Dingdongler

A sobering post. We all moan about almost irrelevant things and you are going through what can only be a nightmare. I have no idea how you are managing to cope with such a situation.

I'm really sorry and my thoughts will be with you tonight

urban

iTrader: (1)

But ultimately my problem is this.
The GP(albeit a stand in and foreign) said I have arthritis, and this is normal as you get older.
***** to that I thought, it didn't sound right.
I go to physio fellow, he tells me shoulder has dropped and is most like because of pain, using other muscles to avoid pain etc.
GP person never said your shoulder had dropped and isn't working like the other one.
Never mind the fact that sleep is affected because I can't lie on the bloody thing.

Ultimately though, private care(OK they're making money etc) has made efforts to rid me of pain, rather than some **** and bull story in my opinion just to get rid of me.
Plus I waited over 40 minutes after my appointment time to see the GP.

I get your nothing special comment totally, but in NHS hands, would I have had xrays immediately?
Would I have had pretty much zero waiting time to get said xrays?
Would I have had an MRI scan within an hour of seeing the GP consultant?
Would I have had a phone call the same night saying the next steps of action - I don't think so.

So, all in all, I'm all for private care if you are able to have such a luxury

urban

iTrader: (1)

My thoughts are also with you EddScott and I wish you, and your wife, all the very best.

Dingdongler

That's all very well mate but what have you been told is actually wrong with your shoulder then?

urban

iTrader: (1)

Shoulder impingement because of inflammation of the bursa.
Tendons are being nipped because they are not holding the shoulder in its socket properly

EddScott

Thanks guys. I posted a thread of our trials back in November. Its all pretty harrowing stuff. I'll update the thread when the time comes.

I was always concerned about being at the mercy of the local hospital because you hear all manner of horror stories and I know it isn't without its faults but the service we've been provided with has been almost faultless.

Chip

Edd, good to hear the service has been good for you both, my wife also had excellent treatment for cancer when she needed it. Myself and Sue wish you and your wife the very best.

Chip

EddScott

Thanks Chip.

Only thing I can't get over with the NHS is with communication being as sophisticated as it is, getting two hospitals to communicate patient need appears to be akin to getting man to mars.

The other thing about hospitals is the admin staff and some of the younger registrars. The admin staff, the ones that register patients even exist look at you like you've just come off the banana boat and don't be expecting a "thank you" when a door is held open for them. They have the same air about them as those that work in the local council offices - that sort of institutionalised attitude that comes from working in the public sector. Not a criticism as such more an observation.

One registrar in singleton appeared to believe that everyone past Carmarthen still wears a kilt and eats the neighbours (and that is a quote from the Oncology doctor here )

Also saw one very young looking doctor on the cancer ward who consistently looked like a rabbit in headlights. Actually felt sorry for her because she looked more unhappy than most of the patients. Its an incredibly difficult side of the business IMHO.

zip106

As much as I'd never knock the NHS, and as I've said earlier in this thread - they saved the lives of both my kids - today the cogs stopped working.

Had an appointment to see my ENT surgeon - this was an appointment that had been changed from early June.

My time was 12:15pm which meant I had to take a day off work (working too far away to make it feasible to go to work either before or after hospital).
Anyway, I get there 15 mins early as I always do only to be told my appointment had been cancelled and '....hadn't anyone told you....?'

No, they fooking well hadn't told me, that's why I'm here!

So, yet another rearranged appointment for the end of August.

In light of other people's suffering on this thread, not the end of the world granted.
Bloody annoying though!

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

zip106

Works both ways.. I turn on my Computer this morning after an early morning cancer clinic (with 18 NHS staff in attendance and video links to others to offer the best care possible)

To find a blank space where someone has cancelled to fit thousands of pounds worth retail of dental implant work because they were too busy to see me....and various other alterations to the morning plus people don't come and two others booked into lunchtime because of no other time....

I'm there, the building is there, the nurses are there, the reception staff are there, the decon staff are there, the secretaries are there.........everybody is ready to roll, but patients don't turn up

Shaun

zip106

I understand that Shaun, but I have never ever missed any appointment I've been given and would never do so without giving plenty of notice.

It just means that missing a day at work yesterday means I'll have to work Saturday to catch up, when I'd rather be with my family.

c_maguire

Bit of a postcode lottery though, isn't it?
You probably live near the hospital you work in and would end up there. I guess it is a 'good' one and they maybe 'know' you as well so you'll get preferential treatment to a degree anyway.
My hospital, should I need it, would be Addenbrookes. Bar worries about incidental infections, this is a good hospital. There are plenty I wouldn't want to go near, whereas private healthcare relies on customer perception and satisfaction to continue in business.

AndrewP

Really sorry to hear your news, very best wishes to you and your wife and hoping she responds well to the new treatment.

I work for a medical device company supplying both the NHS and Private sector and just wanted to pick up on one of your assumptions though - "I guess if we were private then we wouldn't have had to wait for approval".

