NHS in Great Britain

[Poppy]

Well as many know we returned to live in the UK after 10 years in Cyprus.The NHS was a concern to us after hearing various views and indeed knowing of my brother in laws terrible treatment in Stoke which led to his untimely death.
However to date we are very pleasantly surprised. We have experienced no problem registering wirh a doctor and you ring up speak to a Dr and if an appointment is necessary you get one the same day. After just 7 weeks here we have already been offered bowel cancer screening too. My husband had an appointment today with the diabetic clinic and wow were they thorough,already taken blood samples,urine sample,
made eye appointments,podiatrist apt,dietician apt and given a blood testing kit ( have to pay about 30 -40 euros in Cyprus)
I have an appointment next week with the COPD clinic so will see what that is like.

I have to say that the Diabetes clinic in Paphos was very hit and miss and he always had to request,blood pressure,blood tests etc

For anyone who is diabetic living in Paphos then do ensure that they do carry out these vital tests on a regular basis.

We thought the health care in Cyprus was fine ( other than the state of Paphos Hospital) as we knew no other but believe me they are well behind the times although I cannot fault the cancer care other than everyone being allowed to smoke in the balcony just outside the ward and smoke coming into the ward - even patients receiving chemo were wheeling their trolleys onto the balcony and smoking whilst the chemo coursed through their veins

[Jimgward]

Working as I do, with the NHS, I have visited many hospitals and other providers over many years. I would say that overall, the clinical care is superb with dedicated staff.

It's the ancillary elements and waiting times that are killing it.

I can get an appointment now with my GP, same day, but I have to phone dead on 8am and wait in a queue averaging about an hour, to speak to a GP for triage, then they decide if I need to see one of them. This is better than the 4 week wait we had before, but does not suit people who work. It is unworkable and the GPs hate it as the errors with telephone triage are waiting to happen.

The main targets in Scotland are;

The current waiting time standards are:

• 12 weeks for new outpatient appointment
• 6 weeks for the eight diagnostic tests and investigations
• 18 weeks Referral to Treatment for 90% of patients
• The legal 12 week Treatment Time Guarantee
• 62 day – treatment for all patients referred urgently with a suspicion of cancer
• 31 day – from decision to treat to first treatment

In England, they are longer but even these are far too long. No-one with cancer should wait more than a couple of weeks and no provision is made for how serious your case is, prior to seeing a consultant.

In England, to reduce times, anyone who smokes or who has a BMI over 30 (very low) can be refused elective surgery.

If you are treated for one thing - such as Prostate Cancer, then it is also found it has spread, you back onto the waiting times list - shocking...

Our expectations today are much, much higher than perviously. Add to that, people living much longer, more patients and more complications that we can treat adding to the burden and the NHS is really struggling.

More than 70% of beds are taken by the over 70s - the worst place for them. Anyone over 75 who spends a week in a hospital bed, will lost over 14% of muscle mass, the equivalent of 10 years of ageing. Unless they become fit enough and driven to exercise, they will never fully recover.

A hospital bed costs over £500 per night. A week in full-time nursing home costs on average £750. Yet we fill our hospitals with people who would benefit from temporary or permanent nursing care, preferably in their own home. It's bonkers.

[trevnhil]

What a great 'Tell it as it is' post Jimgward..

[Varky]

I agree with Jim. The present situation, in my opinion is due to the lack of funding and absence of any sensible re-organisation by recent governments of all colours. Unfortunately this seems to beyond the capabiities of all governments. There are consultation groups coming out the woodwork but all want more funding. A horse designed by a committee is a camel. That's what we have now got.
Please be aware I am not a fan of privatisation just look at what that has done to the energy supply companies, the railways etc. All it needs is someone with the vision to have a joined up NHS service, something that politicians, with their hidden agendas, are incapable of doing.

[merchant_banker]

There are many people who try to compare the UK NHS with the Cyprus health system.

There is no comparison, yes there are issues/problems but the UK is still the Gold standard in health care.

