The NHS...2025.

St Helens Blue (Exiled) said:
Having just caught up with this thread as I was the original poster, you make a really valid point and made me think. You are right, I was in a lot of pain but I know there were a lot of people who with much more pain and life threatening illness. I suppose at the time back in Jan I was looking at my situation due to the pain I was in rather than the bigger picture. Having worked in police dispatch for nearly 27yrs now I know all about staffing issues in public services 40 to 50 jobs versus 10 cops to give them to, its like fire fighting with a tea spoon pal.
Anyway. Back is in a good place, feeling in my leg came back after 8 weeks approximateley. Occy health at work have been brilliant and the NHS finally discharged me early July.
Its all about personal management for my diagnosis. I'm sure I will have further issues as I progress to my older years (52 in Jan) but learning to manage it is what I have been taught.
Final point regarding hospitals. Somebody made a point of knowing which hospitals are best. So true. My kids only get taken to Alder Hey now rather than Whiston. Literally like chalk amd cheese.

PS I'm not a dipper....
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Glad you're in a better place bud, i know back pain can be horrific and needs to be managed accordingly. it wasnt having a pop at you at all just giving context to a wider situation.

In terms of going to the best hospital, salford royal is your best shout for back issues even tho its a trek for you.
 
A letter arrived yesterday from an NHS Consultant I saw back in April
It said
Date Dictated 17/04/2025
Date Typed 12/07/ 2025

The closing sentence said ……not signed to avoid delay.!!

Pretty well sums up the state of the service.

I think I can confidently say if I was private I wouldn’t be kept waiting 3 months for the bill

In fact last time I paid privately at the Alex, the Consultant ( who also did NHS work) had his card machine on the desk on a pay as you go basis.

£300 quid for a 15 minute consultation.
 
mancityvstoke said:
Try ringing the GP....receptionist says ...go to walk in centre as we have no appts for two weeks.
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Sounds to me from afar that the whole system is overloaded, we have a public health system here in Oz ..I mean it's not perfect by any means but there's only like 25 million of us whereas there is 60 million or so in the UK, it's like a big monster of an organization that can't deal with so many patients and seems impossible to manage.
The absolute disgust of not being able to see a GP for weeks is disgusting considering that you are paying for this service in your national insurance which I imagine these days isn't a small amount.
Why is the government not sorting this out and employee many more GPS to take the pressure off hospitals?
Again I can see my GP the next day or if she isn't available I can see a different one ...maybe even the same day I ring.

If I moved back to the UK I would have to take out private medical insurance, I would not trust the NHS having seen evidence in my own family in the UK and things I have read about like on here, it's a sad thing to say that you don't trust the NHS as I grew up in the days when we had absolute trust in that system.... my mother in law died waiting for the NHS to fix her aortic aneurysm but she collapsed and died.
I'm sure the NHS do great things every day but if I got cancer or needed further open heart surgery I would not want to wait around for while they got their act together with tests and diagnosis.
 
Bill Walker said:
Sounds to me from afar that the whole system is overloaded, we have a public health system here in Oz ..I mean it's not perfect by any means but there's only like 25 million of us whereas there is 60 million or so in the UK, it's like a big monster of an organization that can't deal with so many patients and seems impossible to manage.
The absolute disgust of not being able to see a GP for weeks is disgusting considering that you are paying for this service in your national insurance which I imagine these days isn't a small amount.
Why is the government not sorting this out and employee many more GPS to take the pressure off hospitals?
Again I can see my GP the next day or if she isn't available I can see a different one ...maybe even the same day I ring.

If I moved back to the UK I would have to take out private medical insurance, I would not trust the NHS having seen evidence in my own family in the UK and things I have read about like on here, it's a sad thing to say that you don't trust the NHS as I grew up in the days when we had absolute trust in that system.... my mother in law died waiting for the NHS to fix her aortic aneurysm but she collapsed and died.
I'm sure the NHS do great things every day but if I got cancer or needed further open heart surgery I would not want to wait around for while they got their act together with tests and diagnosis.
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Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated 2007 film, "SiCKO" on America's healthcare system


I do not want this in the UK but something does need to change. Lack of appts , forcing people on line , the 8am scramble for appts that dont exist is some cases.

