Dispatches - NHS in Crisis
Discussion
It feels like we’ve been boiling the frog for around 10 years not realising how thing has been gradually slipping till it reached crisis point (ie it started WAY before COVID, junior drs strikes etc.)
I rarely go to A&E but when I did recently it was horrific, people layers deep on trolleys in corridors etc, some very seriously ill.
I rarely go to A&E but when I did recently it was horrific, people layers deep on trolleys in corridors etc, some very seriously ill.
I didn't watch the programme.
But I was talking to an Italian friend yesterday, who was telling me how broken health in Italy is. Apparently she had to wait from July till December to see a consultant at Servizio Sanitario Nazionale .
Yesterday morning, I received an NHS consultation date which will be a full two years after I was referred.
I was explaining to her how the world thinks that the NHS is something that it is not.
My partner has worked in the NHS for 16 years and this is by far the most demoralised she/her service has ever been and they’re completely exhausted.
The resources they have are reducing, the staff levels are reducing, the demands are increasing and the number of services they offer are going up.
Waiting lists to see her/team are well over a year and can be up to two years in some cases.
I’d imagine she’ll leave within the next 12-24 months which would be a big loss for the NHS.
To a simpleton (moi), it feels like resource has gone down a bit, but the main impact has been demand for the service going through the roof. The NHS is used by too many, for too much.
The resources they have are reducing, the staff levels are reducing, the demands are increasing and the number of services they offer are going up.
Waiting lists to see her/team are well over a year and can be up to two years in some cases.
I’d imagine she’ll leave within the next 12-24 months which would be a big loss for the NHS.
To a simpleton (moi), it feels like resource has gone down a bit, but the main impact has been demand for the service going through the roof. The NHS is used by too many, for too much.
Isn't the problem just the sheer size of the NHS operation.
By coincidence, yesterday I had to go to a major local hospital A+E for various tests. About 100+ patients were waiting for apx 3 hours (better than usual apparently), despite the fact that the staff were clearly working their socks off.
I then had to go to another section where 6-8 staff were generally milling around their Reception area. They were certainly readily available to meet any urgent demand but an average of, say, 6 staff doing very little got a bit tiresome after another 3 hours.
The whole organisation needs a massive overhaul and reorganisation - which simply won't happen.
It's just so ridiculously vast. Where would you start?
By coincidence, yesterday I had to go to a major local hospital A+E for various tests. About 100+ patients were waiting for apx 3 hours (better than usual apparently), despite the fact that the staff were clearly working their socks off.
I then had to go to another section where 6-8 staff were generally milling around their Reception area. They were certainly readily available to meet any urgent demand but an average of, say, 6 staff doing very little got a bit tiresome after another 3 hours.
The whole organisation needs a massive overhaul and reorganisation - which simply won't happen.
It's just so ridiculously vast. Where would you start?
I'm local and due to my aged parents being quite infirm have spent a considerable amount of time in Telford and Shrewsburys A&E departments.
Both are absolutely on the edge and are ready to implode and yet the Telford A&E is going to be downgraded to an urgent care centre and all the ambulances going to Shrewsbury which cant cope as it is.
Absolutely ridiculous situation.
Both are absolutely on the edge and are ready to implode and yet the Telford A&E is going to be downgraded to an urgent care centre and all the ambulances going to Shrewsbury which cant cope as it is.
Absolutely ridiculous situation.
Oh it's f
ked.
Wife is an NHS Nurse, however bad you think it is, it's worse. There is a 6-8 week waiting list to get to one of her clinics, that's people usually elderly or very ill with terrible and complex wounds that aren't healing. A few appointments a week with be 'DNA' (did not attend) sometimes because they've healed, sometimes because it got worse, and they ended up in Hospital and often because they've died.
