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NHS Crisis? What Crisis?


The_Kincardine

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Maybe better in GN than here but I've been to two different hospitals in the past fortnight.  I don't work on Fridays and two weeks ago I was having lunch with a friend who'd been to Wycombe hospital in the morning to have her kidney stones looked at (well we're both over 50, so what).  Her GP called her mid-lunch and said she had unusually high levels of calcium (based on the scan she's had earlier) and had to go back to hospital immediately and she had a place booked for her in the Medical Day Care Unit.  I accompanied her and she was attended to in a very professional manner.

Friday just gone my wee yin got elbowed in the puss playing netball.  Much blood and snotters complicated by the fact that she's wearing braces.  I picked her up and took her to Stoke Mandeville where I've been to 7/8 times before.  Three stitches later and she's good as gold but with a fat lip.

So this is purely anecdotal but both times in each hospital we saw nothing but competence and professionalism.

Where's the crisis, in your experience?

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29 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

Maybe better in GN than here but I've been to two different hospitals in the past fortnight.  I don't work on Fridays and two weeks ago I was having lunch with a friend who'd been to Wycombe hospital in the morning to have her kidney stones looked at (well we're both over 50, so what).  Her GP called her mid-lunch and said she had unusually high levels of calcium (based on the scan she's had earlier) and had to go back to hospital immediately and she had a place booked for her in the Medical Day Care Unit.  I accompanied her and she was attended to in a very professional manner.

Friday just gone my wee yin got elbowed in the puss playing netball.  Much blood and snotters complicated by the fact that she's wearing braces.  I picked her up and took her to Stoke Mandeville where I've been to 7/8 times before.  Three stitches later and she's good as gold but with a fat lip.

So this is purely anecdotal but both times in each hospital we saw nothing but competence and professionalism.

Where's the crisis, in your experience?

No you're right.  All these health care professionals are talking pish.  Just ignore them.

 

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36 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

Maybe better in GN than here but I've been to two different hospitals in the past fortnight.  I don't work on Fridays and two weeks ago I was having lunch with a friend who'd been to Wycombe hospital in the morning to have her kidney stones looked at (well we're both over 50, so what).  Her GP called her mid-lunch and said she had unusually high levels of calcium (based on the scan she's had earlier) and had to go back to hospital immediately and she had a place booked for her in the Medical Day Care Unit.  I accompanied her and she was attended to in a very professional manner.

Friday just gone my wee yin got elbowed in the puss playing netball.  Much blood and snotters complicated by the fact that she's wearing braces.  I picked her up and took her to Stoke Mandeville where I've been to 7/8 times before.  Three stitches later and she's good as gold but with a fat lip.

So this is purely anecdotal but both times in each hospital we saw nothing but competence and professionalism.

Where's the crisis, in your experience?

It's very important to realise that the services that we receive are gratefully received.  That we respect them and that we will never take them for granted.

That's why we should fight against any encroachment, until the last breaths in our souls, of privatisation and profitisation of the services and infrastructure which have been paid for by tax payers over many, many years.

People with more power than us, as individuals, will always seek to profit from a service which is as certain as death and taxes.

So, it really is a magnificent thing that your needs were served, but it falls on us to ensure that these services are available for our children, too.

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5 minutes ago, Shades75 said:

It's very important to realise that the services that we receive are gratefully received.  That we respect them and that we will never take them for granted.

That's why we should fight against any encroachment, until the last breaths in our souls, of privatisation and profitisation of the services and infr

My biggest worry is profitisation

No idea if there's a vaccine, even.

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I have always found the NHS to be excellent. I have used them many times over the years (fractured collar bone, fractured ankle, fractured pelvis, dad's heart attack and now his cancer) they have always been great.

The crisis in the NHS doesn't, imo, come from the staff themselves or the actual service, but in the lack of resources they have, the expectation that they should be working 60 hour weeks, the closing of facilities. They put so much effort into keeping the service running on fumes that they need our support against the government when they try and impose unsuitable contracts or reduce budgets further.

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12 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

Aye, fair shout, buddy and I was being snide.

The serious point is me being interested in posters' recent NHS experiences.  

