I witnessed how fucked up the NHS is

[Bloom15]

Last night I had an asthma attack and got a taxi to the nearest A and E. it was like a scene from a zombie movie!

I was rushed through triage and given 2 nebulisers and some oxygen, along with some steroids. After I was stable I was told to wait in the waiting area. It was mostly full of people on drugs, drunks and people asleep on the row of chairs surrounded by multiple carrier bags. I am not trying to disparage these people as they were also patients and needed to be seen. Just describing the waiting room at 11pm on a Bank Holiday Monday in a city centre a and e department.

After 6 hours I still hadn't been seen by a doctor but had to leave as my DS was staying over at my parents and they were dropping him off at 8 am as they were going on holiday. My DH was stuck in Newcastle following a stag break and couldn't get home at 4am. Usually I could have stayed.

Now I am at home with a tight chest (DH rushed home early but a taxi from Newcastle to Liverpool at 5am was too much money). I tried to call my GP for an appointment to get more steroids but after 45 minutes of ringing from 8 there were no appointments left.

This is not the fault of the doctors, nurses, other staff, any patients. This is the fault of this government dragging the NHS to the brink. Please vote them out in May

I live in Wales which is run by Labour. Recently spent 12 hours in A&E with my mother. Not actually in A&E outside in the Ambulance and then in a crowded portakabin housing 8 seriously ill people. It was like a scene in MASH.

obv not. I am not insane. I am planning to eventually move somewhere that private care is very easily available and good quality eg. far east - Singapore/Malaysia.
it will be expensive and I realise I am in an extremely privileged position to even be able to consider this
I have been unwell for 16+ years and a medic in the nhs for 14+ years over this time I have seen enormous shifts in the nhs. i have used more and more private care with time but nothing available in my region privately for emergencies or interventions for my particular illness.
again I realise how privileged I am.

So you you are by default voting Tory. I understand some people pay for private schools due to their child SEN/health needs. But it's utter stupidity for them and you not to look at the bigger picture.

My DH has a chronic illness and we are regular visitors to A and E. Over the last 14 years we have witnessed the deteriorating conditions. Last visit was February and it was awful, the staff were literally rushed off their feet. DH was admitted via ambulance so got a bay. One nurse was almost in tears, she was saying she had 60 patients out there, 2 seriously ill. I think that all we can do is vote for a change of government. I was going to say and hope for the best, but maybe we should start protesting?

I was unwell on Saturday night and went to A&E. I was actually afraid sitting in the waiting room! There were several drunk people with injuries, some of whom were very loud and making their mouths go constantly. One guy was high on drugs and had been brought in by parents. A couple of guys were brought in by police, handcuffed and covered in blood, and they were resisting and getting violent.

There were a few respectable looking people and we were all huddled together. You could see people walk in, look around the room and make a beeline to sit next to the group who looked clean and sober.

I don’t see how fixing the NHS would solve the problem of these people? I suppose they’d get seen faster so they wouldn’t accumulate and start getting angry and acting up.

What I don’t understand is why they have those awful uncomfortable chairs? Totally unsuitable for sick people who need to wait for hours. The kids A&E has wipe clean sofas and it’s much better. And they won’t let you sleep on the floor, they make you get up. I reported someone who appeared to be passed out in the toilets, but it turned out she’d gone in there to sleep because they wouldn’t let her lie on the waiting room floor. It’s disgusting that people have to resort to that.

The irony of not reading my post properly and suggesting I am the stupid one...

"I'm looking at Liberal Democrats at the moment."

But thanks for reminding me how Labour supporters act on here.

I've seen both the good & bad of the NHS in the last 24 hours. Exh had to have a doctor called out by 111 as he was very ill yesterday, the doctor still hadn't arrived by 11.30pm when he had a fall & was stuck on the floor, ds was called by his falls detector, went round & ended up ringing 999 as he was barely conscious where they waited 3 hours for an ambulance. He was admitted & then transferred this morning to his usual hospital, he got a CT & MRI scan this evening. SIL has a shunt for hydrocephalus, he has been having horrific headaches, ds rang the hydrocephalus team for advice & was told to wait for a call back, they were advised to go to hospital which is same one exh is now in, 10 minutes after arriving he was sent down for a CT scan & Xray, where they bumped into exh coming out of scanning room, straight after scans he has been admitted & given a bed, will most likely have to have shunt revised tomorrow.

