I’m not blaming individual clinical staff, admin or support staff because, for the most part, I cannot fault my amazing medical care. However, the NHS managers (probably not seen a patient in a clinical setting for years!) and the government have handled it appalling. No surprises there! There were directions ‘from above’ which meant clinics and treatments were cancelled very early on in the pandemic and some never managed to return to decent patient, care even when things got better. I fully appreciate some areas and specialities did it better than others but many have utterly failed patients. Again, it’s management and organisation, not individual staff who I have nothing but praise for, particularly given the traumas they’ve witnessed.
“Because of Covid” seems to have become a constant management fob off statement. Can’t see a specialist nurse because they’ve been redeployed? Totally understandable but other elements of life prolonging NHS care just stopped. The excuses were not acceptable and it certainly cane from higher up, so no criticism of the medical team who oversee my care.
Objectively, I have deteriorated over the last year. I never was likely to live a long life but I feel utterly robbed. :( In some areas, they looked at more creative ways of ensuring patients like me got their treatment but it’s been inconsistent across the country.
It’s been an entire year and hospitals have not been at absolute breaking point for all this time. There have been gaps when treatment could have been stepped up for me or other people. Some hospitals managed it, so I know I’m not asking for the moon on a stick. The blame lies solely with this crappy government who have allowed the NHS to be too under funded for too long.
It’s not all about covid. I wish some posters on MN realise this. I know many of the people involved in my medical care do realise this and some have fought hard for me and others, going above and beyond.