The NHS...2025.

The problem we have now is it’s hard to get a doctors appointment so people go straight to A&E
I had emergency surgery at Whiston 18 months ago, with none of the problems you had. Maybe it’s because I was in an ambulance.
There was a huge queue of patients on trolleys but I went straight to the top of the queue then had a scan, the operation that night and was on the ward for three weeks.

If people can’t get doctors appointments it means by the time they eventually present to a doctor it can be to late for a cure, cancer develops insidiously heart disease is also difficult to diagnose so people end up in AE.

Something needs to change personally I would sack all the office staff the hundreds sat behind a desk juggling the books. The systems in place now are nothing like the original plan for a NHS. It’s been privatised by the back door. NHS is a brand name now.
 
Corky said:
I'm not sure you'll get much sympathy for the abolishing of bureaucrats to free up money for care.
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My concern isn’t about the bureaucracy itself, but about the oversight the performers list provides in maintaining professional standards for doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. If this responsibility is devolved regionally to ICBs, I worry that standards may become inconsistent across the country, which could undermine patient safety and public confidence.
 
Snape said:
My concern isn’t about the bureaucracy itself, but about the oversight the performers list provides in maintaining professional standards for doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. If this responsibility is devolved regionally to ICBs, I worry that standards may become inconsistent across the country, which could undermine patient safety and public confidence.
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Crossed that threshold years ago.
 
philiph20 said:
Sad but true what a waste of talent, yet they keep piss taking admin staff who don't turn up for work and do the bare minimum and are constantly enabled by third rate inept managers who don't seem to be accountable to anyone, it's a shit show and a total shambles yet it goes on year after year with zero repercussions.
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Hit the nail on the head there
 
I feel sorry for all nurses and doctors who work at the NHS, they just do not have the numbers of staff required which causes issues later down the line. The nurses I had contact with earlier this year could not be more attentive and helpful when they have the ability to come and see you, however, as they are so stretched they don't always get time to do what they should be doing, which then leads to issues. I was left with "packing" in a wound for over 2 weeks (instead of 2 days) because I was moved during a hospital stay and the nurses forgot to hand over all instructions, this small oversight cost me 4-6 weeks additional recovery time as they had to keep cutting me open again to get the packing out. Throughout all this though I could see and feel how much the staff care and I just wish that there was a magic bullet to help them out.
 
AirbagsOptionalTheReturn said:
I feel sorry for all nurses and doctors who work at the NHS, they just do not have the numbers of staff required which causes issues later down the line. The nurses I had contact with earlier this year could not be more attentive and helpful when they have the ability to come and see you, however, as they are so stretched they don't always get time to do what they should be doing, which then leads to issues. I was left with "packing" in a wound for over 2 weeks (instead of 2 days) because I was moved during a hospital stay and the nurses forgot to hand over all instructions, this small oversight cost me 4-6 weeks additional recovery time as they had to keep cutting me open again to get the packing out. Throughout all this though I could see and feel how much the staff care and I just wish that there was a magic bullet to help them out.
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A friend with Category 4 knee problem, just been referred to Renacre Private Hospital Ormskirk. Just looked it up it’s Australian with hospitals up and down the country. When did this happen! Who agreed this?
 
Kirkstall Blue said:
The problem we have now is it’s hard to get a doctors appointment so people go straight to A&E
I had emergency surgery at Whiston 18 months ago, with none of the problems you had. Maybe it’s because I was in an ambulance.
There was a huge queue of patients on trolleys but I went straight to the top of the queue then had a scan, the operation that night and was on the ward for three weeks.

If people can’t get doctors appointments it means by the time they eventually present to a doctor it can be to late for a cure, cancer develops insidiously heart disease is also difficult to diagnose so people end up in AE.

