Gosh!

sarahellenwhitney, the GNer you accuse of moaning and groaning on an earlier thread had just sat with her mentally ill son for 22 hours in A & E, for most of that time in a bleak corridor to avoid the screens in all waiting areas showing graphic rolling coverage of the Vegas shooting. I'm sure he wouldn't be the only one who could have been upset by this, and the NHS should get feedback on such issues.

I have an irregular heart beat some of the time. I had suffered for about 3 days and been told in the past to see a doctor after 24 hours. I then phoned my GP practice on a Friday afternoon latish but within their times. I was told off by the receptionist and the Doctor for leaving it late on a Friday afternoon. My heart beat was missing a beat then double beating. It was ok as in a rhythm apparently. I had to defend myself and said I didn't do it on purpose quite the opposite waited hoping it would be right itself. I don't want to go back now. It just feels uncomfortable. I still pay tax and have done for over 30 years. So I contribute.

We are going to train 5000 new nurses and many new doctors as well. This is brilliant because I have taught many Six-formers who were caring and compassionate, sensible and would have made fantastic nurses or doctors but several could not get onto a training course due to lack of spaces. I am so pleased that now more of our caring young people who want to train to become doctors or nurses will be able to. I used to get so frustrated when we constantly hear we must allow endless immigration because the NHS needs them as we don't have enough doctors and nurses. The answer to train more is so obvious.

sarahhellenwhitney May I point out that the NHS is NOT free, we have all paid N.I. over the years, our prescriptions are not free, ophthalmic and dental services are not free, likewise podiatry.
I am not complaining as DH has had hundreds of thousands of ££££ worth of care, but the average person does not necessarily cost the NHS as much. Me for instance.
Other European countries, and I only have experience of Germany here, have insurance schemes which are deducted at source from wages/salaries but also offer next day diagnosis and/ or one stop treatment centres, single rooms in hospitals and an enviable status for nurses and doctors.
So our NHS is not the only viable system and many people might prefer to pay a reasonable amount into a compulsory insurance scheme rather than be forced to choose between weeks of waiting to see a GP, months of waiting for hospital treatment, cancelled operations and sadly in many cases, scruffy even dirty or inadequate hospital facilities and the astronomical prices charged by the private sector for plumped pillows and flowers in private rooms (oh and queue jumping)

I work for the NHS, in a treatment room (admin). We deal with wounds, removal of sutures, ear irrigation and leg ulcers. We do our best to fit our patients in and will if necessary find them a suitable appointment at another treatment room. People complain but we smile and nod, however what annoys us is when people don't bother turning up for appointments nor do they contact us to let us know they won't be attending. Last month we did well with only 8 missing appointments, however the month before it was 19.... Doctor's surgeries and no doubt hospitals have the same problem -
wish we could charge them for appointments missed without a valid reason.

With my GP today, the first appointment I can book is a telephone one a week on Thursday. I can barely breathe and need antibiotics, which I almost have on standing order. The receptionist told me she'd try and get a Dr to sign for them next week sometime. Thanks!

Nothing wrong with having a moan. I'm sure everyone is very aware that we're lucky to get care at all, but when it falls short, well.. we moan!

Where would we be without the NHS.
It has been taken for granted, used and abused for far too long.Isn't it a free service ?Where in the world can we Brits obtain for free a life saving operation costing thousands of £ . Chemo is given free to save/ prolong the lives of thousands in the UK and all we can do is whinge
Complaining how long we have to wait for a doc appointment. On one recent thread a complaint that TV in A&E upsetting a mentally ill person the response being the person affected should complain. Spare me, have we nothing better to do than moan and groan how hard done by we are when in fact we would have more to complain about if we had to pay for our health care.
Lighten up and count your blessings.

I met a lady whilst out shopping the other day, who had fallen and hurt her hip. She had seen her gp, and he'd told her that if after a week or so, her hip was still bad, she should go and see him again, as she could be referred for physio. She had spent over a week phoning every day to try to get an appointment, and moaned to the receptionist.
The receptionists answer was "well if its that bad you should go to A and E".

I had to make an appt. to see a doctor a few days ago, and the first one available was the 25th of this month, and at a different surgery. As I'm 80, I hope I'm still around !

Where do you live? I'm moving! Seriously tho we have a very good GP surgery but because of over-development in our area they are working at full stretch and it's not unusual to wait 4 weeks for an appointment.

I had an evening appointment at our local hospital to see a consultant. When I arrived a nurse was standing at reception. She said she was waiting for me and took me straight to the consultant! He spent about half an hour with me. The hospital waiting room was empty. I felt like royalty. This was NHS.

Its certainly the case here. My particular surgery seems to be ok, but I have friend who are told there are no appts available, and to phone every morning to see if there is a cancellation.

