Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 30 total)
  • Whats wrong with the NHS?
  • robbo
    Free Member

    The great British Public. Spinal clinic this morning after waiting 2 weeks for appointment in agony. 20 people waiting. Only me on crutches. Everyone else walks in fine. ‘We’ are the cause of spiralling NHS costs.

    I have to think some form of initial payment (maybe refundable) would help reduce the hordes of timewasters.

    Jamie
    Free Member

    Could be follow up Tuesdays?

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Its perfectly possible to have serious back problems and be able to walk or they might be on the final checkup awaiting the all clear

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    jota180
    Free Member

    Sounds painful robbo – hopefully it’ll get sorted for you soon

    I went to the docs yesterday at 11:30 and he ordered a chest X-ray for me
    I took the appointment form he gave me and walked to the local hospital
    I got there at 12:30 and was seen within a couple of mins and x-rayed within 5

    It’ll take 7-10 days for them to develop it mind 🙂

    robbo
    Free Member

    Sorry it was specifically an initial assessment clinic that travels around to probably filter out the chaff. Got my MRI referral though so I’m happy.

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    just because somebody can walk doesnt mean they’re spine isnt in the process of fusing itself together or crumbling apart. i agree with you that the public take the nhs for granted, but walking isnt a sign there’s nothing wrong with somebodies back

    BigButSlimmerBloke
    Free Member

    BigButSlimmerBloke
    Free Member

    You went to a clinic and got seen and an appointment was made for an MRI scan?
    That’s shocking that is, what’s the world coming to?

    I’ll tell you what’s wrong with the NHS is we don’t employ witch doctors who can just fix you there and then, you have to fanny about with appointments and clinics and scans and referrals. you should move to Zimbabwe, one visit to the witch doctor and that’ll be you sorted.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Did you hurt your back falling off your high horse? 😆

    Dr Maccruiskeen prescribes a shetland pony for such ailments.

    robbo
    Free Member

    Ok ok I didn’t ask them all thier problems but the NHS gets hit with a lot of cost from timewasters which nobody seems to be tackling. When you get to the right specialist they are marvellous. My point is we don’t help them. We just expect them to solve everything which slows down things for people who really need it.

    bwaarp
    Free Member

    I had a chalazion that didn’t go away for 3+ months, which freaked my doctor out. I got an immediate referral to an opthamologist, walked into the local hospital waited for five minutes….was seen by the triage nurse….5 minutes later I was seeing the opthamologist.

    The NHS really isn’t that bad but it can vary, the conservatives changes have made it worse. They’re breaking a system that despite it’s faults was probably still one of the best in the world, ever heard about the healthcare horror stories involved in countries like Germany? It is true that people take it for granted.

    The Daily Mail recently ran a headline saying that chronic NHS users were ruining the NHS. They cited 50,000 people who visited A and E more than 5 times a year and 38 people who visited A&E 100 times a year. What, 50,000 people using A&E 5 times a year out of millions of users is indicative of a problem? 😆

    I do think something should be done about all the time wasted looking after drunks though.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Ok ok I didn’t ask them all thier problems but the NHS gets hit with a lot of cost from timewasters which nobody seems to be tackling.

    Really – you know this how?

    It actually would appear the clinic you attended was doing exactly that anyway. And you do not get reffered to a specialist without seeing your GP first – who acts as a gateway / filter.

    I was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon – I was first of all seen by a senior physio at a local clinic for screening to filter out the folk who did not need to see the consultant –

    jota180
    Free Member

    which freaked my doctor out

    That would definitely make me look for another GP

    bwaarp
    Free Member

    Jota, doctor are we? It had been there for about 6 months Jota, despite hot compresses every day.

    That…. by NHS guidelines is a red flag. I was referred to have it removed and biopsied.

    jota180
    Free Member

    It has been there for aboutt 6 months Jota, despite hot compresses every day.

    That, by NHS guidelines is a red flag.

    Sorry, I was being facetious
    I sort of meant I’d want a doc to keep his head rather than ‘freak out’ 🙂

    skiprat
    Free Member

    My mum could walk past you and you’d not know she’s got 3 or 4 vertebrate that are starting to crumble. They’re looking into fusing them together. If it goes right she’ll not move her head much but she’ll be ok, if not she’s in a wheelchair for the rest of time.

    Still, as long as she passes your “not on crutches” test, i’ll tell her just to jog on past clinic.

    jota180
    Free Member

    My mum could walk past you and you’d not know she’s got 3 or 4 vertebrate that are starting to crumble. They’re looking into fusing them together

    My wife has 3 in her neck fused together, she does OK now
    Bit of a shock when I went in to see her, I wasn’t expecting an incision in the front of her neck

    skiprat
    Free Member

    My wife has 3 in her neck fused together, she does OK now
    Bit of a shock when I went in to see her, I wasn’t expecting an incision in the front of her neck

    Cheers jota, hope the mrs is all ok.
    Our old lass is a tough old bird but you can tell she’s worried about when its going to happen rather than if…

    robbo
    Free Member

    bwaarp – now I feel bad being associated with the Daily Mail!