Well done to all the hard working UK NHS staff.

[harveywinning]

Who in their right mind would want to be Chief Executive of the NHS! In my view it's far too big for anyone to control it. A horrendous job.

Another point is that over the years there always seems to be a demand for more and more cash. Is the NHS a bottomless pit?

[Jimgward]

Who in their right mind would want to be Chief Executive of the NHS! In my view it's far too big for anyone to control it. A horrendous job.

Another point is that over the years there always seems to be a demand for more and more cash. Is the NHS a bottomless pit?

No its not and never can be. It needs to be better run, but it is also underfunded for our modern needs.

It needs to be completely redesigned, much like it was be Bevan. But today's NHS has to incorporate social care and has to be focussed more on keeping people out of health and care needs, rather than fixing things when they go wrong. Preventative maintenance.

Digital technologies allows us to monitor patients in their own homes and workplaces. Genome profiling allows us, along worth data, to predict. The NHS is rich in data and poor in intelligence. All this needs to change. We are in a digital age, trying to run a steam engine with computer upgrades.

[Cogs123]

Oddly enough Jim, our surgery has just gone digital, you have to e-mail the nurse, then a doctor will ring & decide if you need to see them or not.

[Firefly]

Seems to me it's the same old too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. The Worcestershire NHS is the worst in the UK, their answer ? to bring in a team of Administrators and a team of Managers, well hello, how about a team of Doctors and a team of Nurses instead ! The Herefordshire Health Authority has just employed an Executive from Australia, she is to be paid £20.000.00 re-location expenses. Surely if you apply for a post and succeed, you pay your own expenses, no-one forced you to accept the post. What a dreadful waste of tax payers money.

The hard working teams of Doctors and Nurses are to be praised for keeping the ship afloat, in spite of the best efforts of the Health Authorities.

Jackie

[Poppy]

Since my first post I have received appointments for both breast screening and cervical cancer screening in addition to the bowel cancer screening - all this within 12 weeks of living here.
Really cannot fault them in this area!!
My husband has now had his podiatrist apt which was very thorough and will be seen on a quarterly basis

[PhotoLady]

Oddly enough Jim, our surgery has just gone digital, you have to e-mail the nurse, then a doctor will ring & decide if you need to see them or not.

What happens if you don't have email or internet?

[Cogs123]

Sorry Jules, I should have added that you can still ring & book an appointment if you don't have online access.
I've got to be honest & say that phoning is still my preferred method.

[Poppy]

Well yet another thumbs up for the NHS!
My brother in law has been in Hospital in S Wales for the last 5 weeks in and out of ICU and the coronary care unit having superb care,according to my sister in law. He was so ill at one stage that they asked the family if he should be resuscitated. However they have worked so hard with him that he should be discharged on Monday albeit needing oxygen for 16 hours every day. He was offered a hospital bed at home but has declined it but he will have a nurse checking up on him twice a week and has been told to do whatever he wants - growing his tomatoes and even driving again in a week or two. They cannot fault the care and assistance they have received. Maybe Mrs May should quote some of these success stories of the NHS.

[PhotoLady]

I'm currently in the process of "testing" the system here..... The medical centre was one of the victims of the recent cyber attack and they still haven't been able to retrieve all the files back from the hospital records plus they are 4 doctors down at the surgery. There are over 11,000 patients registered at the clinic - this is for the small "backwater" where we live in Over Wyre.

I've had a shoulder problem since the beginning of the year and have tried all kinds of potions - unfortunately, I cannot take painkillers as they cause havoc with my internal workings from the word Go. So, I've been struggling through with crunching and cracking from my shoulder down to my elbow and pins and needles in alternate fingers depending where the pressure is each day. Eventually, a week yesterday I went into the clinic to ask for a non-urgent appointment. I got one! It's on 21 June at 07:50hrs.....

I was told however, if it gets to the stage where I can no longer cope with the pain to ring through at 08:30 on any morning to see if I can get one of the emergency appointment slots which are allocated each day. Alternatively, I can phone and go to the Whitegate centre on the outskirts of Blackpool (it's apparently a mini-hospital) and will be seen there.

