Sick of crap NHS services

[Digsy 10]

I am quite shocked by some of the nasty comments directed at the NHS. To say how little we pay as an individual the service is incredible. I do not doubt that things go wrong and that improvements are always important. Money could be spent a lot wiser in some cases (i.e. databases that even the expert cannot agree on) but all in all the service is invaluable.

 

Do you feel just as shocked when people make nasty comments against our government that finances the NHS, would you feel as shocked to hear the stories of people slagging off the government allowing the banks to use/abuse/discard them.

But I can see where you are coming from and your right, I've changed my mind, I love our NHS service including those Harold Shipmans within it.

I'm not surprised your shocked though, I felt as though I was shocking yesterday.

 

I have spoken to my father a few days ago about medical care. He lives in Germany and there you require medical insurance. Currently he is paying approx a 1000 Euros a month for himself and my mums insurance is around 600 Euros. Every quarter, if he does need to go to see the Doctors, he has to pay an additional 10 Euro admin fee to the surgery and if he requires any medication he has to pay for them as well. Oh, he does has to wait as well to see his doctor. Unlike this country if you are privately insured. The doctors are then available immediately.

 

I have no qualms about how little we pay, in fact I'd wholly agree with you here and be proud of all our great/grandparents for providing it.

 

I was on the waiting list before and yes it is very annoying at the time, but my condition was by no means life threatening. The treatment I have received once my time came was very good.

 

I don't dispute it, if it had not been for the NHS I wouldn't be here, within hours of being born I contracted whooping cough, and spent the first x-amount of my life in an incubator.

I don't have any false illusions about the NHS, and if I appear nasty about some of the things that I happen to think then please forgive me, I don't appear to be feeling myself recently.

 

Someone I know had to go to A&E because he had chest pains. His back site did not even touch the seat in the waiting area. Luckily it wasn't anything serious but again the level of care he has received was incredible.

The staff needs to prioritse the cases and for non life threathing conditions the waiting time is longer. You phoned someone and explained what is happening and then did not follow their advice. That is no-one elses fault but your own.

 

Ok tell me where I didn't follow instructions.

 

Step 1: contact NHS direct, informed to contact doctor and make a call out 2 months ago.

Step 2: contacted doctors and asked for a call out, was given the option to go to the clinic or ride it out.

 

It does not take a genius to work out which of the two options an agorophobic is going to choose.

Ride it out for two months and can't bare much more, I have people telling me that I should be seeking help, so far I've done everything asked of me.

 

Step 3: contact NHS direct, instructed to either go to A+E, or call the doctor and request a call out.

Step 4: contact doctors and get given the options above.

Step 5: take surgery advice and visit the hospital, get told to ride it out.

 

Explain the situation on here, and regardless as to how nasty it may appear, help arrives from sheffield forum, and I'm given a phone number to contact.

 

Step 6: contact number and speak to a lovely lady that works for the NHS.

Step 7: doctor calls out and gives further instructions.

 

I can't see where I aint followed advice, I want to recover as quick as possible so the point in me contacting all these people is to get advice.

I aint a doctor nor do I know much about bronchitis, chest infections etc, cos I normally ride them out and have never really had cause to go researching it until recently.

 

Also, in order to get help you need to accept help. It seems to me that you find it approriate to expect everyone to come to you to sort things out for you. If you can make to the walk-in centre, why couldn't you make it to your doctors surgery?

 

On this bit I couldn't disagree more, I don't expect anyone to come to me, I will ask for help when I need it and if they wish to come to me they can I don't expect them to.

On the other hand people do often expect me to come to them.

I do accept help, that is what I'm asking for and now recieving.

 

I've already stated why it is difficult to make it to the clinic, I aint going to repeat myself.

Just to point something out though, there are tribesmen in africa that will walk 10s of miles to help those that need it, do you think they worry about whether its a viral or bacterial on the way, as good as the NHS is you will rarely see that happen.

 

I am sorry you are unwell and I hope you are feeling better very soon, but please do not scream about a service that is invaluable to this country. I for one would be unable to afford private medical insurance. My friend would have not been able to go to the hospital with his chest problems.... Where would the majority of this country be without the NHS?

 

Thank you for the well wishes and I agree I should not scream about our invaluable medical services, so I won't I'll just sit and type.

 

If you want me to tell you some happy stories about the NHS I am just as capable as glorifying their successes as I am at highlighting minor faults.

And believe me I've got more success stories than the three unsuccessful stories (which I don't think is that bad given 31 years).