Something needs to change personally I would sack all the office staff the hundreds sat behind a desk juggling the books. The systems in place now are nothing like the original plan for a NHS. It’s been privatised by the back door. NHS is a brand name now.
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There are a lot of people turning up at A&E, when it’s neither an accident or an emergency & it wastes a lot of time & resources.
I live with a cardio problem, which is prone to random flare ups. I have been advised by the various cardiologists I have been treated by, to go to A&E when I get a flare up.
This was supposed to have been fixed with a surgical procedure in 2020, but out of the blue, I have had 2 incidents in the last 10 weeks & had to get to A&E on both occasions.
1st time was at Stepping Hill & I was seen & treated within 4 hours. I noticed some of the other people waiting had a family member bring them a McDonald’s to the waiting room. Other people got fed up waiting & left.
2nd time I was near to Macclesfield, so ended up at Macclesfield hospital. It was very busy & there were a lot people who were complaining about the wait time & just left. I heard people complaining that they had to get to work & couldn’t wait any longer, others just got fed up & left. One guy turned up pissed, claimed he had broken his foot & couldn’t walk, but soon got up & left when he heard the wait time was 7 hours.
I was there for 14 hours, but had no choice as I certainly needed help. I’m now back under the care of the cardiologists.
I just feel sorry for the patients who really need help & the staff who are under a lot of pressure & have to deal with a lot of time wasters.
 
Lady across the road had a stroke 2 months ago, she made a doctors appointment but was 3 minutes late for that appointment.

They sent her away saying she was late (Technically they are right obviously) it was a struggle for her to get there traffic and anxiety etc.

Makes you think how much of a **** you have to be to do that.
 
Kirkstall Blue said:
The problem we have now is it’s hard to get a doctors appointment so people go straight to A&E
I had emergency surgery at Whiston 18 months ago, with none of the problems you had. Maybe it’s because I was in an ambulance.
There was a huge queue of patients on trolleys but I went straight to the top of the queue then had a scan, the operation that night and was on the ward for three weeks.

If people can’t get doctors appointments it means by the time they eventually present to a doctor it can be to late for a cure, cancer develops insidiously heart disease is also difficult to diagnose so people end up in AE.

Something needs to change personally I would sack all the office staff the hundreds sat behind a desk juggling the books. The systems in place now are nothing like the original plan for a NHS. It’s been privatised by the back door. NHS is a brand name now.
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We can't sack all of the office staff for an organisation that has almost 1.5m employees. Who would then arrange appointments, but appropriate medical equipment, PPE and medicine? Would that be the GP who has to do that alongside seeing up to 30 patients a day?

The NHS is a gigantic organisation. It's an unwieldy beast, with performance metrics and incentives built into contract upon contract.

I agree that not being able to see a GP is often poor, but some (some, not all) refuse to help by demanding to see a GP when an online triage might be more appropriate. Additionally, more and more conditions can be treated at pharmacy sites. People turn up to A & E when minor injuries units are more appropriate.

There's a lot more wrong with our NHS, but we need to all pull together and support them otherwise we'll lose it
 
No one speaks about the missed appointments that cost the NHS £160 million a year. People's expectations of the NHS are off the charts but some think nothing of not turning up for their appointment without letting anyone know or they phone on the morning of their appointment to say they can't attend leaving it too late for the appointment to be offered to anyone else. We send out an appointment letter and then a text reminder the day before but patients still don't turn up without letting anyone know so we offer them another appointment and hope they turn up for that. It's all time and waste and it all adds up.

Just a few thoughts...
There are too many NHS Trusts - each with its own board of directors on well over six figure salaries - some only employing two to three thousand employees. Smaller Trusts should merge together as happened with Manchester where 3 existing Trusts came together into one.
People are living much longer than they ever used to requiring more care and more expensive treatments.
NHS sick pay and annual leave entitlements are very generous requiring more staff employed to cover planned and unplanned absence. Overtime pay costs to cover absence must be huge.
Employment legislation now requires an army of HR managers and staff to support managers and ensure compliance.
Every penny spent has to be accounted for therefore requiring an army of accountants to manage each department budget.
It took me 7 weeks after receiving my employment offer before I received the necessary clearance to start work even though I was not employed in a job immediately prior. That means a gap of 7 weeks from the previous job holder leaving before I started. Hardly an efficient recruitment system.
I tried to order a pack of AA batteries for our Centre through NHS Supplies. The cost was £9.99. I wasn't authorised to order such an item so it had to be approved by my manager. Hardly an efficient use of her time.
 
