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

Do you feel more confident that any changes introduced will improve NHS care?"

When central funding for local councils was slashed under "austerity", they inevitably cut social care. The removal of this comparatively cheap support and preventive care threw an enormous weight on the NHS, both in acute care and in bed-blocking.

It was entirely predictable that this would happen, and would push an already straining NHS over the edge.

There are now proposals to increase social care again - by taking the money from the NHS! Politicians get to say they haven't cut the NHS budget, while cutting the total amount spent on combined health and social care.

Do I feel confident that this change will improve the NHS?

Oddly, no.

no definitely not. like others have mentioned mental health services in particular are falling apart - here we'd had cuts year on year for ages anyway and then in the last couple of years the destruction has accelerated.

CPN and mental health teams are dumping even those who clearly massively need that level of support (whereas before they were just dumping those who benefited from it but could potentially manage without it - keeping on cutting means more and more needy people being left without community care or monitoring). i am currently really worried about a neighbour who has been cut adrift despite being clearly at risk on a regular basis and not being in any way integrated into the community or any kind of 'life'.

it can take me three weeks to get an appointment with a named doctor and a named doctor becomes increasingly important as the quality of some of the doctors is appalling (lacking good enough english language skills for example or having been trained in cultures that don't have respect for women or understand mental health issues for example - the last time i took an appointment with a doc i hadn't seen before they wrote me a prescription for entirely the wrong drug and amount and it was lucky i was not vulnerable via poor english or learning difficulties so picked on their mistake).

communications from hospitals to GPs seem to be getting worse and you have to ensure that you inform your GP that the carcinoma cells found mean that you need additional screening because a month later there has been no communication to get that on your file.

i really worry for people who are not assertive or articulate and capable of managing their own care and follow up. i know a few vulnerable people i've had to chase things up for voluntarily in recent months because important things haven't been followed up and they simply don't have the gumption or confidence to chase it up themselves.

love the wording of this - tell us all your positive stuff - err would love to! instead i can only say that when people find signs of cancer and don't even bother to do the paperwork to ensure things get handed over to the next stage of testing and that your GP is in the loop then things are fairly fucked up.

No, A&E departments are at breaking point. Waiting lists are growing eg 30 wk waiting list for paediatric orthopaedic appointment .

Dementia services are rubbish and the lack of support for carers/spouses is disgraceful.

Stop wasting money on inquiries which tell the frontline staff what they already know and make it impossible to recruit extra staff and redirect the money to the frontline.

Unfortunately when the NHS was created there was no provision made for the levels of immigration which we experience today. Introduce charges for non uk citizens in line with other European countries.

Change absence policies so that days are counted as opposed to periods of sickness.

Make it mandatory for all civil servants/managers to complete periods on the wards helping out to get a sense of what goes on a day to day basis.

Go back to the old system of training nurses and forget about degrees and all of the associated costs. Focus on instilling a sense of care, high standards and providing the best for the patients.

I have had brilliant care in the NHS but I have also witnessed regional discrepancies ie being asked by a gp why I had been given such an expensive treatment in another region a few years prior ?

I have had wards which I was on shut during visiting time because the nurse said that they hadn't had their break as they had previously dealt with an emergency which had happened during their scheduled break.

I have witnessed drs coming in 1 hr earlier than their scheduled start so that they could fit in all of their patients as well as ones doing a shift only to be called back two hours later to cover over stretched A&E depts.

My mother is receiving an absolutely amazing level of care, she has a nurse visit every other day and carers 3x a day as well as sitters so that my father can leave the house. All of this is paid for by the NHS and means that she can be where she would like to be at this time - home. We have been beyond happy with the way this has been made possible and it is an example of how our health service can be adapted to meet an individuals needs and wishes.

The two posters above me - this is what is supposed to happen, not something that has miraculously appeared overnight due to targets financial penalties and inquiries.

MAsMum - sickness is counted in days. Say I go sick on Friday and I forget to phone in and say I'm going to be back on Monday, I will have been off sick for three days when I go back on Monday. If my crystal ball is wrong and I say I'll be back but then am still ill on Monday, Monday will be the start of a second period of sickness.

I manage a small team and one of their biggest stressors is whether or not to take sick leave. Most of them are part time, so decide to make up the hours rather than add to their sickness record. One is full time, and has already been told by our manager that she is making a choice to be at home, rather than come into work, during a period of sickness when her gp was testing her for glandular fever.

