NHS=Negligent Health Service

shadow_boxer said:
my area is saturated with new GPs, lack of partnership opportunities, workloads of salarieds GPs means that I, like many will simply locum, do private work and look at Canadia and Australia. Not too much of a rant I hope but cathartic nonetheless.
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Move up to my neck of the woods. Loads of jobs and partnership opportunities!

The reason it’s all about ARRS workers is that’s what they have available to give us! The investment in more GPs hasn’t happened and that’s why we are left like this currently. 6k less than we need and there is no quick fix for that. Governments don’t believe in investing for something that would reap rewards for the opposition when they get in power, so they have fiddled whilst Rome burns
 
heeeed said:
Move up to my neck of the woods. Loads of jobs and partnership opportunities!

The reason it’s all about ARRS workers is that’s what they have available to give us! The investment in more GPs hasn’t happened and that’s why we are left like this currently. 6k less than we need and there is no quick fix for that. Governments don’t believe in investing for something that would reap rewards for the opposition when they get in power, so they have fiddled whilst Rome burns
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Completely my point. This was foreseeable and successive governments have done nothing to both retain or train new staff.
 
Stu999 said:
Is it true that the BMA choose training numbers not the government?
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No. The BMA is the union.

Medical student numbers and caps are determined by the Whitehall / Government. Following graduation, there is a 2 year Foundation programme (UKFPO) which is controlled by Health Education England and departments of Health. This was oversubscribed by nearly 800 places in the first round. (Compared to 45 in 2016). This is a result of increased medical student numbers but mainly international medical graduates. This meant that some UK graduates of medicine didn't even have jobs to go into. This is an absolute travesty bearing in mind the incredible levels of debt they're finishing with. The Foundation Programme is archaic. When you graduate you can be allocated to pretty much anywhere in the country with absolutely no regards to preference, family circumstances working as an administrator for £14/hr.

There aren't enough training places further down the line (controlled by the Royal Colleges but also determined by hospital and department availability) meaning there won't be the training jobs for all these new medical students in 7 or 8 years. Even at the end and when you can see the finishing line, there aren't enough consultant jobs. The whole system is stagnant.
 
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heeeed said:
Move up to my neck of the woods. Loads of jobs and partnership opportunities!
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I'm actively exploring new areas, private options and working towards the Canadian exams / MCCEE currently. Bit of a shame that now in my mid to late 30s, young kids and already having been dragged around during the foundation years that we may have to move again. Been a full time locum since CCT with plenty of regular and repeat work locally but realising that if I want the stability long term we'll need to move.
 
Well, sister called me today to let me know my Dad is in hospital with angina. Doing tests tomorrow to find out more.

Hoping it hasn't become as terrible as the doomsters say.
 
I experienced some of the failures of the NHS on the 25th November, for me it's the initial 999 call and the first contact with a doctor/nurse.

Around 2am I had a shooting pain from my arm to my face, all my body went numb and I collapsed. Was on my own luckily managed to dial 999 was told there was a long wait and to call back if I got worse if I'm being honest the call handler was abrupt and only seemed interested if I was breathing or not, well I did get worse I collapsed multiple times. I think the second 999 call bumped my priority up. In total it took until 3.45 for an ambulance to show up. I'm not really sure why at 2am on a Thursday it took nearly 2 hours for an ambulance to show up, but anyway, I guess that's part of living in a big city.

I was taken to St James although there was no wait to enter the A&E waiting room from the ambulance, however It was 8 hours until I was seen by a doctor, these were the longest 8 hours of my life, some of the sights witnessed are not to be forgotten. Luckily I was offered a bed whilst waiting.

Anyway 14 hours later I was taken for an CT scan, a further 2 hours for the results and I was finally diagnosed with a veritable artery dissection and stroke.

This is where things took a massive turn for the better. Quickly transferred over to the LGI then my own room on the stroke ward for 5 days where I must say the care was superb and I couldn't say a bad word about the staff.

Anyway I'm here now because of NHS and not faced with a horrendous bill. So thank you NHS and all the crap you go through daily, I am extremely thankful.

And a big big thank you to the stroke rehabilitation team, the community NHS staff are wonderful, again I wouldn't imagine the cost of all this after care I'm receiving.

Anyway less of the rambling on :)
 
Steven Rimmington said:
I'm not really sure why at 2am on a Thursday it took nearly 2 hours for an ambulance to show up, but anyway, I guess that's part of living in a big city.
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My grandad awhile back had a fall (94 at the time) late at night and was waiting 10 hours lying on the ground with a broken hip for an ambulance. Was treated really well once he got to hospital though. I've heard a lot of similar stories from friends and colleagues, etc. over the last few months.

My dad recently had a serious but non-emergency situation due to COVID - took all day to get medical treatment - but once he was booked in they were really good as well. I'm guessing he was lucky he got seen same day though - a lot of people have had to wait a few days for similar treatment.

More recently I had to call the police due to a situation at work with a potential threat to life, even the call handler said it warranted an immediate response - police turned up 12-14 hours later. I think that I wasn't panicking and gave the impression I could control the situation on the phone probably meant they treated it as a lower priority...
 
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The other day, an elderly man in his late 80s fell over at work, causing a large cut on head. A customer mentioned that man’s shoes were splitting at the sole (unsure if they were partially to blame for the fall).

Paramedics in an ambulance came almost immediately. Customers and colleagues were shocked how quickly they came. Probably combination of elderly, head injury and supermarket caused this immediate response.

Yet people with heart attacks wait ages and some are dying
 
cheesefest said:
The other day, an elderly man in his late 80s fell over at work, causing a large cut on head. A customer mentioned that man’s shoes were splitting at the sole (unsure if they were partially to blame for the fall).

