To be annoyed by obvious waste by nhs

Isn't it amazing how people not working for the NHS anymore know exactly what is wrong with it. You wonder why they don't volunteer for their local CCG or become a governor of their local trust and put everything right!

I am finding this an issue at the moment and think it must be because of underfunding. An elderly relative has been in hospital for a month - the last 3 weeks waiting for a bed in a respite care home whilst a broken bone heals. Whilst waiting she picked up an infection which meant a delay as she was no longer medically fit for discharge. The care home have visited twice to assess - once they were turned away because of the infection; the second time she was fit but the 2 nurses on duty were covering from other wards and said they couldn't help, so the care home were turned away. Since then she has picked up another infection. It feels very frustrating and although the hospital say it is really important for her to leave hospital (freeing up a bed) there doesn't seem much action unless we remind them.

trisher you take your life in your hands if you speak up within the confines of the hospital that you work in. I also worked in the NHS and also know that bullying is rife unless you belong to a certain clique so speaking your thoughts would create a hostility that wouldn't have been conducive in the environmental conditions in which we worked.

I think there is a possibility of hospitals in France getting 'Chatbots' which can translate for patient and Dr. It's difficult with a second language knowing medical terminology especially when one is already worried and stressed.

Yes, trisher I would pay more for the NHS but only if it became more efficient. Of course people who don't work in the NHS have a right to voice their opinions about the way it works, or doesn't work. Surely you have opinions about services you use like transport, water, travel? Perhaps some people on here do volunteer as you suggest but prefer not to blow their own trumpets? Imo it is arrogant for anyone working in the NHS to think they know it all and cannot improve. Anyone with such an attitude in the company I worked for would get sent on a Personal Improvement course.

Because families can misinterpret and say what they think rather than what the patient has said.

live7 sadly this is typical with old people. Could the care home not telephone first to ensure they will be welcome and the relevant person will have time to talk to them?
I didn't say people had no right to speak out Nonnie I said isn't it funny how they know but don't do anything!

Do ex pats learn the mother tongue of the country they are living in? Mostly no. The Welsh have leaflets etc printed in Welsh and why not its the mother tongue. People living here who have english as a second language need an interpreter because as other posters have said its all about care. The use of printed information in other languages is important for people who do not have a big grasp of english, it is important that public services are just that, they serve all the public.

Trisher, what is your problem? You appear to have a go at everyone who doesn’t agree with you!

Imo you should be able to understand and make yourself understood in the language of the country you live in, unfortunately a lot of people ex pats and otherwise don't. This can be for a number of reasons, lack of courses, lack of interest, cultural restraints to name but a few. The families I mentioned wanted to translate for their relative themselves, thank you to all who pointed out why this shouldn't be allowed. To the person who said I didn't make it clear who wore badges, it was the interpreters, and they were not volunteers as they both sat comparing their hourly rates when they weren't needed.

Re the interpreter who demanded an interpreter story, can you not see that in the heat of the moment, where you might be experiencing considerable stress, you may find that you cannot think as quickly or accurately in your non-native tongue? It is perfectly possibly that the guy was working the system but better that than a miscarriage of Justice.
It is also difficult for family to be impartial. For example, my mother is English speaking and is blooming awkward about everything. The other day she was speaking about going back on a medication which is highly addictive and makes her even more vulnerable. I might be tempted to interpret that she doesn't want that particular medication if I could get away with it because it will make everybody's life of those caring for her, absolutely hellish. I'm not the type of person to do that because I believe that, as hard as it is to cope with, she has the right to make up her own mind but others may not see things in the same way.

maddyone I have a go at people who think they have in some way a right to have treatment whenever they demand it, who make unreasonable demands on NHS staff and who criticise and carp about things, allege waste and corruption but can only quote as evidence a story told to them by someone. I've family who work for the NHS and recently visited a local hospital every day for over 3 months. I am so impressed by the dedication shown and work done.

Trisher, I also have members of my family who work for the NHS, but neither I nor they think it’s perfect. No huge institution is.
I think that Gransnet reflects a wide range of views, I don’t think it’s a forum for people to ‘have a go’ at other people because they don’t agree with them. No one on here should be having a go at someone else because of their views.

"sarahelenwhitney" our NHS is most definitely NOT envied by the rest of the world. We spend more per head for poorer outcomes and everyone has a horror story of poor NHS care but when it comes down to it no-one is allowed to criticise "our wonderful NHS" No it isn't wonderful. It does some wonderful things but it's not fit for purpose. People need to take off the blinkers, look at actually successful health care systems and find politicians brave enough to stick their heads above the parapet to suggest changes. ……..I see Dumbo flying overhead right now......