stan bowles said:
No one speaks about the missed appointments that cost the NHS £160 million a year. People's expectations of the NHS are off the charts but some think nothing of not turning up for their appointment without letting anyone know or they phone on the morning of their appointment to say they can't attend leaving it too late for the appointment to be offered to anyone else. We send out an appointment letter and then a text reminder the day before but patients still don't turn up without letting anyone know so we offer them another appointment and hope they turn up for that. It's all time and waste and it all adds up.

Just a few thoughts...
There are too many NHS Trusts - each with its own board of directors on well over six figure salaries - some only employing two to three thousand employees. Smaller Trusts should merge together as happened with Manchester where 3 existing Trusts came together into one.
People are living much longer than they ever used to requiring more care and more expensive treatments.
NHS sick pay and annual leave entitlements are very generous requiring more staff employed to cover planned and unplanned absence. Overtime pay costs to cover absence must be huge.
Employment legislation now requires an army of HR managers and staff to support managers and ensure compliance.
Every penny spent has to be accounted for therefore requiring an army of accountants to manage each department budget.
It took me 7 weeks after receiving my employment offer before I received the necessary clearance to start work even though I was not employed in a job immediately prior. That means a gap of 7 weeks from the previous job holder leaving before I started. Hardly an efficient recruitment system.
I tried to order a pack of AA batteries for our Centre through NHS Supplies. The cost was £9.99. I wasn't authorised to order such an item so it had to be approved by my manager. Hardly an efficient use of her time.
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I worked on a project a couple of years ago where it took myself and a couple of people at exec level quite a while to count exactly how many trusts there were, with all of the various configurations taken into account. That in itself is evidence there are too many.

Spend controls and the like always boil down to ridiculous examples like your batteries, when there are multimillion pound tech contracts with laughable contract controls in place and paper thin variations chucked in on a whim.

Also, and this one will no doubt stir up some issues, we probably need a national conversation on how long we keep people alive. We've become very good at it, but the quality of life set against the investment in care often doesn't weigh up
 
Twisted-wheel said:
I work in the NHS and what you all don't hear about us the cutbacks and how many of my colleagues are being offered voluntary redundancy and if not taken then it is going to consultation in October and they will start making some amazing nurses redundant
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Another two year reorganisation is underway it never ends, constantly changing how the NHS is run, the people at the front nurses doctors consultants are sacrificed as they try to save money.
 
2.5 year wait so far for physio after road traffic collision. The surgeon at Preston Royal sent my GP a referral when I was discharged from their major trauma ward.
I've filled in 3 online self referral forms.
Since the crash I've started to show massive muscle atrophy in upper traps, rhomboids, deltoids, pec, infranspinitus, etc. Couldn't even lift my arm above my head without weight.
Kicked up a fuss with GP, then thought I'd turned the corner in June when the GP finally told me they actually have a physio at the practice. Saw them, got given some exercises to carry out daily and a follow up 6 weeks later. Went to the follow up and the physio at the GP told me she's referring me to physiotherapy??? So she filled in the referral while I was there. Got a message on the NHS app that my referral was logged, should hear back after it is triaged by 26/08, still nothing, the NHS app no longer shows my referral is being looked at. Phoned the GP, they gave me a couple of numbers of who 'might' be triaging it, phoned them, got told by each they don't have any record of my referral, and gave me several other numbers to ring - same story there.

I love the NHS but if I lose functionality of my arm, then I'll be suing.
 
