Is the NHS closed unless treating Coronavirus patients?

[TomTomRunner]

If so, I didn't know.

I just turned up for my first routine breast screening appointment. It was at a hospital five miles away.

I'm a key worker and have to go into work today. The only way I would make it on time for work would be for my partner to drive me and then drive me to work. We have two kids so we all had to go.

I turned up and there was a note on the door saying appointments were 'paused'. Why the staff could not ring round or send a letter out was beyond me, or advise people on social media. 10 mile round trip.

Surely stopping screening causes more angst? Future ill health? Is the NHS closed unless you are being treated for Coronavirus? Are outpatients closed? I need to see my GP about a separate issue, would I get a referral now? Genuinely confused.

It's been well publicised that screening had been paused. I'm not sure how you couldn't have known or why you wouldn't have called to check.

There seem to be sirens in the small town where I live every day... ambulances are doing ambulance things for sure, here.

My neighbour's dialysis is down to just twice/week. I don't know how hard he finds it. Probably putting burden on his remaining kidney function.

It’s going to be absolute chaos when things return to normal

...what if "normal" doesn't return for 12 months from now (or later). My mind boggles at the other harm that will happen in meantime.

I am so super grateful right now that everyone in our household is well. We've had 2 falls that could have been significant injuries but thankfully were nothing.

A weird side effect will be lack of NHS performance penalties for at least 12 months after all the restrictions are lifted. A lot of bad practice might get shrugged off as part of the catch up period, in theory. Or maybe govt & NHS will finally learn what a waste of time performance management is. Could go either way.

My son must be an exception as have received an appointment for him at an outpatients clinic at UCLH on 4th May. Just got the letter a week or so ago after lockdown started. Previous appointment was mid March when London was already quiet but official restrictions weren’t yet in place.

Hearhooves
my point was that services are different in different areas and saying The NHS is closed is inaccurate and misleading.

The NHS is also still open for other non CV19 emergencies.

FIL was in hospital just before and after lockdown with lung cancer. He was actually swabbed a couple of times in case but they were negative. He still has amazing attention and fantastic treatment whilst in there. The staff did all they could for him and even helped arrange a transfer to a hospice for his final 24 hours to enable MIL, Dh and BIL to visit him one last time.

My 92y grandma is currently on hospital seriously ill and getting fantastic professional treatment. Although she's also been swabbed twice now we don't think it's CV19. Regardless her care has been great from all in the hospital.

It's inaccurate to say that the NHS closed to all but Covid, and that other patients aren't getting the right treatment.

Clearly it is definitely working in several areas.

This is why the Scottish government are worried about urgent cancer referrals falling 75% in the last month.

Your GP is there for you. Hospitals and clinics are still taking referrals. SOME routine screening has stopped but not all. Yes Covid19 has shifted their focus but please don't think that you'll get no treatment unless you have Covid.

The fact that the doctors and specialists are seeing far fewer people coming through their doors shows the public isn’t sure about what to do. They are not seeing the volume of patients they normally do. So plenty of people are not getting normal service and appointments have been cancelled (postponed) or they are not presenting. GPs are seeing less people so deciding what further treatment might be needed is being delayed. Referrals have slowed down. So individuals are great stories but lots of people have had procedures cancelled and delayed. It’s been widely reported. And this has included cancer patients.

My GP surgery is doing phone appointments. In some cases theyll ask you to attend the surgery but you have to phone on arrival & wait in your car until they phone you to tell you to go in. They have a flubotomist in a couple of times a week too

Getting a phone appt is so easy at the moment its amazing

All out patient and non urgent clinical appts have been cancelled at my nearest hospital

You'd probably get antibiotics if you needed them or be seen with a small child

My child needed doctor input but they aren't doing face to face - and the receptionist told me to go to the pharmacist for advice. This wasnt a pharmacy matter so I dealt with it how doctors had prescribed in the past and fortunately it resolved - with a fair amount of effort! This really should have been seen and properly treated though. It wasn't a job for Mum - or the pharmacist (it's a dr prescription matter, pharmacists won't provide the required treatment without this).

When I needed to stop by the GP for an urgent docs letter, they were totally deserted.

I dont attribute this to drs or nurses or admin staff - it's inappropriate policy and guidance from high.

When I said you'd be seen with a child I was referring to my surgery with a general "you". Sorry if that wasn't clear.

It's not completely closed but huge parts of it have been shut down and it's a bit shambolic imho.

Just came back from what was meant to be a maternity appointment. I reconfirmed twice over the course of the week to check that I had to come in (because so many have been rescheduled to telephone appointments) and was told it was crucial for me to come in as I'm high risk. Turned up and there was a sign on the door of the clinic saying the hospital had stopped running them because of COVID and to call a number to find out where appointments are. Called the number and nobody could tell me which hospital I was meant to be at.

Not a big deal in and of itself, but it feels like management has completely de-prioritised anything but COVID and the NHS is not set up to nimbly work in a flexible way (e.g. moving clinics to try and separate COVID and non-COVID hospitals, but not doing any notification of this other than a sign on the door inside the COVID hospitals).

I'm also very very worried about urgent care which has been de-prioritised. Close family member is a surgeon who has been redeployed to front line COVID ward as his normal surgeries are all cancelled. They have 9 COVID positive patients and 7 doctors treating them. He says it's the quietest he's ever been in his career and is worried about the backlog once the NHS starts trying to treat people again.... although he acknowledges that some of the chronic cases will go away as they will die waiting for treatment as normal to be resumed.

I was surprised that my regular, quarterly treatment (injection) went ahead at the hospital. It's not a matter of life and death, though it does reduce the likelihood of me ending up in A&E.

The nurse at the clinic said they were restarting some clinics that had been stopped at the start of the crisis, and they now realised shouldn't have been cancelled.

I know it's different to your situation OP but I was due to have treatment at a city centre hospital (north) which was cancelled.

I had a phone call a week ago saying they are now trying to do as much over the phone as they can and since then I've had 2 telephone appointments, one with a nurse and one with the actual consultant (genetic department) both lasting a good 40 minutes and was emailed all the documents they would have discussed with me at the physical appointment.

I obviously can't speak for everyone but that was faster than I would have had those appointments face to face normally, I was really impressed. Of course there are a couple of things that are now on hold because I need to be physically present for tests etc.. but it was really encouraging that the staff were trying to do as much as possible still.

My dad has just been sent an appointment for next week to have a biopsy at the local private hospital (as an NHS patient). He was originally referred on the two week cancer pathway in mid February. He was seen just within the two weeks and booked to have a biopsy but that then got cancelled because of Covid. They've just got round to it now. So a two week wait has turned into 8 weeks ish