How the NHS wastes money.

MrA had to go in for a urethral splint to be fitted last week. I waited in the reception area for 5 hours for him. In that time I saw all sorts of goings on with patients arriving late, attending on the wrong day or wrong time and one even at the wrong hospital as he didn't want to travel to the correct hospital. I can only imagine the number of medical staff sitting around waiting for patients to arrive to allow them to do their jobs.

On the other hand the op MrA went in for wasn't performed in the end so we spent 5 hours and £12 parking for nothing. The op was rearranged for this morning.

When he got there this morning he was prepped for the op then told that they wanted to take another scan just to be sure of what was going on. The scan showed the op wasn't needed so he was sent home again. So another £30 in taxis for nothing.

I'm very happy that he didn't need the op so something is going right, but this week must have cost a fortune for the NHS as well as us.

I worked for the NHS for over 30 years, so I won't hear a word said against it. If you don't like the NHS get a private doctor., see how you like that.

If a UK citizen travels anywhere outside our borders we have to pay for any form of health care hence the need for travel insurance whether we are able to communicate or need assistance. Wonder how much UK medical centres actually recover from tourist incidents, never seem to see figures on that. Before even getting into an A & E dept in USA you have to give credit card details.

My dad was given a new white metal and plastic shower stool by the local Occ health service ( part of NHS). It was provided free of charge but unfortunately dad passed away by the time it arrived . I tried to make arrangements to hand it back, but after several phone calls was told they do not take them back and I should take it to the local tip. It still had the labels on. I ended up advertising it free on facebook marketplace as I couldn’t bear to just throw it away. What a waste that these cannot be taken back and used again particularly when either unused or still in good condition.! I am sure there are lots of similar things happening across the country.

undines thats my thoughts regarding using smartphones for translations, would save so much money

I am with you Allsorts, and I think it is especially important for those caring for sick and vulnerable people to be able to speak English. As for the cost of interpreters, if it is really £113 MILLION then that's appalling - how many operations does that amount to? For those in extremis, any smartphone will give a translation

I have a voluntary role in governance of a local NHS trust. We recently completed the procurement of a contract worth around £450,000 per annum. I have grave doubts about the process anyway, and graver doubts about the sheer waste of time, effort and energy that went into it. At the moment I'm am thinking long and hard about writing a formal letter to the board chairman. I'm not unhappy about the result, but I am unhappy about how we got there.

Primrose53

Another hospital visitor told me today of something he witnessed recently.

He works in the building trade himself. He was visiting an older relative and stayed 4 hours. He said there was an NHS maintenance man looking at a small hole in an interior wall. He had all his gear with him including a tub of filler. He put a barricade around his work area, put a sign up, did a lot of looking at it. Went off for a break. Had a chat to everybody who passed by. After 4 hrs he finally put some filler in the hole!

The visitor had a few words with him and they talked about various sites they had worked on. The NHS guy said “This job is a doddle. Best one ever. Nobody on your case, take as long as you like.” The visitor said that was a 15 minute job maximum!

There is an out of order toilet on my husband’s bay. The loo was leaking and they had to remove it and take up all the flooring. 10 days so far and it’s still not useable because “someone ordered the wrong loo.”

This is just one hospital. 😥

Despite being told by the current government and its predecessor not to hire anymore Diversity & Equality jobs and to start cutting existing positions, NHS managers have ignored our representatives and continue to advertise EDI posts. Some 'lead positions' attracting a tidy £91,000 per annum. 35 EDI roles have been created since the current government came to power. 29 of those positions are to work from home for three days a week, and to be in the office for two shifts a week. The Health Minister has asked the NHS not to allow 'ideologues' to impair the service's performance. The government's attempt to sort out the wasteful bloated bureaucatic nightmare, cut waiting times, and help improve front line services seems doomed to fail. The NHS bureaucrats obviously feel safe enough to defy their boss and spend tax payer's money as they please. (Source: The Telegraph, 29th of January, 2025).

Why is this concerning!!!
Shouldn't patients be aloud an interpreter.
If you were hospitalised abroad wouldn't you want one.

Working hard OR hardly working!!!!!

Dooskedog I totally agree with your statement if you don't turn up I have had 2 occasions where I haven't attended an appointment one with HF I was in intensive care in another hospital and missed my son's asthma appointment and Dr reported me to SS as I was told it was neglect and unacceptable. The latest one was sent an appointment needed to be rearranged kept calling and calling no answer so missed the appointment when I managed to get another appointment I apologised Tobe told oh don't worry that number doesn't ring through so you're not the only one 🙄

We do need managers - the NHS is an enormous organisation and it is too easy to be anti-manager. Things would be much worse without them and of course some are more effective than others. It is also true that no large organisation gets everything right but large commercial organisations do not have the same scrutiny as the NHS.

