The n.h.s.

[monkey hanger]

that says it all really. changes for changes sake and not even cost effective.

[skuta]

Yup, same boat here. Failures in every direction.


Never met or unable to see my pretend "G.P." in Ossy. No baseline status established to compare ongoing changes to. Nothing. An Admin Assistant to sign off my Prescriptions. Almost useless.


I've been once to their Surgery. The place is deserted and the Phone never rang. I could see the Consultant Receptionists who know everything were sat doing nothing. When I ring the Surgery they make out they're rushed off their feet and keep me on hold for an average of 40 minutes. Mysteriously, the person I need to speak to is never there.



Despite their new website & platitudes. They have demonstrated their disinterest in seeing any actual Patients.


Physio (Emergency LOL) was requested by a Guesser (some folk call these always wrong people "Doctors") at Blackburn Teaching goodness knows what Hospital last AUGUST. This has NEVER happened.


My wheelchair wore out & needed repairs. Some genius at Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre sent me a wholly unsuitable, extremely uncomfortable chair that ensures my spinal subluxation & constant pain. Without any "Assessment". These clowns wanted me to do an assessment OVER THE PHONE. FOR A WHEELCHAIR!!!! Think about that for a minute.


I call, eventually they send me a random, unsuitable chair again. Their new Contactors weren't even going to take my old chair away. They must think I'm starting a scrap yard for used wheelchairs. I persuaded the extremely unskilled delivery driver to take it. Not his fault, he just drives a van to drop boxes off. How on earth would he know?


Now it seems, the new N.H.S. policy is to do everything badly enough to warrant a sell off off of what's left.


There are many other petty failures & demonstrations of incompetence. I'll stop here, I'm not writing a novel.

[Guinness]

The NHS needs restructuring from the ground up.

The problem is that it is a political poisoned chalice

I’ve been party to numerous examples recently…

1. Ambulance staff waiting to unload at A & E for 4+ hours meaning they are offline to help others

2. Various departments refusing to treat without referrals from A & E despite being aware of what treatment is needed because of required paperwork and sending people back down to A&E

3. GP’s abrogating responsibility and sending people to A&E

4. 111 tickbox operators booking ambulances or sending people to A&E

5. Idiots using A&E

6. People unable to get appointments from 3 day a week GP’s using A&E for common complaints

There is a very simple solution, but no government will go for it because of negative press..

1. Define emergency (e.g life threatening)
2. Fixed price for all Ambulance call outs except above
3. Payment for all avoidable injuries at A&E
4. Payment for all none accident or emergency

Don’t even get me started on how much low paid healthcare assistants do the work of ‘nurses’ constantly bitching in the media about pay and conditions

[cashman]

I had an op yesterday all the staff were briliant it does want restructuring for me its the big wigs that run it what are pretty useless.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Also the money is spent in the wrong places.
Advertising for a Diversity Director at some silly per Annum salary is ludicrous.

As for the health care assistants taking on the duties of nurses….maybe that is because nurses have taken on many of the roles that used to be the domain of junior doctors.
They were bamboozled into doing these thinking that it was a good career move….but while nurses are re-siting IV lines and doing other roles….who is doing the actual caring for patients….? Well of course the health care assistants also want a slice of feeling their job is more interesting, more important than just feeding or toileting patients, making beds…the menial boring stuff (but just as important to good care).

As for paying for treatment for anything…to me that is not on. We have paid into the system via our contributions. How long would it be until someone told an obese patient that they would have to pay for treatment because their obesity was ‘self inflicted’
It adds in another layer of administration….there are enough of those already.

Also the NHS is very bad at collecting money from people who should have no access to treatment because they are health tourists(I know that over the last couple of years these probably fell back to zero)….I have seen people visiting relatives here….have surgery and treatment that they should have been billed for but were not.

Yes, the NHS does need root and branch changes…..but these need to be considered and implemented so that improvement for service user is assured.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Guinness what you are advocating is a version of privatisation.
During the pandemic, it has been impossible to see a GP….well nigh impossible to get even a telephone appointment…..even if you have complex life shortening health issues.
Yet if I wanted a knee replacement and I could afford to pay then I can guarantee that I could be seen and in a hospital bed in less than seven days having the required surgery.
And though GPs do not want to treat the sick there are some who are still doing aesthetics….the fillers, the Botox etc.

