I must have heard that wrong

[JONNO_CELEBS]

The news headline "NHS aim to see all A&E patients by the end of the year"

Most of them will prolly be dead by then

Jonno

[Lilmiss]

Grrrr....

I have so much trouble with the hospitals and diag's at work.
Although we have a hospital about 8 miles from my town, the poor beggars have to travel halfway across the u.k for simple things like mri scans and oncology treatments, because our hospital can't see them all.

It's sickening that these poor people, who are ill in the first place, have to take an hours journey everyday for simple things that only take 15mins. The hospital has taken on so many foreign nurses to help combat the problem, but the majority can't speak English to the level they should, which is quite upsetting for a lot of my pensioners and hard of hearing clients.

The hospital also has the cheek to increase parking fee's, yet it is still impossible to park in them as the Doctors and Nurses all use the spaces up. They move, and cancel appointment's daily due to lack of beds, when a whole department in the buildng is closed off.

I myself had to travel backwards and forwards to Oxford, for my hospital appointments, which is a good 2 hour journey just to get there. It's distressing and costly for anyone.

To add to the upsets, A+E ward generally take their time with their patients, so they can put in more claims to get more nurses and equiptment.

It's all politics, and we are the ones who suffer.
Pah, and the English health service is suposed to be the best.

[DanB]

At least its free(ish) though

[Lilmiss]

Hardly.

I took a whole day off work, as I had an appointment at the hosp.
Didn't know how long I would be waiting, so got a days parking.
After waiting in the dept for my Dr. for over 3/4 of an hour, I was told he was in a different hospital that day, and I wouldn't be seen.

I lost a days wage, and had to pay out for parkng, when all it would have taken was a simple call to say it had been cancelled.

Dirty feckwits.

[DanB]

Although when things like that happen I guess it isn't.

Luckily I have been quite fortuante with my recent hospital experiences. The worst I had was a 90 minute wait for my appt

[Lilmiss]

I've had a lot of trouble with them, and partly blame the death of my girl on the stupid idiots who couldn't spot the troubles before it happened. I was given wrong advice, wrong medication and not enough appointments.

Yes, I have a chip on my shoulder.
Although most Nurses and Dr's are helpful, it's not enough.

We had a guy died on a stretcher in a corridor of the hosp as there was no beds available, and he was forgotten about. Can't understand why this type of stuff carrys on in this day and age. Sickening.

[JONNO_CELEBS]

Unfortunately lilmiss that's the way it is, for the most part our health system sucks, these suits sit round a table spouting wonderful ideas about how to save money and crap like that, what they actually need to do is visit the front line once in a while and see with their own eyes whats going on, it's always been the same, everything is done from statistics etc, they are not acurate enough when it comes to human life, the NHS needs a major kick up the arse

Jonno

[lynx]

The really annoying thing is that it mostly needs just a little reorganisation to improve things dramatically.

3 years ago I could have waited 4 days to get an appointment with my GP, not a lot of use if you've got a bad back and urgently need some powerful painkillers, especially when you know that the condition will probably only last about a week. 2 years ago, things were even worse, over a week's wait, so they decided they had to do something about it.

After a couple of months where the doctors (there are 5 of them) took it in turns to do an extra surgery each day, they had cleared the backlog. They then simply said no more advance appointments. Simply ring when you need to see the doctor and you get an appointment for the same day (or sometimes first thing next morning if you ring late in the afternoon).

Now there are no queues, the waiting room rarely has more than 2 or 3 people (it can hold about 40), you get to see the doctor when you need to, there are hardly any missed appointments, and the average amount of time actually with the doctor has gone up from 7 minutes to 10.

Next, they decided to do something about blood tests. In the past you had to go to the blood test clinic at the local hospital. Parking is chronic, yet they must have been sending dozens of patients every week. Solution - have the people who take the blood tests come to the local surgery 2 mornings per week.

Last time I went to the doctor I left home at 9.35, had my appointment with the doctor at 9.40, he ordered a blood test which I had at 9.50 and I was home by 10. Just with a little simple reorganisation, and at no extra cost.

[vidcc]

i Have experience of the British an US healthcare systems.
The NHS is a fine system but suffers from beurocracy, it needs better management not more management. I do grin when i hear people complain about their healthcare because most (but not all) complaints are about "having to take time off work" or "parking" or "had to wait"..just as in this thread...please don't think i am having a go here, I'm just pointing out the usual grumbles. Only those actually working pay into the system via national insurance yet everyone is treated.
Also the complaint where the hospital is "30 miles away"....do you want a hospital on every corner?
Here in the US the hospitals are located where the profit is...big towns and cities...the treatment corrisponds to your wealth.... we still have to wait for appoinments dependening on location and practice...parking is free though. the thing is we have to pay a lot more money and if you can't afford it but make too much to qualify for state help you have to take out a loan....people have been known to lose their homes to pay medical bills.

What i am basically saying is that the grumbles usually have more to do with familiarity breeding contempt than the downfalls of the system when it comes to the NHS.
You may think you have it bad but it's mostly a conceived theory based on inconvenience

Yes the NHS is far from perfect but that goes with ALL healthcare systems...social and private.

@lillmiss

I was sorry to hear about your loss, i remember it vividly because we lost our baby just after. I know the things that go on in the mind after such a tradgic event..... we had all the tests under the sun and we still lost ours....sometimes it happens. I understand your anger, i understand your pain, i understand your loss.
I know each case is different and i don't know the medical facts of your situation. What i am trying to say is please don't be bitter.... doctors do care, doctors do try everything possible to prevent loss... sometimes they can't and they have to live with that. Not a thing i would like to have on my mind.
I look at it like this...we have 3 wonderful children to love... we are blessed.... one day you will be as well...i really hope so.
take care

[Lilmiss]

Thanks Vidcc.
Condolences and thoughts to you, too.



I understand we do have it a lot better than most, but still the dramatic increase in complaints speaks for itself. And they are not just simple gripes of travel and whatnot.
They include;
Clinical judgement
Hopital systems
Waiting, delays and cancellations
Staff attitudes
Hospital enviroment
Transport and parking
General patient care



It's madness, and all to do with politics and money.
I do have to add, all the Nurses that looked after me while birthing, were fantastic. Very understanding and caring, I couldn't have asked for better care. But still, it doesn't excuse the lousy treatment beforehand.