A snapshot look at NHS services in your area

In my area (Tyneside)

There seem to be too many (very overpaid)chiefs and not enough indians.

The "indians" are either mega good/helpful/hardworking or mega lazy.

Outpatients okay in depts I know about although "choose and book" facility is a complete farce with appointments being made to keep within guildines that are cancelled by letter within days.

A & E very long waiting times.

GP's - can very rarely see the same one twice. Avoid like the plague as they just fob you off.

I know that the GP are under pressure. Whole estates of new houses being built and no extra surgery space or doctors.

Very few adults I know can access NHS dentist. Some of my family (adults) haven't visited the dentist for years because of the cost.

Two close family members are nurses and very stressed work. My sisters work in NHS as secretaries. When staff leave they are not replaced so others are expected to pull extra work in. The phones never stop ringing so they stay late (unpaid) to get regular work done. Lots of clerical posts have been downgraded and pay frozen/reduced. Moral at rock bottom.

Ambulance response time is very worrying. DS recently played in a cricket match where a player was hit on the head. He was out cold for a few minuets and then very 'groggy'. Paramedic took just over 2 hours to arrive and there was a further wait for an ambulance. The ground is close to main roads and a large teaching hospital. There are too few ambulances covering a very large area. They are trying to do the same with the fire service too.

Well considering my local hospital is the George Elliot, it was in the top 10 worse hospital list and mentioned a lot during the Francis Report , has 'turned around' it's level of patient satisfaction I am not going to knock the NHS in my area.

Our doctors surgery is excellent too. We can book appointments on line and I know if I had an urgent medical problem I would get attention from my GP with no problem at all.

I am a realist and figures show that the number of foot fall to A&E, doctors surgeries etc. is causing massive problems. Too many people, too little places, square peg in a round hole but the hole just keeps getting wider.

Those ambulance times are very concerning.

Have to say access to NHS dentists have improved in our area.
At one time, for about a period of 4 years, my DH used to take all our kids and himself a round trip of 100 miles to access NHS dentistry. It was worth it cost wise.

gillybob - avoiding GPs, alarming.

Glad yours has improved POGS.
Perhaps, like our NHS dentistry service, when a focus is put on something, and it keeps being in the news, it is put right.

Why alarming soon?

I absolutely HATE visiting my GP practise. The few times I have gone I have been fobbed off with rubbish. They don't know me or anything about me. They appear to go through a computer tick box check list and I wonder if they are actually qualified doctors at all. I can't even see the same one twice unless I make an appoinhtment to be ill in say, 3 weeks time (crazy but true).

Recent experience at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle (orthopaedics) excellent.
Only a 2 month wait for consultation.
Seen on time for consultation and pre-op assessment for elective surgery.
More than adequate information given re what will happen, what to bring in at time of surgery, what it will feel like afterwards, what exercise to do pre and post-op, what will happen each day post-surgery, how long it is likely to take to restore function etc, what adjustments will be needed at home in the recovery phase.
I don't think the private sector could do better than this.

I do think the NHS can work very well. In certain departments in certain places.

Hence the thread partly.

I have been wondering, whether there are any patterns at all.

Whether even, if there was a North/South divide [with possibly North being better]. Or whether Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are better/worse.
Or even whether there is a West/East divide? With West being worse [going by the goegraphical location of some posters who have trouble with their GP surgeries].

gillybob - I do think it is an alarming situation of anyone avoids their doctor's surgery like the plague.

if not of

No complaints about GP practice which has very good nurses and other auxiliaries.

Paramedics and ambulance back-up swift, efficient and friendly on all recent occasions we have called on them (once in response to a complication arising from a minor op. surgery done privately to save time).

A&E often crowded, but I have the impression there's a sort of Holby's law which states that the number of casualties expands to fill the space available. Yes, I was once on a trolley for a long time, but it was right by one of the stations and since I was being watched to make sure I did not relapse it was actually quite reassuring.

This is in outer London.

Our GP practice is excellent , I can see one of 3 doctors and unless one is on holiday can usually get an app within a week or sit and wait on the day if its urgent. The referrals service works quickly and I cannot fault the service we have had in the last two weeks as OH needs an urgent surgery with tests beforehand which has all been organised and run smoothly over the last few weeks.
A and E I can't comment about as its a long time since I was in need..
this is in West London.