This really isn't the case despite what private insurers marketing will have you believe, on a monthly basis they are squeezing costs and reducing the level of technology they're prepared to pay for. If there isn't NICE approval the answer from insurers is almost always a flat refusal to fund. In many cases now we're supplying older, less effective (but with a cheaper up front cost) technology for private patients where the NHS is using latest technology offering better outcomes and long term value but with a higher initial price.

Just the same as certain car insurance companies insisting you use their approved repairers and refusing to use genuine manufacturers parts.

Private hospitals do a great job of window dressing with coffee machines, nice rooms and a decent menu but too often there's chaos behind the scenes from a quality of care point of view - example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-22379133.

The Private sector pays my wages and I'm a long way from being a 'lefty loon' but I spend a lot of time in different hospitals and have a mental list of where I'd want to be treated. If it was anything serious it would always be a (carefully chosen) NHS Hospital.

Dingdongler

You've hit the nail on the head. I work in one NHS hospital and two private hospitals. The equipment we have in the private sector is miles behind the stuff we use in the NHS.

cster

I think people who don't pay for a service are less likely to value that service, regardless.
Ironically (perhaps/perhaps not), they are more likely to complain about it.
Maybe you have made this observation Shaun?
I was talking with a local GP friend of mine and he told me that they had patients complaining about the music that was played in the waiting room - made me laugh.
My view is that the NHS behaves (in effect) as a monopoly provider and so there is no real competition or choice. Nobody likes competition, but it does generally improve the breed as they say.
On the plus side - the NHS is cheap.
The fact of the matter is that we are stuck with it, so best just carry on IMO.

tony de wonderful

I did something to my shoulder in Australia which was subsequently just diagnosed as tendinitis (or tendonitis?) of one of the rotator cuff tendons. I can't tell you how painful and how much grief this caused me for about 6 months until I got some minor surgery to remove some bone under the acromium. I got MRI scans and steroid injections all done privately in Australia and it was all really efficient, although of course it cost me. I was suffering from bursitis in this same shoulder the year previously which was super painful too.

In 2010, back in the UK I hurt the same shoulder doing some weights, and suspected I had torn an internal rotator. I couldn't even pick up a bowl of cereal with that arm or do anything literally. Was absolutely killing me. Went to the GP and had to wait on some list for referral or something. All seemed quite useless and was frustrating. ****ing stressful cos I was supposed to start a new job. So I ended up going back to work even though I had to shake peoples hands with my left arm. On top of this something was up with my body cos I had really hot pain in tendons on the inside of my arm and my neck, plus this ongoing pain in an abb muscle I injured in 2009. I had been taking ibuprofen constantly since the bursitis, I dunno if this ****ed my body up or something and caused some crazy inflammation response? I got an MRI can done privately anyway about 5 or 6 months after hurting my shoulder, and the consultant said I might have a minor slap tear which he couldn't be sure about without surgery. By this time my shoulder was better for day to day stuff, so I've left it for now. It took about two years before it felt ok to do press ups with and so now it's semi-useable but I have to limited how much I work out. Might see a specialist in a couple of years if it isn't 100% by then. I can't afford 2 months off work for surgery.

The NHS was pretty frustrating for all of this, especially the first time I went to a GP saying my body was inflamed all over the place and in pain, I got a patronising and trivialising instruction to do some swimming. About a year later I mentioned it to another GP and got some testing for reactive arthritis or something which was nagative. By this time my body was improving anyway. But that GP was more receptive.

SJ_Skyline

Edd - PM'ed you to take it offline, wishing you the best mate!

The NHS is a bloated behemoth full of middle managers. It was devised in the late 40s where there were fewer, less expensive treatments available for a smaller, younger population.

Fast forwards to today, with a greater number of more expensive treatments for a larger, increasingly frail (looks at psl) population....

This is an unsustainable model.

None of us have the answers but we can solve this by moving away from this illusion that the NHS is a beacon. If it was a beacon then the rest of the world would have adopted the model - and it hasn't. Quid pro quo.

zip106

So how do we cure the NHS?

This may not be what people want to hear, but how about making sure those that don't contribute actually pay for their treatment?

I know the NHS has a department for just this, but how much does it actually collect?

You have to pay one way or another for medical use in other countries at point of consultation/treatment.

Why not here?

tony de wonderful

Costly but not unsustainable.

john banks

cster, we have music in our waiting room to reduce people on the phone or at the desk being overheard. We pay the performing rights society to have the radio on.

Plain X rays are generally available same day, ultrasound could be quicker. In our area GPs have some direct access to brain and lumbar spine MRIs which hasn't opened the floodgates like the accountants feared as there are strict criteria. Shoulder scanning and physio waiting times are two of our bugbears though, 6-8 weeks is too long!

john banks

The biggest issue is that e taxpayers are the lowest users of health services, the young and old who don't pay tax (or much tax) are the heaviest users. Those working age taxpayers want a responsive service when they need it. I wonder how it would work if you hardly use the service you would get priority, but then over the real chronic sick?

cster

A very coherent observation, or the ramblings of a heretic?
A system that sets out to be the epitome of fairness, is in effect anything but.