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al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10344
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I'll apologise in advance, and some of you may not agree with my sentiments, but I need to vent somewhere:
At 10:30 last night, my old man had a fall (mom tripped him up whilst they were out dancing), result was he hit the dance floor head first, which at 84 isn't a great thing to do. He was out cold for about 2 mins, so his pals called for an ambulance - fine so far. Paramedics checked him out as he had an egg sized lump on his forehead, but didn't have headache or blurred vision or anything, but as he takes blood thinning drugs wanted him into hospital for a CT scan - OK. So off they head. I should have known this wasn't going to be great when the driver said don't rush to follow us, there could be quite a wait. UNDERSTATEMENT or what. Given the ambulance got there are around 11pm, at 4:30 AM we still hadn't seen a doctor, and the best guess by the A&E staff at that time was another 3 to 4hours wait. Dad had had enough by now so we left tired and fed up.
He called his GP this morning, explained what had happened, said he was feeling OK, but his GP came out to check him over, all was good, but he said he'd still like a CT scan - OK, he give us a letter for our local A&E (different hospital to last night fiasco), stating how long we had waited last night, etc, and to get this as a priority, so off we trot.
Get to our A&E, wait about 20mins to see triage nurse who says yes fine, take a seat, looking at minimum of 4hr wait, could be up to 6 hrs. She says a doctor there has to asses Dad first before a scan. I say, but our doctor has asked for a scan - doesn't matter she says, that's not how it works.
Dad puts on his coat - no way is he going to wait at least another 4hrs, and we leave.
In both locations there were loads of hospital staff milling/standing around, 1) not seeming to be doing anything or 2) not seeming to know what was going on. At the first one nurses were walking round asking colleagues if they knew where patient a or b was, or where was the patient from cubicle 10, etc.
Toady I asked the triage nurse why (as our GP had asked) we couldn't get the scan so that when we did get to see a doctor, he'd have the results to look at - "does not compute" was the look on her face.
It struck me that the only way to get any kind of attention was if you came in with limbs hanging off, as just arriving with blue lights on (as Dad did) didn't count for very much.
Any sort of organisation seemed an alien concept.
I really, really hope I don't have cause to have to visit A&E any time soon.
"rant over"
Al Volvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
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 4th Oct 2016 5:08 pm |
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chugga90
Member Since: 13 Aug 2014
Location: Buckinghamshire
Posts: 443
  
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I know they are a struggle.
However, this summer my dad spent three and half weeks in hospital trying to clear an infection they gave him. On his last full day in hospital he developed a bleed on the brain. The way the NHS worked to make him comfortable even though it was terminal was fast, professional and faultless.
Sadly he passed away the following day.
They do their best - but stretched too far. Discovery commercial tdv6 auto 2013
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| 4th Oct 2016 5:38 pm |
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ianb4310
Member Since: 22 Feb 2015
Location: Gainsborough
Posts: 513
 
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My nephew is a doctor in A&E you would not believe how underfunded and understaffed they are expected to work 18hr shifts while consultants and office staff waltz around the nurses and frontline doctors take all the flack for funding problems D4 rear lights
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| 4th Oct 2016 5:45 pm |
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Mr.Tom
Member Since: 01 Jun 2014
Location: St Neots
Posts: 1641
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Yes, buts it's exacerbated by the organisation. My wife whacked her toe earlier this year, thought nothing of it, but a few hours later it had gone black and a large lump, so suspecting a fracture we thought we would go to the minor injuries unit, it was closer and claimed it did out of hours and fractures. Saving a&e for others.
Got there, only one nurse on duty and X-ray and fractures only between 10 and 4 on two days a week. It was Friday evening. Why did it not tell us that on the website, so I've now wasted their and my time.
Anyway, trot off to a&e as advised by the nurse. Get there, firstly the receptionist won't believe that the nurse has faxed over the notes (and who still uses fax) until we repeatedly point out that we can see Them behind her.
Next the triage nurse repeatedly tells my wife she's stubbed her toe and nothing to be done, without looking at it. Only on insisting does she look and immediately says ... "that's not right, you need an x Ray"
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After that we were seen quite quickly, it was early evening and not busy and it turned out to be hyperflexed and not broken. Results the same though sore and needs rest.
So when we were seen the staff were ok, but the organisation and lack of good external information exacerbates the chaos Sill protection - LED internal lights - LED reverse lights - boot liner - Dog Guard - Rock sliders
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| 4th Oct 2016 6:13 pm |
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Navigator
Member Since: 17 Mar 2010
Location: Stay at Home. One of the lives you save could be your own.
Posts: 5113
 