 

You know the guy with the hellraiser style devices he had rammed in his chest, well those devices saved his life, he is and I am thankful for those devices.

They are at it again now as I type saving his sorry arse, and I hope they make a good job of it, and that he gets well soon.

Sorry if this sounds nasty too, it aint my intention.

Edited March 28, 2009 by Digsy

[Darbees 10]

Its not like this is the only thread your currently abusing people on, nor is it likely to be the last, but I have broad shoulders and can stand my ground in debate with you.

I'd recommend you read from the beginning and reflect, I'm ill and you are thread hopping taking the P, another fact.

 

Come onto the other threads if you like, that's not what other people are saying, we just have discussions, sometimes disagreements, it's quite normal. If you think disagreeing is abuse that's fine with me, I couldn't care less tbh.

[Bikerdave 10]

It's been quiet for ages.do you think digsy might be dead?

[tom3 10]

You said you ached after walking 500 yards! Is it the case that lack of exercise and your smoking are the main problems here? You managed to travel to the walkin centre and not you GPs? "Who will I go and see, GP or nurse?? Let me think that is a hard one?" If you were that ill you would have gone to your GPS or called the out of hours service for a home visit. Some people love adopting the sick-role....stop smoking and get treatment for your anxiety problems.

[blurt 10]

i think all in all the nhs do a bloody good job and it wouldn,t hurt if some of the people receiving medical attention actually said thank you now and again instead of just using doctors and nursers as dogs bodies and the occasional punch bag

[Ms Macbeth 73]

NHS direct is the biggest joke going. A total waste of time.

 

They came through for the OP in the end didn't they? Why decry all the good advice they give - much easier just to rubbish the whole service.

 

Unfortunately, some people think services like NHS Direct are there to give them what they want, not what is appropriate.

 

Anyway, most people try and take some responsibility for themselves. I've had a chest infection since mid February - I spoke to NHS direct, and was advised to keep warm, take plenty of fluids and paracetamol/ibuprofen, and if I didn't improve contact my GP. As it got worse, thats just what I did (rang at 8.30am, was seen at 10am) and was given anti-biotics that took the edge off, so I went back to work. The infection came back even worse, so I was given more anti-biotics, which made me sick. I rang the GP and via the receptionist was immediately prescribed another type, which thankfully have worked! But it was no one's fault that it didn't get sorted immediately - there are so many bugs and viruses around it must be hard to pinpoint the exact cause of sinus/throat/chest problems.

[Digsy 10]

You said you ached after walking 500 yards! Is it the case that lack of exercise and your smoking are the main problems here? You managed to travel to the walkin centre and not you GPs? "Who will I go and see, GP or nurse?? Let me think that is a hard one?" If you were that ill you would have gone to your GPS or called the out of hours service for a home visit. Some people love adopting the sick-role....stop smoking and get treatment for your anxiety problems.

 

Yeah I managed to travel all of 15 feet to the car, and a short walk to the clinic, which is all I was expecting, but then ended up chasing our daughter around, bless her, and spent the following day feeling like I had run the marathon, legs still ache today.

So with hindsight maybe I should have just walked to the doctors.

 

I'd agree with you too, my problems are probably down to lack of exercise and smoking.

I don't think smoking is the cause of the chest infection, it may be adding to it but it aint the single cause, being born with whooping cough would suggest I was prone to bronchitis from birth.

 

Erm some people love adopting the sick role, I can assure you I don't love being Ill, especially when it lasts two months without treatment, and proves difficult to get treatment.

 

Found out last night my father has the same symptoms, he's had it a month and is now on medication.

I am getting treatment and advice for my anxiety problems, I'm on the waiting list for CBT, I've been studying all the youtube CBT courses, advise.

 

The problem with CBT is that you have to break the anxiety in order to attend the CBT course.

Catch 22 situation.

The reality of it all is that I need to start getting out more, and exercising.

Up until the age of 22 I was as fit as a fiddle, it was spending two years in a contact centre that started off what I'm calling the "sitting period" of my life, prior to that I'd spent most of my life on my feet.

I can see where my own faults are and I know they need to be sorted.

People constanly pointing out my failures, aint really adding anything more than I already know.

 

I can't see myself getting out much or exercising for a few months yet, as I'm a web designer and have four sites to build asap.

Despite my problems I still have to find a way to work either with them or around them.

 

Me and my wife are both going to try and quit together when our backy runs out, we've already agreed on that, and will be trying soon, thanks for the good advise folks.

