Our NHS

[Shadowcat]

Yet another reason I continue to speak tirelessly about keeping the NHS. It's constantly rubbished in the press and of course it's far from perfect but I for one am scared stiff about the prospect of no job no doctor and the associated behaviour as shown below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/bu...tals.html?_r=1

[dollyshoes]

Re: Our NHS

omg this is for americans is it? thats disgusting to do that, imagine losing your job and not being able to pay to see the doctor or have an operation dont know how us brits would cope with that i pray to god it never happens in britain i really do
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do they have a NHS forums on here , thanks

[Shadowcat]

Re: Our NHS

I'm not sure dollyshoes, I don't think so. I put it under Campaigns because that is what the NHS has always been for me, a campaign. I alwas say we are one car accident away from needing it on a massive scale. I also feel strongly about the future of transplants as, if only the rich can afford organs and we know there aren't enough now, if they were available to buy, what chance would the majority stand?

This government must not be allowed to dismantle this precious resource, they really must not.

[Guest]

Re: Our NHS

I'm not sure dollyshoes, I don't think so. I put it under Campaigns because that is what the NHS has always been for me, a campaign. I alwas say we are one car accident away from needing it on a massive scale. I also feel strongly about the future of transplants as, if only the rich can afford organs and we know there aren't enough now, if they were available to buy, what chance would the majority stand?

This government must not be allowed to dismantle this precious resource, they really must not.

Me too, been on the waiting list Since1999.

Peter

[Shadowcat]

Re: Our NHS

Good luck Peter and proves the point of how scarce organs are and therefore highly valuable in a private sector. Let us know if you get any news.

[bluebottle]

Re: Our NHS

If ever there was a reason NOT to privatise the NHS, the article highlighted by Shadowcat sums it up perfectly. Can you imagine one of the Leeds Losers going up to someone in a UK A & E unit and behaving like they do in the USA? They'd get their heads kicked in and bounced out of the door by the patient as soon as they opened their mouth.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Our NHS

omg bluebottle I now have a vision of someone going in to the UCH in london and saying "broken arm? £150 please" *punch* "hmm broken jaw I now owe £250!!"

I'm a firm believer in the NHS, we raise money for our air ambulances etc, my one little one of contention is, they dont care anymore.

When I was in hospital having my son, 2 qualified midwives handed him to my non medically trained husband and said 'Ere ITS crying!" he had a coldsore that was perfectly visable to all and my son contracted a disorder called Herpes Encephalitis, its caused by coldsores and it can kill babies.. and midwives know!
When I had my youngest son, hubby was sent home, i spent the next 8 hours alone and in labour, and they finally rang him grudingly at 630am saying theres no rush, shes got hours. Hubby took 25 mins to get to me and my son was born 3 mins after he arrived. They then said go run yourself a bath, while i was still attached to a drip! and complained hubby had interupted their tea break when he asked them to remove it!

My sister was training to be a nurse and the stories she could tell you, trained nurses calling people and leaving answerphone messages, "your mother is dead, get here when you can, shes not going anywhere" her complaints led to her being bullied off th course, an her tribunal was a farce.

Personally I think the NHS needs a good fine toothcombing, as it has a good backbone but is being brought down fast.. or is it a case of, as we used to say on BR, too many cheifs not enough indians?

[Guest]

Re: Our NHS

HI
Yes there has been a big change in the attitude within the NHS. I started with renal failure in 1984.
On dialysis at home and in the hospital on and off for five years intill got a transplant in 1989.

Thise days the wards were completely different, a sister in charge of each, proud and competing with the other wards for standards of hygene ond effeciacy, proper cleaners that pulled the beds out and scrubed the space left with disinfectant after every new patient left.

WHen i had my first transplant they assigned a nurse to me that stayed with me throughout the process, helped with out with the familly keeping them informed keeping my sprits up when things went going so well. I had my new kidney on the night at new years eve, she brought me a small glas of sherry to my room to cellebrate the new year, first that had passed my lips for five years. Now they just go back on the ward and are left untill one of the machines attached to them starts to bleep.

