I read stories like yours often Bob and I have been outrageously unlucky with my health had have had over twenty operations with a general anaesthetic but I wouldn’t be able to find even one criticism of the NHS or any of their staff.
There are many things that we British can be proud of and the NHS is right up there. Due to the sheer scale of it it is not possible to pay all the staff what they are worth but I have the utmost respect for them all.
On a separate note do you live anywhere nearly maidstone Bob? If so PM me as I do and I work from home and would be able to run the odd errand and/or drive you to hospital appointments etc. during the day when your wife might be at work.
Best of luck with the recovery. You are about to be reminded just how fantastic modern technology is with the ability to control just about anything from sitting on your bum.
Thanks for your very kind offer KHA. I used to live near Maidstone but we’re up in Cheshire now and thankfully Mrs M doesn’t work. She is not letting me out of her sight! (bless her).
I remember how much press the NHS got here when it was showcased in the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics. The next day a lot of articles showed up about NHS. A lot of Americans were like... "wait, they like their healthcare?"
I read stories like yours often Bob and I have been outrageously unlucky with my health had have had over twenty operations with a general anaesthetic but I wouldn’t be able to find even one criticism of the NHS or any of their staff.
There are many things that we British can be proud of and the NHS is right up there. Due to the sheer scale of it it is not possible to pay all the staff what they are worth but I have the utmost respect for them all.
On a separate note do you live anywhere nearly maidstone Bob? If so PM me as I do and I work from home and would be able to run the odd errand and/or drive you to hospital appointments etc. during the day when your wife might be at work.
Best of luck with the recovery. You are about to be reminded just how fantastic modern technology is with the ability to control just about anything from sitting on your bum.
Thanks for your very kind offer KHA. I used to live near Maidstone but we’re up in Cheshire now and thankfully Mrs M doesn’t work. She is not letting me out of her sight! (bless her).
No, make him follow through with his offer of a lift
The Lass has just retired after a lifetime working as a nurse in the NHS. She is completly dispondent about the future of the service which is gradually being broken up by this government. Her main complaint about the NHS is the number and cost of administrators that seem to be increasing exponentially to the front line staff and earning far higher salaries than nurses, radiologists, physios, dieticians and care assistance staff.
Mrs GA’s aunt slipped on the ice at Mottingham train station one morning last week. She was carrying a bottle for someone (Xmas present) landed on it severing an artery, tendon and nerves. 4 hours in theatre and 4 days in hospital and then Home.
Sadly it's a mess. Hundreds of millions wasted every year. It's impossible to fix, every department, every hospital, GP and service needs fixing from the ground up. I worked with a team who took care of NHS negligence. The annual figures would make your eyes bleed.
Sadly it's a mess. Hundreds of millions wasted every year. It's impossible to fix, every department, every hospital, GP and service needs fixing from the ground up. I worked with a team who took care of NHS negligence. The annual figures would make your eyes bleed.
What I find amazing is this continual (although inadvertent I feel) language about the NHS being in crisis
I’m not disputing it’s at breaking point, but how hard must it be for the staff who do such a great job to be continually hearing all the negative words. Fair play to all of them
My cousin is just starting a nursing degree. I think it’s a wonderful thing
Missus has a kidney infection. Not, in itself, usually a problem in a healthy woman in her mid thirties - but she has only one properly working kidney due to an issue when she was a baby, so naturally when she presented with apparent sepsis at our local clinic, the on-call doctor instantly had her admitted, with a note that she should have an MRI scan within one hour. It took her nine hours sitting in a chair before she was even given a bed, another three hours before a junior doctor who looked like he hadn't slept for three weeks did the first test, then immediately referred her for a scan 'within the hour'. It took eight hours from there for her to actually get the scan, to be given the galling news (no pun intended) that due to an advanced kidney infection the broad-spectrum antibiotics they had only just given her weren't as effective as they would have been if she'd been seen just under 24 hours before, like the original doctor said. She's now going to be in hospital at least another two days, taking up a bed that could have been vacated for someone else, and off work for probably a week (ironically, she's a midwife). Whilst we were in A&E last night, there were four people occupying beds who had fallen over whilst pissed, one bloke who had taken an overdose (we were forced to listen to him reel off his clinical history of addiction) and a woman who was so drunk she puked on the floor, then on the bed, then on the shoes of an orderly.