The big problems started when the GP contracts were changed…..also many GP’s work part time in the NHS to give them more time to do more lucrative work.

As for ‘nurses bitching in the media about pay and conditions’…..they are entitled to do this as the staffing levels in many departments are bordering on unsafe and the skill mix is unbalanced…..that might be part of the reason that HCA’s are doing the jobs that were done by nurses.
I know that I have been retired for twenty years, but I have friends still working in the NHS and I know that they work hard for their salaries…and are worth every penny because of their skills and experience.

[cashman]

to me anyone blaming the ordinary staff is just taking the easy way out simple as,

[Guinness]

I'm not advocating privatisation, I'm advocating charging the muppets who call an ambulance for stupid reasons (just google stupid ambulance calls) and people who turn up at A&E with a non emergency. In my opinion a financial charge will make people think twice before wasting an emergency resource.

But it ain't going to happen because the word 'privatisation' was used by Margaret who (just like me) is about as far from 'woke' as Rip Van Winkle....just imagine the privatisation twitterstorm from the wokeabilly hillbillies to anyone suggesting this as an option, which would prove my point about the NHS being a political poisoned chalice

And I'm not blaming ordinary staff...ordinary staff are the HCA's who do an amazing job, do the donkey work and provide the care. Nor am I blaming the secretaries and receptionists who have to constantly field difficult questions from irate patients who have been let down by a tired unsustainable system that is badly in need of an overhaul.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes, I think that those who misuse the services should be fined and I would advocate a sort of fixed penalty doled out by security staff….rather than someone being billed.
I know that there are time wasters who use the services indiscriminately….and yes by all means penalise them but please do not get into the situation where services are deemed unavailable if your need could be seen as being self induced.
To determine whether something is self induced requires a value judgement to be made….and I was taught that we were not there to make value judgements on our patients.

Do you turn away someone with a broken leg because they fell down after a few drinks at a birthday bash? (No of course you don’t…but you want their credit card details so that they pay for treatment?)
The person you want to charge may have paid their taxes and the NI contributions and never had need of the service before.

This is a slippery slope to go down….and once down there you can never get back up

[taddy]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1266013]Guinness what you are advocating is a version of privatisation.
During the pandemic, it has been impossible to see a GP….well nigh impossible to get even a telephone appointment…..even if you have complex life shortening health issues.
Yet if I wanted a knee replacement and I could afford to pay then I can guarantee that I could be seen and in a hospital bed in less than seven days having the required surgery.
And though GPs do not want to treat the sick there are some who are still doing aesthetics….the fillers, the Botox etc.

The big problems started when the GP contracts were changed…..also many GP’s work part time in the NHS to give them more time to do more lucrative work.

As for ‘nurses bitching in the media about pay and conditions’…..they are entitled to do this as the staffing levels in many departments are bordering on unsafe and the skill mix is unbalanced…..that might be part of the reason that HCA’s are doing the jobs that were done by nurses.
I know that I have been retired for twenty years, but I have friends still working in the NHS and I know that they work hard for their salaries…and are worth every penny because of their skills and experience

Thank you for that Marge, I cannot Agree more. I have stated under earlier posts that, but for the dedication of Sister Hays and the nurses and consultants who looked after me at Accrington Victoria Hospital in 1968, I would not be here to be able to type this in.

[Margaret Pilkington]

You were lucky to have their services that got you well…if that were now…what would it be like.
There have certainly been changes and they have not made the patient safer, or looked after better.
Sad as that is it has to be acknowledged…but it is not the grass roots staff at fault.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by taddy

As for ‘nurses bitching in the media about pay and conditions’…..they are entitled to do this as the staffing levels in many departments are bordering on unsafe and the skill mix is unbalanced…..that might be part of the reason that HCA’s are doing the jobs that were done by nurses.
I know that I have been retired for twenty years, but I have friends still working in the NHS and I know that they work hard for their salaries…and are worth every penny because of their skills and experience

So ,

entitled because of staffing levels....the care sector has been totally hammered...long time real caring staff were sacked because they refused the vaccine, they were pilloried in the media...'they're looking after my gran they should have the vaccine' etc..etc.....when the NHS refused..the forced vaccine was stopped and there was nothing in the media about them 'looking after my gran'...staffing levels in care is far more precarious than in the NHS because of this kind of nonsense, who wants a career that can be so easily rubbished, is paid far less and where your vocation is ridiculed and constantly attacked.

