NHS crisis

[chairman]

I have just returned home after visiting my son in hospital and am sat here thinking how very lucky he has been.

yesterday evening about 1130 he started feeling unwell and fortunately his partner recognised his symptoms as a stroke.

she phoned for an ambulance and after 20 mins spoke to a controller who after asking many questions decided that he should be treated as a priority case. She was then informed that there was at least a five hour wait for an ambulance so living about 10 mins fron the main hospital , she managed to get him into the car and drove him there herself only to find that the A and E department had closed for the night.After going round and banging on doors and getting no answer she again phoned for an ambulance while she was outside the hospital. This time she was told that there would be a wait of about 8 hours!
there then followed a nightmare drive to the only hospital in the area with an open A and E department some 30 miles away and upon arrival she found the place deserted. As there was a parking problem, she was forced to drop my son at the entrance and leave him to stagger in while she moved and parked the car in a nearby taxi rank. When she returned she found that he had been rushed to the cardiac ward and was under going scans and tests and was in a serious situation.

I dread to think what would have happened if she had waited for the ambulance as she has still not had notification that it has been sent.

he has today whilst in hospital had a further stroke and is rather poorly but tonight I read that the health secretary is refusing to talk with the various unions about pay increases as the cost would be to high.

I have one message for him, 

I hope that you are never in the same situation as my son because you definitely won’t consider the cost if you are, but there again, you are probably private

Start sorting out the mess the government has created before there is nothing left to sort out.

rant over.

chairman

[WalkedUp]

Hope your son recovers quickly, fortunate to have such a good wife. 

[Walker570]

Afraid it is even more serious than that as it has nothing to do with the potential strike. It is ALL down to pathtic managment. I was a serving police officer up to 1990 and before that date if called to an incident/accident 90% of the time the ambulance was already there before we arrived.  Then they closed the local ambulance station and when I moved here in North Warwickshire they closed the local Station at Dordon and sold the land for building houses. For some years ir was not unusual to see Para medics and or ambulances parked up on laybyes, presumably sent there to cover any calls from that area.

I sincerley hope your son gets well.  Personally I am waiting for an injection to my eye and should attend Leicester Royal Infirmary who have failed to book an appoinment for me after some 10 weeks after my surgeon indicated it was urgent and I am sure there are thousands around the country in similar circumstances.

I is very evident that the Politicians and the management of the NHE could not organise a 'proverbial' in a brewery.

[Rob85]

Glad your sons wife has her head screwed on and took the bull by the horns so to speak and got him to hospital where he clearly needed to be.

My brother is an EMT with the ambulance service and his advice to me over the next while is just dont get sick, they are over worked and understaffed  and at times he has been the only responder available within a 40 mile radius. They are due to be on strike tomorrow and he says that what will happen is all calls no matter if its a sprained ankle or heart attack with be sent to them as a Cat 1.... so they will be obliged to attend. They can't win even when they do strike

[Houseplant]

It doesn't help, but it's not just the UK. Exactly the same issues here in NZ which is a shame because when we arrived a decade ago, things were a lot better than the UK, so a rapid deterioration. Increasing population, people living longer, obesity/diabetes, poor management, government that focuses on the wrong things etc. Wife and I are both in the business. Our advice to friends is get private medical insurance and don't get sick!

[ditchman]

wot crisis..............

unable to see a doctor for nearly 4 years

unable to get a dentist for 6 years (nhs)

 

 

[Lloyd90]

1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

Afraid it is even more serious than that as it has nothing to do with the potential strike. It is ALL down to pathtic managment. I was a serving police officer up to 1990 and before that date if called to an incident/accident 90% of the time the ambulance was already there before we arrived.  Then they closed the local ambulance station and when I moved here in North Warwickshire they closed the local Station at Dordon and sold the land for building houses. For some years ir was not unusual to see Para medics and or ambulances parked up on laybyes, presumably sent there to cover any calls from that area.

I sincerley hope your son gets well.  Personally I am waiting for an injection to my eye and should attend Leicester Royal Infirmary who have failed to book an appoinment for me after some 10 weeks after my surgeon indicated it was urgent and I am sure there are thousands around the country in similar circumstances.

I is very evident that the Politicians and the management of the NHE could not organise a 'proverbial' in a brewery.

Is that down to management or funding? 
 

