The good and bad of the NHS...

[skalexander]

Our local hospital is a running joke, and we don't have another option. If I seriously thought there was something wrong with me, I'd be getting on a plane. My GP practice is very good.

Our local mental health service is my biggest bugbear though. I took a bi-polar Client to hospital myself, and stayed with them for 12 hours, because they were hearing voices and having hallucinations about hurting themselves or someone else. MH had stopped prescribing their meds some months earlier. Client told them about the hallucinations, very matter of factly, I was there, and they had Client arrested. Client is now in prison, having been remanded by the Court for their own safety. The community MH psychiatrist told me Client needs to be in hospital, but the MH unit don't want them there.

I was speaking to our practice nurse yesterday. Her friend's husband had a routine hip operation. During surgery his bowel was perforated and something happened to his liver. He's now on end of life care.

I agree with everthing Bats says. But even bearing in mind those things, we can do better.

[MEZZA]

I’ve worked as a nurse for 34 years within mental heath - to those of us who work on the front line all we are still seeing is cuts to funding and reducing the services because of funding
It breaks my heart some days

[Guest]

I personally have only had excellent care from.the NHS, unfortunately some in my family have not been so lucky.

I think this quote from the BBC today sums it up for me.

"The IFS, Health Foundation, King's Fund and Nuffield Trust say the NHS "does better than health systems in comparable countries at protecting people from heavy financial costs when they are ill" and that overall, "the NHS performs neither as well as its supporters sometimes claim nor as badly as its critics often allege."

I wouldn't wish to be without it though.

And my comments on the NHS are on it as an Institution, and are no reflection whatsoever on it's hard working staff - whose efforts I am very grateful for.

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by FamilyGWales

I personally have only had excellent care from.the NHS, unfortunately some in my family have not been so lucky.

I think this quote from the BBC today sums it up for me.

"The IFS, Health Foundation, King's Fund and Nuffield Trust say the NHS "does better than health systems in comparable countries at protecting people from heavy financial costs when they are ill" and that overall, "the NHS performs neither as well as its supporters sometimes claim nor as badly as its critics often allege."

I wouldn't wish to be without it though.

And my comments on the NHS are on it as an Institution, and are no reflection whatsoever on it's hard working staff - whose efforts I am very grateful for.

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I totally agree. Until recently we had really only experienced the the non-urgent side of the NHS along with usual grumbles of long waits for appointments, cancelled appointments, etc. Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we’ve had need to experience the acute/urgent side of the NHS and so far the treatment and care has been absolutely amazing - across three different hospitals. The NHS is truly a national treasure that needs resourcing and cherishing.

[DisneyWannabe]

Originally Posted by Bats

Yes, but what needs to happen is ...
1. People not rocking up at A&E because they can't get an appt at their own GP surgery
2. People realising that the NHS is not a care home for their elderly mum/dad/aunt/nan.
3. People calling 999 because they can't remember the non emergency number.
4. People actually using the services outside of the hospital that can help, ie, pharmacy, health care assistants, ANPs, PAs, 101, NHS website and many more.
5. Government bringing back the bursary for those in medical Uni (and keep them in the NHS for 10 years after they've qualified)
6. People become grateful for those on the front end of all the plop and rubbish thrown at them every day by patients/families.

My twopennethworth!

Joa

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I agree with this, I believe we all need to take more responsibility for our own health.

Overall though I think the mission of the NHS needs to be reviewed.
The current format just isn't sustainable. Sadly, I don't have the first clue how we would begin to do this as everything is so dependent on each other.

[oeamon]

A&E's have never been so busy. in my place we have over 1100 per day attendances and despite us been one of the best performing organisations in the country, each month since June we have had a day that has broken the record for our highest ever attendance. the hospital is full of sick people (I know it should be but unlike in the past they are acutely unwell) and there is absolutely no scope for keeping patients in once the acute problem is under control. in the past the process would have been to get the problem under control, monitor it, and then discharge with a plan. now its get it under control and discharge. the demand on the beds dictate this and I find it difficult to watch the doctors having to discharge patients they would prefer to keep to sort out a bit more but the pressure in the system doesn't allow it. in addition to this the GP's (CCGs) hold the purse strings and they will not commission for patients to stay any longer as its cheaper to manage them in the community

[soooexcited!]

Another long serving NHS worker here 34years. It's totally heartbreaking to see what's happened over the years. As already very well explained by fellow nhs colleagues there is no single fix. Expectations of what the NHS can do far exceeds the reality of what it can. It's performing things it was never set out to do. Repeated cuts abuse by many patients and lack of self care add extra burden. There's a hell of a lot of waste that drives me insane. Too many chiefs on high salaries attending meeting after meeting and not enough people on the ground looking after patients with genuine need. Abolishing the bursary for student nurses was one of the worst moves for a long time. People will always want to train to be a nurse but scrapping the bursary excludes a large group of potential students that may be coming to nursing a bit later in life with family commitments and probably a student loan already. Paying locum staff exorbitant salaries is crippling the NHS. There's not much incentive to join a gp practice or become a regular team member when you can name your price. The wage bills are eye watering. The fees need capping end of. Waste of medication costs billions. Inappropriate requests for medication from pts over ordering and stock piling makes my blood boil. All that dispensed medicine destroyed.
As a family we have had a lot of phenomenal medical care over the last couple of years. I'm still very proud to work in the NHS but it's dying and it's heartbreaking to watch.