fao rowanwitch

[Sqad]

I saw your comment on madmaggots thread and I thought that this may interest you:


NHS Direct cost £139,000 to set up, to take the pressure off GP surgeries and A and E depts..

Every call costs £25.

60% of calls referred to GP&A&E.

Service spent £225,000 translating materials into Loatian and Cherokee, which are hardly spoken.

Total waste of time and money.......AB gives better vakue.

[Robinia]

If I relied on NHS Direct advice I'd be at A&E every week. They must have cost hospitals a fortune.

[Sqad]

Robinia....I agree.....many posters have asked "why come on AB for medical advice?"...well if no GP was available, I would take the advice of ABers over NHS Direct everytime.

[Robinia]

Ah but the problem is, and you've seen it yourself Sqad, many ABers say 'Go to A&E'...If you can come on the computer, type and wait for an answer I doubt very much you need A&E!

[Sqad]

Robinia...quite.

[rowanwitch]

I think what worries me is the delay in getting to speak to someone who is actually properly qualified rather than working from a set of prompts, a friend accidently took one of the cats heart tablets, similar box to her own and had a cracking reaction to it.... By the time she was put through to a nurse she had a rash and was getting really panicky the nurse she was finally put through to had simply suggested she wait a few hours to see if the rash settled and thought it was hilarious. Luckily by this time I'd already given her piriton and looked up the active ingredients in the cats tabs, they were an ACE inhibitor and a very low dose so I was able to monitor her BP as well....and reassure her. the nurse couldn't access any information on the vetinerary drugs which was also worrying. My concern is the total time spent was over 45 mins, if the reaction had become more serious valuable time would be wasted getting appropriate treatment. At no point did they suggest it could be an allergic reaction I knew what to do....and what to look out for.
I reported what had happened to the GP I don't know if any action was taken...

[bednobs]

surely it cost more than 139 000 to set up? That's the wages of about four nurse advisors for a year!

[rowanwitch]

I think sqad missed ,000 by the look of it

[Sqad]

rowan/bednobs:

NHS Direct cost £22 million in start up costs. In 2000-2001 it cost £78 million to run. Projected running costs for 2001-2002 are £99 million as usage doubles.

Sorry...;-)

[rowanwitch]

Thats four nurse advisors and a couple of managers then.... Shall we wage war on them together ..Got any other doctor friends you can rope in, and I willget some help with the nursey stuff.... put in a tender for the drinks bill in lieu of salary and we will save the UK millions

[DEN53]

Afternoon Sqad - I rang NHS direct a couple of weeks ago concerning my Mum's medication which had made her ill. I spend 20 minutes talking firstly to a foreign gentleman, who took details of anything and everyting -I had to spell some things, like her name ! - then a nurse rang me back 5 minutes later (which I thought was quite quick), but the offshot of it was, she advised me to get in touch with her GP (which was blatently obvious), but the surgery was closed so hence my call to NHS Direct.

[Sqad]

Den.......NHSDirect is a bloody waste of time and money, the sooner it is closed down the better.

[LoftyLottie]

Agree

[wolf63]

People visit this site to bounce their self-diagnosis off somebody else. If someone was acutely ill I would hate to think that they would rely on AB alone to be able to help them.

I phoned whatever we have in Scotland for NHS direct a couple of years ago when I was freaking out and jittery one night. I needed reassurance and the doctor and nurse that spoke to me were really nice. My problem was followed up by my doctor the next day - and resolved.

I am not sure if it is a good system - what would the alternative be?

Sqad - diabetic neuropathy, that was on my list of worse case scenarios. As a recovering hypochondriac it helps to check my symptoms out with somebody else. I shall go visit my doctor and see what he says. I try and avoid him if I can - save him for when I really need him.

[Sqad]

Wolf 63
///People visit this site to bounce their self-diagnosis off somebody else. If someone was acutely ill I would hate to think that they would rely on AB alone to be able to help them.//

I agree.

///I am not sure if it is a good system - what would the alternative be? ///

How about the GP really earning his £100K+ salary and providing an out of hours service? With a group practice of six, that means he would be on call out of service once a week.....surely not an onerous task.

[DEN53]

Totally agree Sqad - most GPs have stopped making home visits now aswell.

[rowanwitch]

Or when they do come they just write a letter and send you to A and E probably because they are too frightened of being sued if anything goes wrong or too lazy to make repeated visits... I remember my Grandparents GP coming twice a day when my grandfather was ill rather than make him go into hospital...

[wolf63]

Where is Loatia? Cherokee I know is Native American 'injun'.

[Sqad]

South East Asia.......i think..............islands in the Pacific.