Completely differnt now you go into hospital and you are just a number. In my opinion all of the current problems with the care of patients, the poor care to the elderly, the rescent scandal about releasing vulnerable people in the middle of the night , the MRSA all come down to the same problem, patents are just an item, i dont believe it is because of a lack of staff, i have been on the ward many times when ther has been three or four jurses laughing and jokiing at the end on the ward whilst patients have been waiting in bed for pain relief or just a bed pan.

Once after some stomach surgery i was in so much pain that i continually ring for the nurs for over half an hour, i ended up ringing my wife at home on my mobile, she then rang the ward and told them that if they did not go and see to me she would have to come down.
They ended up puttoing me on a morphine drip for four days and introvenous antibiotices due to peritinitis.

Dont get me wrrong the are still dedicated caring people in the health service, it just seem that somehow some of the care has gone out of some of the front line service.

Peter

[labman]

Re: Our NHS

I have very mixed feelings about this. The NHS is brilliant and there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that it must stay. People need to realise that they cannot have a resource like this for nothing though, and advancements in modern medicine, along with the undoubted abuse of the system by some are costing, and sometimes wasting millions of pounds.

I also know that some areas of it are very corrupt, and these need challenging and changing. I was unfortunate enough to be in hospital just before Christmas, and I discovered a web of cover ups and deceit over my own treatment, and the way in which the ward I was on ran. This was challenged by me, and several nurses and a doctor 'have decided to move on' as a result of this, and procedures in that particular ward tightened up massively. It concerns me that the ward I was on was, on the whole, full of vulnerable people who would never be in a position to challenge as I did, and I wonder just how epidemic this abuse is on these types of ward. It also makes me more determined in my healthy moments to unearth these deceits and challenge them on behalf of the vulnerable people.

Equally, on the opposite side of the spectrum, I have a nephew, now a doctor himself in a hospital, who when he was 16 had an horrendous accident, and were it not for the sheer brilliance of the NHS, and the amazing skill and care of the medics, he would be dead. He now lives with a skull made almost entirely of titanium where his own had to be cut away to allow his brain to bleed and swell.

Two very different sides of the coin, hence my somewhat mixed feelings, not over the existence of the NHS, but ensuring its efficiency so it is fit for purpose for the demands on it now. Demands that can't be met without money, and that money will only come from our taxes which none of us want to increase.

[bluebottle]

Re: Our NHS

I have much reason to be grateful to the NHS for what they have done for me over the years, including my more recent contact with them. The healthcare and medical professionals who work for the NHS are caring and dedicated individuals who really don't deserve to be pushed from pillar to post by pen pushers who have no previous experience in the NHS.

Tony Blair claimed he would get rid of these parasites on Day One of a Labour government - he didn't. They increased in numbers. The Hospital Trust in Plymouth, however, decided to do the unthinkable and got rid of the pen pushers who were ex-private sector (some had no experience of healthcare whatsoever), saving the hospital £7 million a year.

I note the post which mentions about air ambulances. We have two in Devon, one based at Exeter Airport, the other at Dunkeswell. They are rarely idle. A couple who live near to me have good reason to be grateful for the Devon Air Ambulance and their fundraisers. They were involved in a serious road accident at a place called South Brent on the A38 Devon Expressway. If they had been taken to hospital by motor ambulance, they would have died before they reached the City Boundary. The Air Ambulance landed on the carriageway after the police stopped the traffic in both directions. In less than 10 minutes after being loaded into the Air Ambulance, they were landing outside the A & E Department at Derriford Hospital. If it hadn't been for the NHS and the Air Ambulance, they wouldn't be here today.

