In praise of the NHS

In my area the blue light ambulance service is second to none as is the treatment at the local hospital if the problem is life threatening. It fails if one needs to see a doctor but not immediately so the wait in A&E as others have experienced can be horrendous.

My local Urgent Care has been privatised so they will only xray one limb! I knew I had broken my big toe after a nasty fall at home but I also needed my recent knee replacement xrayed in case it had loosened. I had to choose so I chose my toe! I was correct, I had broken it.

I hope they will come back to me with a face to face appointment in the next few days.

Excellent! Hope it does the job Wobbly, nothing worse than constant, nagging pain.

I sent off my online self referral this morning, got an exercise plan back this afternoon, hows that for a quick response.

Our local hospital has had terrible reports and press, but i have never had anything but praise for the care and short wait times. I suspect, most of the problems were administrative and did not affect the care given.

Some of the criteria they use to 'fail' a hospital seem stupid. My local hospital was deemed to be failing too, but I've never had anything except first class service from it.

The daft thing is the hospital DH received such amazing treatment from is deemed to be failing by the QCA.

I'm relieved that there are some good NHS areas around because my family including myself has not been impressed to date - until they've actually been taken into hospital where they've been well cared for overall.
I've had 2 misdiagnoses: one 20 years ago which has left me with IBS and another which was considered to be just 'back pain' but turned out to be a big difference in leg length which my body could take no more. I'm now learning via an injuries specialist [non NHS]and an orthotist [non NHS] how to walk, what exercises to do and not to do and have adapted shoes etc etc
My 4yr old grandson broke his arm recently - not a greenstick - and waited in A&E for over 2hrs. When the doctor finally saw him he was horrified at the long wait as it could have affected the blood supply to his fingers. He & DD were told to hot foot it to the nearest hospital where he was well taken care of

And of course there's the tale of another GS who contracted meninigitis [not confirmed at the time] and the receptionist told his parent waiting time was 2 hours; this was after being turned away from another surgery as it was closing. The child became unconscious & a doctor was called & all hell was let loose.

I've even been sent to the GP by a pharmacist - and was turned away until I protested and nearly passed out.

So sorry folks I'm dead scared of being anywhere near the NHS at the moment.
I also think that receptionists should NOT be allowed to diagnose at the desk

Glad to hear hubby home VQ .hope your d improving Annie I worked in nhs for over 40yrs how things have changed the pressures now are horrendous and I am glad I am
Out of it now . Myself and hubby and both had serious health problems in last few years and I cannot praise nhs enough God help us if we lose it .

In our area there appears to be a new service that has recently been introduced -- self referral for physio. It seems that you don't need to go via your doctor, you can make your request for NHS physio online, this is then triaged by a senior physio and suitable treatment arranged at local clinics or hospital. Both my wife and I have used the service, myself for my hip pain and my wife for a groin strain. We were both given appointments with an NHS physio within 3 weeks. I have just referred my self to see if i can get some physio for the shoulder pain that I am suffering form ATM. My doctor gave me a sheet with exercises, but there were 20 different exercises and if i did all of them as recommended it would take 4 hours a day !!!. i hope a physio will be more selective and give me exercises specific to my problem. I wait with baited breath.

Glad he's home Vampire it must have been terrifying. This is when you can't beat the NHS. When DH had peritonitis the paramedics were wonderful. So cheerful and giving him plenty of time until he felt ready to be moved.

Good news VQ

DH came home yesterday. He's still taking medication for the dizziness and vomiting but is much better. They also did an MRI and discovered that the artery to his brain is a bit blocked. The GP took bloods and his treatment depends on the results. If he's diabetic or borderline diabetic they will treat for the blocked artery but if he's ok then it's just lose weight and take more exercise.

There are GP surgeries at the major London train stations. Maybe they'd suit you, Lillie.

So a 7.30 appointment would mean you're an hour late for work, Lillie. Sorry, but you'd take time off to see a solicitor or an accountant. Nobody's indispensable at work, especially if you drop dead because you've neglected your health.

Jane10. I hope your Dad wasn't my GP, when I lived in London. He was the rudest, most arrogant person I think I've ever come across. The surgery was a smelly single room. He made it quite clear that HE was the only one who knew about medicine. I only visited him twice and found out later that nobody went to him, if they really thought they were ill. They went straight to A & E. I'm glad I was hardly ever ill.

Vq Hope you are both ok. The N.h.S A & E staff are superhuman and deserve so much praise.

Oh Lillie Here speaks a retired person!!

Things don't always get better!

Yes Jane I remember our old ( to me) Scottish doctor, we went to his house ( front room the waiting room) and simply waited, he would pop his head around the door and say 'who's next?' And everybody was honest !
He did long surgeries, all would be seen and got called out at nights.Just him, no other doctors at the practice.

My Dad was a GP. He could never get over the short working hours of modern GPs. He had 2 surgeries a day. Everyone was seen. No appointments. Between them he did home visits. Sometimes these would be to people who hadn't asked for a visit but who he was worried about. We lived above the surgery. Our dining room was the waiting room. Changed days now!!

Our local BMI hospital has a private GP service i it is quite costly and drugs have to be paid for. When I was at reception recently a man was paying just short of £80 for his wife's prescription However I know several people who have used it in an emergency. Friends were going on holiday and the wife got an ear infection. Her GP had no appointments so they bit the bullet and paid so that they could fy.

Ha ha Katyk....... I'm on the tube at 6.30 am!

Our GP appointments start at 7am.

I agree paddyann, I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want to take time off work for a GP appointment. There are people relying on me to be at work first thing in the morning until 5pm. I would be prepared to pay £20 for an out of hours consultation.
A & E is different and I would hope for the same great service your DH had vampirequeen. I hope all goes well once they diagnose the problem.

Pagzy

A sensible post. Been there done that and got the t.shirt. As long as we were in the hospital being on a ward / admitted was the least of our problems and seeing the despair of others around us the target of 4 hours was not an issue, just greatful the care was being given.

Hubby is at present undergoing tests due to having prostate cancer and so far we cannot fault any of the NHS service.

The NHS is a like trying to get the proverbial square peg in the round hole and if in any business demand outstrips supply you will have problems. Time and again we are told of the rise in population and the rise in hospital at tendencies the 2 cannot be so easily separated.

It should not be a politic football either but a cross party issue, if they could ever agree.