Maybe go and ask on tea & pastie. com where you can compare like with like as our independent and UK leading NHS is not likely to throw up any issues.

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9 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Maybe go and ask on tea & pastie. com where you can compare like with like as our independent and UK leading NHS is not likely to throw up any issues.

So you're doing your usual content-free post, I see.  Next?

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54 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

Aye, fair shout, buddy and I was being snide.

The serious point is me being interested in posters' recent NHS experiences.  

The NHS has saved my Dad's life on more than one occasion.  It continues to provide round the clock care to my father-in-law.

One of them certainly does not appreciate the costs involved or how it is funded.  I resent him for that.

However, I'm in absolute gratitude that it was and is being, provided.  Because I, or mine, might need it one day and once goes, it might be gone forever.

Edited by Shades75
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2 minutes ago, Shades75 said:

The NHS has saved my Dad's life on more than one occasion.  It continues to provide round the clock care to my father-in-law.

One of them certainly does not appreciate the costs involved or how it is funded.  I resent him for that.

I get grumpy when anyone says the NHS is free.  I look at my payslip.

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Christmas 2015 I went to my Doctor cos I had a wound on my head.
I thought it was a cut but it never healed and it ended up looking like a red mushroom.
As soon as the Doctor saw it he immediately said that it was cancer.
He took a couple of photos of it with his phone and said he would send them to the hospital and I would hear from them.
It took three months for them to give me an appointment then another three months before they operated.

Last July I went to Day Surgery to get the cancerous growth cut from the top of my head.
They then covered the area with a skin graft.
I went back three months later (November) for a check up whereupon they found two other growths.
Three weeks later I'm in Day Surgery again so they could discover what the growths were.
Three weeks later I'm back to see the surgeon as to what my treatment should be.
Apparently one growth was a false alarm (it was a wee bruise) but the other one is a 'local' cancer on my leg.
It will be left alone as apparently it's called 'local' cos it disnae spread.
Again I go back in three months for a checkup.

My point is that it can be a comparatively long time before you're on the system but once your in, your in.

 

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11 hours ago, The_Kincardine said:

I get grumpy when anyone says the NHS is free.  I look at my payslip.

Free at the point of use.  For the most part and for the most important parts.  Despite all the problems it's something we should be immensely proud of and fight like hell to keep.

We should also see budget cuts and subsequent cuts in services for what they really are, ideologically driven policies to move towards private health care.

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1 hour ago, kilbowie2002 said:


Compared to what the yanks pay we get a bargain and a better service.

NBC News: Insulin Prices Skyrocket
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/insulin-prices-skyrocket-811018307549
The woman in the video is diabetic and spends $1400 per month on her medication.
I’ve been diabetic for ages and my medication is free.

Edit: And I'm also on insulin.

Edited by Wee Willie
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2 hours ago, kirkyblue2 said:

Probably get shot down for this but why don't they charge for meals during your stay?

Because in general the food isn't great, edible mostly but not great. It is however free.

If it was charged for some wouldn't want to pay and you would get folk bringing in chinese/ indian, etc. take aways with ensuing aural and hygiene issues.

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29 minutes ago, WILLIEA said:

Because in general the food isn't great, edible mostly but not great. It is however free.

If it was charged for some wouldn't want to pay and you would get folk bringing in chinese/ indian, etc. take aways with ensuing aural and hygiene issues.

If you can't bring takeaways in, and I'm not sure you can't, then they can stop you if you need to pay.

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I worked for the NHS in various roles for 10 years before I moved to Canada last May. In the last 8 months i've experienced the healthcare system in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.. and it's perfectly good (especially compared to the omnishambles in the states), but for me there's no comparison. In my experience so far, emergency care in Canada is less efficient and thorough compared to the UK. Depending on the province, wait times for MRI's/Ultrasounds are longer here too if you can't afford to go private. There's also no nationalised drug plan so you better hope you have good coverage through your work if you need expensive medications. 

The NHS deserves its status as one of the best healthcare systems in the world and it needs to be protected. We really do not know how good we have it.. even compared to other developed countries with universal healthcare. 

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