The NHS has its faults, but it is being starved of cash by parasitic private firms and greedy pharmaceutical firms who have been found to be defrauding them. If this can be tackled effectively, the NHS will have a lot more money to play around with. As for tax revenue, it is time for the wealthy to start paying their fair share and stop offloading it onto everyone else.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Our NHS

The air ambulance staff.. well there is only one word for them.

HEROES!

I live in South Yorkshire, and our air ambulance is nearly fully paid by private donations and they were present at a smack on the M1 where it meets the A1, they came back 3 times.
A family friend was involved and when they got to the hospital his wife had to literally beg for pain relief for him as the nurses were all at the station laughing and joking.
The hospital in question has 4 admission officers, 3 under admissions officers, 5 deputy general managers a general manager, a paitent liasons manager..... and uncle tom cobbly and all.
He was released with a broken leg and the nurse demanded £10 as a deposit for the crutches!

The sooner we realise we need caring and cleanliness and not administration.. the sooner people start recovering quicker.. oh this is the same hospital that spend at least 50k on posters in the maternity ward saying I HAVE RIGHTS TOO, PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME YOU CAN SMILE AT ME, with a picture of a new born baby!

[miliitant]

Re: Our NHS

i am going to comment now

last tuesday i had knee surgery (again)
attached to my local hospital is a private hospital building run by an australian health care provider. it is staffed by ex NHS employees from the main hospital.

my knee surgery was paid for in this private hospital by the NHS

i could not fault the care i received . the advantage of this was that all surgical proceedures are pre planned, no emergency addmissions etc. yes you felt like you were on a production line but touch wood, my knee is holding out.

i believe this private operator built and paid for the unit on hospital grounds but it gets its money back by the NHS giving it xyz business for the next 25 years.
i believe its called PFI

the point i am making is why should the NHS pay for me to have my treatment done private. those resources should be made avaliable to everyone, not some companies annual returns figures

[Guest]

Re: Our NHS

HI

Yes i must say that i am immensly greatful to the NHS, if not for them i would not be here nor would three of my children or seven of my grandchildren, however we must continue to complain when things are wrong, i think, it is such a huge organisation, so big that sometimes the people who work within it get so wound up in the corperate aspects that they forget about what it is for.

Since my most rescent major opperation in 2008 i have been in hospital 21 times (average stay 10 days) so you may wish you had not started this thread, as you can immagine i have a number of opinions on the subject.

Peter

[Shadowcat]

Re: Our NHS

I agree we must not stop complaining but that in itself gives government good fuel for them to say 'You see?? It's not working!', they're crafty like that as we all know.

Government pushes the utopia of private health - absolute rubbish. Can people afford the dentist? Or the vet for their sick animals?

Spinal injuries in the States get turfed out when the insurance money is all gone then put into a unit with no care or rehab facilities if they haven't got anywhere suitable to go. Stoke Mandeville is a miracle to see and there is no limit on stay.

I can openly admit to being scared about this subject and almost cried when this government got in - and sorry to be political but I feel so strongly about the NHS.

[bluebottle]

Re: Our NHS

We had problems in Plymouth with a private firm cocking-up operations they were carrying out on behalf on the NHS. Plymouth PCT, being the pioneers they are, immediately cancelled their contract and got Derriford Hospital to carry out the operations. Okay, they had surgeons, anaethetists and nurses operating around the clock to clear the backlog, but they were done, there were no cock-ups and it actually cost less than the private sector. Incidentally, private hospitals are registered as nursing homes and, as such, do not have to have a doctor on the premises 24/7. If a patient takes a turn for the worse, they call a private ambulance firm to rush the patient to the nearest NHS A & E Department, dump them there and drive off PDQ, leaving the taxpayer to pick up the bill. My view of this is that if the private sector want to compete with the NHS, they meet NHS standards and that means they have a doctor on the premises 24/7. If they won't, close them down. And as for them dumping patients on the NHS, make the private hospital pay the bill and bar them from recovering the cost from the patient or their health insurers.