I’ve dealt with several calls tonight … currently we have an 80 hour wait for an Ambulance in our area, with several high priority cases needing urgent ambulances and there aren’t any left to send out! 

[Shambam1962]

My daughter was rushed into hospital on 1st December after having 4 epileptic seizures in the early hours of the morning.

She had a bug where she had been constantly vomiting and wretched so much, that she couldn’t keep any fluids down and had a very high temperature which brought on her seizures.

We are used to the frequency and severity of her seizures, but on the 3 seizure she was in a very bad way and phoned 999

My wife was on the phone to the ambulance control and an ambulance was being sent from outside the area as there was no ambulance available within a 20 mile radius.

We actually have an ambulance station in our village !!

The ambulance arrived from Gwent in 20 minutes, and the ambulance man started to check my daughter, when she had another very bad seizure and stopped breathing.

He quickly worked on her and she started breathing again.

When this was going on a paramedic turned up as backup as the ambulance man was alone as his partner was off sick.

My daughter was rushed to Morriston Hospital, when on arrival to A&E there was 10 ambulances lined up in a row and being used a hospital beds.

My daughter was quickly seen to and was in and out of the ambulance for 16 hours with my wife by her side at all times, until given a bed in A&E for 2 1/2 hours until being moved to an available bed in a hospital ward early hours of 2nd December.

In the 16 hours waiting in the ambulance, there was 2 shift changes of ambulance staff and the ambulance had to stay there until the patient was seen to.

On arrival at the ward my wife couldn’t enter , because the ward had covid and my daughter was wheeled in.

My daughter was very well looked after and was sent home 5 days later by the hospital staff.

The day after being released from hospital, she had covid symptoms and tested positive, and a day later I myself tested positive for covid, which I’m now getting over.

The ambulance service was brilliant on this occasion and saved my daughter’s life, but the system is badly broken, and the ambulance driver, told me people are dying because they are tied up waiting outside hospitals and unable to get to people on time.

Chairman, I hope your son makes a speedy recovery, and I know it’s frightening times with the Ambulance service and NHS.

 

[Walker570]

8 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

Is that down to management or funding? 
 

I’ve dealt with several calls tonight … currently we have an 80 hour wait for an Ambulance in our area, with several high priority cases needing urgent ambulances and there aren’t any left to send out! 

Probably both but funding is down to management by the Government, correct?

I have the belief that here are three major items on the list of priorities for running a country   Defence  Health  Education.  Yes we can manage with a few potholes and even a high speed train or two.  Show me a Nationalised Industry which is/was succesful. Money pits.

[Dave-G]

2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Probably both but funding is down to management by the Government, correct?

I have the belief that here are three major items on the list of priorities for running a country   Defence  Health  Education.  Yes we can manage with a few potholes and even a high speed train or two.  Show me a Nationalised Industry which is/was succesful. Money pits.

My thinking is any nationalised industry is a union magnet for restrictive practices, they cannot ever perform as intended because they become a political tool for Labour to exploit.

I say that whilst wearing a rapidly fading Tory boy hat, because the conservatives seem to have lost the ability to keep Labour out of achieving office apart from local councils.

[Lloyd90]

1 hour ago, Dave-G said:

My thinking is any nationalised industry is a union magnet for restrictive practices, they cannot ever perform as intended because they become a political tool for Labour to exploit.

I say that whilst wearing a rapidly fading Tory boy hat, because the conservatives seem to have lost the ability to keep Labour out of achieving office apart from local councils.

What’s the excuse for the non nationalised industries that are failing? 🤷‍♂️

[Jaymo]

Just now, Lloyd90 said:

What’s the excuse for the non nationalised industries that are failing? 🤷‍♂️

Union expectations, along with management ineptitude. 
 

[Lloyd90]

1 minute ago, Jaymo said:

Union expectations, along with management ineptitude. 
 

So it seems like the issues are the same, regardless of who’s in charge. 
 

Poor management / inefficiency & workers wanting higher pay for the jobs they do. 

[Dave-G]

3 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

What’s the excuse for the non nationalised industries that are failing? 🤷‍♂️

Some of them are compromised with Labour funding union staff too. To be fair its hardly surprising the Tories eventually give up trying to defeat those dragging the UK down and doing what they can to assist illegal migrants to boost their election chances. 