It did for me. Finally after a long time breaking down mentally someone noticed at the start of this year. I received home care in the evenings, regular check ups with my doctor and a social worker. My health visitor took a greater interest, and with all of the help and support I am finally back on my feet. At the time the home carers were the biggest help, having someone come in and see how I was doing, give me some help and someone to talk to. It was fantastic, they were extremely lovely and caring. I'm now on a waiting list for councelling and no longer need the home carers but I now know who to turn to if I ever need help again.

I've spent years not knowing where or how to get help, my previous doctors didn't seem to know how to help either. Someone finally stepped up to the plate this year and my life is so much better as a result

presumably because you have a small child.

Im really pleased this thread has appeared - I've had 2 experiences of the NHS in the past week or so (both potentially life changing for my family) and cannot fault the service I have seen.

My brother was in a car accident, in Intensive Care on life support - the staff were absolutely amazing! Not only did they save his life but they did it with such compassion, thought & care. They must be under so much stress but it never showed and I was very impressed with every aspect of care my brother received.

My second experience was when I gave birth and again I cannot fault the staff who were fantastic and made the whole experience even more wonderful.
Again I expect they are rushed off their feet and pulled in a hundred different directions but i was made to feel important, individual and at ease at all times.

The NHS gets so much negative press and I know it has issues but I can only go off my experience which has been brilliant.
I think we forget we are actually very lucky to have Snyder NHS.

Snyder???"!! i meant 'an' ??!!

Dp has stage 4 cancer and is having palliative chemo.
Every single appointment to see the consultant or have actual chemo runs 1.5-3 hours late.

Just imagine running that late every single time and then spending hours in actual chemo .
He is exhausted before he goes to the hospital and the wait EVERY single time doesnt help.

We are grateful that we can access the nhs (and the doctors and nurses we encounter are amazing) but long waits EVERY time are counter productive to a man who knows he is dying but trying to survive for as long as he is able.

Social care seems to begin at home nowadays.Whemn 1 looks for a grant and goes into the 'Disability'section in GOV UK ,you will see all grantsfor home renovations so that we can care for our sick or elderly at home due to the fact the homes are3 being shut down at a rapid rate.So no the NHS is in need of a cash flow which will not happen under a conservative government for sure.

The NHS - to me is something that Britain used to be so proud of and the whole world admired and desired to have a health service like ours. However, to see the decline, the cutbacks, the austerity measures is really quite saddening but then to see a decline in CARE is alarming. Over the last year however, my father has been very unwell and I have to say that the NHS have met almost all appointments and needs certainly within acceptable waiting times and have taken great care of my dad. I guess it is not until you need the NHS that you appreciate them! So in summing up - last year has been a good level of care for my dad but Nationally I can not comment.

Mental health services have been decimated! Neither my partner or I get any support now.

No, the situation hasn't improved although it may be better in some areas than in others. The NHS should be scrapped as it doesn't work. I would happily pay lower taxes and spend the savings on private health insurance.

I don't think a year is long enough to see a significant change but I certainly don't things have improved, if anything it is worse this year

I think the issue with the NHS is that they are underfunded, or actually there is so much waste that resources are not used to the best of their ability.
So much money is wasted through apathy or the fact that nobody wants to change anything.
I had a friend who was a project manager for the NHS and in the first 2 months of being there had managed to find savings of over 1 million pounds but his report was shelved as nobody wanted to implement it.
I think we are quite lucky as a country to have the NHS and free medical care, but it needs running by someone with more business sense who can make decisions that will utilise their budgets better.
I don't think care has worsened over the last year.

ive always found the NHS to be pretty amazing and we are so lucky in this country to have a free health care system. as for social care, I dont think thye have improved but got worse, it s a very basic system and needs completley revamping

Still a good as ever in general which tends to get overlooked when you encounter silly basic mistakes. I've had missed appointments due to no one telling you I had one in the first place. Turning up for scans and then getting told it had been cancelled but no one advised us etc. very frustrating but can't fault the actual care we receive.

Nope

Hmm. We appear to have attracted some professional competition-doers on this thread - new registrations posting only on "win £50" threads.

How odd.

I suppose all opinion is valid for the Dept of Health, as long as they don't trying to cite this as specifically Mumsnet Opinion™

Which I suppose they shouldn't anyway, as there never is just the one MN Opinion.

I've found no real change, but that's not what you read in the newspapers

Need urgent care? NHS is fantastic. Anything else and the creaking bureaucracy suffocates the attempts of caring staff to give proper quality care.

No. I'm a nurse and I'm disappointed to say this.