Skills and experience..yeah right...there is this snobbish idea that a nurse is far more skilled than a care worker which is total crud! Please enlighten me....just what can a nurse provide that a good trained care worker cannot?

[Margaret Pilkington]

You ask what can a nurse do that a good trained care worker cannot do?(there are lots of things that they cannot do….but I do not propose to provide an exhaustive list)….they cannot be left in charge, they cannot give controlled drugs, they cannot administer meds…..but they have the BEST job….that is…caring for patients. (As a denier Ward Sister…I refused to be called Ward Manager…..I envied them this part of the job)

And the answer to that is if training a nurse to qualify was not really necessary….then why do it?
And the training a HCA is nothing like the training of a nurse…..BUT I have worked with some brilliant HCA’s….but they were called auxiliary nurses in my day….as a student I learned some very good lessons from the auxiliaries.

Yes, of course there are SOME qualified staff nurses who have that snobbish trait, but they are riding for a fall….and any sister worth her salt should be able to spot this and sort it out.

All levels of staff are vital….but to ensure the best care you also need to have the right mix of staff.
How many times have I done duty Rota’s to be asked to do them again because the skill mix was unbalanced?
I can tell you it is more than a handful.

I truly think the rot set in when they took the training out of the hands of the hospital and put them into universities.
I did my training before all this university education set in so I really knew and valued ALL those who had a hand in caring for patients…..from the top consultants to the lady who plus the beds out and cleans the skirting board….and the ladies who served the food.
All of them are vital….and as vital as a snobbish qualified nurse.

[Margaret Pilkington]

That above post should read ‘Senior Ward Sister’.

And my iPad thinks it knows what I want to say..it doesn’t.
I wanted to say ‘the lady who pulls the beds out and cleans the skirting boards behind the beds’….but my iPad changed the pulls to ‘plus’.
I would hate those who read these posts to think I was losing my marbles….yes the bag might be open…but they are all there!

[taddy]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1266085]You ask what can a nurse do that a good trained care worker cannot do?(there are lots of things that they cannot do….but I do not propose to provide an exhaustive list)….they cannot be left in charge, they cannot give controlled drugs, they cannot administer meds…..but they have the BEST job….that is…caring for patients. (As a denier Ward Sister…I refused to be called Ward Manager…..I envied them this part of the job)

And the answer to that is if training a nurse to qualify was not really necessary….then why do it?
And the training a HCA is nothing like the training of a nurse…..BUT I have worked with some brilliant HCA’s….but they were called auxiliary nurses in my day….as a student I learned some very good lessons from the auxiliaries.

Yes, of course there are SOME qualified staff nurses who have that snobbish trait, but they are riding for a fall….and any sister worth her salt should be able to spot this and sort it out.

All levels of staff are vital….but to ensure the best care you also need to have the right mix of staff.
How many times have I done duty Rota’s to be asked to do them again because the skill mix was unbalanced?
I can tell you it is more than a handful.

I truly think the rot set in when they took the training out of the hands of the hospital and put them into universities.
I did my training before all this university education set in so I really knew and valued ALL those who had a hand in caring for patients…..from the top consultants to the lady who plus the beds out and cleans the skirting board….and the ladies who served the food.
All of them are vital….and as vital as a snobbish qualified nurse.

Oh Marge, as you know I spent many years, 14 in total, 1968/1982 being put back together following a motor bike accident, from the consultants at Blackburn Royal and the stroke specialists from Manchester plus the Sisters,Staff Nurses, auxiliaries, student Nurses and Pysiotherapists I can tell exactly what you are saying.
When I had to attend north Manchester Hospital over 10 years ago the Nurses on the ward I was on were university trained to operate all the new fangled electronic machines but the majority of them had none of the old caring ability that I had been used to at Accrington and Blackburn, they seemed more intent on sitting at their Nursing Station discussing the latest news, exept for one Staff Nurse that is who I felt really sorry for; she was older than the others and had been trained on the wards, she was treated like an outcast by the other much younger Nurses to the point that i could not watch it any more without bringing it up with the administration department when I left. (I have never heard any more about it), They are probably still discussing it.