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Further anecdotes on NHS trying to cut costs on the sly, my sister recently had her second child. She requested a home water birth so would require 2 midwives, she had previously been told that when she goes into labour and phones up they would insist she comes in to the hospital or midwives unit. True enough, she goes in to labour, husband phones up and is told she will have to come in as no midwives available, her husband told them they'll just do it on their own at home. 5 minutes later, they were phoned back saying midwives on the way. Supposedly there had only been 8 home births that year in the area (Soham, Cambridgeshire).
Up in Aberdeenshire where I live, was speaking to some nurses over the weekend who work in a care home in Banchory, they currently have 8 residents and plenty of room for more, they have heard through friends that folk in the hospital are being told there is no care home places for them, all seems a bit suspicious to me.
Bernhard-
She requested a home water birth so would require 2 midwives, she had previously been told that when she goes into labour and phones up they would insist she comes in to the hospital or midwives unit.
Probably more about the intense pressure on the NHS to get the fatality rate down than saving money but the later probably comes in to it
Howard
This has wound me right up this morning, NHS England to stop 'ineffective' treatments.
I suffered from two of these over the last three years (severe back pain, tonsillitis, before any asks how the breast reduction surgery went...) and it is bullshit that they will give you treatment if you make an individual request. I demanded to be referred to a back pain specialist for 9 months before my GP gave in and did, and the problem got solved in 5mins. I’ve since discovered that GP’s are incentivised to not refer patients for things like MRIs because it saves their budgets. The tonsillitis I’ve suffered from for over half my life, literally monthly visits to the GP, dose after dose of antibiotics which “won’t do much because it’s viral.” Then why are you prescribing it then, dickhead? I was only referred to an ENT specialist because I threatened to report my GP and had to make the overly dramatic statement “I don’t think I can live much longer like this...”
This is now. When this bollocks comes in, people are going to suffer unnecessarily because they’re too polite to be pushy about it, for what amounts to a minor cost saving exercise.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44665560