NHS=Negligent Health Service

[Minstadave]

It could be though, even if just for peace of mind and it could also pick something else up.

Yeah that never works as well as you'd hope. You end up picking up things that cause greater anxiety yet turn out to not be harmful but start a spiral of investigations/procedures and can result in harm.

I'm all for high quality screening tests but I also see the results of random investigations done to make patients happy/give peace of mind/avoid conflict/make money and it's not a good thing.

 

[adam cool dude]

In recent years, I have seen people pay for private health care, due to huge waiting times.

Those people were (and still are) supporters of the NHS ideal- but reduced service has forced them to pay.

Generally, they are paying for a private consultation to short circuit the waiting list.

All of those people would have laughed if I had said, twenty years ago, they'd go private.

This is pretty much what I will be doing with regards to an MRI scan if I don't get one in the next month. Around here I am looking at £200-300 which isn't that bad considering the amount of time you save.

It would be nice if the NHS offered some sort of semi private healthcare so you had some middle ground between really rubbish and really cheap to really good and expensive.

 

[Dis86]

Yeah that never works as well as you'd hope. You end up picking up things that cause greater anxiety yet turn out to not be harmful but start a spiral of investigations/procedures and can result in harm.

I'm all for high quality screening tests but I also see the results of random investigations done to make patients happy/give peace of mind/avoid conflict/make money and it's not a good thing.

Exactly why unnecessary full body scans are crazy. Almost certainly guaranteed to find something that is nothing.

 

[Werewolf]

Yeah that never works as well as you'd hope. You end up picking up things that cause greater anxiety yet turn out to not be harmful but start a spiral of investigations/procedures and can result in harm.

I'm all for high quality screening tests but I also see the results of random investigations done to make patients happy/give peace of mind/avoid conflict/make money and it's not a good thing.

That is something I think some people don't quite grasp as it's counter intuitive.
From my understanding pretty much all testing done on the NHS is balanced on how likely the test is to get a useful result and is it the best test to at least narrow it down, vs any potential harm from the test, with cost being a consideration, but only really in terms of you try to rule out the most likely things with cheaper/easier/safer tests first.

IE if someone is under the weather/pale/fainting you might do blood pressure, blood sugar, urine and a general blood test, and if it shows them as anaemic you might do a poop blood test, then go with the camera up the bum/MRI scan if there is blood detected, rather than do everything at the same time when you could have fixed it with just a blood or urine test and some tablets (and freed up the MRI for someone with a higher or more urgent need).


I'll say this for the NHS, despite the attempts to kill it quietly by the current government with their deliberate underfunding at all levels, if there is a definite medically urgent need it still tends to pull through (and the staff despite always seemingly massively overworked, tend to be great). The hardest part is getting GP's appointments in my experience.

 

[do_ron_ron]

Same as in the US - they don't afford it. Really struggle with this personally.

I saw a prog on US health care and it said charity hospitals and things like pop-up MASH type hospitals(crewed by volunteers) see to lots.

 

[LeeUK]

If I took out private health care insurance, where would I go for private treatment in the North East?

If I ever needed to.

 

[Stu999]

If I took out private health care insurance, where would I go for private treatment in the North East?

If I ever needed to.

There's a few Bupa and Spire hospitals and clinics in the North East. I'm sure there are a few private GPs and the like most places (not sure about the insurance angle there).

 

[Dis86]

If I took out private health care insurance, where would I go for private treatment in the North East?

If I ever needed to.

Main place would be Nuffield in Jesmond.

 

[heeeed]

As above, and the Spire in Washington. It all depends on your needs but that’s not suitable for forum discussion

 

[Chris Wilson]

Whilst I fully support someone with a healthy bank account looking at private health care insurance (you'd be mad not to at your age...) please bear in mind most private hospitals have limited resources and complex procedures are often delegated to NHS hospitals on a fee paying basis.

I would just add, use your new found wealth to mix in circles where consultant doctors, barristers, high ranking police officers et al frequent, maybe join the Masons. Who you know is as much or greater importance than WHAT you know, here's hoping that private health care insurance is a waste, but gives you comfortable nights sleep

 

[tonys]

As pointed out the NHS doctors only do the test they think is most appropriate in most cases plus cost effectiveness, private will probably do every test imaginable because they're getting paid for them. Going back to the op post, my father-in-law had several medical conditions, he was on Ibuprofen for years(high doses) for spondylitis of the spine. He would complain of mid back pain and get constipated, his GP would say you need an camera up his bum to check for bowel cancer. Then he would say oh no you don't, leave it a while same thing again, acid indigestion and so on. Latter on they also said you need a camera down your throat, oh no you seem alright now we won't do it. He died in hospital after collapsing at home and vomiting blood. He had a large duodenal ulcer that they found when they finally put the camera down. Obviously no one owned up to being negligent it was one of those unfortunate things. The mother-in-law also didn't want to pursue it either. In a way it was something of a blessing as he was beginning to show signs of dementia.

 

[arknor]

I tripped over a black metal bollard someone had ripped out of the ground and left across a dark unlit path because the council are too cheap to turn on the street lights.
not drunk or anything literally walked to tesco for some milk

90mins later my arm is stiff and won't bend in/out at the elbow.
the outside of my elbow is a swollen tangle of tendons.