Personally, I was given a referral for an urgent appointment last September, I finally got an appointment last week, it was an hour-long appointment, which are rare, in that time we managed about half of the background stuff they need to do, so I've got to go back, they gave me the very first slot available, it's in 6 weeks. Guess what the average waiting time is for a non-urgent appointment? 5 to 7 years...
ked. Wife is an NHS Nurse, however bad you think it is, it's worse. There is a 6-8 week waiting list to get to one of her clinics, that's people usually elderly or very ill with terrible and complex wounds that aren't healing. A few appointments a week with be 'DNA' (did not attend) sometimes because they've healed, sometimes because it got worse, and they ended up in Hospital and often because they've died.
Personally, I was given a referral for an urgent appointment last September, I finally got an appointment last week, it was an hour-long appointment, which are rare, in that time we managed about half of the background stuff they need to do, so I've got to go back, they gave me the very first slot available, it's in 6 weeks. Guess what the average waiting time is for a non-urgent appointment? 5 to 7 years...
I started as a junior doc in 1995, consultant in 2002, still working full time.
When I was training people waited more than a year for surgery and not infrequently died on the waiting list. It then improved and the waiting lists almost disappeared under New Labour
Over the past 15 years it has gradually deteriorated. We routinely send people home who previously would be kept in hospital for urgent surgery, instead to wait on a waiting list. I can perform less than 1/2 the operations I did per year compared to 20 years ago simply due to a lack of staff and resources. Management overreach is rampant.
It’s dire, hard to see how the NHS can flourish under a Conservative Government. They’ve had more than enough time to try to prove they are competent and we can see the results..
When I was training people waited more than a year for surgery and not infrequently died on the waiting list. It then improved and the waiting lists almost disappeared under New Labour
Over the past 15 years it has gradually deteriorated. We routinely send people home who previously would be kept in hospital for urgent surgery, instead to wait on a waiting list. I can perform less than 1/2 the operations I did per year compared to 20 years ago simply due to a lack of staff and resources. Management overreach is rampant.
It’s dire, hard to see how the NHS can flourish under a Conservative Government. They’ve had more than enough time to try to prove they are competent and we can see the results..
There’s also a real sense of managers measuring what they can measure not what they should measure.
Example surgeons were told that finished cases early was inefficient as that was not using all the theatre time while colleagues that were slower were using the resources efficiently.
There are lots of Alice in Wonderland style examples of poor management and perverse incentives.
Example surgeons were told that finished cases early was inefficient as that was not using all the theatre time while colleagues that were slower were using the resources efficiently.
There are lots of Alice in Wonderland style examples of poor management and perverse incentives.
Vasco said:
Isn't the problem just the sheer size of the NHS operation.
By coincidence, yesterday I had to go to a major local hospital A+E for various tests. About 100+ patients were waiting for apx 3 hours (better than usual apparently), despite the fact that the staff were clearly working their socks off.
I then had to go to another section where 6-8 staff were generally milling around their Reception area. They were certainly readily available to meet any urgent demand but an average of, say, 6 staff doing very little got a bit tiresome after another 3 hours.
The whole organisation needs a massive overhaul and reorganisation - which simply won't happen.
It's just so ridiculously vast. Where would you start?
And it is growing. Every time someone comes across another gap in society where an illness/sickness/condition has not been catered for then it hits tabloid headlines. Politicians want to score points by being the one who allocated billions implementing another division/department.By coincidence, yesterday I had to go to a major local hospital A+E for various tests. About 100+ patients were waiting for apx 3 hours (better than usual apparently), despite the fact that the staff were clearly working their socks off.
I then had to go to another section where 6-8 staff were generally milling around their Reception area. They were certainly readily available to meet any urgent demand but an average of, say, 6 staff doing very little got a bit tiresome after another 3 hours.
The whole organisation needs a massive overhaul and reorganisation - which simply won't happen.
It's just so ridiculously vast. Where would you start?
At the same time, there are no additional staff and this is to be absorbed into the current overstretched workload.
Hang on a minute, didn't I say billions are allocated? Yes, where does that money go because it is not in additional staffing.
It's so oversized and creaking so inefficiently while being economically unsustainable.
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