NHS wasting money

Wes Streeting should be forced to read and reply to this thread

Grammaretto Most cataract ops are done privately now on the NHS

Would you like to have medicines, feeds and appliances that had been stored in someone's dirty house for an unspecified time.
If you don't need stuff don't collect it.

My husband has just had surgery on the NHS but in a private hospital. When he left he was given a crutch to use, he asked what he should do with it when he no longer needed it, and was told 'throw it away'. We were both absolutely horrified. Where on earth has this throw away mentality come from?

Have you had experience of caring seventhfloor or read the thread?
Aids and adaptations are needed at certain times - it not a question of just ‘collecting’. The frustration is that perfectly good items, which could be cleaned, recycled and reused are not.

On the day DH died, another box of morphine was delivered for his syringe driver. Despite the driver box being taken back, I was told to just dispose of the drugs - in a sealed box, newly delivered and not in a dirty house. I often wonder what they’d have cost - I could’ve made a fortune on the black market!

Good to know about Specsavers and if we need a free NHS hearing aid it sounds like we have to speak out and ask for it

'Nanny27', I'm so incensed by all this waste that I've just actually emailed Wes Streeting about it. I doubt whether it will make any difference, or whether I'll get a response of any sort, but if you don't try, you don't know. Perhaps more of us should write to him about this, after all, if everyone who has been forced to throw away perfectly good medical supplies told him about it, he might just do something. I live in hope!

LOUISA1523

The nhs waste money day in day out...it will never change .

....which is why it galls me to hear politicians wanting to throw even more money at the NHS. More effective treatment coordination is required. My husband spent an unnecessary 2 weeks in a heart ward as an impatient waiting for a treadmill test to confirm whether or not he needed a pacemaker which had been identified with hours of being admitted for bradycardia - he didn't but he occupied a bed which someone else could have used if better coordination of services was exercised.

My GP surgery, as with most others, just issue repeat prescriptions every 4 weeks. I have to request each item, so if I don't need one just don't tick that one on the online list. This ensures I don't waste meds. Anyone over ordering medications is the problem, not the NHS.

I have a skin condition that needs a prescribed ointment. It doesn't flare up very often but they give me a huge tube .I asked the GP to give me a smaller tube as it could go out of date date long before it was finished. She looked it up and was surprised to find that she could give a smaller one. Think how many times this must happen.

I don’t need to see my GP, as my hyperchondriac friend has a supply of everything I might need! (JOKE!) She orders everything on her ‘script every time, is over supplied and has a regular check through her ‘box of delights’ and simply dumps what’s out of date!!

5 months ago I went thru a total knee replacement and was ‘given’ a pair of crutches. They don’t want them back?? why??
they’re metal so surely only need a wipe with an antiseptic wipe?
soo much waste

I’m not sure if this is possibly bike for you on your local area, but I donated all my elderly Dad’s unused meds and equipment to a charity taking them to Ukraine, so they hopefully weren’t wasted

Not possibly bike, darn autocorrect

chrissie13

I was left with boxes of colostomy bags and equipment when my husband died, and like others was told to dispose of them and did not want to do that, such a waste! Luckily I had seen something in the paper that the Lions were collecting toiletries, medicines and medical equipment for the Ukraine. They came and picked it all up and it was delivered there a week later.

Trouble is colostomy bags are usually made to measure so not much use to anybody else with a different shaped stoma.

Slimswim

I had a free hearing test performed by Boots last year who said I had conductive hearing loss in both ears. I hadn’t realised that they don’t have the NHS contract and was given a leaflet on the hearing aids they sell. I have friends who were diagnosed with hearing issues through Specsavers and they were given hearing aids there and then at no cost to them. Boots referred me to the NHS, this involved a GP appointment who checked my ears and referred me to ENT. Saw someone from their team today who just looked at the results from Boots and has said they will refer me to have hearing aids fitted. Surely at least one of these appointments was a waste of NHS time and money.

If you have a conductive hearing loss, there are often things that can be done without needing hearing aids. I am surprised that you were simply issued a prescription for hearing aids and that ENT didn't look properly inside your ears to decide on the cause of your problem and appropriate treatment, which might or might not include hearing aids. Conductive hearing loss means that there is something blocking the sound from getting into your inner ear. It could be something as simple as too much wax, in which case syringing or microsuctioning can work wonders. At risk of you feeling that you are allowing even more wastage of NHS time and resources, l think it would be a good idea to go back to your doctor.

NotSpaghetti

Surely it was Boots wasting money in your case Slimswim in the hope you would buy hearing aids from them?
The doctor is obviously the gateway to specialist services and clearly your GP has referred you.
The audiology team have seen the results from your Boots appointment and have decided they wete accurate enough to fit you with hearing aids.

I thgink it's also because you were found to have conductive hearing loss. Age related hearing loss is usually sensorineural (nerves / inner ear not working well). Conductive can be wax, glue ear, perforated eardrum etc. I guess your GP wanted to be sure you didn't have one of the latter & didn't need a scan of your middle ear for diagnosis, that's why they sent you to ENT to rule out causes that need some intervention. ENT could probably tell from your audiograms that no further investigations were needed, so they were happy to refer to audiology for hearing aids. Your GP was being thorough on your behalf, I don't know if you think that's a waste of money (audiology don't investigate conductive hearing loss, they are a dedicated service for treatment with aids).

For those of you giving unwanted medical items to charities, while obviously it's a good thing to do, as it stops them being wasted, but these items should be going back into the NHS, thereby saving us, the British tax payer money, rather than being sent abroad.

Yes, they should Time2 but if you read the thread, the NHS doesn’t want them! Believe me, it’s frustrating for those of us dumping supplies elsewhere.

Primrose53

chrissie13

I was left with boxes of colostomy bags and equipment when my husband died, and like others was told to dispose of them and did not want to do that, such a waste! Luckily I had seen something in the paper that the Lions were collecting toiletries, medicines and medical equipment for the Ukraine. They came and picked it all up and it was delivered there a week later.

Trouble is colostomy bags are usually made to measure so not much use to anybody else with a different shaped stoma.

Most of them were 'cut to size' ones.

Cabbie21

Not all Specsavers have contracts to.supply NHS hearing aids. Mine doesn’t, so although the test is free they can only offer private hearing aids. It varies from area to area.

Same here !

Trouble is staff getting paid after phoning in pretending to be sick.One woman had 40 Saturdays off one year because she didn't like the ward sister! Nobody else did either.Dont clock in don't get paid! Its not rocket science!

Trouble is staff phoning in pretending to be sick.one woman had 40 Saturdays off one year.Didnt like the ward sister! Nor did anyone else! Don't clock in don't get paid!Its not rocket science!

Whingey

Trouble is staff phoning in pretending to be sick.one woman had 40 Saturdays off one year.Didnt like the ward sister! Nor did anyone else! Don't clock in don't get paid!Its not rocket science!

In which caase something should have been done about the ward sister. It is like all these rogue surgeons who aff)were allowed to butcher patients for years because no one was prepared to rock the boat by complaining about them ( I mean fellow surgeons, not junior st

My grandchildren have cystic fibroses, the medication for this is horrendously expensive, we keep getting sent boxes upon boxes of it. I have notified them and got told to just throw out what we don’t use.