Supporting NHS

I have spent 3 hours with my husband in hospital this morning. He spent a week in our huge, regional hospital. He received no physio apart from his last day when I went and sought out a physio. What about people who have nobody to look out for them?

So now he is in a 24 bed hospital for rehab. A physio stuck her head round the door as she recognised his name from when she came to our home after his first stroke. I said he badly needs to be moving as he has spent a week doing nothing. She said she would see what she could do but they are very busy! That’s all you ever hear now. I walked past the area where the physios sit about 6 times during 3 hours. Every time the same women were there showing each other pictures on their phones. It is disgraceful and I just can’t understand why they train and qualify to do these jobs and then sit around instead of getting off their backsides and getting people moving again.

In jest only.
I'm going to keep my family away from yours incase it's catching.
I agree a hard working bunch , our NHS

Reading about the 'variations' in the delivery of care, quoted here, makes we think of the concepts of quality control and accountability.
Schools have regular inspections, to meet a set of criteria and standards, whereas NHS inspections usually happen after something has gone seriously wrong.
I think that's the case, but do tell, if not.

I have seen it from both sides. I trained as a student nurse back in the early 70’s when there was a Matron and nurses were dressed in a uniform - not scrubs. The care we gave our patients, in my opinion, was a lot better then that what i see now. Nurses cared for patients and only the senior staff on duty were in the office. We were paid a pittance however, we did the job because we cared. Fast forward a number of years, after I left and the wages increased dramatically and you had all types of people training to be nurses. Many were still carers however others were not. In my later years, due to a number of ailments, i have needed to spend time in hospitals and what I have seen makes me so sad. Elderly patients having food put in front of them, unable to eat and the food just removed - no communication with the carer. In one instance, I intervened and fed the patent with her consent, I was asked what I was doing as the notes stated the patient could feed herself. No, she can’t and you are not even checking with her. I informed her daughter and things changed. One time after the smoking ban had come into force, I was hospitalised with a chest problem and they admitted a dying woman (with secondary lung cancer) to the same ward. This lady was vaping on the ward, she was bed-bound and my coughing was off the charts. Did anyone come to check - no. I ended up opening all the windows to remove the smell and she told me she was too cold. You can imagine what my response was, the staff did nothing. I could go on, these events were in different hospitals.

Two years ago, I had to stay in hospital for 18 days instead of 8 because someone failed to stitch me up properly so that I had to have another session in theatre. The ward non-care from nurses from everywhere and anywhere was depressing, even traumatic, except from one male nurse from round here who was kind, cheered me up and actually recognised me in a corridor when I went for a follow-up appointment.
Outpatient appointments have been absolutely fine and without much wait: audiology for hearing aids, ophthalmology for detached retina plus cataract, cardiology for angiogramwith angioplasty.
What a mixture.

I am grateful to the NHS for all the treatment I have received however, I think our experiences vary so much from Trust to Trust. My most recent experience started in January when I fell and broke my hip in my home. When I arrived I was taken into A&E at 4.30pm, straight in with no waiting in the ambulance for ages, so far so good, by the time they had done the Xrays and tests I got up to the ward it was almost midnight, so I knew I would be waiting till the next day for the op. so straight to bed on painkillers and a drip with nil by mouth, where I waited 3 days on nil by mouth waiting for the op as there was only one orthopaedic theatre available. It all went smoothly and the following day I was visited by the physios who got me out of bed to sit me in a chair, naturally enough having laid flat on my back for all that time with nothing to eat or drink I promptly fainted, so back into bed on oxygen and a drip. 4 days later I was visited by the physios again where they got me out of bed and sat me in the chair. They just gave me a walker, got me to try and get up onto a step, told me to walk as often and as far as I could. The following day I was told I would be moving to another ward, so they packed all my stuff up and jammed it on the bed beside me, they took my table away so I had no access to my water and they finally moved me at midnight where I had to go through a complete audit of all my belongings right down to the coins in my purse, waking up practically all the other patients in the process. 4 days later I was told I would be discharged, at 6 o'clock the ambulance came to take me home, I was given no follow up, no instructions as to what I could and should be be doing and no future physio.

Now I must say except for one health care assistant who made all the patients feel guilty for inconveniencing her, I can't fault the nurses and doctors, Also after intervention from my GP I have finally got a physio appointment for next week. So I hoping to finally being off my walker in the near future.

From Tess46
“And my experience of nursing staff on wards full of elderly people is unprintable. If you go to the desk and raise an issue you are told how busy they are. Some are but some definitely are busy on their phones which isn’t nursing as far as I understand it. But we are brainwashed being told the NHS is the envy of the world. It keeps Jo Bloggs in their place and ‘ever so grateful’ in spite of the fact it isn’t true and all tax payers are paying for this mismanaged chaos. I do know what I’m talking about as well.”