At the moment, the pain is up my shoulder and I have a stiff neck - tomorrow it will be elsewhere, so I'm assuming I have a trapped nerve but I have also have a couple of soft tissue injuries from many years ago which reoccur from time to time. I had cortisone injections in UK a couple of years before we moved to Cyprus in 2004 and in 2015 I had physio on it 3 times a week for 6 weeks which I paid for privately.

So, we shall see how long it takes to get some kind of treatment when I go on 21st - sadly, I will not be seeing the delicious Dr. Tottie

Meanwhile, I am booked in for my first ever mammogram next month and also have the invitations to attend for a pap test as well as full bloods etc. I shall make those when I get to the clinic later this month. All depends if I can last another 3 weeks.

Watch this space!

[June]

Why be a martyr?
Phone your surgery in the morning at 8.30 (It's what the system is in place for) or contact Whitegate Centre?
If you're struggling with this I fail to see why you don't take advantage of these options.

[josef k]

I always wonder at statements regarding the UK having the best health service and it being the envy of the world. Just what are these based on? Certainly the mental health services, to mention one, are poor in the UK (due to under-funding, not staff). So where does the UK stand? The following are the top 25 health services in the world (in order) according to the World health Organisation:

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany

Can being number 18 really be the envy of the world?

[PhotoLady]

Because I don't see it as being an "emergency"......

I'm using the 12 hour Voltarol cream and have done so for several weeks but when this lot is finished, I'm not buying any more. If it gets too bad then - I will make the call.

[Firefly]

Cyprus 24 !

[Jimgward]

5 Years ago, it was rated as number two....

Also, we spend less on the NHS per head, than almost every other developed country - half of the US and much lower than France, Italy, Germany and so on....

The 'fallacy' that we have increased spending is blown apart.

[Jimgward]

From the BBC..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40122075

The number of patients waiting six months or more for surgery has tripled over the past four years in England, the Royal College of Surgeons has said.
In March, nearly 130,000 people had been waiting for operations after being referred to a consultant, compared with 45,000 in March 2013.
But nine out of 10 patients were still treated within 18 weeks, data shows.
NHS England said it had cut the number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment.
A spokeswoman said: "The NHS has cut the number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment by nearly 13,000 over the past five years, and spending on non-urgent surgery is continuing to rise."
However, the surgeons said they were concerned that many more patients would wait longer for surgery in the future.
Earlier this year, NHS England boss Simon Stevens said growing pressures in the health service meant he could no longer guarantee treatment within the 18-week target time for operations such as knee and hip replacements.
The Royal College of Surgeons says this is resulting in more people waiting for six to nine months or more for surgery, in specialities such as ear, nose and throat, brain and spinal, and general surgery.
The biggest increases in waiting times have been in dermatology and gynaecology.
10 charts that show why the NHS is in trouble
In March, in England, nearly 20,000 people had been waiting for more than nine months for surgery - three times more than in March 2013.
At that time, six-month waits were at their lowest level and 94% of people were treated within 18 weeks.
The average waiting time for planned surgery is now just over six weeks, with 90.3% or 3.3 million people treated in under 18 weeks.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have also seen increases in the numbers of people waiting more than six months for planned surgery since 2013, although the figures are not directly comparable because of the way they are measured.
NHS England did not respond directly to the six-month figures, but added: "While the Royal College of Surgeons understandably lobbies for more spending on surgeons, in the real world they aren't the only call on constrained NHS funding, which also has to support extra investment in GP services, modern cancer treatments, and expanded mental health services."
'Grim reality'
Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "We are now struggling to meet the standards and timeliness of care that the public rightly expect.
"It is unacceptable for such a large number of patients to be waiting this long in pain and discomfort for treatment. This is the grim reality of the financial pressures facing the NHS."
She said many of those patients were older and waiting longer for surgery could have an impact on their quality of life and how well they recovered after surgery.