The NHS: ain't it marvellous

[policywonk]

DS2 poked me very hard in the eye today (so if you've ever imagined poking me very hard in the eye, you're in luck).
So I took myself off to my local walk-in centre and was seen within 20 mins by a nurse who was skilled, fast, kind and funny.

This is on top of having two other kinds of outpatient hospital treatment in the last six months, which between would have cost me thousands of pounds.

Without exception, the staff I've seen have been fantastic, the treatment has been swift and effective, and the waiting times have been minimal. The worst I can say is that the premises won't be featuring on 'Grand Designs' any time soon.

Admittedly I live in an affluent area and I'm sure that helps - but I was thinking on the way home today how lucky we are to live in a country that provides us with such a fantastic service.

Bless you my children.

how refreshing,a nice NHS thread.usually folk are berating useless staff etc.it has problems yes,but also free at point of access

lots of acute service provision eg A&E,inpatient etc but also the hard-working community staff

out reach
24 hour crisis services
child and adolescent
rapid response

also spare a thought for staff who stayed overnight at work to ensure continuity of service next day to cover for staff sabotage caused by bad weather

are you ok now policywonk?

LOL spell check gone daft.in no way am i suggesting satff sabotaged the weather

also spare a thought for staff who stayed overnight at work to ensure continuity of service next day to cover for staff shortage caused by bad weather

GOD I LOVE THE NHS, WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE IT.
( WHOOPS, caps, soz)

I've had mixed experiences, NHS seems to be OK in emergencies and when DS is involved.

However, some of the waiting times are unacceptable. I had some pre-cancerous cells removed 12 months ago, guidelines say I need a check within 6 months to see if they zapped them all- my appointment is for 14 months after the original op. Also my mum had to wait 7 months for investigation on a breast lump. My sister was sat for 10 HOURS in casualty waiting for a bed last week - she's 7 months pregnant FFS! - not acceptable IMHO.

Also, we need to remember that the NHS is not free, I pay lots in tax to fund it.

I give thanks every single day to the NHS!

Have always been treated based on clinical need rather than cost of treatment...

Love that DCs will get free prescriptions until they get to be 16 or in full time education....

Whilst my DD was ill, we had a few problems with individuals who frankly couldnt be arsed.

But the vast majority of the hundreds of staff we came across were wonderful. Her treatment must have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. She started treament the morning after she was diagnosed. I met nurses and doctors that I will never ever forget for their compassion and kindness. I cannot put into words how I feel about all those people who did their utmost to save her. When she was terminal the care she recieved was utterly outstanding. Many hosptial staff even came to her funeral and some keep in touch now.

In the two years she was on treatment I can only remember 1 nurse that was truly dreadful and should never be allowed near children. The occasional insensitive clerk or technican who wouldnt even attempt to imagine how a 12 year old with cancer felt.

But I will be forever in debt to our NHS for what they did for us.

Phew that was rising to a bit of a crescendo

I am glad you had a good experience today.

Ironically, despite all I have written above, I cannot stand hospitals or clinics of any sort and had to have my DS3 at home because I couldnt stand to go near one!

of course NHS funded by direct taxation but free at point of access,eg go to A&E,GP free to use

it has numerous shortcomings and could do better area but when you consider you get free consultation,labs,tests,treatment is bloody get

chegirl, I don't think it's ironic at all that you can't stand hospitals - in your place, I wouldn't ever want to go near one again either. Your DD looks beautiful, that she couldn't stay longer with you.

I had a weird experience today. A letter arrived from our gp surgery with a pre-booked appointment for my 3 year old with a list of immunisations she had to have. The letter stressed it was important we turn up for our appointment so that dd could be immunised. DD and I duly turned up for our appointment today only for a puzzled nurse to ask why we were there... I explained about the letter arriving, the nurse consulted with the doctor, who in turn consulted with the practice manager. Eventually it transpired the letter had been sent out in error.... I was a bit annoyed to be honest, had taken a day off work and taken dd out of nursery for the day to attend appointment only to be told the surgery had made a mistake. The nurse then lectured me for 10 minutes about how she couldnt give dd the injections as she was to young... I explained again that I'd only turned up because of the letter they sent me. To cut a long story short, it turns out the letter was sent out a month early and dd has to have more injections when she's 3 years and 5 months old. A bit worried about this to be honest, what if the nurse hadn't realised dd was a month to early for the injections and just given them to her? All very odd..

I love the NHS, fantastic.

And if anyone complains, remind them its free, free FREE do you hear??

chegirl. your daughter was a beauty.

I'm so sorry about your daughter, chegirl.

SM - yes I'm fine now, thanks. A bit unsightly but healing nicely.

The only real first hand NHS experience I've had was in a very poor area of London for my baby's birth, and the staff were excellent!

However my DH has struggled with illnesses all his life and yes he did move from abroad to have some access to hospitals who knew what they are doing and i don't think that is wrong. He has been living and contributing to the country's country but he is suffering terribly and although the Heart Hospital has been able to save his life, he is still plagued by illness which doctors do not seem to be able to understand. So I think I see both sides of this, the NHS can deal with obvious emergencies i.e. a broken leg, a baby coming, etc... but there are some areas where patients are just left waiting on a shelf... and its very sad when you can never get to see the same doctor twice, can never get a straight answer, the first thing the doctors want to hand out is pills, depression pills.. anything to avoid having to actually work out what the real problem is.