It IS at breaking point, and it's because hospitals and trusts are criminally mismanaged, GPs are horrifically overpaid, nurses are dreadfully underpaid and the inefficiencies are too numerous to count. The real problem is that tories scream 'INEFFICIENCY!' and just make cuts in a thinly-disguised attempt to run the service into the ground before privatising healthcare, whilst the other solution (just throw money at it) has just as little chance of working
I am curious what happens when the cost of care goes up and up, the population ages and the public starts balking at the higher and higher taxes needed to pay for it? Cuts to care? Longer wait times?
As a percent of GDP, the US is still a lot higher priced for healthcare than almost anywhere else and with only 88% covered by managed care. My healthcare premiums are $1022 per month for me and my wife and that comes with a $10,000 deductible.
Missus has a kidney infection. Not, in itself, usually a problem in a healthy woman in her mid thirties - but she has only one properly working kidney due to an issue when she was a baby, so naturally when she presented with apparent sepsis at our local clinic, the on-call doctor instantly had her admitted, with a note that she should have an MRI scan within one hour. It took her nine hours sitting in a chair before she was even given a bed, another three hours before a junior doctor who looked like he hadn't slept for three weeks did the first test, then immediately referred her for a scan 'within the hour'. It took eight hours from there for her to actually get the scan, to be given the galling news (no pun intended) that due to an advanced kidney infection the broad-spectrum antibiotics they had only just given her weren't as effective as they would have been if she'd been seen just under 24 hours before, like the original doctor said. She's now going to be in hospital at least another two days, taking up a bed that could have been vacated for someone else, and off work for probably a week (ironically, she's a midwife). Whilst we were in A&E last night, there were four people occupying beds who had fallen over whilst pissed, one bloke who had taken an overdose (we were forced to listen to him reel off his clinical history of addiction) and a woman who was so drunk she puked on the floor, then on the bed, then on the shoes of an orderly.
It IS at breaking point, and it's because hospitals and trusts are criminally mismanaged, GPs are horrifically overpaid, nurses are dreadfully underpaid and the inefficiencies are too numerous to count. The real problem is that tories scream 'INEFFICIENCY!' and just make cuts in a thinly-disguised attempt to run the service into the ground before privatising healthcare, whilst the other solution (just throw money at it) has just as little chance of working
I have been very lucky, never had any serious health issues but I have had minor 1st World ones. Extremely painful and at the time distressing. This over a period of 30 years, the NHS whether The Brook, St Thomas', Queen Mary's or QE have always done me proud. Always felt humble at the treatment and care I've received because although it was a nightmare for me at the time, in the big scheme of things my issues were trivial and in some cases self inflicted. A friend of mine, a man, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. His operation was done in no time by the NHS and fortunately his follow up tests showed that the disease had not spread and he and his family had a great Christmas. In my heady days in the City I luckily had private health insurance, it was free save a bit of tax and myself, my wife and son all benefited from operations, nothing life threatening. I had no problem with this as basically I saw us shortening the NHS queues and all the surgeons (and the majority of the top ones will do private work) were NHS registered. I've taken my kids and myself to NHS hospital A&E's with trivial breaks of fingers, arms, cuts and nose bleeds etc and have waited hours for the triage nurse, and subsequent doctor if necessary, but have never received anything but 100% care. Above all I had two sons delivered perfectly by the NHS at Guys and QM. What more can you say? I love the NHS.
The NHS staff do a fantastic job and we should all be proud of them and the institution. We should also listen to them more and hold politicians that don't to account.
Just had my planned op for tomorrow cancelled, the staff couldn't have been nicer or more apologetic it's not their fault, trouble is they don't realise my iffy ticker has got to get me to Bury now.
