Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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Vortex2
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by Vortex2 »

Now there's no slack left anywhere in the system, and instead of just creaking and straining, the NHS is in full-blown collapse
That applies to almost all of our local and global systems.
We have been driving along at 99% full capacity .. which is fine, until it isn't.
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UndercoverElephant
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64243044
Ambulance bosses have apologised to the family of a man who died after he had a heart attack but no ambulance came.

Martin Clark, 68, started suffering with chest pains at his home in East Sussex on 18 November - before any strike action started in the NHS.

His family rang three times for an ambulance and after waiting 45 minutes drove him in their car to hospital.

When they arrived, the father of five went into cardiac arrest and, despite receiving medical attention, died.
What the tories are doing to the NHS, and by extension to everybody in the UK who does not have a private medical insurance policy, is absolutely immoral and unforgivable. It is actually worse than the US, because at least in the US everybody knows where they stand. In the UK, we are supposed to have a health service which is free at the point of delivery for everybody, especially for serious but treatable health problems like heart attacks. Because of this, a large number of people who could afford private healthcare at a stretch but would only do it if it is really necessary, do not have it. What I am saying is that if your policy is to run down the NHS to the point where it is completely broken, and you have no intention of even trying to fix it because you think it costs too much money, then there is a profound moral obligation on you to actually tell people that you are doing this, so those who can make other arrangements actually do so, and the system reconfigures itself around what is in reality a new health regime in the UK. As things stand, unless the tories rapidly change their tune and provide a significant increase of funding for the NHS, then we are going to have a crisis in healthcare on a scale that might just break the camel's back and finish the tories as a political force in the UK.
"We fail to mandate economic sanity because our brains are addled by....compassion." (Garrett Hardin)
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clv101
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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I've a couple of thoughts. Firstly, I've never really understood why folk are so quick to call an ambulance IF there's a private car available and the patient isn't actually incapacitated/unconscious, seriously bleeding etc when in situ first aid is probably more suitable. I guess in a perfect world the ambulance (with a paramedic) will get to the patient quicker than you could drive them to A&E. But in our rural area that isn't the case, I'm 20-25 minutes drive from the nearest A&E, no way an ambulance is ever getter here in under half a hour. I'd be very temped to drive to A&E instead of wait what would almost certainly be over an hour.

Secondly, regarding private health care. I haven't had it since I left the corporate world well over a decade ago, but have recently been reading various Reddit threads about it and it sounds like a real mess and not in anyway comparable to US style private healthcare. No emergency care and heavily reliant on the NHS as a backstop - if there are complications, if more tests are required, if bigger, fancier machines are needed... private health care in the UK is nothing like a complete health care solution, it's more like skimming off the easy, profitable bits but leaving the heavy lifting to the NHS. The only tangible advantages seem to be reduced waiting times for relatively routine stuff. Costs are not super crazy though, for our family of four it would be ~£60-80 a month depending on excesses and caps on some aspects - that includes access to private GP by video link. Basically what I'm saying is that 'going private' isn't really a complete answer - even if money isn't a issue.
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Vortex2
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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I'd be very temped to drive to A&E instead of wait what would almost certainly be over an hour.
I collapsed, went blind, paralysed and then passed out some years ago.
I'm not sure if my wife could have got me into the car and then reached the right hospital.
Also, when the ambulance came they changed destinations en route as I started getting REALLY bad during the journey, so they needed a better equipped hospital.
dustiswhatweare
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by dustiswhatweare »

'I collapsed, went blind, paralysed and then passed out some years ago.'

