Has care in the NHS and in social care improved over the last year? The Department of Health wants your views: £50 to be won NOW CLOSED

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

As some of you will know, following the public inquiry into the failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, the government responded last year with a set of commitments for improvements.

A year later, the Department of Health would like to know what you think about whether there has been a real improvement in the care provided by the NHS and social care providers as a result.

They say:

"When we receive care, whether that is in the NHS, social care or in our own homes, we expect, and have the right, to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion."

"Two independent public inquiries reported appalling failures in the standards in patient care at Mid Staffordshire hospital, and in the system of healthcare regulation. As a result of these inquiries, the Government said that improvements had to be made. These include a new inspector for hospitals and a tougher, independent inspection system; more nurses on hospital wards; and plans in place for turning around failing hospitals. (To see the Government's response in detail, have a look here.)"

"We are looking now at what progress has been made in improving patient care."

"Have you noticed an improvement in care you or your family have received in the past year? Do you have examples of how it's improved or changed? Do you feel more confident that any changes introduced will improve NHS care? What do you think are the biggest challenges for making care even better?"

"Material from this thread (and from another thread we're running on Gransnet, and other activities including discussions with people working in the NHS and care providers) will help inform our assessment of progress. It may also be included in an annual progress report, the first of which will be published later this year."

Over to you. Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £50 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks
MNHQ

Well I don't think privatising bits of it will help. The private companies running homes for people with learning disabilities are doing a shocking job - and the main factor preventing them doing a decent job is their need to generate a profit.

Of course it won't help.

No I know, just making sure that commenting negatively about the NHS doesn't mean that can be read as being a pro for privatisation.

In our area, departments/services are already being restructured into "bundles" ready for the tender process. If the Tories win the GE 2015 the NHS as we know it will be dismantled remember this? Link to Independent article

No. Mental health services are thin on the ground and the waiting lists are really long.
DH had a stroke last year. A few months ago he had a short bout of double vision which can be a sign of a TIA or another stroke. He went to his GP who said he would refer him to a neurologist, still waiting. DH is a typical bloke who doesn't want a fuss and needs constant telling to chase it up, but he really shouldn't have to.

I think health care professionals do a great job, but lack of/reduced funding and different services being closed down (A&E's closing down when our population is getting bigger-who did those maths?!?) does not work.

Individual doctors and nurses are very professional but the systems are falling apart and things will only get worse as more and more services are farmed out to for profit 'health providers' who will charge more and provide less. If the DoH want things to get better they need to roll back on privatisation.

My understanding as well is that if staff move to one of the contracted out service bits they lose things like their NHS pension. Can't see how that will encourage people to move.

I think it has declined. My parents are in their eighties, dad has dementia, mum is his carer, but she has been suffering with severe back pain for the past 4 months. I have been badgering social services and our local gp practise for extra help for them. When initially the care package was set up about 4 years ago, service was prompt and follow up was excellent. Now we have had a different social worker each time, with no actual conclusion - they keep sending another letter to say they are leaving and someone will be in touch. It is not good enough. The social workers cannot cope with their workloads. Why can't the government recognise and deal with this?

You can set all the standards you want and call for care and compassion with a klaxon, but there is a shrinking pot of money, more pressure to achieve targets and less time to do it. Following the Francis enquiry the hospitals like North Staffs will now be detected, hopefully earlier, but overall health and social care will not and can not improve whilst it is bled dry. This presumably is the point though. Once it has been bled dry and no longer able to meet the needs of the populatio the only option will be a private system.

saintly the Department of Health and certain elements of the press will use declining standards as an excuse to further privatise. I don't trust them not to. Look at the damage this government has done to the NHS in the last couple of years.

I'm not saying they won't!

I know. Just making sure I get my point across

"Material from this thread ...will help inform our assessment of progress"

Is there anywhere that we can (transparently) see what the criteria are against which this progress is being assessed?

The pressure on Trusts to save money is affecting patient care and staff moral. How can a community midwife of 30+ years experience be replaced by a lovely but untrained health care support worker and patients get the same care? Why should the health care support worker carry that level of responsibility for half the pay, and who is regulating her?

And don't get me started on the fact that every patient the community midwife has seen each day has to be entered into a database so that money can be transferred from one department of the NHS to another... Just one example of ridiculous bureaucracy that takes money away from patient care.

Given that most of the responses here are negative is this going to lead to a rethink or changes? Or will this from-the-frontline information just be ignored, in the same way that whistleblowers, for example, are ignored?

My daughter is currently in hospital and has been for 9 weeks after an accident. It is a 65 mile round trip for us to visit. She is 13 and stable so I do not need to stay over night now. However there is no system for giving out drinks. Its pot luck whether a nurse offers her a drink. She has to ask constantly. For example they bring a tablet and say - "have you got a drink? "
"no " replies DD
so they bring a little plastic cup of 100mls water if shes lucky! No jugs on the ward.
This means I have to ensure she has a visitor every day to make sure she has fluids! I have given her bottles of water etc that are in her locker but this is basic care.

Is this a joke? Of course they havent. I am a physiotherapist who works in the community. I have just returned to work after having my third baby in the bathroom of the antenatal ward because there was not enough staff on to transfer me to delivery suite. The midwife on duty was incompetent becausw she was so over stretched. Returning to work has been so depressing with the effects of the cuts and down gradings of staff and the recent take over of bupa affecting other local services.
David camerons sob story about his son's experience was a joke when everyday families esp in mental health and elderly care are recieving such poor care.
Look after the staff pay them what they deserve and the care will improve.
As someone said its not rocket science. Also why do we never hear about these takeovers on the news? Its slowly being eroded and privatised as we speak.

