NHS on its knees

[Stretfordender]

Spent the best part of 16 hours in A and E. Thankfully looks like nothing too serious and will be on the mend soon.

 Just wanted to comment on the absolute state of the place though. Arrived at 8pm to be greeted by a board stating waiting time of 3 hours to see a doctor. Fair enough, can live with that. Wasn't dying. Checked in, sat down and along with the genuine people that needed to use the service, the absolute dregs of society came and went. Pissed up, drugged up, abusing staff and security. Then you get people coming in with partners and when told the partner has to leave due to covid, the abuse security get from said partners was crazy.

The staff that were there were very helpful and I understand these are testing, unprecedented times but my experience overnight is of an NHS that is absolute on its arse and is falling apart. Oh and as you can see from my photo, as the night wore on the waiting times got even longer.

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[Dipper]

If they can pay for their corona folly, they can pay for more docs and better hospitals.

[berksboy]

Its long overdue for a major overhaul / rethink. Am sure lots of European counties have a better way of doing things ie its payed for out of general taxation and free at the point of use but they dont just use government run hospitals to deliver care.

[lillythesavage]

I am guessing you are in the North West, I had a very different experience last week in London, no problem with my partner being with me, though they did say they would prefer her not to.

Was seen immediately by the routing nurse, blood tests 15 minutes later, results in 2 hours, Some waiting while they examined results and got a second opinion, told needed a scan, booked by them for 9 am the next morning, told to call a number to book my own ECG after the scan, called that day and booked for the next working day.

I really cannot complain at all. The hospital was quieter than expected and further requested blood tests were done and finished within 10 minutes after pulling my number out of the machine.

The following referral may take a little longer though.

[Stretfordender]

Yes I am oop North. I'm glad you had a more positive experience. Personally I had to wait about 3 hours to get my bloods taken. I was then not seen again until just after 8am when most of the doctors came in for the start of their shift. The numbers in the waiting room died down after midnight but there were 6 or 7 of us that were there and not seen until the morning. Can only be put down to there being hardly Dr's working on the night shift I presume.

[Al R]

Yes I am oop North. I'm glad you had a more positive experience. Personally I had to wait about 3 hours to get my bloods taken. I was then not seen again until just after 8am when most of the doctors came in for the start of their shift. The numbers in the waiting room died down after midnight but there were 6 or 7 of us that were there and not seen until the morning. Can only be put down to there being hardly Dr's working on the night shift I presume.

28 hours a relative waited in A&E a couple of weeks ago before finally being admitted, and were in hospital over a week receiving treatment. This winter is not going to be a good time to be needing any kind of medical treatment

[southcoastpunter]

I had a very different experience last week in London,

i think you were very lucky. i have relatives in london and that is not their experience - much more like the Op's experience as was mine in a town on the south coast!

[Sexpest]

Took a relative to the AnE with suspected blood clot and waited 14 hours. Even worse the chap next to us had already seen his local doctor who said he had a blood clot near his heart and he was waiting 10 hours and his clot if it moved would of killed him. The police were bringing in people searching them in the toilets coming out with huge knives and the drink drivers trumping us for blood tests. We were told the police came first as they needed to be back out on the streets. Whole thing really opened my eyes to how fragile we are when things go wrong and you can’t get help.

[lamboman]

Far too many (50k+) earn over 100k in the NHS,these are not nurses therein lies the problem.

[GingerNuts]

Far too many (50k+) earn over 100k in the NHS,these are not nurses therein lies the problem.

The overwhelming majority of staff on £100k+ are clinicians such as GPs, hospital consultants and dentists.

[lillythesavage]

i think you were very lucky. i have relatives in london and that is not their experience - much more like the Op's experience as was mine in a town on the south coast!

That may be the case, but the place was extremely quiet in every dept I went to, little to no waiting for anything and virtually zero problems getting scan and ECG. There were a lot more staff around than patients, obviously did not see the wards, but in dept,s and corridors, no one was complaining about service or waiting times at all.

I did have a GP referral to A&E and I have a very good GP, I wonder if that made a difference , did not seem I was getting seen before others. Once the GP got the results he dumped that hospital and referred me to UCH which he thinks is the best, guess I will find out. The last two referrals he got me into private hospitals on the NHS, but this time he thinks UCH is the one.

[Fac51]

The overwhelming majority of staff on £100k+ are clinicians such as GPs, hospital consultants and dentists.

True.

But there are also a shit load of vastly overpaid "management" within the NHS - who frankly take the piss with lack of workload, time took off sick...

The problem is they they look after each other & the poor frontline staff get the brunt of it...

Makes me fucking mad 

[southcoastpunter]

But there are also a shit load of vastly overpaid "management" within the NHS -

very easy to think/say that but its also easy to forget that every medium sized/large hospital is a multi, multi million pound business/organisation and providing medical care, whilst its the main purpose of its being, is only part of what is provided or needs to be provided to make the whole hospital work. Doctors and clinicians are not the best people to run such a organisation and besides their training and skill set is in medical care and not general management and that is where their time should be spent!

[myothernameis]

A few years ago, I had to take my self to A&E in Glasgow, but before going there, had phone my Gp, and the response was go to a&e

Arrived and had to wait around 3 hours, now when I go seen, the consultant wasn't to happy with why I had come to a&e.  I had a sore throat, was occasionally passing out, and chest pain, as it turn out, I had a viral infection

Dont think the consultation should have acted this way, not going to a&e could mean someone dosnt make it.  Discussed this with my Gp, and he said, i done the right thing, and I shouldnt be afraid of going if required

Currently not in good health, and with underlying health problems, including heart related, where sometimes I get chest pain.  But I deem it not to be a risk to my self, but also understand, if the chest pain changes in some way, then I would seek help through a&e

[lostandfound]

Far too many (50k+) earn over 100k in the NHS,these are not nurses therein lies the problem.

Erm - many of them are nurses who have moved into management.

[Gordon Bennett]

What annoys me with A+E is they manage to waft you past some sort of junior nurse within an hour or so to perform a cursory triage. This counts towards their stats/targets and then you're left to rot for hours on end to get meaningful and substantive treatment.

[GingerNuts]

What annoys me with A+E is they manage to waft you past some sort of junior nurse within an hour or so to perform a cursory triage. This counts towards their stats/targets and then you're left to rot for hours on end to get meaningful and substantive treatment.

That doesn't count towards the A&E four-hour wait target. Which target does it count towards?