To thnk the NHS is a waste of time, space, money and effort?

[NigellaTheOriginal]

I should know I work for it but that's a whole new thread.

this morning get a letter from Hospital A -

;'You didn't bring DD2 to appointment with paediatrician so you'll have to wait until December for another appointment' HUH - what appointment - I knew nothing about it.

Second letter from Hospital B -

'DD2s appointment with gastro specialist booked for next week has been cancelled and her next appointment will be in October'

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Bastard, stupid, feckers.
am fecking, bloody furious. Stupid administration shite - couldn't organise a cup of fecking tea withou screwing it up.
Will be making a number of irate phone calls.

sometimes it happens - call them and have a big moan. i would be livid too.

check that the patient numbers are identical. this happened to me. they'd make an app in one number, and the next, then i'd assumed app 1 had been cancelled, not attend, and get a letter offering me another app so i wouldn't go to app 2 etc...

apart from that, c'mon... the NHS is GREAT.

YABU but sounding off as annoyed so almost justifed.

Without the NHS I wouldn't have DS1 and the chances are DD would be blind in one eye so I am biased.

the good outweighs the bad.

have they switch computer systems recently? our trust has and its a real bugger atm.

but i love the nhs.

YABU it is neither of the above........ but, without a doubt there could and should be improvements! I have had very similar experiences myself with two of my children who are curently in the system for outpatients care.

Watch 'Sicko' you might feel differently, I DID.

But the NHS is so f-ing incompetent. just lurching from one crisis to another, constantly making ridiculous targets that cannot be met then fecking up left right and centre.
It doesn't work.
All i want is someone who knows what they are talking about to see DD without having to wait 8 months in between appointments, without some incompetent admin assistant double booking, then cancelling appointments with a weeks notice.

It isn't the NHs staff making up the targets they can't meet; it is the government.

Yes, that kind of bureaucracy but is crap but given its VASTNESS they don't do too badly compared to, say, IKEA or your average utility company.

And, after all, it is free at point of delivery. You're paying tax sure, but you're not paying a grand or two for treatment by a GI specialist as you would in the States...?

BTW, I realise that wasn't helpful but you did post this in AIBU!

I'd get on the phone to your GP and to the hospital booking service, explain calmly but don't get off the phone again until you get a booking you're happy with...

Like I said - I work for th NHS - I have 'inside knowledge'. I still think it is crappy shite though. and when I win the lottery I will be paying Bupa or something for health care. I think I'd rather pay for competence than get free, frustrating incompetence.

It is incredibly irritating to be messed around like you have been but you will never convince me that the NHS is not, very often, bloody fantastic.

I come from Ireland where there is no National Health System and saw my Mum and Dad who earned just enough not to have been given a medical card (to entitle them to free treatment) avoid going to the GP as it would cost them too much money. Currently it costs, I think, 40 euro to visit your GP there.

it's not FREE!

and if you would like to see the alternative, watch a film like Sicko.

or how about this:
howsthisforincompetent

And the problem is I'm working nights this week (long, crappy, shity, shortstaffed, strressful etc etc - all for a pittance wage for the aforementioned NHS). So by the time I'm awake all the incompetent admin people have gone home so I can't even rant at them.

I didn't say it was free - I said free at the point of delivery...

Nigella said it was free.

It's not.

I KNOW ITS REALLY NOT FECKIN FREE. it is in theory free. the concept is of free healthcare. free at point of delivery - IT APPEARS TO BE FREE. I KNOW.

I'M FEELING CROSS AND UNREASONABLE - HUMOUR ME. I have a 10 hour night shift ahead of me.
DD has been ill for an entire year - i have had to fight every single step of the way to beg for her to be referred to specialists. I have been patronised and treated like i am stupid. and when i finally get to see someone the f-ing appointment gets cancelled or someone somewhere forgets to tell me we have an appointment.

they do cock up.
ds went for his pre op booking. "see you monday" says the nures. we get home to a letter canceling the op!!

And don't get em started about dd's birth.
but having just spent the day at the local childrens hospital. I have to say they alos do a wonderful job.

My gripe is the inefficiency of letters, which can easily go astray, and have to be stuffed in envelopesand , waste of money twice over. Why not use phone or email to communicate?

YABU - but I know what you are saying.

Since Agenda for Change, admin staff in general were banded a grade 1, alongside kitchen porters etc. They are demoralised. Typing is outsourced to India, the staffing levels are in crisis, and Trusts are not replacing the staff they lose. The number of staff they have now in some departments is a third of what it used to be.

I worked in Outpatients until I had DD2 (am a Nurse), and often our notes were not adequately prepped. But, when you went to query it, you saw how truly and hopelessly short staffed they were.

But, on the clinical side, people have no idea just how much all of the treatments cost. My aunt is in hospital having just been diagnosed with cancer. The drugs she has so far had alone, cost £100s of pounds. She was admitted two weeks ago, and three days ago had each of her legs pinned, most likely costing about £17,000, not to mention the cost of the intensive care bed she was using, and the stay on the ward.

I find that for mundane, day to day stuff, the NHS can appear cumbersome and incompetent. But, when you really need them,they are, without question, the most amazing, efficient and effective medical health service.

I far prefer the service to others of which I have experience. In France, you often have to pay upfront, claiming a portion of the fees back. If you don't have the money at the time, what do you do? In Britain, I don't know of anyone who hesitates to go the doctor because of the cost. And I often hear from people who have private health insurance who still complain of incompetencies, etc.

NHS rocks

But how feckin annoying.

Free at point of need rocks. Rocks ahoy. Bloody love the NHS = feel so very lucky.

I went for a private op the other day and did I receive a letter to confirm appointment & directions as to where it was. NO.

Had to chase and chase and in the end I got an email with just the time and address addressed to only half of my surname! Nearly started a thread about it as was so annoyed!

I personally think the NHS is fab (without them DH wouldnt be here) and yes they do make mistakes but 9 out of ten times they will correct it if they can.

Oh, I sympathise, that must be so bloody frustrating.

However, the NHS is a fab idea and works in practice a lot of the time. Other countries also have bureaucracy that drives you mad, you know!

In the first decade of the NHS, infant mortality fell by something very dramatic - IIRC a half. That's how important it is.

I have a love/hate relationship with the NHS. Incompetancy landed me nearly dead in intensive care, brilliance of intensive care saved my life! Now we are private am utterly amazed and quite horrifed at the difference.