[Gordon R]

NHS needs to look at how it spends its funds. Years ago they had a matron and a few office staff. Now they have extensive HR departments, budget managers, CEOs with their staff, cleaning contractors etc etc.. If you threw a few more billion at the NHS, they would create a woke department and further waste anything left over. Incompetence from the top and a long way down.

Hospital at Whiston, in the news, showing the way to manage, but I'm sure someone will carry the can for being too efficient.

[Dave-G]

7 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

....... Poor management / inefficiency & workers wanting higher pay for the jobs they do. 

Which drives inflation and even higher wages/cost of living and doing business that drives even more jobs to cheaper more compliant workforce countries.

Its a vicious circle that bites but unions are destroying UK industry feasibility. The likes of the EU and remainers like engineering that sort of thing to us who had the audacity to vote leave.

[Penelope]

7 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

they would create a woke department

There will already be large 'Diversity' depts.

[Yellow Bear]

11 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

Years ago they had a matron and a few office staff. Now they have extensive HR departments, budget managers, CEOs with their staff, cleaning contractors etc etc.

HR Sadly needed - years ago there wasn't a no win no fee legal situation and a culture of "if something goes wrong it is someone else's fault".  Much time and money is lost dealing with vexatious claims for minor incidents with both patients and staff "trying it on". 

[Deker]

57 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

So it seems like the issues are the same, regardless of who’s in charge. 
 

Poor management / inefficiency & workers wanting higher pay for the jobs they do. 

I would say poor management has been brought about by people thinking that an applicant with a degree is more useful than an applicant with experience, we have a layer of management now who are great on paper and know all of the management buzzwords but don't actually know what the business or workers do

[discobob]

17 minutes ago, Deker said:

I would say poor management has been brought about by people thinking that an applicant with a degree is more useful than an applicant with experience, we have a layer of management now who are great on paper and know all of the management buzzwords but don't actually know what the business or workers do

I have to deal with them everyday - churning out policies and processes to their hearts content and then having meetings about them. I liken them to squirrels and dogs.

I have an analogy, We (the people doing the work) are the stokers shovelling the coal into the furnace while they are swanning about on deck, listening to the band play and are totally unaware of the Iceberg we are going to hit

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, Lloyd90 said:

So it seems like the issues are the same, regardless of who’s in charge. 
 

Poor management / inefficiency & workers wanting higher pay for the jobs they do. 

Yep but in every Nationalised Industry I have knowledge of, but not in every privately run business.

Under the National Coal Biard I witnessed a huge very expensive cutting machine put into a colliery near me and then within the year the pit was closed and filled in.

[Westward]

I don't know what people expect. 

It's no good trying to pin it on the government, the tories have poured more money in than the other lot did, but it doesn't make much difference because it won't be solved by simply throwing money at it.

To start we had a nett migration of 330,000 in 2021. A figure that's been steadily increasing for the last 20 years or so resulting in at least 5 million more people living here and that's just the ones they know about.

I know or know of several people who've migrated here from overseas. In every case they arrived with a raft of medical issues, some very serious, for the NHS to deal with, that they either couldn't afford or couldn't get at all in their country of birth. I don't doubt that the NHS is a huge magnet for migration to Britain. Two migrants that I still have knowledge of have also since had children delivered by the NHS.

Factor in the vastly increased range and complexity of treatments available, the sad reality that many common conditions are lifestyle related and therefore avoidable, and the hopelessness of the GP surgery system, meaning A&E often get buried in trivial cases, and the problems become insurmountable without a fundamental realignment of immigration policy and the 1st level care system.

Aside from the GP surgeries, the poor old NHS is probably trying to handle at least double the demand level of 20 years ago with only about 15 or 20% extra hospitals and resources.

[oowee]

Very sorry to hear of your son O hope he can make a good recovery. 

 

The NHS model is propagated on more people paying than drawing. We have an ageing population and we have cut of the supply of people paying into the system.

We need to provide less service or reduce the number of people drawing on the service. We could start by reviewing services to the older generations. 

[Rim Fire]

3 minutes ago, oowee said:

We could start by reviewing services to the older generations. 

Like what i paid all my life i think i am entitled to a bit more than some ;;;;;; that hasn't paid at all  

[ditchman]

you want to know what a crisis is .........

KIngs Lynn QE 2 hostipital.......it is now out of date.....the beams and pillars are cracking......there are 2400 acro props and mine timbers holding the roof and beams up

and the govt still has not made a desision to release money for a new safe building........