Kirkstall Blue said:
Another two year reorganisation is underway it never ends, constantly changing how the NHS is run, the people at the front nurses doctors consultants are sacrificed as they try to save money.
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Yep and only a year or two since the last one when NHS Digital went into NHSE

It's so distracting for staff and leadership when there are real issues around care to deal with. I'd say needs must, but the roles will end up being refilled anyway, so it's an expensive paper exercise
 
dickie davies said:
After today's escapade, I think the NHS couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery
Come in whenever you're passing for an ECG. Cardiology will have a record of you requiring one
Meanwhile, a letter arrives for an ECG appointment at a different hospital
Two days later, original hospital phone call to say come in for a new MRSA swab and an ECG. What about the appointment letter! Oooh, didn't know about that. We'll cancel it and book you an appointment here when you have your swab and the appointment on the letter will be cancelled
Today, swab taken, now go to cardiology for your ECG, but not sure you have an appointment
No appointment had been made. I explain the situation and I'm looked at like I was lying to them. But Cardiology tell me I've got an echo test booked for August which I had no idea about. Begrudgingly, as I'm there, they can fit me in for an ECG
Two hours of waiting later, I tell them I'll make an appointment to come back. Can I do it the same day and around the same time as my Echo? The same receptionist asks me "why am I there?" and looks at me like I've just asked for the world
A whole morning to have a cotton bud shoved round my goolies
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Not all . Our local hospital was fantastic when I had a stroke and the mrs was admitted with kidney stones
 
The NHS is sadly a disgrace.
My brother has a life threatening condition. A few months ago his specialist wanted to put him on a cancer drug. (He hasnt got cancer but they believe it will give him his life back) It was refused as he'd need an injection every month and it's a grand a time, they, Merseyside NHS only have funding for 10 people and 10 people were getting it.

2 months ago he collapsed and was rushed in. He got sorted but had to stay so they could give him a different drug from the one above. The drug he needed never arrived. A 2nd request to pharmacy for it was refused as pharmacy had dispensed it and as it cost £300 they were not prescribing it again. The pharmacy told them to find it, they couldn't. He spent the night on a corridor.
Day 2 moved to a ward and a new application made. It was dispensed but never arrived and again they refused a 2nd request. He spent another night in hospital.
Day 3 the nursing sister went and got the drug herself, it was given and he was sent home.
£600 of drugs 'lost' £300 of drugs administered. The cost of 3 days bed blocking ? Who knows.
Anyway, as a result of the collapse they decide he could have the cancer drug.
On Monday he was getting fed up as he'd heard nothing and hecfeared another collapse so he rang them up....... 'oh its been here 3 weeks but we didn't know who it was for '.
He went and got the injection.

If it's a grand a time how can you pass it around a system not knowing who it's for ?
How can you lose, twice, drugs in a hospital?

It is grossly mismanaged and no one is accountable. Does no-one sign for the drugs at pharmacy?
 
Blue Mist said:
The NHS is sadly a disgrace.
My brother has a life threatening condition. A few months ago his specialist wanted to put him on a cancer drug. (He hasnt got cancer but they believe it will give him his life back) It was refused as he'd need an injection every month and it's a grand a time, they, Merseyside NHS only have funding for 10 people and 10 people were getting it.

2 months ago he collapsed and was rushed in. He got sorted but had to stay so they could give him a different drug from the one above. The drug he needed never arrived. A 2nd request to pharmacy for it was refused as pharmacy had dispensed it and as it cost £300 they were not prescribing it again. The pharmacy told them to find it, they couldn't. He spent the night on a corridor.
Day 2 moved to a ward and a new application made. It was dispensed but never arrived and again they refused a 2nd request. He spent another night in hospital.
Day 3 the nursing sister went and got the drug herself, it was given and he was sent home.
£600 of drugs 'lost' £300 of drugs administered. The cost of 3 days bed blocking ? Who knows.
Anyway, as a result of the collapse they decide he could have the cancer drug.
On Monday he was getting fed up as he'd heard nothing and hecfeared another collapse so he rang them up....... 'oh its been here 3 weeks but we didn't know who it was for '.
He went and got the injection.

If it's a grand a time how can you pass it around a system not knowing who it's for ?
How can you lose, twice, drugs in a hospital?

It is grossly mismanaged and no one is accountable. Does no-one sign for the drugs at pharmacy?
Click to expand...

The clue here is "Lose" and as you say it's an expensive drug.

I agree with you 100% and I hope your brother is OK through all this shit he has to put up with mate.
 
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