NHS geting worse?

[Denisec4502]

I was taken by paramedics yesterday to hospital with deep lacerations to my hand after I tripped and put my hand through a glass door pane. My forefinger was slashed at the base and had glass embedded in my thumb. I was in the hospital for 4 hours, being transferred from different waiting areas, and I had 4 injections in my hand to numb the pain and was finally stitched by a doctor. Who muttered I needed to go to my docs in 7 days time to have stitches removed, and keep hand and dressing dry. I was still in shock from the accident when I got home last night. I was amazed that there were doctors/nurses/auxillaries/paramedics everywhere, but none of them were actually doing much work, just laughing and joking around and carrying paperwork from cubicle to cubicle, the patients were all totally amazed at the time were were waiting, some were actually being sick with pain, blood dripping from open wounds. I was totally disgusted with the care being given (or not as the case was). Having woken up today still in a lot of pain with a dressing that needs changing have realised I was given no aftercare advice. So I take it I will try and change the dressing myself, but the stitches are stuck on the dressing, dont want to rip them off. Is it just me or is the NHS a joke now?

[bigmamma]

Oh you poor thing , no wonder you were in shock , a bit of tlc wouldn't go amiss , and certainly aftercare advise . I hope you had an x-ray to check for fragments and bone damage , and that your wound was well irrigated and explored under the local . All the best . If your dressing needs doing btw you should be able to get one of the nurses at your gps to do it for you . x

[daffy654]

Maybe the staff were dealing with real emergencies.Stop complaining and be grateful that health care in this country is still free.

[sqad617]

daffy654 believe me it is NOT, free.

[Paul22118]

Doesn't sound like 'healthcare' to me Daffy?

[sqad617]

"there were doctors/nurses/auxillaries/paramedics everywhere, but none of them were actually doing much work, just laughing and joking around."


You could hardly describe that as "dealing with emergencies"

Cost of NHS is roughly 12-14% of your income tax per person.

Unions are strong in the NHS and it is a nationalised industry and employees basically have a job for life and their pensions protected from recessions etc.

NHS, like all countries have standard of healthcare that is excellent on one hand and unacceptable on the other.

[bednobs]

just you i'm afraid. it is easy to exagerate what you experienced, but the "walk in" side of a and e is very different to the side where people who are having heart attacks, strokes and road crashes go. I would presume you were not in this side as you had a minor injury. the paramedics who picked you up, gave you first aid and took you to casualty as also part of the nhs yet yu seem to fail to give them any credit in this. casualty is very hard to staff owing to the fluctuating nature of accidents and/or emergencies. As regards to dressing changes, your surgery will be open today, and you can go and see the practice nurse for that (although changing it the next day seems quite quick to me - the longer it's on the better) or if that fails you can call nhs direct on 08454647 for advice from a nurse, or your local walk in or minor injuries unit (again, all part of the nhs)
for after care you can go to your gp (again free to you). of course if you would rather get private healthcare, thats up t you!

[stewey]

A cut hand is deemed catastrophic enough to warrant an ambulance being dispatched....You guys have it made!

[daffy654]

As someone who has had to receive NHS care on several occasions for real emergencies I have nothing but admiration for most NHS staff. They may have appeared to be wandering around doing nothing when you were there but I bet they were very busy.

[Denisec4502]

Free? I pay �200 + per month from my salary towards the National Health, surely that would be the platinum package for private healthcare surely? Oh, and I also have the "privilege" of paying for dentists, prescriptions, eye tests etc etc..... We should be able to "opt out" of the NHS and pay for private healthcare instead of all the other "spongers" that us taxpayers are supporting. Sorry the NHS is a joke - nothing to be proud of. Nurses were walking around the department munching on crisps and nuts for christ sake.. that says it all... disgusting.

[stewey]

Perhaps the nurses were munching away because they were so busy looking after "emergencies" they didn't have time for a lunch break.

[sqad617]

stewey......now come on, in 2008, strong Union support....do you really believe what you have just said?

bednobs...NHS direct? in 65-70% of cases, the advice is to see your GP or go to A&E. Each telephone call costs the tax payer �25....not a good deal in my opinion.
You are correct in that A&E is unpopular and difficult to staff...not an easy job dealing with the British Public!!!!

But, that is their job and it is disconcerting for someone who is in pain, anxious and frightened, to see, in their mind, overstaffed, slovenly and inefficient medical care.

This is almost by definition CASUALTY........anywhere in the world.

