What has happened to the NHS?

[loveandroses]

Two stories:

• I recently had a breast cancer scare. The GP referred me for an emergency two week scan and said that if I didn't hear anything within a week I should call a number she gave me. After a week of hearing nothing I called and was told that I should hear from them within 4 weeks.

• DD has skin problems and was referred to a dermatologist. Every single appointment is by telephone. When I wrote to suggest we should at least have zoom calls this was ignored. They have never seen his skin!

This is madness. What is going on?

Sorry - that was an old blog...... it is now closer to £200 billion.

@BigWoollyJumpers true that many managers are ex-clinical staff, but my goodness some of them have short memories. Either that or they have
no clue what it’s actually like on the wards right now, when by every metric, the situation is worse than it’s ever been.

Even if they are ex clinical as soon as they get into middle management they all seem to forget patient care and turn into manager pleasing arse lickers with their eyes on the 6 figure roles watching their past co-workers burning out and becoming ill must be lovely.

Years of underfunding, a pandemic and an ageing population happened.

I've been trying to get a GP Appointment for bleeding from my back passage for several weeks. It may well be nothing major and just piles or something but I've tried the products you can buy for that and issue is still there. I had a close relative who died of bowel cancer, so this may well be heightening my worry but I have decided I will have to pay for a private appointment with a doctor as my anxiety about this has gone through the roof. I think the NHS is just stretched to breaking point.
I felt sorry for the poor receptionist who was trying to set me up to use the online booking system (no available appointments but at least she tried) as you could hear the helplessness in her voice, it must be horrible for them having to turn away desperate people.

People kept voting Conservative. Every election I said, just think of the NHS if nothing else. But (the majority of) people didn't. And now they're moaning. At least my conscience is clear and I didn't vote for their cost cutting policies.

@Floundery

There are 120,000 NHS staff from all roles currently off with long covid

I'd be really interested to see some private sector figures. Long Covid seems to be a luxury that people with typical private sector sickness terms (2 weeks full pay, 2 weeks half pay, then SSP) can ill afford.

Thing is, long covid is generally associated with high viral load. High viral load is more likely amongst people in close contact with sick people. So NHS staff ARE more likely to have long covid.

I work for the NHS and needed a minor hospital procedure myself. I needed to test and isolate for 5 days beforehand. So all my own patients were cancelled that week. The appointment was then cancelled, because the member of staff carrying it out was isolating for his own NHS procedure. It was rearranged. I tested and isolated again and so all my patients were cancelled for a second time. In the last year I have had covid once, isolated for hospital procedures three times and isolated because of close contacts three times. So over two months out of action. Plus with PPE and extra precautions and people having to get tested and isolate in order to see me, even when I am at work I see half the patients I used to see. So I've seen this year, the number of patients I would have seen in five months last year.

People voted for Tories. HTH.

It needs a reboot.

There seems to be one camp that thinks that it is beyond criticism. Not true

There is another camp that thinks that it is completely not fit for purpose and that we should inch towards a US model. Again, not true.

Somebody independent needs to assess the structure, ask the tough questions, and critically analyse where the shortages are vs where the money is being spent and the number of hours worked etc.

This is a fancy way of saying what has already been highlighted, that there is far too much middle management, not necessarily highly senior people on six figure salaries, but a lot of people earning 50-60k doing roles that are...whilst important, not the ones who are on their feet for 12 hours..

@User1234123

It needs a reboot.

There seems to be one camp that thinks that it is beyond criticism. Not true

There is another camp that thinks that it is completely not fit for purpose and that we should inch towards a US model. Again, not true.

Somebody independent needs to assess the structure, ask the tough questions, and critically analyse where the shortages are vs where the money is being spent and the number of hours worked etc.

This is a fancy way of saying what has already been highlighted, that there is far too much middle management, not necessarily highly senior people on six figure salaries, but a lot of people earning 50-60k doing roles that are...whilst important, not the ones who are on their feet for 12 hours..

You’ve articulated my thoughts perfectly.

@Floundery

Hmmm....but is that because they have identified a clinical link in peer-reviewed research *@HaaaaaveyoumetTed* or because they have identified a correlation between people exposed to high viral load (likely to public sector) and absence due to long Covid. If it's merely a correlation then it kind of proves the point.

I know 3 people with LC - 2 GP's (one of whom only works 1 day a week because of CFS) and a teacher. They are exactly the kind of people you would expect to swing the lead get long Covid.

Public sector workers get great sick pay so I think this messes with the figures.

@MerryMarigold

People kept voting Conservative. Every election I said, just think of the NHS if nothing else. But (the majority of) people didn't. And now they're moaning. At least my conscience is clear and I didn't vote for their cost cutting policies.

The majority of people didn't vote Conservative... about 44% of votes cast and 30% of the electorate did. That's first past the post for you. Creating artificial majorities since christ knows when.

The NHS has an obsolete structure and incompetent management. It needs ground-up reform.

Despite the claims of its worshippers, it is not underfunded by European standards, it is just that far too much money is wasted on e.g. careless procurement and agency staff.

Some degree of co-payment, common in many European countries, is unavoidable in the future.

The Tories happened to the NHS & yet people keep on voting for them.

This is the first time in my 12 year career that I’ve opted to take private medical insurance. I do genuinely worry about access to the NHS. Through my life, they’ve been wonderful with me, my kids & my family but it’s falling apart. It’s really sad. The Tories will just privatise it eventually.

I’ve been waiting for an urgent endoscopy appointment since June. Still no sign. Will chase it in the New Year.

yes, the NHS is not fit for purpose anymore
Basically, you can die form anything it seems as long as it isn't COVID. nothing else matters. I know a 64 yr old man that died last week with cancer. He would be still be here now if he could have got an appointment to see a GP when he first tried.

Problems with healthcare funding aren't only in the UK. It is the elephant in the room in most developed western countries.

The fact is that we could spend an infinite amount of money on healthcare. And, conversely, most places have attempted to make it all as efficient as possible. No one really wants to have a public conversation that says, at what point are there diminishing returns with healthcare spending? Given that everyone will die at some point, how much do we plan to spend to keep them alive? Or on quality of life care? How much do we want to divert from other kinds of spending?

There is no right answer but the fact that we don't want to deal with these questions makes decisions about managing covid a lot harder.

@greenweepingwillow

yes, the NHS is not fit for purpose anymore Basically, you can die form anything it seems as long as it isn't COVID. nothing else matters. I know a 64 yr old man that died last week with cancer. He would be still be here now if he could have got an appointment to see a GP when he first tried.

I know a public health doctor, not in the UK, who brought the problem of other treatments up way back at the beginning of covid. Eventually she was let go from her position because she just couldn't get on board with the lack of balance.

It's gone to shit, basically.
Some examples:
DC1 has an autoimmune disease and needs an MRI and an iron infusion. Four months on, the MRI still hasn't materialised. It's taken two months for them to arrange an iron infusion.
Elderly parent who has an oxygen extractor was given a replacement machine. We've only recently discovered that Dparent was not told how to operate machine and has been on dangerously low levels of oxygen due to lack of understanding. (To the point they have been ill with respiratory problems.)
I've recently been diagnosed with a life-changing condition. I'm still navigating coping with the condition, and how to help
myself get well enough to go back to work. It's a battle to get any kind of appointment with a GP. Six weeks ago it took three e-consult requests and then a tearful phone call to get an appointment. I need another GP appointment next week, and I'm dreading the hassle of arranging it.
The whole system is broken. There needs to be a massive shake-up of recruitment, retention and management. It's really not fit for purpose at the moment.
If there was some kind of group action to demand change, I'd sign up in a heartbeat.