Am I expecting too much? - Page 2

cashman · 23-06-2005, 15:27

the only way i can see past the situation lettie is if those arrogant sods in power(government)are put in the same position as REAL people and have to deal with the run of the mill type nhs perhaps then they could get a real picture of whats happening.

lettie · 23-06-2005, 15:34

Exactly Cashman, that's why I think copies of all complaint letters should go to the MPs. If the country cannot afford to run the healthcare system then it's high time they made some of the services be paid for, either by insurance or credit card. It's all well and good to keep putting new services in ie, one free shot at IVF, but those services have to be properly funded by somebody. It's also time that immigrants started to pay for their care. This could easily be arranged by the taking of credit card details prior to any care being given, just as they do in the States. It would help prevent people receiving care and skipping the country without paying.

cashman · 23-06-2005, 15:44

ah but on this point lettie i think you and i are talking sense,that will never do-they won't understand.

lettie · 23-06-2005, 15:53

All I can say is that frontline NHS is the most frustrating place to work. You know that people take advantage and there's nothing you can do about it. You constantly strive to give the best care that you can give, but it is never enough because there are too few staff and you end up run ragged and knackered all the time. It's no wonder that nurses and midwives are leaving the NHS in droves. They are either emigrating or just quitting and going to work in jobs outside nursing. Years of experience are lost every year through qualified nurses and midwives quitting. You would think that with the money that the government invested in our training, they would be trying to keep us happy, but evidently not.....

cashman · 23-06-2005, 15:59

you have every sympathy,it was one of the causes i championed in my trade union days,along with many others.

lindsay ormerod · 23-06-2005, 18:41

A certain Doctor in Hyndburn used to tell me exactly how much my prescription was costing his practise,and even went on to tell me ,in a very whingeing voice,how much it cost to have the surgery re-decorated for "the likes of me".Needless to say I swapped Gp's very shortly after that and am more than happy with Dr. Kapenda..

WillowTheWhisp · 23-06-2005, 18:44

Add the latest MRSA statistics to that and the NHS is in a very bad way.

I agree with Lettie that something should be done about the people who just come here for free treatment. Surely we could have some sort of rule that they have to have lived here a certain length of time in order to qualify. After all, we pay National Insurance contributions all our working lives.

How do we stop qualified people leaving the country for a better future elsewhere?

Margaret Pilkington · 23-06-2005, 19:35

The answer to that Willow is.....you can't. I left the NHS almost 3 years ago. I had 25 years of experience in caring for women, but it was the politics and the bureaucracy that finished me off.

I was in the position of dealing with complaints from patients and I can tell you that what Lettie says is absolutely true.
I know the very first complaint letter that I dealt with was returned to me to do again because I had not said 'sorry' enough.......despite the fact that the complaint was bogus and we had nothing to apologise for.

I was glad to get out........and wouldn't go back for all the tea in China.

Margaret Pilkington · 23-06-2005, 19:38

Oh.........I should have said that the complaint was thoroughly investigated......looking at patient notes, taking statements from nursing staff.....etc.
While I was investigating the complaint I couldn't do the job I was being paid to do...... which was look after patients and make sure that the ward ran smoothly.........and while the nurses were writing their statements they were not looking after patients either!

WillowTheWhisp · 23-06-2005, 22:20

I can see how frustrating it must be working at ground level within the NHS but although that complaint was bogus there are also many that aren't. I can't help feeling that a lot of it comes down to people being overworked and under too much pressure to do things they didn't train to do, by which I mean nurses should be allowed to nurse and not have all the other stuff to deal with but what happened in the olden days when there weren't all these administration staff? Hospitals seemed to be much more efficient when matrons ran the wards.

And to get back to the origins of my frustrations today my Peel House saga gets even better! One prescription I was collecting today was for Busman. The receptionist explained that the particular tablet that had been on the computer was now discontinued and they'd substituted a different one that did exactly the same thing. I looked at the prescription and queried the fact that these were 10mg and the others were 20mg and her reply was that 10mg of the new one equalled 20mg of the old one and therefore one tablet substituted for one tablet.

When Busman looked at the "new" tablets he said he'd had them before and showed me an old packet with the name of the "new" tablets on the packet but the old name on the prescription label thingy. That happens to me sometimes when one is a generic name and one a brand name. BUT, and here's my point, the old pack with the "new" name tablets contained 20mg tablets NOT 10mg. So in actual fact the prescription I collected today was for only HALF the dose! Now I'm not saying it's life threatening but it's not acceptable that's for sure.

Several years ago my late hubby had a prescription referral from the hospital which he collected as a repeat prescription from Peel House and when he looked at the dose it was for 10 times as much as he'd been given by the hospital. He queried it and they checked the hospital letter and found that it had been put on the computer incorrectly. If I know of two such similar cases it makes me wwonder how many more there are and how many of them have led to someone becoming seriously ill as a consequence.