"Have you noticed an improvement in care you or your family have received in the past year? Do you have examples of how it's improved or changed? Do you feel more confident that any changes introduced will improve NHS care? What do you think are the biggest challenges for making care even better?"

My overall experience of maternity care at both my surgery and hospital is such that i think it is improving. I have never needed the NHS as much as I did this last months since becoming a mum and i'm grateful for the NHS. I'm very pleased that a multi agency liason group was formed to improve maternity care in my area and they invite the voice of users. They've also completed a midwife led birthing unit at my local hospital and this is very exciting.

I think changes insitigated at grass root level involving front line workers who deliver services, in conjuction with users, are changes that will truly improve the NHS. Changes that are sprung on NHS influenced by politics or the current government in power won't last, because they are subject to the whims of too many changing forces. Grass root changes are by those who really care and are more likely to be objective and worked on in the long term.

The biggest challenges for making care ebetter are the availability of money from the government to improve service, government unfounded interference, and low wages to key front line workers which are not motivating.

I find my GP often has locums which I don't like. They staff are clearly over stretched but I have to say all the services I've received in the past year (maternity related, mainly) have been brilliant, efficient and lovely. I do think it largely depends on where you are.
My auntie is in a home for the elderly and the care she receives isn't always up to standard. This is an area that worries me.

I gave birth at the start of May and I was really impressed with the maternity and post natal care I have received. However, my friend who gave birth three months after me and who lives in the same area received appalling care so it seems to be quite hit and miss.

My parents who live in the next city can't get appointments to see their GP unless they wait for 2 weeks which, frankly, is unacceptable.

I have an aunt who receives social care and she has got progressively worse since moving into sheltered accommodation because the care is not appropriate.

I think there are some brilliant things about the NHS but like many OPs have said, it's no good just window dressing. Serious money needs to be invested in it.

I have very mixed feelings and experiences within the NHS this last year. There are some improvements. It has become easier for me to get a GP appointment than it used to be. I say me because others may find that it is harder- as now I can book on line for a non urgent appointment, or book a telephone consult. Urgent appointments are still like gold dust. As a part time NHS worker in a very specialised field I have prorata access to the training budget (part timers in the past had always to pay their own way.) There is a new computer based training @Core'learning initiative which is helpful for part time staff who cannot attend face to face mandatory training.There seems to be work afoot to help even lowly part timers feel valued - at least where I work. There is a definite culture of openness when things go wrong, but this has been around in my hospital for a while now.
Some things are unchanged - the staff are as committed, caring and hard working. We have to be! Where I work moral is generally good, but I feel more worn down. Some systems are as clumsy and long winded as ever, which can impact patient care. Many of the cuts which were instigated over the last few years as well as recently are biting harder.
Right there are many things that are not better. We used to be able to refer from one clinic to another - now this can only be done in a dire emergency. The GP has to be written to and write back to request the clinic referral, which can take months, or even get overlooked- sometimes with adverse results. An elderly relative was discharged from hospital, barely able to stand (but he could make a cup of coffee so was deemed well) after suffering a stroke with very little follow up and no medical follow up. A second smaller stroke almost certainly occurred because of this. At this point his underlying health issues were looked at and treatments arranged and changed. I had to wait nearly 6 months for physiotherapy for a leg injury - but once I got there it was very good, but they were unable to look at anything else (or refer sideways) which had occurred due to walking oddly for the 6 months, so I am back on a long waiting list again.

My own family drs are excellent themselves but the trouble to actually get an appointment to see a dr is so much hassel. I oftern go without an appointment to make sure my children get to see a dr. Recently I had an awful amount of heratache trying to get my mentally ill father a bed in a hospital. He was sectioned under the memtal health act ( London) I am in Merseyside so lots of fustrated and concerning phone calls. No dr was able to tell me about his treatment or state of his mental/health in 3 weeks of trying. Eventually dr rings me back to say my father has been on home leave for a week and has not returned to hospital for medication!!! Hospital reports my father as a missing person to police after a week only to discharge him less than 24hrs later!! Rubbish care/system!!!.

I respond as a healthcare worker, the NHS is in severe distress right now and despite the efforts of the dedicated staff they are crumbling under the pressures of the service. More staff are needed and the ones you have need to be treated better. I don't know where this is going to end.

Sadly not. As a child I had multiple surgeries and was cared for incredibly well, maybe too well. I was kept in hospital for weeks at a time, only being allowed home when it was clear all was well. IN January I had an operation related to my childhood ones and was basically in and out (after a 4 hour operation) the same day, still wobbly from the GA, with no proper wound instructions, dressings or advice on what to do if anything went wrong.
Because of this one of the wounds got hideously infected (I had no idea as didn't know what it was supposed to be like :( ), burst, and I ended up back in hospital on a drip for three days. It cloud have been much much worse..
Even on this stay, things weren't explained to me until I lost my temper hugely and forced a doctor to tell me what was happening.

I am an articulate intelligent person - it terrifies me to think how someone who has learning difficulties, is old or confused would have been treated.

All that was needed to have prevented this was for me to be kept in overnight and treated with a little more care.

I know it was not the staff entirely, they are rushed off their feet, but it was appalling.

I agree with Biggles that the NHS is crumbling. It has been for several years now. Patients are discharged very early with no follow up care. This has not improved at all, and needs to be addressed urgently. Staff are too busy to actually care properly for their patients. There just are not enough staff especially at night. Communication is often very poor. Patients newly moved from ICU go from very good care to minimal care on a ward, with many other seriously ill dependant patients and one or two nurses looking after a whole floor of wards. There needs to be better post discharge care - no change that there needs to be post discharge care - since there is none at present.
There have been small changes but they are a drop in the ocean.