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My last visit to casualty (as it was termed then) involved a huge wait to get a fairly minor laceration sewn together. After many hours of the waiting room and the canteen I asked for the necessary equipment to do it myself. "You can't do that!" was the immediate reply - my response of "Why not? I'm left handed" did get me the goods. A vaccine does not stop you catching a virus, or passing it on, or getting ill from it, really ill. It does reduce the likelyhood of you dying when really, really ill. Stay Alive - KEEP AWAY FROM PEOPLE.
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| 4th Oct 2016 6:18 pm |
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Mr.Tom
Member Since: 01 Jun 2014
Location: St Neots
Posts: 1641
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I must say though that I've been to my local one (my wife's one was when on holiday) when I hit my hand with a lump hammer and was seen quickly by triage and checked in quick and then dot with promptly one Sunday. I needed an X-ray and my nail bed lancing Sill protection - LED internal lights - LED reverse lights - boot liner - Dog Guard - Rock sliders
MY12 D4 HSE - been and gome
MY16 D4 Landmark
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| 4th Oct 2016 6:21 pm |
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daftlad
Member Since: 12 Jun 2016
Location: Worksop , Nottinghamshire
Posts: 712
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My wife works as an opthalmic tech for the NHS and as allready stated by others it is massively stretched
true this is an organisation that suffers from gross miss co ordination
my wife should get 20 mins to carry out a fuĺl opthalmic test so thats 3 per hour , she does around 8 to 10 as that is what gets booked into clinic per hour when you break the day down
I wouldn't work for them for a solid gold D3
but be assured all our nurses are angles who bare the sharp end of patient frustrations
believe me im the worst when im in A&E when I see staff seemingly wandering about doing very little , but what do I know about running a busy department im just a construction manager 
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| 4th Oct 2016 6:30 pm |
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Moo
D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 14311
 
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The NHS needs to resest peoples expectations. It can't do everything and too many people take it for granted and abuse the system with trivial issues becuse it is free at the point of use.
Sorry, about your dad, but I have only had exceptional service when I have needed it. New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
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| 4th Oct 2016 6:34 pm |
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BLFarrar
Member Since: 02 Aug 2006
Location: Deepest, Dankest, Darkest, Dingiest......Le Halifax, West Yorkshire...with strong links to Ireland
Posts: 6222
 