I, too, was on a trolley in a corridor having just suffered an MI. I think the trolley in the corridor scenario is a very emotive one. I was very well looked after, all the diagnostic tests had been run, and it was simply a case of waiting for a bed to become available. The staff could not have been kinder or more reassuring and my trolley was as comfortable as my eventual bed. I'm sure it's a headache for ward bed managers to sort things out for emergencies like mine. This was 15 years ago, so I can't comment personally about how things are today. However, my husband is both a cancer patient, currently in remission, and has had cardiac problems, with 3 stents fitted at different times. He also has two knee replacements, so has been a huge beneficiary of the good old NHS over the years. Yes they have occasionally cocked up and he has been sent home, but in the end it's always resolved quickly. He lives life to the full within certain limitations (one kidney, no bladder) and has nothing but praise for his ongoing treatment. To see him, he is 6' 3" of robust good health. So in our case we have been lucky for the major things so I can cope with the long waits both for and at appointments and the other irritations.

Sorry, forgot to say outer London, with some inpatient ops and care at a big London teaching hospital

Superb GP service- I see the same one each time but I may have to wait 3-4 weeks because she works part time.

Easy access to superb NHS dentistry- easy appointment system and staff very caring.

Local hospital- OPD works well it would appear but Urgent Care is now run privately and to save money there are no porters and no doctors unless one is very seriously ill. There are normally 2 nurses triaging and treating. I had a # and was forced to walk to xray "it is not far" I was informed. Afterwards I was given the wrong treatment and that was only rectified in # clinic by the application of a below knee POP.

Because many folK in this area do not have a GP, Urgent Care is inundated with people with problems one would normally discuss with a GP, hence the very long waiting times.

I think I must have the same GP surgery as you Gilly - I avoid them like the plague. Luckily I'm rarely I'll, and if I was I'd see the local chemist first.

Oh me too Anya Luckily my cousin is a pharmacy technician and it's handy to be able to pick her (or her bosses) brain when need be.

We are very fortunate. Large GP practice, can book on line and order repeat prescriptions. Very nice surgery environmentally- easy to park close to pharmacies. No poor reports of GPs that I know about and the nursing staff and phlebotomists all do a good job and are very nice.
Local hospital has excellent OPD and new purpose built Day Surgery Theatre - used every day of the week. Excellent day unit and small number of in patient beds. Cant speak for the maternity unit but when it was threatened with closure plenty of young mums stood up and said it was excellent and it has stayed open. If something major happens we are a 15 minute blue light ambulance/ air ambulance to two major teaching hospitals with world class facilities. You cant ask more than that. I think the NHS is wonderful and if the politicians stopped playing football with it and the bureaucrats stopped sing it as a place to try out ever more expensive reorganisations and endless pointless meetings it could be excellent.

It appears the NHS, in particular GP surgeries, is very mixed.
A bit better than I was personally expecting really.

GP practice VG. They really want to help you sort out your health issues. Usually can get an appointment same day even when it's not an emergency, especially for children. Receptionists all very nice, polite and helpful.
Argyll.

My experience echoes that of 'bags' (also north of border).
Would add that practice nurses are particularly sympathetic and helpful!
My DD relies heavily on her gp for help, phone calls and home visits. He has also popped in before and after surgery hours.
2 different practices btw.

In south/mid Devon, where I live (near Newton Abbot), it is becoming more and more difficult to get an appointment with my GP, or any GP at all, in the large practice here. I have to see difference ones, and feel that I don't really have a doctor who knows me, for the first time ever.

Excellent GP practice with a lot of doctors but also nurses who do health checks. (incidentally if your GP isn't satisfactory consider joining the Patients Participation Group- all surgeries are supposed to have them)
Physiotherapy service- excellent. Super efficient organisation which started with telephone assessment and operates a system for offering cancelled appointments by phone or text.
A&E busy but efficient and caring. Very thoughtful staff.
Newcastle

Strange how having to wait 3-4 weeks to see a GP is thought of as a superb service.

Very lucky with our local surgery. All the GPs and nurses are lovely people, all have time for you and a smile when the see you. I can nearly always get an appointment within 2 or 3 days, same day in an emergency. I can ask that repeat prescriptions are passed straight to their pharmacy for dispensing so all I have to do is pick it up when it's ready. And an added bonus is that they are at the bottom of my road, 300 yards away!
Haven't used A&E for a long time, so can't comment.
Have had a number of referrals in recent years, all fairly prompt, except for a 9 month wait for podiatry. Had 2nd appointment 6 weeks later and then heard nothing more from them - no X-ray results, no orthotics posted to me as promised. I should have chased it up but TBH, I couldn't be bothered because it was clear the lovely, but ineffectual, young podiatrist didn't have a clue why my feet were so painful and she was just clutching at straws with the orthotics.
Maternity services - recent experience with my DD has been first class, couldn't fault them. At every stage she met lovely people who were very caring and reassuring. Theatre staff for her c-section were just wonderful, an anaesthetist who was an absolute clown and had DD in stitches (pun intended ), so she felt very calm and relaxed.
This is Plymouth, btw.