The irony of not reading my post correctly "So you are by default voting Tory".

Call it what you will - picking on the little guy rather than the companies is not what I want to be associated with.

Certainly not voting with an arrogant arse like you.

Who is to blame for A&E being full of druggies? Who should I be voting for to get rid of this problem?

Currently in hospital due to a septic gallbladder and pancreatitis. The wards are the same OP post-apocalyptic movie. Terrifying. No sense of urgency at all with meds, having to remind staff. The lady in the next bed to me is too scared to ring her buzzer for assistance to the loo. There is very little care or bedside manner in the staff I've dealt with too.

I am not sure you actually read any of my post! I am not picking on anyone. Your family member has a child with SEN/health needs, a Tory government will not support that child. By voting Libdem you are imaking it more likely for a Tory win.
And what companies are you talking about that makes no sense.

You are telling me I am stupid for voting for anyone but Labour.
If I vote for Labour I screw my family.
No thanks.

Starmer said he was going after Amazon and Starbucks but he's targeting middle class families instead.

perhaps phone the secretary of the clinic and see if you could get the appointment moved up in light of this

My teenage GD has Crohn's and has had a recent stay in hospital where she was unsurprisingly the youngest on the ward. She said the care of the elderly patients around her was appalling. All the usual stuff: food put where they cannot reach it, no help to eat for those who cannot dop so themselves, patient choking on meds and just left to it - she got pneumonia a few days later - surprise surprise.

I have hereditary ischaemic heart disease and AF, both of which are causing problems at this very moment - chest pain and arrythmia. I just cannot face even ringing 111, as their algorithm will send me to A&E, and frankly I do not feel well enough to cope with it. Looking it up online it says there are 83 patients waiting.

Brexit means Brexit.
We warned this would happen. 52% of the British population (mostly English men) did not listen.
Now we suffer the consequences.

This is so very, very, sad. I’m really sorry.

That poor couple. How they must have felt. How your aunt must feel now.

My father died in hospital under Blair’s government. Appalling treatment and then all his belongings and valuables were stolen. Nobody gave a fuck. Would love to believe things will improve with a change of government but seriously doubt it. The nhs is not sustainable as it is. We need to follow other European countries examples and start charging a small amount for services.

I'm standing by that, ie the state trains doctors and nurses, they should work at least ??? in England as NHS staff - that not treating them like "shit" its ensuring they have a job with the people they trained with and for via is taxpayers
If they want to train as docs and go to xxx - their choice but they should then pay every penny that it cost to train them - simples

Because if we hadn’t voted for Brexit the pandemic wouldn’t have happened?

No, because if we hadn't voted for Brexit, the UK could cover its shortage of professionals with foreign doctors.

A lot of staff would not have left for starters.

We could pay of junior doctors with the 2.5 billion Sunak now wants to use to make teens join the army for a year!

I know the NHS is in a mess but your experience sounds ok? You were given urgent treatment straight away. It isn’t their fault that you had no childcare. Couldn’t you have asked a friend to step in? Or had your son dropped at the hospital? You can’t expect them to treat you if you aren’t there.

I've always been a big supporter of the NHS but after living abroad for a while I can't see how it can improve.
I've had to use hospitals in Malaysia here 3 times in the past year - one time for my daughter who had to have surgery on a severe cut to her leg - second time I had to have surgery on my hand as I'd cut it open on a glass . Both times we were in and out in a day and had amazing care and treatment. The bill was hefty but luckily our insurance covered it. I recently had to use A&E as my son had hurt his foot - I took him in at around 1:30pm he was triaged , x rayed and treated in two hours. Insurance didn't cover this and it cost me the equivalent of £45 all in. General GP visits and antibiotics meds etc costs around £20 all in. No appointments necessary - I can generally just walk in. I'd rather pay than have the faff and stress of appointments. I love the NHS and what it originally stood for but I think it's been ran to the ground and not been invested in properly.

Agree I am appalled by the treatment of more elderly patients on the bay I'm currently in. The lady next to me is scared to buzz for help to the loo even though she can't mobilise without support and was prescribed laxatives today 😵‍💫