    TJ – yes that’s what the clinic was for as a filter but really why do we need filters?

    If there really are 50,000 chronic a&e users that is an issue that needs sorting to reduce costs.

    The British attitude has changed to rely on the NHS because it’s there and its easy to access.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Only me on crutches. Everyone else walks in fine

    When I had my back trouble last year I could have walked in fine too. What I couldn’t have done is driven there, or been able to sit as a passenger in a car for more than a few minutes, or sit at a table long enough to finish a meal or sit at a desk a type more than a couple of paragraphs, or sleep. If it had been a morning appointment I’d have had to get partially dressed the night before as it took a two to three hours between the first dose of painkillers in the morning to being able to get my socks on. But after that I’d be able to walk fine.

    bwaarp
    Free Member

    Robbo. Ummm, 50,000 chronic users (there is a huge difference between chronic use and chronic disease) will include many cardiac patients who really **** have to go to A&E in the event of a problem.

    Shall I riff off a tiny list of chronic diseases that cause acute episodes that often need admittance to A&E more than once a year?

    1) Cancer
    2) Cardiac Disease
    3) Epilepsy

    Did the the Daily Mail give a breakdown of the reasons why these people visited A&E? No, that’s one of the myriad of reasons as to why it’s a shit paper. The papers line of reasoning = “OMFG these people are abusing the health system, I bet they are benefit thieves and gypsies. Lets cut it”

    God people are morons. Yes the NHS could manage chronic disease better, there are all sorts of ways of reducing the burden on accident and emergency but most of them actually entail spending more money. What the current government is doing is only exacerbating the problem, the NHS were discussing this long ago.

    http://www.natpact.info/uploads/Chronic%20Care%20Compendium.pdf

    user-removed
    Free Member

    Robbo – hope you heal fast. But really, I reckon you’re just letting your pain receptors rumble here. People keeping appointments is a VERY-GOOD-THING. The timewasting b’stads are those who fail to keep appointments, time after time, wasting the practitioners’ time and depriving other patients of slots.

    My wife is an NHS practitioner and gets at least two or three no-shows every single day…

    robbo
    Free Member

    Maybe pain is making me grumpy. Just had my diazepam and feel better now.

    How about a refundable deposit for appointments to encourage people to keep them. People needing repeat appointments for chronic conditions could be exempt like for prescriptions.

    Repeated timewasters at A&e could be banned (no that might be harsh and dangerous) or charged for visits.

    There must be some way to improve it rather than messing with the whole system like Dave wants to.

    diviy
    Free Member

    I now walk with out crutches or a stick but I have 16 bolts 3 cages 5 fushions 1 plate done over 3 operarions .I also take controlled drugs due to my pain,The reason I dont use a sick is I am not allowed to because of the cage in my neck.I get totally sucked of with people judge me with oh you just got a bad back currently waiting for my third mri and yes I have worked with the bad back untill I could not even get out of bed and had to have the operations or end up in a wheelchair.

    bwaarp
    Free Member

    Yes Robbo, I would agree with you that time wasters should somehow be punished. But what’s the definition of a time waster? Very few people are repeated time wasters and those that are probably need psychological help as opposed to punishment.

    Is the definition of a time waster a patient who’s had a history of panic attacks but this time has a worse one which causes a tight feeling chest, light headedness and leads them to think they are having a heart attack? Are they people who are genuinely fearful that something might be wrong but do not have the clinical experience to decide whether they need to go to A&E or not?

    What happens if punishing people for turning up to A&E with something that isn’t an emergency causes people to think twice about going to A&E when they really should?

    I think the only people you could punish without causing unseen problems would be drinkers, smokers and fat bastards.

    pomona
    Free Member

    To be honest their is very little wrong with the NHS. It is a bloody fantastic free health care service and is one of the things I miss hugely since moving away from the UK.

    If costs are spiralling then the answer is simple.
    Pay more National Insurance.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Robbo, did you hurt you back knee-jerking around?

    piedidiformaggio
    Free Member

    Could have been worse, could have been whiplash Wednesday

    mintimperial
    Full Member

    Well I just got back from A&E with my little boy who it turns out has a broken finger. In and out in less than one hour, waited no more than five minutes at any one point, and all the staff were completely professional and understanding with a rather scared three-year-old. Fantastic.

    The government claims the NHS is so broken it needs complete reform but I have to say it looks to be working just fine to me…

    RichPenny
    Free Member

    I could have been one of those people. My back is manageable in terms of pain level but leaves me unable to sleep properly without codeine and unable to ride a bike without risking relapse into chronic pain. For over a year…

    2 weeks? 😆

    Had my MRI a few months back and the bulging disc suspected has not been detected, so waiting for a more intensive physio course. Totally agree about charging people for missed appointments though. I was about an hour early for my MRI and walked straight in due to no-shows. Pains me to see such a useful machine being underemployed.

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