NHS wait times

[IdleGossip]

Just back from gp who wants to refer me to gynae. As it’s a non-urgent issue, she said the wait would be “over a year”. How is this in any way acceptable?

’non-urgent’ paediatrics referral is 26 weeks, luckily I got an on the day cancellation when I called up referral management as the gp couldn’t do anymore themselves and we were 3 months into going every 1-2 weeks, but I was in complete shock at the length of wait.

Average wait time for non urgent general surgery referral in Lothian is 38 weeks. 32 for “urgent” 😮 That’s just for the appointment. Who knows when the surgery will happen.

Earlier in the year I was diagnosed with a very minor prolapse between vagina and bladder. GP emphasised that it was not to be worried about, but that I needed to see a physio to be shown what to do to stop it getting worse. Again, that wait was going to be over a year. So I paid privately and saw a womens' pelvic health physio a week later for £80.

Agree these waits are unacceptable.

Isnt one problem that when the higher paid doctors reach a certain salary some (more than before?) decide to go part time to reduce tax bands? Combined with things like the temptations of private, Dubai, Australia, etc?

It says something when going private these days can also mean a wait.

Years of incompetent management and poor foresighting and planning home to roost.

Two other issues at least in my area:

• services aren't fully staffed because there's no money, so some vacant posts aren't being advertised.
• since Covid, clinic space has been reduced. So sometimes even when there are staff we can't see anyone because there's no space.

They do

The SNP government has no idea what to do. The proposed board merger idea was put forward with no consultation with the nhs. That is why they like gimmicks like school bags for P1 or baby boxes.

Ive been on the gynae wait list for nearly a year. Had a couple of text letters from them in that time.
But all they say is 'sorry for your wait etc. Here's a link to wait list times (gynaecology last time i checked was over 100 weeks wait )
Do you still want to be seen ? If so click here within 10 days or we"ll remove you.

I'm also on the wait list for something else. Wanted 2 years for initial consultation. And now been referred on for a surgical consultation. Who knows how long that will be. 🤷‍♀️

I think one issues is the NHS, particularly in Scotland, covers a huge amount of things for “free” which other countries don’t. This means we can’t actually afford to cover anything properly so, yes, we provide very comprehensive healthcare but none of it is an acceptable standard!

I have relatives in France and Canada and their public healthcare is superior to ours as they can access investigations and hospital treatment far more readily than we can. But it doesn’t cover nearly as much as our NHS so, for example they would have to buy their own wheelchair, hire crutches from a pharmacy, pay towards outpatient therapies. They are discharged from hospital follow up sooner without the link workers and support workers that NHS provides for some conditions.

I think it needs a proper conversation about what constitutes healthcare, which bits the NHS can cover at the level the public wants and which bits should be “add-ons” through additional insurance as other countries do.

I'm on the urgent Rheumatology list. Just another 37 weeks to go. Been waiting since June. Deteriorated a lot and now waiting for an urgent ultrasound which is in a few days after a 5 week wait which I suppose isn't too bad but I am unwell and dragging myself through the day, struggling to eat and sleeping around 16 hours a day. However I did have urgent gynae stuff 2 years ago and was seen and treated within 6 weeks

Think in France you have to pay for an ambulance and hospitality costs of your stay (food and bed) too

I don’t care. Would you rather wait for years in pain, or have to pay a big towards your hospital stay and ambulance ride? I loathe the way that we’re supposed to be absurdly grateful for a clearly failing service.

I'd much rather pay for an ambulance which comes swiftly in time to save the patient than have a free one that turns up too late.

Yeah, just screw anyone without the means to pay for that. No hospital for you sonny jim.

I think it depends what it is. Our area have been good with cancer treatments speedily and quick. But "routine" procedures and getting the referral in the first place is ridiculously slow.
DH has been 4 months back and fourth with the GP and now they have had to put the referral in as urgent.

I work in gynae and a huge problem we face is the number of time wasters. I know this won't be a popular thing to say here. There are a huge number of 'worried well'. GPs refer for scans because I think they don't know what else to do. It then causes a huge backlog for those genuinely in need. Im not sure of the answer, if its education or what. Then there is the risk the one person who does need to be seen is put off coming because they don't want to waste anyones time and they are the one that DOES need to be seen. It's so difficult.