The NHS is rediculous - Page 3

WillowTheWhisp · 03-05-2007, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

Its not free though is it. We are taxed out of our ears, and then stealth taxed some more.

Therefore we have a right to complain about the service.

Especially considering that people within the service itself also complain because they can see at close quarters where it is all going wrong.

SPUGGIE J · 03-05-2007, 13:21

We all owe or will owe a lot to the people that do these jobs and we should be thankful they do. I dont care how it is paid for providing it is there whwn it is needed as it has in the past. Those on the front line know more than we in general do and therefore cannot be dismissed. It would be like commenting on a sports match without having been there or even seen highlights. Those that hate can do so but I hope that you dont need them in a hurry because if the service suffers lives are lost and next time it could be you the needs their help!

Lambasting a service that is helpful is not the way forward. If they need to do something that benifits then fine but the defeatist attitude makes it harder on the front line people!

Rant over!!

shillelagh · 03-05-2007, 13:56

Ok in the last 8 months i've been carted off in an ambulance (Thanks Ber). I hate going in them because i know what i need - to go home and go to bed but one time nhs direct told me to ring for an ambulance and the other the iceland staff rang for it and i very much doubt they would have let me go home on the bus seeing as i wasnt with it. Both times i sat in the waiting room but i was lucky there wasnt much wrong with me just the after effects. Anyway when i went in at 3am - was home for 4.30am. The other was a saturday afternoon at 4.30 pm - was in a&e till 8.00pm. I was seen by a nurse but they like to make sure that im ok that there are no broken bones etc.

I cant thank the ambulance service enough for what they do. They looked after my mum and look after me. A & E is exactly the same they do a good job so what if i have to wait if someone else has come in. They do have to check to see if you are the walking wounded or lying wounded. If they need their help more urgent than what i need it then do it i can wait.

bullseyebarb · 04-05-2007, 17:16

Cyfr, so sorry to hear that your health problems have still not been resolved. What a treadmill you've been on the last year and a half!

Coincidence, perhaps, that you should bring up this subject again since Eric from Ontario and I have been having a little back and forth on the merits, (or lack thereof), of socialized medicine on another thread. I just pulled up an article from June 8th, 2005, written by David Asman, comparing the care his wife received under the British NHS vs that of the U.S. system. I think it is a very fair assessment.

www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006785

garinda · 04-05-2007, 17:51

I'm sorry to read they still haven't found out what is ailing you Cyfr. Fingers crossed.

Personally I can't fault the treatment I receive for Parkinson's Disease. The drugs I'm currently on are relatively expensive, and through reading various Parkinson's forums, a lot of people in the U.S.A. are unable to access the most effective treatments for the disease, because they're unable to afford them, and no health insurance firms will touch them with a barger pole.

Thank goodness for the N.H.S.

Not perfect, but I perish the thought of the alternative.

slinky · 04-05-2007, 18:06

Cyfr I hope you recover or find out soon. It is terrible to be Ill, but I think it's the weeks, month's or even years of worry you have to go through not knowing what is wrong. It's a awful feeling when you know there could be something wrong but no-one seems to give a damn.

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon x

Neil · 04-05-2007, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

Yes I saw a consultant on first occasion, but none of the previous notes were seen by the junior doctor on the second occasion, both in Blackburn and Manchester.

Yep that happened to me. The Doc I saw had no idea what my consultant planned to do. I explained to him that I did not mean to be rude but he was wasting my time, I had come out of work, his own time and the nurses time. He made a phone call to the consultants secretary and I saw my consultant the following week. He did some tests and operated. You can't let them mess you around. Tell them what you want and what you expect from them. If you want to see your consultant then make sure when you get your appointment through that he/she will be seeing you. If you get their and it is not the consultant ask why and make another appointment. If you make a nuisance of yourself in a positive and polite way you should get what you want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

A couple of weeks ago my daughter’s feller got a sliver of metal in his eye so he went to A & E Blackburn. The sign said a minimum of 6 hours wait yet there were less than a dozen people waiting to be seen. After an hour when no one had been attended to he walked out.

That post made me think of 2 things.

1. We have no idea what is going on the other side of the wall in A&E. There may have been a major RTA and patients brought in my ambulance.

2. If he left A&E without getting his eye sorted out then he really needs his head sorting out. Eyes are far to precious to walk out of A&E because it looked like nothing was happening.

chrissy · 04-05-2007, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

Where do I start. Christmas 2005 I started getting really bad headaches and then felt really sick, so I went to my doctor when it continued for a few days.
I was given medication, the headaches went away but the sickness didn't and I also had bad stomach pains.

The pains got so bad in early January that I called 999 because it was that bad at one point. I had bloods done, and more medications and a drip because I'd lost a lot of fluid from being sick all the time.

Over time throwing up stopped (months we're talking) but the feeling sick and pain did not stop. I went back to my doctor many many times, he gave me lots of different types of medication none of which helped. I had an endoscopy (camera down in to my stomach) which I had to wait like 8weeks for, and a CT scan which was also going to be an 8weeks wait. However its not as if I just had 16weeks and I was all checked out, had to go in and out of the doctors and out of patients surgery every few weeks, sometimes more than once a week, in order to convince them that they needed to put me on the waiting list.

