In praise of the NHS

Oh forgot all the traffic lights were in my favour on the drive home ?

Great to hear something positive Tanith , I wish your DH well x

OMG and you probably had nothing else planned for the day because you thought that you would be spending x hours at the hospital and spending forever driving home. I am gobsmacked but it is good when it does work out in your favour for once.

A gold star from here, too, because my DH has to go for his hearing aid/hearing MoT soon and this usually meant a 25min drive to the nearest hearing centre. He phoned to make his appointment yesterday and was delighted to be told that our local hospital now does it. A small thing for him, being able bodied, but will make the world of difference to those less able.

Unfortunately I have had several health problems in the last year and have had fantastic treatment from the hospitals here on The Wirral.

We are so lucky to have the NHS, long may it continue (hoping). They saved me from an aggressive cancer 21 years ago and I'm eternally grateful. Doesn't stop me moaning about waiting times occasionally though! Wishing you DH well OP.

Why is my reply outlined in pink?

Had great treatment from NHS last year for serious injuries after a car accident, over several months - gold star from me too

Like everything, it is not an all black or all white story. DF had superb treatment in his last illness as did DD after her serious road accident, but I can also quote examples, some very recent, where treatment was offhand and inadequate,, waiting times horrendous and hospital appointments were offered for times when transport was unavailable, even though the hospital knew about the problems.

I was not enamoured this week when a friend and neighbour took time off to take me to an OPD appointment. When I arrived I was asked what I was doing there. I managed to keep my cool, I was not happy and I did not receive an apology. I had the relevant paperwork but I was treated as though I had made the mistake.

Overall, my father is receiving fantastic NHS treatment for his (terminal) prostate cancer, but there has been an occasion when he really needed to be admitted to hospital, but there simply wasn't a bed for him. On nearly all the occasions when he has been admitted, his discharge has been severely delayed by the inability of the hospital's pharmacy to supply the necessary drugs without a very long delay, meaning he couldn't leave and his bed wasn't available for someone else. While there, he has seen other patients experience serious problems with their treatment, also because of the pharmacy. It would seem to be the weak link in the otherwise excellent oncology unit!
He can't rate the consultants, doctors and nurses treating him highly enough - his consultant even examined my mum one day and arranged for some tests (that her gp should have arranged a long time ago), when she became unwell while accompanying my dad to his appointment one day.
What a pity that this busy hospital is going to have to close, meaning that most patients will have to travel much further, on terribly congested roads, in the future!

Oh Charleygirl how blooming annoying . Thanks for the good wishes folks ,got a call from the lovely registrar we saw this morning cancelling DHs chemo tomorrow as his white blood cell count hasn't recovered enough so they'll check it again next week. Now we have a free day tomorrow.

tanith Hope your husband is soon feeling better. Three cheers to him and the NHS!

It's nice to hear a good news story about the NHS and I hope his white blood cell count will recover in time for his next treatment tanith.