I agree - I’ve had the most wonderful attentive treatment, operations, physio etc etc …
But my poor Mum and dad left waiting for the bed pan, falling off chairs they were propped in, not being fed - disgraceful- my Mum
And Dad would have passed away much sooner if family hadn’t stepped in - ward nurses don’t know their patients and don’t seem to
Care - I can only go
On what I have seen and experienced in Surrey.

grains? groins!

the during has always provided an exemplary service for me.
during my life i've had:
german measles as an adult
meningitis
ectopic pregnancy which resulted in both tubes being removed (and they removed my appendix at the same time)
ovarian cancer which resulted in a total hystrectomy
kidney cancer which resulted in one kidney being removed
a misbehaving bladder which necessitated being fitted with a catheter for weeks
a couple of operations to remove sweat glands from both grains
and giving birth to two babies
i've definitely got value for money!

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the nhs, I've no doubt.
Its just a shame that its made me feel at times that I wish wasn't sfill here.

I have had some excellent care from the NHS and also some pretty dismal care, or lack of, so I think it’s just very patchy and it seems to be the luck of the draw, which really isn’t good enough is it? But what is the answer?

Would it have been better if the NHS has stayed with only providing acute care?
Would we then have to pay for our hip, knee, whatever transplants?

Uncritical admiration is one thing. Saying let's get rid of the NHS and move to an insurance based system is quite another.
I know BREXIT was years ago, but wasn't it the big selling point, on the side of the red bus, about funding increases to the NHS?
People here still want it.

Were you given a choice, for your daughter, of a zoom, or face to face appointment, Monica,
We are.

No it isnt. I have just looked at google results. I looked at a wide range of reliable sources and while one rated us 4th in many rankings we did not feature in the top 20.

Oreo

The NHS was very much admired, but that was in the past.

And I think that’s part of the problem isn’t it? Referring back to the past ( which was a different country anyway) . Uncritical admiration leads to complacency and an unwillingness to reflect and truly learn when things go wrong.

The NHS was very much admired, but that was in the past.

Macaydia

NHS is known world wide as the best health care available. I am temporarily in the states and cannot even imagine the awful delayed care given to UK citizens. In the US, you are seen immediately for whatever ailment you might have - there is NO waiting - there is no charge. If you are poor, the cost is free even if it costs a million dollars. People in Canada drive to the US, just for medical care. People in the US drive to Canada to buy their prescriptions. Yes, its a weird world but in the US, no nurse would ever consider treating you with the utmost respect. A different planet here. My uncle died in England, thanks to NHS.

I really do not recognise the US health care system described in this post. What about the large number of bankruptcies due to health care bills? What about co-payments and ceilings ? Criticising the NHS does not mean buying into a fairy tale about US health care.

In a phone consultation that you’ve waited over 18 months for, it’s easier for the consultant to say “I’ll send details of this consultation to your GP (didn’t happen) and put you on my waiting list to see you. It’ll probably be next year. Keep taking the painkillers.”

Face to face - that would have been more difficult and he could have actually seen what the problem is now.

Maybe they think there’s always the chance that the appointment won’t be needed by next year.

I put this to our local Labour MP who ^ sympathised^ then told me how well Labour was doing to improve the NHS.

Maremia

One innovation that came from Covid was zoom consultations.
I don't know how you feel about that, but it works for some folk in some situations.
Cuts the risk of picking up extra bugs from the waiting room
I know Tess, it doesn't address the wards' issues.

In my DD's case a telephone appointment led to the doctor forgetting to send her for a critical test. I doubt doing it on zoom would have been any better. The signs were subtle and would not be seen on a screen but would have been noticed in a face to face appointment and would hve triggered the doctor to order the test.

As a result she nearly died. She was declared to be critically ( survival not guaranteed) ill and needed a year of medication and treatment to fully recover.

I heard a recent radio programme where a senior, and knighted retired consultant said the problem with the NHS was that it was designed to cope with acute illness, but the problem now was that the NHS was dealing mainly with preventative medicine and ongoing treatment for medical conditions.

Aneurin Bevan who established the NHS actually thought that if everyone could get medical care when they needed it demand for medical services would fall because everyone was so much heaalthier.

Another case of unforeseen results.

I used to do 12.5 hour shifts, abd u liked them.
Three days a week, with four off.
It sometimes meant eight days off between working.

I cannot imagine how horrible some stays in hospital can be, MissA I’m so sorry that you had a nightmare.
I do think that the shift pattern introduced in some hospitals must add to the nightmare. Twelve hour shifts seem to me to be unsupportable in any job.

You are having one awful time Primrose.

It was utterly humiliating, i cried all night and wished I'd just die rather than have to tolerate any more.
In fact, i said I wasn't going to have any treatment, and wanted to just fade away at home.