Lots of us know people who work in the NHS and most of those people are extremely hard working. However the systems are often disastrous especially for Procurement. It isn’t only about getting the best price but also about employing all the people who negotiate the contracts, the reports that have to be written, dealing with Preferred Suppluers who might have a relationship with those at a higher level. It’s the same in the Fire Service and Council. The Fire Service has rebranded several times in the time I’ve been involved with it and it costs a fortune in new uniform, logos, stationery, etc. The waste is criminal.

If I were unfortunate enough to fall ill whilst on holiday abroad I would fully expect to have to pay for an interpreter myself.

Mabel2's point is just one example of the terrible waste within the NHS. It's under enough pressure as it is, with all the extra demands put on it by the huge numbers of immigrants flooding into this country.

The NHS spends millions on translation services whereas it doesn't seem to happen in other countries. My friend was taken ill in Spain and there wasn't anybody who could speak English. They weren't at all bothered but when they found she was on holiday and didn't actually live there, they did find somebody who spoke English.

Possibly the result of too many ex-pats chrissyh.
When my DS was ill in Italy recently his doctor spoke no English, he used Google translate to explain what was wrong. Possibly there may be an electronic solution in the future but until then I think we have to stay with interpreters.
After all if people are working and paying taxes shouldn't they have the same service as everyone else?

Trisher, if someone is working, then they would probably have enough knowledge of English not to need an interpreter. Most other government departments use either a telephone based interpreting service or allow the family to translate for their non English speaking member.
Too many people live in countries for years and years without bothering to learn the language of the country they live in.

Not necessarily *Mabel28 this may be a mother with a young child or children whose husband is in full time employment . Health is a specialised area that needs someone who has enough vocabulary to be able to translate complicated medical information. If there was a working, free efficient language teaching programme in this country which was available to all I might agree that interpreters were unnecessary. There isn't. In fact all English language teaching even in schools has been cut. Children do learn but it is thanks to the extra efforts of staff not to a proper ESL programme.

I agree any publicly funded organisation needs to be run as efficiently & as cost effectively as possible.

However the increased micromanagement of operational aspects of provision, by successive governments, has increased the levels of bureaucracy.
The setting of unhelpful and arbitrary targets have often distracted professionals from the core purpose of their work .
Deliberate dismantling & undermining of the service by government policy of underfunding, which also impacts on training, development, recruitment & retention of staff has not exactly helped.

All this whinging about "foreign people" either wasting money by needing translators, or the overseas medical staff we rely on having 'accents' is racism in my book!
I know of young (white) South African and Australian couples who have deliberately chosen to come to be in the UK to have their babies on the NHS and then returned home! perfectly legit and I do not mind but feel if they had been brown skinned it would have been "exposed" in certain press.

Many appointments are never kept, medicines wasted, worried well use up appointments/resources.

trisher why should we pay for people to learn English? When I asked a European friend what happened if people moved to her country she said they sent their children to international schools. I explained I meant people who moved from third world countries and she said there was no provision, they had to pay themselves.

I agree that the leaflets in big hospitals should be in many languages but I do wonder how much interpreters cost. It must be very expensive if they have to have medical knowledge as well. Why do they need that?

Nonnie, your friend is welcome to the approach she says is taken by her government. I'm relieved to live in a country that takes a different approach.

If you've "moved from third world countries", its more than likely you have sought asylum because you're fleeing war or famine and desperately trying to keep your children alive. I'm happy for some of my taxes to go towards supporting those people.

It's very difficult not to feel a degree of racism and bigotry in some comments here.

Incidentally, a friend who was born in Europe, has lived in the UK 50 years and contributed hugely to this country has been asked where she was born at each of her recent hospital appointments. She is of IndoChinese heritage and asked a group of friends gathered together recently how many of us have been asked that question. None other than you came the reply.

Is it racist to ask someone who looks as if they may not be British where they were born? Perhaps less than tactful but if we carried ID cards it would be so much simpler for the staff to know who is entitled to use our NHS and who is not. I don't know how we should check who is entitled and who is not as you could have someone who 'looks' British but isn't entitled to use the NHS. Does our NHS number show entitlement? Perhaps that could be more widely used.

I am also happy for my taxes to help the genuine refugees but wonder why that needs to include lessons in the language of the country which has taken them in. It seems to me that people gravitate towards their own communities so why can't the more established help the newcomers learn the language? DS was useless at French at school but soon learned to speak it fluently when he went to live in Switzerland. He has since lived in two other countries and learnt to speak their languages without any lessons. If he can do that in the country of my friend I don't understand why others who are motivated can't do the same. One of our local BBC news presenters who wass born in this country interviewed her mother, who had come to the UK in the 60s, and had to speak to her in her original language because she didn't understand English. The TV presenter seems to be well educated so why couldn't her mother learn the language? I can only assume she chose not to.

Nonnie Is it racist to ask someone who looks as if they may not be British where they were born?
Yes it is!
There has been a Yemeni community near here for over 150 years. They are British, no matter how they look