Nothing has changed since Labour took control. There is no money.

Like it or lump it apparently.
 
mancityvstoke said:
Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated 2007 film, "SiCKO" on America's healthcare system


I do not want this in the UK but something does need to change. Lack of appts , forcing people on line , the 8am scramble for appts that dont exist is some cases.

Nothing has changed since Labour took control. There is no money.

Like it or lump it apparently.
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I remember taking my children when they were very young and waiting countless hours in squalid waiting rooms in Pendlebury and that was in the early 80's, it has been poorly managed and inefficient since I can remember but say one word about it and someone will remind you that it's free and it saved their Aunt Mavis once.

The Barbara Windsor days of nursing and people treating you actually caring didn't last too long I am afraid, it should be thought of in just the same way as any other government service.
 
mexico1970 said:
I remember taking my children when they were very young and waiting countless hours in squalid waiting rooms in Pendlebury and that was in the early 80's, it has been poorly managed and inefficient since I can remember but say one word about it and someone will remind you that it's free and it saved their Aunt Mavis once.

The Barbara Windsor days of nursing and people treating you actually caring didn't last too long I am afraid, it should be thought of in just the same way as any other government service.
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There are valid reasons for defending free at the point of service medical treatment.


Careful what you wish for.
 
mexico1970 said:
It's not getting any better though is it? Something has to change and it's obvious throwing more money at it isn't the answer.
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Paying £300 for a consultant for 15 minutes isnt either.

Neither is giving cancer patients bills for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
 
mancityvstoke said:
Paying £300 for a consultant for 15 minutes isnt either.

Neither is giving cancer patients bills for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
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The American way isn't the only way, the German way is much much better. Either way it has to change.

Or we can just keep trundling on with the post war mentality.
 
mexico1970 said:
The American way isn't the only way, the German way is much much better. Either way it has to change.

Or we can just keep trundling on with the post war mentality.
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Serco already arrange NHS appts and have you seen the state of that?

The mentality of saving your Auntie Mavis for free isn't just post war.

It's a decent human approach.

You are right something needs changing. Perhaps changing the costs involved as they seem very high. Train GP's ......train nurses like they used to.
 
mancityvstoke said:
Serco already arrange NHS appts and have you seen the state of that?
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That's not the point mate, the point is that it isn't working and something needs to be done. What that "Done" entails nobody knows but it wont and shouldn't be shove more money into an organisation that doesn't and never really has respected waste.
 
mexico1970 said:
That's not the point mate, the point is that it isn't working and something needs to be done. What that "Done" entails nobody knows but it wont and shouldn't be shove more money into an organisation that doesn't and never really has respected waste.
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yes.....NHS does need reform.
 
mexico1970 said:
So we are agreed? If we want to keep it we have to improve efficiency.
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I'm not a politician nor do I work within the NHS so I am not privy to how it works or wastage etc.

I just don't want a bill if I get cancer and lose my house and end up homeless and a burden on the state or on the streets.
 
mancityvstoke said:
I'm not a politician nor do I work within the NHS so I am not privy to how it works or wastage etc.

I just don't want a bill if I get cancer and lose my house and end up homeless and a burden on the state or on the streets.
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Nobody wants that, but there are other models to use other than the USA nightmare and our stagnant pedestrian service.
 
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mancityvstoke said:
no idea how other healthcare models actually work.
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Not many first world countries leave you having to sell your house if you get cancer, Norway, Australia manage it quite well.

Maybe we should take a serious look as to how they do it and use a model to base ours on instead of carrying on regardless?
 
mexico1970 said:
Not many first world countries leave you having to sell your house if you get cancer, Norway, Australia manage it quite well.

Maybe we should take a serious look as to how they do it and use a model to base ours on instead of carrying on regardless?
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I think they are probably considering things already unless they are brain dead.

Can they get appts for that?
 
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