Paramedics in an ambulance came almost immediately. Customers and colleagues were shocked how quickly they came. Probably combination of elderly, head injury and supermarket caused this immediate response.

Yet people with heart attacks wait ages and some are dying
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Frustratingly I've noticed the smack rats seem to get an ambulance turn up rather quickly where I work.
 
My family were on the receiving end of this last week.

Early hours of one morning, my nan rang 999 on behalf of my grandad, who was suffering from chest pains and loss of breath.


Several calls and a few hours later, the paramedics arrived to a dead family member.


I think the thing we're most frustrated about is that for the first 3 or 4 calls (I can't remember the details) calls, 999 hadn't actually issued an ambulance - it was only once he had stopped breathing they did.


My nan has been an NHS nurse in the past, so she'll be well aware of the symptoms, and I know she'd have pushed very hard to get an ambulance, but from what she mentioned, they just wanted to get her a call back from a doctor (not the right word - can't think of the proper one).

She was left to perform CPR for 25 minutes until the ambulance arrived.



I'm frustrated, and feel let down, but most of all, I feel anxious at the thought many others have and will have to go through this again.
 
MrRockliffe said:
My family were on the receiving end of this last week.

Early hours of one morning, my nan rang 999 on behalf of my grandad, who was suffering from chest pains and loss of breath.


Several calls and a few hours later, the paramedics arrived to a dead family member.


I think the thing we're most frustrated about is that for the first 3 or 4 calls (I can't remember the details) calls, 999 hadn't actually issued an ambulance - it was only once he had stopped breathing they did.


My nan has been an NHS nurse in the past, so she'll be well aware of the symptoms, and I know she'd have pushed very hard to get an ambulance, but from what she mentioned, they just wanted to get her a call back from a doctor (not the right word - can't think of the proper one).

She was left to perform CPR for 25 minutes until the ambulance arrived.



I'm frustrated, and feel let down, but most of all, I feel anxious at the thought many others have and will have to go through this again.
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What a horrible way to die due to the actions of the first few 999 agents. Probably are told not to send for ambulance unless patient isn’t breathing by then it’s too late. Or the answer tree on their system has been amended due to fewer staff.

Wonder if your Nan mentioned that he wasn’t breathing in the first place would got an ambulance straight away.
 
cheesefest said:
What a horrible way to die due to the actions of the first few 999 agents. Probably are told not to send for ambulance unless patient isn’t breathing by then it’s too late. Or the answer tree on their system has been amended due to fewer staff.

Wonder if your Nan mentioned that he wasn’t breathing in the first place would got an ambulance straight away.
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It's not worth thinking about really - it isn't going to solve anything, and will only serve to make you more frustrated and angry.


What's done is done - much better to spend the energy raising awareness in hope of influencing the decision makers.
 
What i've learnt from using the NHS is that you have to treat everything like it is a worst case scenario.

I think a lot people naturally try not to make too much fuss, which leads to the NHS treating it as such as they just don't have the resources to dedicate to looking into things too much.

Example would be that if you have to call an ambulance for someone and the operator asks "Are they breathing?" then saying something along the lines of "I'm not sure/I don't think so..."

As sad as it is that you have to embellish the truth in these cases, if you don't then you're just bumped down the line.

I know in my area (large suburban town in the South East), there is only something like 8 ambulances to cover an area of what i'd estimate is 500,000 people.
 
Megahurtz400 said:
What i've learnt from using the NHS is that you have to treat everything like it is a worst case scenario.

I think a lot people naturally try not to make too much fuss, which leads to the NHS treating it as such as they just don't have the resources to dedicate to looking into things too much.

Example would be that if you have to call an ambulance for someone and the operator asks "Are they breathing?" then saying something along the lines of "I'm not sure/I don't think so..."

As sad as it is that you have to embellish the truth in these cases, if you don't then you're just bumped down the line.

I know in my area (large suburban town in the South East), there is only something like 8 ambulances to cover an area of what i'd estimate is 500,000 people.
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True, but I think it was the 3rd call where my nan, according to her, advised them he was completely lucid/incoherent and vomiting (and the rest). They still insisted she would get a call back, rather than sending an ambulance.
 
My missus was complaining about stomach pains with her GP. She ended up waiting nearly 8 months to have a pipe stuck down her throat to find out she had a massive stomach ulcer. She is now obviously on medication.

It very nearly didn't happen as we were all ready for her to go only to get there to be told it had been cancelled when we came for the appointment. (3rd cancelation so far!) NHS outsourced to private. It wasn't till I kicked off wanting to make an official complaint as my main annoyance was the fact nobody had rang to tell us it had been cancelled. I wanted the name of the person who should have organised that call but they didn't want to give it to me even though the official complaints booklet stated to take down any names of whom it may concern. Lack of accountability in the work place has always been my top pet peeve.

Suddenly one of the reception staff goes into an office and someone senior comes out. Before you know it she has her test booked in for the next day and an apology given to her and myself.

I understand the NHS is in dire straights but it doesn't do anyone any favours when it is ran so poorly. The private places just leach from it and the whole leaching from middle management and lack of accountability just does my nut it as so much money is wasted which could be going on wages etc.
 
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MrRockliffe said:
True, but I think it was the 3rd call where my nan, according to her, advised them he was completely lucid/incoherent and vomiting (and the rest). They still insisted she would get a call back, rather than sending an ambulance.
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Truly sad to hear your story buddy :(

The whole system is just run so inefficiently, it could be something truly great if it was in the right hands.
 
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