The NHS is amazing. But needs to get in control of costs before too much further funding. Recouping costs from reciprocal agreements and from those who have been treated who are not covered by the NHS, no longer treating those who are not eligible and streamlining administration/administrator costs. There is shocking unnecessary use of A&E ( I don't mean those who have to go to A&E because they can't get a GP appointment), GP appointments (maybe those who go to A&E because they can't get a GP appointment could if others didn't go to the GP needlessly?) and use of the Ambulance Service meaning resources are not concentrated on those who should be receiving them
All the above, plus sort out the elderly care system at the same time. Too many people are in hospital because they cannot safely be discharged, not because they need more hospital care. Came face to face with that last year because of my Mum and was stunned by the shambles on the care side. And we got off lightly. My Mum peered out at what awaited her and decided to gracefully slip away.
As a small insight into that shambles, some two months after she passed away Greenwich Council sent us a bill for about £700 for her home care visits. We had details of days when the carers turned up at the wrong times or not at all, so we asked for a breakdown of how they got to the £700, and told them why. We've heard nothing since....
Comments
Speedy recovery, @bobmunro
I can't, personally, see the need for point scoring off the back of your accident. Others, obviously, feel differently. Each to their own.
The Lass has just retired after a lifetime working as a nurse in the NHS. She is completly dispondent about the future of the service which is gradually being broken up by this government. Her main complaint about the NHS is the number and cost of administrators that seem to be increasing exponentially to the front line staff and earning far higher salaries than nurses, radiologists, physios, dieticians and care assistance staff.
I've had very good, unbelievable, experiences of the NHS and also some completely opposite, but regardless of that I couldn't imagine life without it.
And another big thumbs up to our NHS.
Been delighted to work in the NHS for the last 15 years.
You never know when you’re going to need the NHS.
I worked with a team who took care of NHS negligence. The annual figures would make your eyes bleed.
What I find amazing is this continual (although inadvertent I feel) language about the NHS being in crisis
I’m not disputing it’s at breaking point, but how hard must it be for the staff who do such a great job to be continually hearing all the negative words. Fair play to all of them
My cousin is just starting a nursing degree. I think it’s a wonderful thing
It IS at breaking point, and it's because hospitals and trusts are criminally mismanaged, GPs are horrifically overpaid, nurses are dreadfully underpaid and the inefficiencies are too numerous to count. The real problem is that tories scream 'INEFFICIENCY!' and just make cuts in a thinly-disguised attempt to run the service into the ground before privatising healthcare, whilst the other solution (just throw money at it) has just as little chance of working
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38887694
I am curious what happens when the cost of care goes up and up, the population ages and the public starts balking at the higher and higher taxes needed to pay for it? Cuts to care? Longer wait times?
As a percent of GDP, the US is still a lot higher priced for healthcare than almost anywhere else and with only 88% covered by managed care. My healthcare premiums are $1022 per month for me and my wife and that comes with a $10,000 deductible.
A friend of mine, a man, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. His operation was done in no time by the NHS and fortunately his follow up tests showed that the disease had not spread and he and his family had a great Christmas.
In my heady days in the City I luckily had private health insurance, it was free save a bit of tax and myself, my wife and son all benefited from operations, nothing life threatening. I had no problem with this as basically I saw us shortening the NHS queues and all the surgeons (and the majority of the top ones will do private work) were NHS registered.
I've taken my kids and myself to NHS hospital A&E's with trivial breaks of fingers, arms, cuts and nose bleeds etc and have waited hours for the triage nurse, and subsequent doctor if necessary, but have never received anything but 100% care.
Above all I had two sons delivered perfectly by the NHS at Guys and QM. What more can you say?
I love the NHS.
As a small insight into that shambles, some two months after she passed away Greenwich Council sent us a bill for about £700 for her home care visits. We had details of days when the carers turned up at the wrong times or not at all, so we asked for a breakdown of how they got to the £700, and told them why. We've heard nothing since....