Every Saturday night for me when I was younger. Now it's to infirmity and beyond.
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clv101
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by clv101 »

Vortex2 wrote: 12 Jan 2023, 15:39
I'd be very temped to drive to A&E instead of wait what would almost certainly be over an hour.
I collapsed, went blind, paralysed and then passed out some years ago.
I'm not sure if my wife could have got me into the car and then reached the right hospital.
Also, when the ambulance came they changed destinations en route as I started getting REALLY bad during the journey, so they needed a better equipped hospital.
An ambulance job indeed! I did say "and the patient isn't actually incapacitated/unconscious, seriously bleeding etc".
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UndercoverElephant
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by UndercoverElephant »

clv101 wrote: 12 Jan 2023, 12:15 Basically what I'm saying is that 'going private' isn't really a complete answer - even if money isn't a issue.
Well, that's even worse, if that is possible.
"We fail to mandate economic sanity because our brains are addled by....compassion." (Garrett Hardin)
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clv101
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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Another Reddit thread today about private health care in UK:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FatFIREUK/comm ... y_can_buy/
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Vortex2
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

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Our large local GP practice has been closed "except for emergencies" for the last 3 days ....
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PS_RalphW
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by PS_RalphW »

I spoke to my gp about palpitations at lunchtime. I had an ecg (result normal) within 3 hours. She also offered to expedite my cataract operations if she could. Some parts of the nhs are still working.
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BritDownUnder
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by BritDownUnder »

The NHS is being stressed by changing demographics and mass migration of economically unproductive people into the UK is probably not helping. Better to go to a means tested service in my opinion. Or pay a lot more in taxes.
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Vortex2
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by Vortex2 »

Ancient father-in-law had a very nasty accident at his home today.

Surprisingly, the ambulance turned up promptly, and he is now in hospital.

So some parts of the NHS are still working.
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Mark
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by Mark »

An ambulance is needed PDQ for strokes, heart attacks, severe blood loss etc.
If the issue is more 'manageable'....., and you have access to a car...., better to get yourself to A&E...?
This also helps take some of the pressure off the system...

There are so many factors at play with NHS, Adult Social Care and Dentistry at the moment - some of them already highlighted by other posters...
The big question for me is whether we believe that the current government genuinely wants to improve matters...
Or whether their 'grand plan' is to run it all into the ground and then propose a different model...
I believe the latter, but that could be very dangerous at the polls, as most people really value the NHS....

My personal experience to date has always been excellent, but I've not needed it for a while...
Things would have to get very much worse for me to consider paying for a GP....
But in effect, aren't all GP Practices already run as private businesses...?
Making GPs 'normal' employees of the NHS might be one of the ways to make things run better....?

Same goes for Adult Social Care...
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by kenneal - lagger »

I managed to touch the blade of a circular saw last Tuesday and made a nice neat slice in the end of my finger. I cleaned it up and put a plaster on it. It was fine until Saturday night when it throbbed all night. I took the plaster off on Sunday and found that it was infected so I phoned the minor injuries unit at our local hospital and got an appointment for the afternoon. I went in and was "interviewed" for about 15 minutes to get the circumstances and my medical history. The wound was then cleaned by the nurse and a "nurse practitioner" had a look and sent me for an Xray to check if there was any metal in the wound. I went to the X-ray department ans was seen almost immediately and sent back to the MIU. A few minutes later I was back in, the X-ray examined and no bone damage found although there was what might be a tiny, really tiny metal fragment in the wound which probably won't cause any problems. The wound was dressed and I was off home again complete with antibiotics all within an hour.

Good service? I would say Excellent.
Action is the antidote to despair - Joan Baez
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clv101
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Re: Is the NHS really broken? Have you tried a private GP?

Post by clv101 »

My father, former significant member of this forum [highest post count by some margin], has had a recent run in with the NHS.

In his own words:
In case anyone was wondering, I had a seriously major operation, Extended pleurectomy decortication or EPD for short (no, best not Google it) on Tuesday [17th Jan] to treat my mesothelioma, survived and been have reunited with my phone.
Still in intensive care and attached, I kid you not, to 23 tubes a wires. Operation went well and I feel good.
Back to normal service in due course.
In others matters, nurses should be paid at least twice as much as politicians, because they're worth it.
His experience of the NHS since first contact just a few months ago has been excellent.
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