Its not FREE we pay TAXES, do you think there is an NHS fairy that leaves money under the pillow.

but believer - your taxes in a lifetime do not add up to what some treatment costs. If you stop paying tax for whatever reason we (am NHS employee) don't stop treating you!
Dialysis for example costs in the region of £50000 per patient per year - just for the treatment not any associated costs. There aren't many people who pay that much tax - and even fewer dialysis patients who do!

'Free at the point of provision' (albeit with an increasing number of caveats) is one of the most marvellous political sentiments ever expressed IMO. Hurrah for Mr Bevan. How's this for a quote:

'no society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.'

For physical ailments I cannot fault the NHS. However I have been waiting to hear about a referral for cbt for over 4 months.

Chegirl, so sorry about your daughter, she looks so lovely in that photo.

I know the NHS is not infallible, but I hope the NHS staff know how much their efforts are appreciated.

My experiences during pregnancy and during and after DD's birth were wonderful. I couldn't believe how nice the hospital staff were, and how special they made us feel. Everyone kept saying how lovely DD was, and congratulating us, when they see new born babies all day every day! I felt as if the birth itself could have been quite traumatic, but because the staff were so lovely, I have only good memories.

When I left the ward, I thanked the head of the ward and said how brilliant everyone had been. She was quite a tough lady, but seemed completely thrilled and taken aback to be thanked and said 'oh we get a lot of bad press', which I thought was really sad.

The community midwives were also great, and the HV team was fantastically supportive when I was stopping bfing.

DD has had a lot of treatment for hip dyspraxia, including an examination under GA, and again everyone from nurses to physios to the consultant was amazing.

I think the NHS does very well indeed overall, and is often outstanding, but there are pockets of inefficiency and so on, and grumbling about those serves a useful purpose in improving the system overall IMO, so we should not feel too paradoxical about criticisng yet valuing the NHS at the same time. It belongs to us, we have collective responsibility for it, and we should all be concerned about its continuous improvement.

I miss the NHS so much. Its is an amazing system, that although surviving on a meagre budget serves anyone who need help. Obviously mistakes are made - some unnecessary but free medical care is something to truly treasure.
Gawd bless it.

Thank you to everyone who made such lovely comments about my DD. I seem to have gone on about her quite a lot on MNs in the last few days . I do tend to do that but i do talk about other things as well .

I have been guilty of moaning about the NHS on many occassions (and me and OH worked for the NHS for years). I think that comes out of frustration and fear when you or a loved one is sick. The NHS is made up of so many thousands of people and unfortuantly it only takes a few to screw up the system. If one records clerk cannot be bothered to do a proper search for your medical records or one nurse thinks that a child should 'settle themselves' instead of calling a dr for a script for pain relief - this can colour your whole experience. People behaving badly when you are at your lowest point cause such a lot of distress.

Yes we pay for the NHS through our taxes but I am sure that I have had waaaaaay more than my money's worth. My daughter's treatment cost thousands and thousands. Every bag of blood she had cost hundreds. Some of her injections cost thousands. I know this because we had a rather eccentric peadiatrician who told us the price of everything. I dont think he wanted to make us feel guilty, I think he was genuinly (sp) facinated himself

Whatever its shortcomings, the fact remains that if we were living in a different country at the time of my DD's illness, our experience of health care would most probably have been very much worse. We are skint but that made no difference at all to the quaility of care given - none.

'People behaving badly when you are at your lowest point cause such a lot of distress.' - this is very true, chegirl. And also, as you say, it only takes one clerical error to cause a significant clinical balls-up. My mother was nearly given someone else's chemo once - luckily for her she checked the label on the bag before the nurse set up the drip.

Of course it's OK to criticise the NHS or point out its failings in a constructive way - as Boffin says, it belongs to us and it's partly our responsibility to make it better.

My beef is with newspapers or news outlets that present a steady stream of 'misery' stories about the NHS without ever redressing the balance. I think the intention here is to build a picture of a service in permanent crisis, to soften us up for the day when they start to say 'hey, is it really worth preserving?'

I've spent many hours paying exhorbitant parking fees, waiting in dingy waiting rooms to be dealt with by bored and probably overworked doctors with my children over the years. Our hospital passes for OK but the corridors are dirty and there are cigarette stubbs all around the foyer. I'm not convinced it is anything other than mediocre. I've had 3 stays in private hospitals and I felt much more confident there, suspect specialists only take a genuine interest and try to be nice when you are a paying customer, it's only human nature.

My late and much loved GP was fantastic with our family when i lost my first ds, when my second ds was having fits at three weeks old and was diagnosed as deaf at 2 years old and then when my husband died eight years ago. He always had chocolate buttons in the fridge for the children.. I am now with another excellent GP within the same practice. He has arranged appointments, xrays and lots of other things as well, I am very lucky to have this level of service and always appreciate how lucky i am.

Lottejenkins, I'm so sorry to hear that you have had so much sadness in your life. It is humbling that people like you and chegirl can still be positive about the health service when you must have some truly dreadful memories.