I don't really understand this waiting 2 weeks for an apt. thing. Yes if I want to see a specific doctor I may have to wait a that long but surely every surgery has a walk in hour or something similar. If I get to doctors at 8am I can see a doctor that morning- usually I can wait & see one within an hour but if not the apt will be before 10am same day.It may not be a doctor I have seen before but they are all lovely anyway & I really don't care who I see as long as get what I need. Luckily I don't need to go often but if a UTI starts in middle of night or something you NEED to see someone quickly.
Is it really the case that some doctor's have no apts at all for weeks? My husband's surgery has Open Surgery from 8.30 to 10.30 every morning & we are lucky enough to have a local walk in service 7 days a week at a small local hospital.
Is it really the case that if you wake up with something wrong you cannot see a doctor for 2 weeks??

always possible to have on the day appointments in my practice if you call before 9am,or if its something you would worry about they'll fit you in at the end of the day.They do bloods and heart traces amongst other things onsite.I have never had any issues with the NHS ever.My family have all had great treatment when needed from caring people .The only issue we have is that our local hospital has been having services cut...a throwback 15 years to a labour administration and no matter waht we do we cant get our A and E back.This is partiicularly a problem this month as there are diversions on the roads all around us.Some that are 55 miles or more so anyone who wants to get to A and E wll have a long journey and a lot of tailbacks before they get there

Some of us are fortunate to live in areas where this type of GP surgery is available and I guess all of us are thankful for that because we know that not all surgeries are the same. The reasons for differences are many and varied so it may not be possible for every surgery to provide a perfect service. I and my family are just so happy that ours is that good.

When you DO get treatment, it’s good but recent experiences with hospitals- 18 month wait and repeated antibiotics for kidney stones operation (now scheduled for this month but it could still be cancelled), cancellation of bladder operation whilst sitting, gowned up and prepped for theatre, Mum being left with food or drink untouched (because she couldn’t reach it) on the bed table even though we offered to go in and feed her but were turned down, and eventually her treatment ‘not on the Liverpool Pathway’ but the treatment was exactly as laid out in the information about that, which led after nearly 3weeks to her death, being asked to attend an appointment for treatment, waiting over 40 minutes then being told that the nurse practitioner ‘wasn’t authorised to carry out the treatment’, going INTO the surgery and cancelling a flu vaccine appointment as I’d been to the pharmacy for it and still being sent texts reminding me to attend, texting Cancel, then in the end ringing the practice and telling them again, to be told that I hadn’t already cancelled. It’s hard to remember the good things about the NHS sometimes.

Slightly off topic but has anyone else heard of this or registered for assistance with it.

Minor ailment scheme
Some pharmacies also run a minor ailment scheme for common health problems like aches and pains, skin conditions and stomach upsets.
If your pharmacy runs a minor ailment scheme, the pharmacist will be able to assess your needs, give you advice, suggest medicines if appropriate, and refer you to a GP if necessary.
When pharmacies provide medicines as part of a minor ailment scheme, you get the medicines on the NHS.
If you normally pay a prescription charge, this charge will apply here. If you're exempt from prescription charges – if you're under 16 or over 60, for example, or if you have a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) – you won't pay for the medicine.

Seems like a good idea to me as so many GP appts used for minor things where people need to get their medicine free of charge, this scheme could p ick up some of the slack. I had never heard of it but took this from an NHS site this morning.

A pat on the back from me for my GP practice. I've never needed to see one urgently but a friend has a couple of times and has always been fitted in or received a phone call from a doctor.

There are about 10 GPs and only one is male - a number are women with children and part-time so an appointment with a specific doctor can take a couple of weeks, which is OK with me for. If I can't wait that time I just select another - all done online.

I recently had an appointment and the GP wanted bloods, checked her PC and saw that the phlebotomist was free so went along and arranged for me to be done there and then instead of coming back.

So I'm a happy bunny - NHS at its best.

At our Surgery when you want to see a doctor you are given a phone appointment (with a doctor) who then decides if you are 'ill enough' to then have a face to face appointment, otherwise he/she will decide what medication you need and you collect it from the local chemist. I haven't managed to 'see' a doctor for over 18 months !!!

Given that there are people in this word who have no access to care, or have to literally walk for days when seriously ill or injured to get to help, we really cannot complain. I sat in a waiting room at a local hospital awaiting an MRI. There were two scanners and the arrangement seemed to be that one room was used for inpatients and the other for outpatients like me. One scanner had broken and the nurse apologised and explained we might have to wait past our appointment time. Several people were wheeled in on beds looking very ill indeed; however, the complete moron sitting next to me kept looking at his watch, tutting, and finally said he was going to make an official complaint about the time he had to wait. Someone else said the same. These people no doubt form part of the statistics for the media to pounce on, as do the people who ring for an ambulance when they can't get the top off a bottle or are like the charmer who took her child's shoe, covered in dog poo, into an A and E and asked for it to be 'safely removed. I also heard at the time of the Mexican earthquake that they hospitals were being made available 'even to those not entitled'. Can you imagine living in a country where you are not entitled to care?

I can't really complain about my GP practise except that to get an appointment you have to tell the nosy receptionist the reasons why you want to see the doctor and then she decides how urgent your appointment is . Grrrrr then you never see the same GP twice which means you have to start again from scratch with any follow ups .

Okay so my first line was a lie....

Our health trust is the worst in the country and our surgery came out nearly last in a recent poll. However, my GP rang me yesterday to find out how I was and was on the phone for about half an hour. He said he will ring again next Friday.

No, I am not seriously ill but had written a letter of complaint to another part of the NHS and copied it to him.

I do think there is a lot of waste in the NHS though. Yesterday I received my letter telling me I will be getting another one with my bowel cancer screening. What is the point of that? I can understand it the first time so that the actual test is not a surprise but when you have done it each time you have been asked what a waste of money and time.

Minimum of two weeks to get an appointment at our surgery and then it is usually with the one doctor nobody wants to see.
Most of my treatment has been acquired through A&E or by paying to go private.

Well done Jane! That sounds just like our practice!

I'm forever defending the nhs and think we should start a movement relating our positive experiences to counteract the moaners!

I hope whatever your problem was is soon sorted!