Edited March 29, 2009 by Digsy

[natalie H 10]

I'm currently under Jessops due to fertility problems. The last time I went one of the nurses had to be dragged of facebook to help me with something...now we know why the waiting lists are so long

[Darbees 10]

Yeah I managed to travel all of 15 feet to the car, and a short walk to the clinic, which is all I was expecting, but then ended up chasing our daughter around, bless her, and spent the following day feeling like I had run the marathon, legs still ache today.

So with hindsight maybe I should have just walked to the doctors.

 

I'd agree with you too, my problems are probably down to lack of exercise and smoking.

I don't think smoking is the cause of the chest infection, it may be adding to it but it aint the single cause, being born with whooping cough would suggest I was prone to bronchitis from birth.

 

Erm some people love adopting the sick role, I can assure you I don't love being Ill, especially when it lasts two months without treatment, and proves difficult to get treatment.

 

Found out last night my father has the same symptoms, he's had it a month and is now on medication.

I am getting treatment and advice for my anxiety problems, I'm on the waiting list for CBT, I've been studying all the youtube CBT courses, advise.

 

The problem with CBT is that you have to break the anxiety in order to attend the CBT course.

Catch 22 situation.

The reality of it all is that I need to start getting out more, and exercising.

Up until the age of 22 I was as fit as a fiddle, it was spending two years in a contact centre that started off what I'm calling the "sitting period" of my life, prior to that I'd spent most of my life on my feet.

I can see where my own faults are and I know they need to be sorted.

People constanly pointing out my failures, aint really adding anything more than I already know.

 

I can't see myself getting out much or exercising for a few months yet, as I'm a web designer and have four sites to build asap.

Despite my problems I still have to find a way to work either with them or around them.

 

Me and my wife are both going to try and quit together when our backy runs out, we've already agreed on that, and will be trying soon, thanks for the good advise folks.

Your posts are beginning to make me feel depressed and I think I need to visit a shrink, fancy coming with me?

[Digsy 10]

Your posts are beginning to make me feel depressed and I think I need to visit a shrink, fancy coming with me?

 

Well they do say if you can't laugh at yourself, who can.

Tell me do you go around treating people with other disabilities with such animosity.

Offer a person with no arms to a game of tennis, things like that?

[grafikhaus74 10]

Ah, that old sacred cow, the NHS! A system that is so 'the envy of the world'. So much that no other country has a national health service.

A system that is so efficient that, after the Chinese Red Army and Indian Railways, is the third-largest employer in the world.

A system that is so 'free at the point of treatment' that it swallows up 11% (soon to be 12%) of everybody's salary.

 

Very recently, my mother was 'rushed' into hospital after a serious fall. I wasn't expecting much of the NHS and I wasn't disappointed. A seven-hour wait to be discharged, people being sent home who shouldn't have been considered for release (but it was Saturday and we know the staff like to clear as many people out as possible). The staff? Nurses, porters etc. etc. All mostly pleasant. Obviously caring. And utterly, utterly useless.

 

Now, when people ask how she is, I reply "She's out of danger." Meaning she's no longer in that hell-hole that is the Northern General.

 

A third-world service in a third-world country.

Edited March 30, 2009 by grafikhaus74

[mattleonard 10]

I'm a fan of the NHS as a concept. I have no doubt that the majority of staff are well-intentioned and most are hardworking, but it is hopelessly managed, both at a national and local level.

 

In the case of the particular practice mentioned, where my wife and I are patients, the result is that it seems to have been allowed to get well over-capacity, and the management strategy is now to attempt to avoid interacting with any more of the patients than they have capacity to handle, ie. a fraction of those they have on their books.

 

Of the two phone numbers they have, one generally diverts straight to the Sheffield GP co-operative, who are often unable to help, and the other one is ignored unless you call between about 8.45 (although they say 8.30) and 10. Unsurprisingly it's usually engaged between these times. So it's just a big competition to get through first thing in the morning.

 

Also, as I am classed 'at risk' for flu, I usually get a letter from them in order to come in and get my flu jab when they are available. This time round it came to November and I still hadn't received the letter, so I tried phoning, but couldn't get through. I went into the surgery and asked them when the flu jabs were being done this year, and the receptionist said, "Oh, that's strange, it's already happened - you must've been missed off" - no other explanation. She then suggested I go home and phone them in order to make an appointment! Fortunately there happened to be a doctor in the office at the time who recognised the ludicrousness of such a suggestion, and she told the receptionist to sort me out with an appointment there and then.