[sqad617]

Just had a thought which made me smile.....CASUALTY the TV series, some years ago, an Irish casualty sister transfering a head injury to a Neurosurgical Unit some miles away, and her remark as the ambulance disappeared into the distance was "Damn those NHS cuts", as if there should be a fully staffed Neurosurgical Unit in every town.

LOL..Peoples expectations are so high and can never be achieved.

[daffy654]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/aug/29/ guardiansocietysupplement.health

Have a read of the article linked above ^^
It is an interview with an NHS A&E doctor. I have read the book this doctor has written and it is a real eye opener into the workings of an NHS hospital emergency department. Remember that all hospital staff have to answer to managers these days and you might understand the problems that you see in the A&E dept.It isn't a case of the medical staff being lazy or useless,more a case of mis-management and under-funding.

[Denisec4502]

Glad its not just me then. After the blood had been stemmed from the main wound, the paramedics asked me if I wanted a lift to the hospital - I declined of course, as a family member was able to take me (did not want to waste any more of their time). Incidentally it was a paramedic car, not an ambulance that arrived on the scene and then another paramedic car arrived(?) just to be on the safe side probably. I have no doubt now it was classed as a minor injury to them, but as I had just been involved in an accident and my forefinger was flapping in half and my whole arm was numb and throbbing, and the blood loss was severe, it was a little bid distressing for me. I am sure the NHS staff do the best they can in the circumstances. Thanks for your comments.

[sqad617]

daffy....what is new? That has been the life and times of a NHS casualty officer for the past 50 yrs.

[Prudentia]

I suffered a heart attack in January this year
whilst visiting friends in Stoke on Trent, and I can only say that I could not have paid in my wildest dreams for better treatment in Harley Street, at the Univerity Hospital of north staffordshire I was monitored 24/7 by a personal nurse, watching my vital signs monitor, chatted to and constantly re-assured and kept informed of my condition, and on subsequent discharge I have experienced aftercare and support second to none, from the hospital staff and my local GP. May god bless them all!!!
Prudentia

[daffy654]

I wasn't really saying it is a new situation sqad,more that people only see it from their own point of view and that is very narrow minded of them.Of course there are some bad staff in the NHS just as there are in every profession,but the majority are very good at what they do.
If the OP had been admitted with what is considered a real life and death emergency and had been left waiting for 4 hours then there is cause for complaint,as it is she had a cut hand that was assessed(non-urgent) and treated.

This family has a real cause for complaint!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-110262 5/Pictured-waited-die-Father-37-subjected-6-ho ur-delay-A-E--despite-GPs-note-said-seen-immed iately.html

[sqad617]

daffy...I agree with all you have said, but the initial question was "NHS getting worse?"


Pru.'That is excellent and any life threatening condition such as yours would have been treated any where in the NHS.

[bednobs]

adding together those figures - 12% of tax and "i pay 200 plus from my taxes every month", it it quite clear you are a rich person (ie righ enough to pay 1600 tax every month) so get a platinum package with private provider! Personally i also wish you could opt out, although i think you will find it impossible to get an accident/emergency service privately so you will be stuffed if you needed it.
You have a 24 hour "just in case" medical service available to you in this country (both gp's and a and e) plus the things ive outlined above. You now moan about having to pay for dentists and prescriptions but the price you pay is heavily subsidised by the nhs - ie a root canal on the nhs will cost you about 45 quid but privately will cost you 500 quid. A prescription for, say, ompeprazole for a month costs about 20 quid - cost to you = about �7 (plus a free consultation with a highly qualified doctor to give you the prescription. if for example you fell over and broke your leg while out shopping, you would get picked up by ambulance, taken to a and e, given an operation (and a bed for about 4 nights on a ward), services of the plaster room, consultant, nurses, outpatient follow up gp appointments for follow up, practice/district nurses, prescriptions for painkillers, aids to help you round the home and possible physio and occupational therapy. The only thing you would pay for would be a prescription charge for painkillers. i dont call that a joke - try payng for that in bupa as yu go along! Ok so you get a doily n the plate wit your dinner!

[Denisec4502]

Your comments are the exact reason why I DO prefer for my family and I to go private for ops and dental care etc. Unfortunately, A&E is out of our hands when there is an emergency, as they take you to the nearest NHS A&E. More annoyingly, there were patients sitting in the waiting room who I struck up conversation with who had taken themselves to A&E with bad coughs and flu ! I would not even go to my doctors with those complaints, let alone waste NHS staff time in A&E with a cough... What on earth are the public thinking; time wasters, its laughable. I DO feel sorry for the NHS staff on this matter.