NHS in crisis

DEALINGS WITH THE NHS - The waiting game
This is a blog by a cancer sufferer but it is not about cancer. It is one, very subjective perspective on being a patient by one person. But to sum it up the inadequacy of communication within the service and to me has been the only thing that has made me cry. I have never been very good at waiting but when you get a prognosis of around 9 months to live you don’t want to waste or to wait a minute. Apart from that on a practical level we are constantly being told that the NHS is a breaking point well if my experience is anything I have seen waste of resources and bad management of beds. I have also seen very stretched and hardworking staff trying to do the best they can within systems that seem unresponsive to need and often wasteful. I didn’t mean it to be but it is a good whinge but I feel less frustrated by it all by putting it out there. I also urge patients not to be patient but to be proactive and assertive and not to take at face value everything you are told. I have put some examples here and I could supply several more.
1. Admission to hospital total of 7 hours wait.
After blood test that showed a dangerous level of jaundice the G. P. decided I needed to go straight into hospital. It took 1 and half hours to get them to answer the phone. Waiting was something I was to find I was going to do a lot in the next few months. One and half hours later I was told to attend the hospital. On arrival at the hospital I was eventually admitted after 5 and half hours wait.
2.Waiting for a scan, whilst in hospital, two and half days. After being shown to a bed I was left and nothing happened except that every 4 hours my perfectly normal blood pressure and temperature were taken. During rounds on day 3 I took the bull by the horns and asked Why am I here? The said to investigate my jaundice. O.K. so why are you not doing that? There was a lot of activity to find these scans until I offered the solution that they were absent because I hadn’t had a scan. You would have thought with beds being at a premium I could have had my scan and be sent home within 24hours instead of staying of 5 days. I also asked “Why have I been on this 24h ward for 3 days?” There was much muttering and I was moved that night to a proper room. It was then that I knew it was serious.

3.Waiting for the diagnosis to be confirmed by biopsy. 16 days.
I was in a room for two patients and I saw my notes left in the corner so of course I looked. “Mass present, patient unaware.”
Later I was shown into a consultation room and told that I had pancreatic cancer that was advanced and inoperable. I was to stay the night then go home the next morning. My biopsy was done 5 days later but I wasn’t given any further information or any sources of support or even a number to ring if here were questions.
4.Waiting to leave hospital – 5 hours
My husband came to pick me up from hospital about 11 am. We eventually left 4 p.m. after waiting for a blood test that nobody came to take. The nursei n charge just left the sample bottle and request form on my bed. I was reduced to finding a nurse and said “ I know you can take blood because I have seen you, so can you take this please. I was then waiting for prescriptions to arrive, even then I had to ask someone to look to see if my stuff was there so I could go.
5. Waiting for information from the hospital
Poor record keeping and poor communication with me and my GP resulting in unnecessary confusion, anxiety and distress. In fact this is the only thing that has made me cry. Lack of information and may mean that important symptoms and not reported and the medication is not taken or continued beyond when it should.
I had been given a cancer diagnosis and then discharged without any back up, support or information I was totally alone. Eventually I rang the doctor’s secretary and she said that my GP had been sent a report and that a nurse would ring me the next day. I rang my GP and she did not have the report. She did and promised to ring me on Friday after that she would ring again Friday afternoon of that week with the information. She never did. After a terrible weekend I rang her and was told they hadn’t discussed me so it would be the following Friday when she would definitely ring. Again she never did. After another terrible weekend I rang. I was offered no explanation or apology and then told over the phone that malignancy was confirmed.
6. Waiting for an appointment with an oncologist – 19 days from initial diagnosis.
7.Waiting for chemotherapy to start 29 days
I will write about the administration of chemotherapy in the future but so far it has been a farce.

"CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant that has been shown to be beneficial for heart health by protecting LDL cholesterol from oxidation and by re-energizing the mitochondria in the heart cells, which is where energy metabolism occurs. CoQ10 may also help lower blood pressure."

But NICE has recommended their use. I know they're controversial, but medics are recommending their use, not 'management'.

Don't you think the manufacturers of coenzyme q10 are rubbing their hands with glee? It's a supplement usually recommended to counteract the side effects of statins, not as a standalone.

If you google it you'll find there is as much evidence AGAINST statins as for them.We did research when my OH was put on them after a heart attack ( stress related) and we decided to speak to his GP about coming off them as the side effects were really bad.We found that the supplement co enzyme q10 keeps his cholesterol level lower than they were before the heart attack and keep his energy levels high ,the statins caused awful fatigue and his GP said that was common,he also said mmany people take other medication to combat the side effects...that to me iis bad management of the patients' health .Good for the companies supplying the drugs though!

