National Health Service (NHS)

Could be worse.
You could be on Patient Transport, pick up anywhere from 30mins to 3-4 hours prior to appointment (depending on your location and drop off)
Get to appointment early/on time then be told it's cancelled then go and wait for your transport home which depending on booking could be a few hours wait, if it's busy and transport is beyond capacity it could be 4-6 hours wait + trip home time :(

That really is shit.

That's mild.

Had patients stranded 8-12 hours and some cases have to be put up overnight at hospital, that's just for outpatients appointments

(guess what world of work i come from)

I can't help but feel that NHS workers are so undervalued it's ridiculous...

Well the Doctors do all right. But the Nurses, Porters, Technicians, administrators etc. Yes.

Well the Doctors do all right

And even for the doctors, it takes a while for them to do alright. I think I read somewhere that most newly qualified doctors work for less than the living wage for the first few years when adjusted for hours worked. One of the reasons we are seeing so many doctors walking away from medicine.

We have an hour an and a half left to opt out of the NHS data scrape… surprised I can’t find a discussion on it.

https://your-data-matters.service.nhs.uk/

Cheers

It's been delayed until September:

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/06/16/the-delay-to-the-nhs-data-grab-provides-more-time-to-find-out-what-it-really-means-for-patients/

There was a site that I can't find now which said that there are two things you need to do--the mechanism Skully's linked to and opt out through your GP. I'll have another look.

Ah yes, here it is:

https://medconfidential.org/how-to-opt-out/

A little more work, but there should still be enough time.

Minor thread dredge. I suspect this thread will become more active over the next few years as the NHS starts to struggle more.

I'm in the process of freecycling some of my late mother-in-law's posessions. Met up with a chap who wanted her wheelchair for his mother who recently lost the ability to walk.

Apparently there is a 9 month wait for NHS wheelchairs in the NHS Trust where he lives. Having worked the the NHS in PCTs and acute hospitals for over ten years I like to think i'm a little bit less easily shocked by tales of things going wrong, but for some reason this anecdote really caught me.

Imagine losing the ability to walk and being told that it'd be 9 months before you get a wheelchair so you can leave the house? Imagine not having the cash to be able to buy one and just hoping that one comes up on freecycle. Really sad times.

Didn't know where to put this - is it about tax, the NHS, or both, but tl;dr as Mark Haddon said "The true worth of the NHS is that those of us who are lucky enough to pay tax can go to sleep at night, knowing that we have helped make that radical kindness possible" https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/16/forever-grateful-what-i-owe-nhs-nadiya-hussain-clive-james

My elderly mother fell and broke her leg August Bank Holiday weekend. She was operated on within 24 hours, had almost three weeks on the wards and is now in a NHS convalescence home for a couple of weeks before hopefully returning home to a semi-independent life again. The care and professionalism of all the NHS staff have been phenomenal. This weekend I developed worrying eye symptoms consistent with a detached retina. Within four hours of the first phone call to the NHS I'd been seen, tested and diagnosed (luckily not a detached retina as it turns out).
I'm happy to pay taxes that provide such services, not just for me and my family but for everyone to have access to professional, caring services based on need and need alone. The planned tax cuts just make the work of the NHS harder https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/20/liz-truss-signals-further-tax-cuts-could-be-on-way-in-hunt-for-economic-growth

Had to see a Dr today. Currently have a bad ear infection but also had a few other ailments to discuss. When I mentioned this the Dr had to point out it’s only a 10 minute slot. So I was quick to get through all the issues. I then asked her how she was doing, and she said it was just 10 minute slots all day. I expressed concern and asked how she copes and she had to say “please don’t ask unless you want to make me cry, I just go home and am horrible to my husband.”

https://castbox.fm/vb/560007023

The collapse of the NHS^

I've been struggling with my GP surgery over recent months. After 7 different NHS appointments all with different doctors I decided to see a private GP. The NHS doctors just didn't have any time for me.

I rate the 111 service ahead of my GP surgery now, but they appear to be working in a different world to the rest of the NHS. They (I believe correctly) advise the right course of treatment, but the care they advise you to seek simply isn't available.

Managed to injure my shoulder doing some heavy lifting/DIY at the beginning of September. Got a GP appointment at the beginning of November and was referred for an ultrasound. Just chased it up with the hospital and they've told me that the wait will be at least 26 weeks, which would put it in mid-May.

What's the point? By that stage my injury will likely either have resolved or (if it's bad enough) have seriously aggravated itself through unavoidable use. Is there any option other than going private, if you can afford it?

Speak to GP - they’ll know best option to expedite it where you are if it’s possible

Thanks, TBH I'm not sure what they could do, since I doubt that I count as a priority. Happily though, when I called the radiology to enquire as to timescales I mentioned that I could probably come in at short notice if they had a cancellation. They called me today and I'm going in tomorrow morning, so worth a try if you're lucky enough to be flexible with timing.

happy 75th birthday. although it's being shafted by the tories we have to be grateful we aren't in the same situation the americans are. get ill and lose your life savings or just choose not to get treated. i've read such horror stories about cases in the us of a, we have to be grateful for our service and grateful to the staff who work tirelessly for it

Very much this.

If you like the NHS, stop voting for the Tories.

Thanks to all my colleagues who are doing a great service and for 20+ years (I'm one of the rookies here with only 4 y!). All brilliant people that unfortunately face one of the worst crises for our national health system.....

58mins to go from 11th to 5th in the queue for my GP...

I wouldn't even be calling them if my racist UK health insurance company accepted foreign orthopedic surgeon referrals...

90mins on hold...

I get through, hear some shuffling papers, say "hello hello" and the cunts hang up on me.

At mine you have to stand outside the doctors and queue for an appointment, as you’ll struggle to get through on the phone. I was 8th in the queue at 07:50, with them opening at 8am.