing they can do if you haven’t broken your ankle. You don’t know if you’ll even need physio yet. You can pay for private health care though?