Knowing the phenomenal cost of the drugs DH has been on from time to time I don't see how this can be met without us paying more. My knee replacements are bargain basement in comparison. You can't blame the drug companies for all the cost, researching novel treatments costs millions and most of them turn out not to work. The last thing we want to do is go down the Insurance route. People in the US with life threatening conditions (ie expensive) conditions have an appalling time. You shouldn't have to worry that an unqualified pen pusher could over rule the decision made by your medical team.

Thanks for that, Teetime. I've just remembered that patients taking Warfarin should go to A&E. I remember that my father had to be persuaded to go when he had a nosebleed which didn't stop (he was taking Warfarin).

That's what I meant. The fact that there was no GP might have been irrelevant in this case, because she would have been sent to hospital anyway.

Oops didn't finish - a GP might well also have sent this lady to hospital.

A nose bleed (epistaxis) may need packing and this needs a clinician para medics cant do this. The most important thing with a severe nose bleed in adults is to take the BP which is often elevated and needs treatment. Other conditions such as bleeding nasal polyps/new growths have to be investigated. Blood tests also required.

Anya, I'm not shouting. We have to pay more. The alternative is to have a very basic service (no cataract removals, hip ops, etc) and for those who can afford it to pay for what we expect now. Tough luck if you can't afford it!

Gillybob, I agree that there should be some sort of lifetime contribution to the NHS. I don't know of any other country where people stop paying for healthcare once they retire.

Paddyann, The use of statins (and I'm suspicious of them too) isn't poor management. They're controversial, but on balance clinicians have decided they're beneficial. All 'management' has done is enforce medical advice, which incidentally has been calculated to save money in the long run.

Anniebach, I'm surprised by the nosebleed too, unless there was some other condition. Paramedics deal with a high percentage of call outs on the scene. I'm not sure what a GP could have done that a paramedic couldn't. A paramedic ambulance has more life-saving equipment than any GP surgery I've ever attended.

Must have been serious?? Most of us can deal with a nose bleed in ourselves or others

Couldn't the paramedics have dealt with a simple nose-bleed?

An elderly lady in the shelter houses in this cul die sac was rushed twenty miles by ambulance to A & E because she had a nose bleed. It was out of surgery hours so no GP

NEEDS TO BE RESTRUCTED FROM THE TOP ,TOO MANY CHIEFS AND NOT ENOUGH INDIANS AS MY OLD GRANNY WOULD HAVE SAID.GP's need to be more accessable so paople dont run to A and E for silly reasons and the NHS has to cut its drugs bill.I recently heard that one of the big pharma companies rebranded a drug that was costing under £1 now its in a new box they charge nearer £7...that should not be acceptable ,Neither should the overprescription of Statins,millions of people who are on them dont NEED them and for many they cause bad side affects so they have other medicines to combat the side effects.Its clearly bad management

The NHS is being abused by some, it should only be used to provide necessary health care. If someone wants surgery which isn't medically necessary they should be prepared to pay for it, not have it provided by the NHS. Health care should only be provided for permanent residents of UK (except in the case of emergency).

I'm well aware that we pay through National Insurance already, but what I'm suggesting is that a separate fund is created that goes directly to NHS care, not the bureaucrats. Even a £1 a week would make a huge difference.

Maybe lifetime National insurance could be the way forward. Means tested of course.

Well said Anya

If we want a better service we must be willing to fund it. Too many people start shouting when taxes are raised.

Then there are those who take more out of the system than necessary. That of course will have some posters up in arms. I'm not talking about those who need to have more, but those who abuse the system.

And in between are the inefficiencies, the poor level of staffing, the poor level of care, bad admin. procedures and against that those who work their socks off doing their best in an impossible situation to try to stop the whole system collapsing completely.

I already pay personal tax, and national insurance, employers national Insurance, corporation tax etc.

And don't really feel like paying any more . Thank you.

We already pay for the NHS through national insurance and tax. The government has the money to fully fund the NHS but they choose not to.

I believe that's what National Insurance is but I agree if it were raised by only a small amount it would make a difference. My view after spending 30 years in the NHS is that a huge amount of money is spent on bureaucracy that attempts to reduce that would do a great deal to help as would putting a stop to the constant reorganisation imposed by successive governments as soon as something is working well its changed.