Neither the Endoscopy or CT scan showed anything conclusive. So my doctor and consultant basicly put it down to something i'd have to live with.

I kept going back and annoying my doctor, because I wasn't getting better, feeling sick EVERY DAY and nothing was working. By now its had a major impact on my every day life, I mean how would you feel to be sick 24/7?

We insisted we be refered to a specialist in Manchester which we were, weeks and weeks later I got another test for stomach acid. Then another 6weeks later (today) I visited Manchester Royal Infirmary for the results.

We had to wait 2hours longer than our appointment time, then we saw a doctor, who wasn't the consultant which we had on our letter, who had NO case notes, NO test results had NO idea what had been going on for the last 1.5years, and gave me medication which i've already had and didn't work. Now I have to wait a further 7weeks to be seen again.

I really can't express how angry I am. I have been passed pillar to post for the last 1.5years and it's quite frankly beyond the joke. The waiting times are a joke for things they could just tell me over the phone, or things that just don't need to wait that long for, the communication between departments is a shambles. How am I ever supposed to get anywhere if I have to explain my situation to a different doctor everytime I visit? I'm not getting any followups, im being treated as a new patient everytime I visit.

One point five years. I'm an otherwise healthy 18year old who should be enjoying life, but I can't. I don't understand how they can get it so wrong. Why can't somebody sit down, understand the situation, follow the situation through to the end resulting in a diagnosis and treatment?

Quite frankly, Mr Blair, Mr Brown, and New Labour, your waiting times might be down, but it dosn't mean a damn thing if people are not getting better.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, hope you soon get well Cyfr I too am disillusioned with the NHS. I went through hell a couple of years ago after a major op. I found that people (some nurses and doctors) just dont listen to what you have to say, if someone had, then I wouldnt have had to go in for a further 3 more ops.The things I witnessed on the wards was disgusting to say the least, and Ive witnessed how some of these super bugs can get passed.

bullseyebarb · 04-05-2007, 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

The drugs I'm currently on are relatively expensive, and through reading various Parkinson's forums, a lot of people in the U.S.A. are unable to access the most effective treatments for the disease, because they're unable to afford them, and no health insurance firms will touch them with a barger pole.

They should contact the pharmacutical companies directly. Most, if not all, have special programs for people who lack the insurance coverage or necessary income. Patients who qualify receive medications at low cost.....and sometimes for free.

steeljack · 04-05-2007, 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

They should contact the pharmacutical companies directly. Most, if not all, have special programs for people who lack the insurance coverage or necessary income. Patients who qualify receive medications at low cost.....and sometimes for free.

Bullseyebarb , Yep the drug companies have special programs for needy patients, but let me tell you a story, I know two people who have serious medical problems requiring multiple drugs , both are no longer able to work and are on disability, through various un-ethical and legal means both have been dropped by their insurance companies , Both applied to the manufacturers of the drugs they were taking asking if any relief was possible , guess what ......four companies came back with great news, they all had new drugs better than the ones they were taking , the only 'hang-up' was the drugs were still unapproved and in still in the testing stage and would they like to join a testing panel , oh, just one thing , they would be required to sign waivers absolving the drug companies of any future liabilities other wise sorry couldn't help.
I do appreciate the fact that new drugs have to be tested, in fact I have partaken in them myself for a new medication (til I recieved an emergency phone call at work telling to stop immediatly) but the point is I wasn't being blackmailed and I hadn't signed any waivers,

garinda · 04-05-2007, 21:20

Dear American medical supply company,
I recently got legless, and was shocked to find out my medical insurance had ran out, which leaves me on a bit of a sticky wicket.
I feel like I am going round in circles, could you possibly help me?
Your's etc.,
Rindy Roo xxxx

andrewb · 04-05-2007, 21:40

I am thankfull that we have the NHS rather than the American system, however I still think the NHS could be in a lot better shape.

cashman · 04-05-2007, 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

I am thankfull that we have the NHS rather than the American system, however I still think the NHS could be in a lot better shape.

so yer thankful to labour for summat then, hope yer get sorted sooner,rather n later.

andrewb · 04-05-2007, 22:30

Thankfull for them introducing the NHS, but I don't judge them based on something 59years ago!

Eric · 04-05-2007, 22:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

I am thankfull that we have the NHS rather than the American system, however I still think the NHS could be in a lot better shape.

I agree. I believe that health care, even though it should not be, is a political issue. In Canada, whenever any govt. provincial or federal proposes tinkering with our health system, Canadians speak out very forcefully and tell them to "F***ing A forget it." When politicians come asking for votes, they are told not to mess with medicare.

Last year I had complicate surgery to bypass a plugged aorta. One of the best vascular surgeons in Canada did the surgery. I had 3 days in intensive care, and two weeks on the ward. After I got home, a home care nurse changed dressings and took out the staples. I now take lipitor daily .... and the cost to me? A few cents extra tax on gas, cigs, booze ... like the important stuff. The NHS may be in a mess, but I think it is still much better than the American medicine for profit system.