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Currently works at a major London teaching hospital as an A & E - ITU anaesthetist.....
Works crazy hours...long shifts & has sacrificed her weekends to cope with schedules...
She doesn't agree with what's happened & still to be implemented as regards contracts....
She doesn't earn that much cash wise when you compare the responsibility she takes on with every patient who are usually brought in as emergency cases or in ITU - serious stuff & not all make it.
Before anyone says she has been "funded" by the UK to get to where she is - no she hasn't as her first qualification as a dentist was funded entirely by us in New Zealand.....her post graduate Medicine course also funded entirely by us.
She moves to Australia in December to do much the same at a teaching hospital.....work attached to the emergency helicopter & the flying doctor service.....realistically her contract hours wise is far more realistic & she gets to where she wants to be career wise in about half the time (five years instead of ten or twelve years) maybe it isn't realised the amount of study, exams & sheer hard work that has to be put in after graduation & the F1, F2 junior years.
Her take on the government -v- junior doctors is one of disdain as a seven day service may be imposed but there simply isn't enough resource (accross the board...not just junior doctors) to make this happen.
I feel sorry for those posting here who have had long waits & far worse...it is hospital dependant & some aren't that good...her suggestion is to be vocal....very vocal if you are caught in a log jam.
Sadly the NHS isn't that well managed or organised....fundamentally it's a service that is there for patients....not a political football to score points with. BREXIT - done properly.
Right now ...We need Government - not Politics
Save the Dipstick Flagbearer-keep it simple, less likely to fail campaign-agenda items:Starting Handles, Acetylene Lamps.
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D3 HSE-perfectly formed, passenger friendly...has real DIPSTICK
Jag XK-but sadly no DIPSTICK...HUGE design fault
FL2 has DIPSTICK..."real comfort in rear seats"
VW Golf wondermobile (?)..has real DIPSTICK
Morris Minor..original DIPSTICK technology..and a real KEY.
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| 4th Oct 2016 7:00 pm |
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PaulJC
Member Since: 07 Mar 2015
Location: Herts / Essex
Posts: 192
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I work for an NHS Trust ambulance service, sadly the system is very broken, lack of staff across the board, people literally being worked in to the grave or mental health problems, delays everywhere...
For the past 9 months i've worked exclusively on the rapid response car, the embarrassment of waiting in someones home for an ambulance is far less than being on an actual ambulance and then having to stand in a hospital corridor for 3 hours until the patient can be offloaded...
I am sure that many others like myself didn't sign up to the job to deal with delays and politics but unfortunately it is the way is has become...
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| 4th Oct 2016 7:23 pm |
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Skynet
Member Since: 23 Jul 2014
Location: Melksham, Wiltshire
Posts: 868
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Watching the A&E programme based in St George's, if they are hanging around it's usually because they are waiting for results of tests before they can clear the cubicle of that patient. Dave
D3 2006 HSE, Cairns Blue - gone
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| 4th Oct 2016 7:32 pm |
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Brian_DL13
Member Since: 25 Aug 2013
Location: Teesdale
Posts: 1418
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I think that, like any large organisation, there are people working there who are heroes and at the other extreme there are people who are absolutely useless.
I see a lot of variation in quality of care in the NHS and much of it is due to the above.
(I have family who work in the NHS and myself+ SWMBO have had prolonged exposure to it as patients over the last decade).
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| 4th Oct 2016 7:51 pm |
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Mother Superior
Member Since: 12 Sep 2011
Location: in the long boat 'till I'm sober
Posts: 507
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I've had both ends of the spectrum on this one, when I smashed in the back of my head I was sent home after being unconscious for four hours with the wrong drugs and a bleeding brain.... But when my ma-in-law was in her final days at an ICU we could not have wished for better care, both for her and us after she passed away.
I generally think it's a case of good people trying to work a bad system... Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies
Farewell and adieu to you, Ladies of Spain
For we've received orders for to sail for old England
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| 5th Oct 2016 7:38 am |
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BLFarrar
Member Since: 02 Aug 2006
Location: Deepest, Dankest, Darkest, Dingiest......Le Halifax, West Yorkshire...with strong links to Ireland
Posts: 6222
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Good feedback & sadly feedback..on things that go wrong usually tragically wrong
The majority of those employed by the NHS are professional, dedicated, focussed & aware of the situations in front of them in whatever care task they are engaged in.
The issues with the NHS are to me:
1) management that isn't professional, dedicated,focussed or aware of the whole situation they are dealing with daily.....they concentrate on number for statistics, cost effectiveness (which has to be there) & aren't that good at running a care system....if they ere medically trained they would do it in an entirely different way.
2) medical staff (doctors, technicians therapists) are in short supply - so using the free movement of labour principle doctors, technicians & therapists from the EEC are hired....some good some not so good & it illustrates the wide variation in the extent & quality of trading both pre & post graduate compounded by the language problems. Some horror stories of mistakes & misunderstandings some with tragic consequences......as an alternative take on this Doctors from India, Pakistan do thier medical training in English. Standard requirement.
Believe it or not my youngest daughter, a Doctor...had to undertake English tests both written & verbal to enter the Austrailian system (she's moving there to work)....she got A levels in English from a Northern Ireland Grammer school - but still had to take them.
3) undermanning & deoendadancy on overtime & contract staff (who get paid more strangely).....the whole system is undermanned. So just beating up junior doctors isn't the answer......nor will taking on nurses, paramedics & consultants.
4) wasting money on systems that don't work e.g. Computer systems, poor purchasing for the consumables, drugs & bought in services.
5) waste in general - that wouldn't be tolerated in the home or industry but is rampant in almost every hospital.
I'm a member of the Leeds Hopitals trust (ex patient member) who are engaged without any payment to oversee what is happening....A good idea that is proving worthwhile.
Very sadly we have a government that would like to privatise the NHS & would if they could.
Jeremy Hunt is hell bent on doing this by whatever means possible....& seems to have escaped the TM the PM "cull" of w@nkers in senior government ministerial posts.
Don't be fooled by the rhetoric - this is on the agenda & will be brought in bit by bit. BREXIT - done properly.
Right now ...We need Government - not Politics
Save the Dipstick Flagbearer-keep it simple, less likely to fail campaign-agenda items:Starting Handles, Acetylene Lamps.
Founder: Dipsticks-R-Us Inc
D3 HSE-perfectly formed, passenger friendly...has real DIPSTICK
Jag XK-but sadly no DIPSTICK...HUGE design fault
FL2 has DIPSTICK..."real comfort in rear seats"
VW Golf wondermobile (?)..has real DIPSTICK
Morris Minor..original DIPSTICK technology..and a real KEY.
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| 5th Oct 2016 8:26 am |
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al cope
Member Since: 08 Nov 2005
Location: Oldbury, WM
Posts: 10344
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Guys - some good comments, and I was having a rant to get this of my chest out of frustration. Yes, most of the folks we saw were trying to do a good job, but you could see in the attitude and behaviour that they were on a downward spiral which is what happens when all they can see in front of them is stuff that doesn't work, ques, people complaining, etc. You couldn't pay me enough to do any of their jobs in that situation. Why any of them want to work in the NHS is beyond me.
I have never got the idea of doctors/nurses doing 18hr shifts (and to my mind then not being in a fit state to work), this would never happen in the commercial world. If you provide a service 24hrs a day, thats a 3 x 8hr shift system - why is the NHS not like this.
And given the amount of experience there must be within the NHS system, why does it continue to operate like this, so inefficiently.
And privatisation isn't always the answer, as in this case there shouldn't be any profit going to shareholders, it should all be going on patient care.
Al Volvo XC90 B5 Plus Dark
Gone - MY18 D5 HSE - Corris on 22's with Black Pack
Now gone - MY16 D4 SE Tech, Loire Blue, Almond Leather, Privacy, plus some other goodies.
Old - MY12 D4 SDV6 XS Auto - Ipanema Sand with Almond Leather - Plus other niceties, and D4.com sticker
Older - D3 TDV6 XS Auto - Lugano Teal with Almond Leather, 20" Stormers, Shiny Tailpipes, DVD/TV - and obligatory D3 sticker
Ancient - D3 TDV6 S - Tonga with Ebony, 20" Stormers, satnav & DVD
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| 5th Oct 2016 8:50 am |
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