So forty years ago I briefly dated a hospital porter. He used to, among other things, steal loo paper. Not rolls but huge bales.

Surely if a Japanese or any other tourist needed a translator in an NHS hospital their insurance should pick up the bill

I worked in the NHS and I can assure you there are far too many middle managers

Try googling theft in NHS. There are loads of cases of doctors, nurses and paramedics stealing drugs and equipment.

Many get struck off and lose their jobs and you can check that out on GMC site.

The jewellery I am trying to get back involves one of the categories I mention above. I cannot tell you how upset my husband is as it belonged to his Dad and was given to him as his Dad was dying of cancer at 62.

Our GP has a checking system built in, its month by month.
It is a good idea to keep an eye on this tho.

ronib

I was surprised to find 3 months of medication on order but uncollected and later destroyed for a friend who had been in hospital. There is no mechanism for the gp to stop the prescriptions going forward to the pharmacy when a patient has been hospitalised it would seem. I now phone the pharmacy 7 days in advance to confirm the request. I wonder how much this wastage across the NHS is costing the taxpayer ?

It must vary, my doctor won't issue a prescription for more than one months med and I have to request it. I've got an underactive thyroid and have been on med for it for nearly 20 years. I've looked at it the other way round and thought what a waste of his time checking the requests every month and issuing new prescriptions.

Allira

I don't understand it either.
People complain about waiting lists, not being able to access the services they need then don't turn up when they do have a regular appointment like that.

I cancelled an appointment last week at very short notice, about an hour I think. I had caught a bug from GS that he'd probably caught from nursery. I don't think they'd have welcomed me as I was vomiting. That can't explain it all but some must be genuine reasons.

I was surprised to find 3 months of medication on order but uncollected and later destroyed for a friend who had been in hospital. There is no mechanism for the gp to stop the prescriptions going forward to the pharmacy when a patient has been hospitalised it would seem. I now phone the pharmacy 7 days in advance to confirm the request. I wonder how much this wastage across the NHS is costing the taxpayer ?

Primrose53

There is also a great deal of money lost in the NHS due to thefts of drugs and equipment by medical staff.

A nurse used to live next to me and her kitchen cupboards were full of NHS wipes, bandages, tubi grip, scissors, plasters, gauze, anything she could get for nothing. She told me it was a perk of the job and they all did it.

I am currently trying to locate a valuable and extremely sentimental piece of jewellery which was “removed” from my seriously ill husband in hospital the night he had a stroke. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get to the bottom of this and will not give up. It sickens me that such people are working in the caring profession.

I'm not sure if that is widespread. In my close family I have a doctor, a midwife and a nurse. None of them have quantities of hospital supplies in their houses, or if they have they have them well hidden. I've even had to get some paracetamol out of my handbag for one of them as they hadn't got any painkillers in the house.

Maybe things have been tightened up or you just had a kleptomaniac neighbour.

I don't understand it either.
People complain about waiting lists, not being able to access the services they need then don't turn up when they do have a regular appointment like that.

Allira

^I can’t pretend to know what I’m talking about here, but a suggestion might be to charge patients for wastage under our control? Missed appointments is an obvious option^

Yes, I agree but some of the missed appointments might be due to the fact that the texts, emails, letters with the appointments have been known to arrive after the appointment time.
That is beyond the control of the medical staff and the patient and a complete waste of time and money, so the appointments system was at fault for wasting resources.

Yes, which is why I gave a caveat.

The people not using the taxis is annoying though. It is a 12 week course which runs twice a week, on the same days. Some get free transport and they are the ones who don’t show up, but the taxis are still paid for to keep the contract. I assume they go to the houses of the patients (the physios discuss the charges in front of the rest of us).

There is also a great deal of money lost in the NHS due to thefts of drugs and equipment by medical staff.

A nurse used to live next to me and her kitchen cupboards were full of NHS wipes, bandages, tubi grip, scissors, plasters, gauze, anything she could get for nothing. She told me it was a perk of the job and they all did it.

I am currently trying to locate a valuable and extremely sentimental piece of jewellery which was “removed” from my seriously ill husband in hospital the night he had a stroke. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get to the bottom of this and will not give up. It sickens me that such people are working in the caring profession.

I can’t pretend to know what I’m talking about here, but a suggestion might be to charge patients for wastage under our control? Missed appointments is an obvious option

Yes, I agree but some of the missed appointments might be due to the fact that the texts, emails, letters with the appointments have been known to arrive after the appointment time.
That is beyond the control of the medical staff and the patient and a complete waste of time and money, so the appointments system was at fault for wasting resources.