NHS Rant

[Richard_H]

Now I believe everything that the NHS stands for but this is something which really grates on me.

My gf fell off one of our horses about 4 years ago. Very serious accident. Destroyed her knee, broke her leg, shattered kneecap, tore all 4 ligaments of knee away from whatever it was supposed to be attached to.

Went to A+E in ambulance, took a few checks, quickly realised it was bad and sent to main hosiptal. No-one in main hospital could perform the op needed a specialist - who was in Norway. Waited about a week as they tried to get him over. He agreed to come but had to go to a different hospital. That was fine. First op was exploratory with second op repairing the deepst damage. Follow up op was to be a month or so later. 18 months go by a gf as half a knee attached. Two ligaments lying free inside knee. Metal pins holding patella become loose. Emergency op, same guy to fix most of knee. Follow up op was to be about a month later.
Another year get a letter. Too difficult to get specialist. If we go private NHS will pay for full treatment. 3 days later in for op (same surgeon!!! who managed to get to this appointment) and all ops done.

Now that bad part. 4 years now and gf is still on daily 4 x 2 doses of Tramadol (very strong pain killer), 4 x 2 doses of codeine, paracetamol as and when required, and ibuprufen.

No follow up. No nothing. Doctor regularly prescribes them. She is forced to see the doctor about every 4 months (can't do unlimited repeat prescriptions) but she comes out with the same bag of meds. This is around 4 years of this **** that she's taking. And when she's run out..... it's like seeing someone having heroin withdrawl symptoms.
I've tried to speak to doctor about weening her off but get nowhere.

Really pisses me off. I'm not saying she may not still need painkillers but don't the effects of them lessen? I never ever taken them. Broke my ankle once (forced to go to hospital by work after 2 days) and was told off for refusing pain killers. I just don't believe in putting stuff in your body like that.

Now if they're spending £££s prescribing this for one person how much is being wasted in the system overall. And how much long term damage is being done to these people?

I think it is all wrong.

 

[Michael Sith]

I agree

I have two members of my family who work on the front line NHS nurses
Unfortunately it's the front line that get the crap due to the system
It is that system that has caused your issue.

Unfortunately our highly trained surgeons and specialists are attracted abroad simply due to the system here overwork too many hours short staffing etc

The Nhs is in a mess and without getting political, it is financial constraint and inept governmental policy decisions that cause the issue

I get what you say about pain killers, and I am the same I too broke my ankle and carried on working, didn't want pain killers
THEN I later fell badly and cracked two ribs and bruised my lung, I would have eaten live rats to get rid of the pain...so I did take pain relief
This healed itself after around 6 weeks so didn't have continuous long term pain relief
Yourc GF is caught between a rock and a hard place...and has my utmost sympathy...

The NHS has been stripped away for years, and the systems in place are laughable

 

[monkey_roo]

Hard to talk about the NHS without getting political.

I have had a lot of experience with the NHs over the last few years. my eldest child was very seriously ill as a newborn and was under the care of GOSH for three years and they were fantastic but that is also a unique hospital. About a year into her treatment my daughter picked up a virus which landed her in a major London hospital and it was touch and go for a day or so as her lungs were giving in, the critical care was second to none then, but within a few days of her getting out of the woods we were moved to a ward and the care was non existent, I ended up giving her all her drugs and working the machines etc.

I myself have been very ill in the last couple of years and I couldn't even get my GP to run basic tests, let alone the hospital. Luckily I have private cover so invoked it and have been under private care for 18 months now.

My old man had a heart attack at Christmas and again the care under the NHS was fantastic, but the post care hasn't been stellar.

I think the NHS is truly unique and second to non in the world when the **** hits the fan, they have the resource and skills to deal with the big stuff, life and death critical care. Their problems come when they have to deal with chronic care and non threatening conditions. There are any number of reasons why this is, funding being the largest issue, their infustucture is a mess, the beurocratic nature of their organisation is crippling but sadly there is also a staff issue. In my experience the best skilled and focused people work the critical shifts and the rest get the ward work. The ER's are slightly different, every time I have been to an ER they are swamped plain and simple.

I can empathise slightly with your situation, my wife came of a waterski in Africa many years ago and broke he kneecap in several places, blew out anterior and posteria ligaments and the NHS was useless in sorting it out, in fact they never did, she still needs to wear a leg brace when taking on heavy exercise and stuff, but luckily no pain killers, not as bad as your GF but another example of the NHS simply not dealing with a non life threatening situation, which actually accounts for a heigher percentage of medical needs than the life threatening ones.

Sad fact is that I have become pro insuresnce for all non critical care, let the NHS run the ER's and critical care (which they are great at) and leave the private hospitals to pick up the rest. I know that is close to the US approach to life but while the NHS is tied to government it will never recover and if you break that tie then you are basically privatising it anyway and if you do that then all care is paid for and that is a real issue as removing the critical care or ER function available to all in the UK doesn't seem right.