A&E sends me for 2 x-rays instantly.

Then 1 hour until a nnurse takes my temp/bloood pressure/heart beat.
3hours and I get called again, put in a small room where a woman examines my arm unsure if it's fractured or not on the x-ray.
she leaves me again for 30minutes where she must be trying to get aa second opinion.

comes back with a sling and a pack of codeine tablets, tell me someone will look at the x-rays in 2-4 days and give me a phone call, but I probably don't need surgery.

total time wasted in the Hospital about 5.5 hours, the screen said a 6 hour wait.

90% of people were coming in and giving up after 2 hours, about 2 people per hour were getting seen too.


It wasn't exactly busy and only 10 people were still sitting there when I left around 6am.


How can a city centre hospitals A&E literally be calling 2 people per hour? that's like half a staff member on duty?

 

[Raumarik]

So to sum up:
1. You tripped up while walking and that's the councils fault.
2. NHS instantly sent you for two X-rays.
3. You were checked 1 hour later to ensure you were medically stable.
4. You were then told by someone who knows better than you that it's probably not broken but they will get the xrays checked (most likely as senior clinicians aren't on duty and your case is not urgent).
5. You are given treatment.

 

[tamzzy]

How can a city centre hospitals A&E literally be calling 2 people per hour? that's like half a staff member on duty?

you were in minors and had a non life threatening injury
there is a finite resource
the patients in resus and majors get triaged and seen ahead of you

ps: you don't want to be that patient that has to be seen on arrival (or even having the team on standby for your arrival)

 

[Tykey]

i've worked in the NHS on the IT side. most things seemed to be rushed, undermanned (apart from the number of managers ) but on the whole the people are great and dedicated.

that said, i recently went private for 2 issues. issue 1 because it just isn't treated on the nhs in my area but it is in other areas, literally a postcode lottery. and issue 2, i would've been waiting months for it on the NHS, but going private i was seen to in days. shop around when going private too. bupa/nuffield wanted £200-£300 for issue 2, i got it done for £68.

 

[tonys]

The trouble when going to A&E or into visit someone, is you don't see how many staff are on and how many people are being treated. Yes we would all like to think we can be seen and treated quicker but the sad fact is there are not enough frontline staff, but more and more paper pushers.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

I tripped over a black metal bollard someone had ripped out of the ground and left across a dark unlit path because the council are too cheap to turn on the street lights.
not drunk or anything literally walked to tesco for some milk

90mins later my arm is stiff and won't bend in/out at the elbow.
the outside of my elbow is a swollen tangle of tendons.

A&E sends me for 2 x-rays instantly.

Then 1 hour until a nnurse takes my temp/bloood pressure/heart beat.
3hours and I get called again, put in a small room where a woman examines my arm unsure if it's fractured or not on the x-ray.
she leaves me again for 30minutes where she must be trying to get aa second opinion.

comes back with a sling and a pack of codeine tablets, tell me someone will look at the x-rays in 2-4 days and give me a phone call, but I probably don't need surgery.

total time wasted in the Hospital about 5.5 hours, the screen said a 6 hour wait.

90% of people were coming in and giving up after 2 hours, about 2 people per hour were getting seen too.


It wasn't exactly busy and only 10 people were still sitting there when I left around 6am.


How can a city centre hospitals A&E literally be calling 2 people per hour? that's like half a staff member on duty?

Calm down, you got treated

I took my wife to A&E, I knew the Receptionist and Triage Nurse.
My wife had got a horrible cut under her chin and lost two teeth
They took 8 hours.
We lived.

Oh yeah, she deserved the wait, she was drunk.

 

[Stu999]

@arknor - you should get a photo of that bollard. I'm not usually the first to suggest this but you could get some compo for that.

 

[Malevolence]

I tripped over a black metal bollard someone had ripped out of the ground and left across a dark unlit path because the council are too cheap to turn on the street lights.
not drunk or anything literally walked to tesco for some milk

90mins later my arm is stiff and won't bend in/out at the elbow.
the outside of my elbow is a swollen tangle of tendons.

A&E sends me for 2 x-rays instantly.

Then 1 hour until a nnurse takes my temp/bloood pressure/heart beat.
3hours and I get called again, put in a small room where a woman examines my arm unsure if it's fractured or not on the x-ray.
she leaves me again for 30minutes where she must be trying to get aa second opinion.

comes back with a sling and a pack of codeine tablets, tell me someone will look at the x-rays in 2-4 days and give me a phone call, but I probably don't need surgery.

total time wasted in the Hospital about 5.5 hours, the screen said a 6 hour wait.

90% of people were coming in and giving up after 2 hours, about 2 people per hour were getting seen too.


It wasn't exactly busy and only 10 people were still sitting there when I left around 6am.


How can a city centre hospitals A&E literally be calling 2 people per hour? that's like half a staff member on duty?

Damn, I wish you'd have gone to my workplace and I had been tasked with taking you around. I'd have put you straight on a few things.

 

[Goodie]

90% of people were coming in and giving up after 2 hours, about 2 people per hour were getting seen too.

and there lies the issue. If you have the choice to bail after 2 hours then a and e isn’t the place for you.

Also the fact that the reception area seems slow isn’t an indicator on what is going on behind closed doors, there will undoubtably be allot of seriously unwell individuals arriving by other means…