In a nut shell the NHS has big problems and no easy answers, all the while it is general patent care that suffers.

I don't think you ranted, just expressed what a lot of people have to deal with.

 

[Michael Sith]

Great post monkey...you hit the nail on the head

I agree.. It wasn't a rant bud..your in a crappy position where someone you care for is having to deal with something that's not fair
Hope things sort quickly for you

 

[plantman]

NHS is just pot luck, the principal is the best in the world but the product is stretched to the limit.

My missus works for the NHS and the amount of staff that go off sick, work 18 hour shifts, or are basically depressed and dont give good service is unreal.

ive had appointments with doctors who cant speak english, tell me something different every time i go, lost my notes, computer system crashes and so on..

private health care insurance is a must im afraid!

 

[timbo72]

The system is flawed and the NHS is in deep trouble !!

I cant really post anything to honest on here as i'am a nurse (dont get me wrong there are some fantastic nurses, doctors health care assistants etc, working all hours and doing their best). Dont think the NHS will be around much longer as Tony Blair and his buddies own some private health care companies and they are all waiting for it to implode before everything turns private full stop and they run the show.

I hope you gf gets sorted soon and she gets the help and advice she needs buddy

 

[Richard_H]

Thanks guys for all the comments. Like I said I support the NHS' principles but it is stretched. Many of the people on the front line do a fantastic job- but I guess like most things it's all about targets now. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for accountability, but if I got good care I couldn't give a crap if a form wasn't filled in properly. Doctors and nurses should do their job, admin assistants need to do paperwork.

 

[weasel]

The Nhs is in a mess and without getting political, it is financial constraint and inept governmental policy decisions that cause the issue

Spot on. That's been going on for a long long time. Labour were just as culpable as the current lot. Ditto the previous Tory Governments.

Like most of you, I think the NHS is a fantastic idea, but it is at breaking point. The problem is no Government has the balls to say 'this can't go on'. Private insurance, along the lines of the Dutch system, is the way to go. But any minister who announces people will have to start paying for medical care will be consigning his party to the electoral wilderness for decades. Imagine the **** storm the papers would kick up, even though they know the NHS is ****ed.

It will continue to limp on for years and years with more and more people taking out private insurance until eventually some catastrophe will happen, it will collapse, a new system will be set up and then the media witch hunt of "why didn't people/ the Gov see this coming and prevent it?" will start.

Would you believe people say I'm cynical!?

 

[plantman]

if all the deadbeats and foreign leeches ****ed off the nhs would be fine, people that sit on their fat obese arse smoking and drinking should be told to **** off and die, and give better care to the elderly and people that pay their national insurance.

 

[weasel]

Not sure the foreigners cost us THAT much, relative to the over all size of the NHS budget. Certainly not as much as is wasted by over management and pish poor buying policies.

I agree on fat people, smokers and heavy drinkers though. Fat people especially.

Sadly, our problem is more to do with an ageing population.

 

[Michael Sith]

Got to agree with plantman

The NHS is overburdened to a great extent, by foreign peple that have not contributed to the system...not a sweeping statement, but NHS treatment should be pro rata on what you've put in
Also the mind set of a free lunch for lazy arses, and wasters
There are genuine people out there who are looking for work, and circumstances mean they have to be on benefit, but they are gen short term

I have a daughter who is a paediatric nurse who has taken 12 months out to travel, she is in OZ at the mo. you won't get a free lunch there, or anywhere else for that matter

The Govt need to talk with nurses, Drs and NHS professionals, who let us not forget, in the main look at the job as a vocation, and the govt should not take the piss with them, but engage with them properly and sort things out

Sadly the NHS is being stripped and really private healthcare is on the up

The NHS original model is awesome and it's the running and incompetent management that's costing us

 

[plantman]

im at the hospital every couple of months with my daughter and its packed with scruffy deadbeats, and foreign people, ill try not to pigeon hole the foreigners as some of our best doctors are foreign, but my bet is the vast majority of wasted money goes on politicians and nhs bigwigs, then dole seekers and foreign people who bring their families over when they have an illness, get everything free then piss off back again.

its not their fault though, if the option wasnt there then it wouldnt happen, you should get NOTHING unless you have paid into the system, even a frigging paper round, litter picking with the council ect

 

[weasel]

I don't disagree with the idea that you have to pay in first. I actually think the same should apply to the Dole.
Although that throws up the issue of what happens to school leavers?

With the NHS it throws up the issue of what happens to children (under 16's)? We all know some gutter trash tabloid will have a headline about some poor bastard who came over here cos they were promised a job that fell through then their kid was smacked by a drunk driver and cos they hadn't paid in they cudn't get medical help, or they are faced with a massive bill they cant pay and how this is terrible and don't we have a duty of care blah blah blah

 

[Richard_H]

School leavers shouldn't get dole. They should work for their money doing community based work and getting paid for it as 'dole'. They 'worked' 8:30 - 3:30 for years anyway so keep them in that culture.