RMA26

Interesting topic

But how much do you actually trust the NHS?

I’m not usually one to bring my personal life into the public eye, but…..

In Jan 2000 my father went into our local hospital for an operation, which resulted in his death and a civil case against the hospital which was settled out of court.

The whole basis of this situation was – a tumor was found in the bowel, they did a scan and took a biopsy, then operated without conclusive evidence of what the tumor was (which later transpired to be bowel cancer, after he had died).

His death was down to the consultant buggering off on holiday, then coming back not aware that his patient was still in hospital and still very unwell. My father later died of a cardiac arrest (a week after the op) from septic shock and by drowning in his own **** (putting it blunt)

We have recently been involved in a case with the GMC (General Medical Council) which resulted in the consultant being found guilty of misconduct for not keeping any written records and “not acting in the best interests of the patient” 3000 cases are brought to the GMC each year, with only 250 being brought to hearing (8%)

I don’t want to post the press articles on here (which are available on the net) – I just want to gain a general perception and opinion from people? Any any experiences? Is this isolated as they claim, or a more common problem in the UK?

OllyK

God father dies after having stents due to a wrong injection being given after he'd survived the actual op.

Father in law been waiting 10 years for a knee op, been bounced from waiting list to waiting list to avoid becoming a statistic at the 6 month point.

Misses needs her wisdom teeth out, gone private, seeing consultant next week, booked in for the op first week in August.

Do I trust the NHS? What do you think?

davegtt

Scary hearing all the bad press thats printed about them but in reality Ive never had a problem when Ive been in need of any help from them. All the bad stories your hear you never hear about the thousands treated daily and survive happily from it.

RMA26

Yeah, the lucky ones - Sorry for my negative reply here, but we've been through hell

davegtt

Hey, not saying you havent, Your asking for opinions on the NHS not for us to comment on your bad luck...

RMA26

Indeed, apologies

Rioja

I broke my leg a few years back and was in for a week getting a plate in etc. staff were excellent; even let me put some beer in their fridge as I missed a BBQ because of the injury!

I trust the nurses and doctors: I don't trust the administration

Leslie

I think it must depend largely on where you are in the country.

I have had three major operations in the last 9 years. The first was for a hip rebuild after I smashed it falling off the roof. The next was a quad bypass, and recently a major cancer operation.

Each time the people at the sharp end, ie consultants, doctors, and nursing staff etc. have been absolutely outstanding in the way they treat people and the way they care for the patients as well. The basic hospital administration is also very efficient. Don't know how stifling the top end admin from the Government associated with targets etc is though, I bet the staff just battle their way through it and they deserve maximum praise for that too. They are always filliing out scads of forms every time they do any kind of medical action.

If you need treatment-Devon is the place, must say I am getting bored with being sliced up now though

Les

Miss Kinky

I had my op in Devon... not 100% happy with the service, but at least i can walk again...

ScoobyDoo555

My Dad's just recovering from a Heart Attack. Our local hospital couldn't cater for the op, so he was rushed to Wolverhampton Heart & Lung specialist centre.

I speak as I find, but the service my Dad recieved was nothing short of A1.
Excellent all the way.

My Wife used to work in an NHS hopsital as a Nurse, she now works for a private healthcare company. She does so because of the disillusionment she felt in the NHS.

We have both come to the conclusion, that generally, you have to be dying for the NHS to work properly (and it does so VERY well, in most cases). Private works well if you need something non-life-threatening performed when it suites you.

Both have their pros and cons.

I'm sorry to hear about your experiences, but as you say, the statistics, 3000 cases brought against the GMC, this is a drop in the ocean compared to all the positive outcomes.......

All in my opinion though
Dan

OllyK

And I think here lies the problem, the NHS should focus on the life threatening or chronic ailments and leave the elective stuff to the private industry.

RMA26

The 3000, are total complaints, only 250 get to the hearing stage

I suppose there's no real comparrison of the complaints against the good cases, the fact here is that these complaints shouldn't really happen, after all some public NHS doctors also work private clinic's, no matter what the standard of health should always be good (not in relation to "an ideal world") after all - your trusting either your life, or someone else's life in their hands.

If complications arrise, fair enough, however - there is no excuse for negligence

Rage!

The thing is that a lot of life threatening ailments might not have been life threatening had they been treated early in the first place. Speaking as someone who was effectively fobbed off for months, ops cancelled etc, before finally being admitted as an emergency (probably displacing some other poor bugger who was having a scheduled op) I have to say that the NHS seem to be continually fire fighting... you get treated when your condition becomes serious enough that they HAVE to treat you. That is a lot of unneccessary pain, suffering and cost!

TopBanana

If you're seriously ill, you're better off in an NHS hospital than in a private clinic.

RMA26

True, but he was't seriously ill before the op

Drnaz_2000

I work in an A n E department and must admit the government 'targets' are the what affect how well a patient is treated, for every patient that takes longer than 4 hours to manage in the department, the hospital gets fined X amount. The pressures, especially on the nurses as they get it in the neck, is immense and i know patients i could have seen earlier (patient that could be having heart attcks etc) have to wait to be transfered to another ward etc so they dont 'breech' this 4 hour limit.

I blame the government for introducing such a silly system which they are only doing so they can present the data in their next electoral campaign.

OllyK

I've said before - if you set the wrong targets, people will find ways to meet those targets, usually at the expense of what the customer actually wants.

Drunken Bungle Whore

Have to say my experience of the NHS has been good. My father died of bowel cancer and my mum's had a brain tumour removed and the service in each case was excellent.

I had a lot of respect for a colleague after he told me the following story. His mother in law had had an operation and was very ill in hospital. One of the nurses accidentally attached the wrong drip bag and as a result his mother in law died.

They rationalised that his mother in law was unlikely to have survived long after the op anyway and even if she had she'd have been a vegetable. So, instead of suing the hospital they met with them to work out a clearer system of labelling and checking the drip bags to prevent the same mistake happening again.

stew911

i do not trust the nhs one bit, feel sorry for the doctors and nurses cause of the hours they work, but that doesn't give them the right to take it out on the patients in my experiences!

DCI Gene Hunt

Shouldn't of had to choose....should've sued them then 'sat down' for a chat on how to improve their processes...........

Michaela

The so called skin specialist at my local doctors diagnised my friends mothers cancer as a gnat bite. She unfortunately died (42 years old). I often wonder whether if it had been caught earlier she would have survived. Cases like these do question your trust in the NHS but I think it is the minority that give it a bad name.

weapon69

I do not trust the NHS at all. After i had my Son, they did not carry out the necessary treatment, so 2 years later i am still seeing consultants I was supposed to have my wisdom teeth out but thank god i was able to go privately for it. I have many other tales of woe about my trips into hospital but i won't go into them.

OllyK

How did that go in the end, if you don't mind me asking?

Chip

From recent experience, no, not one bit.

Chip

logiclee

My wife is disabled and has been in and out of hospital for years.

Some consultants are excellent and some are poor. Some wards are first class and some are ****e.

I had a heart attack two years ago and my emergency treatment was all I could wish for and my after care and rehabilitaion exceeded my expectations.
Since then I have paid to see my consultant and had private tests due to the waiting list.

So all in all in a bit of luck in who treats you and where you go.

And finally there are good and bad consultants in the private sector as well.

Cheers
Lee

weapon69

Hi

It went well thanks, although i wasn't well after the anesthetic, so i am doubly glad i went privately. (Aftercare was superb). On the NHS i would have been given a chair to sit in to recover. I was hooked up to drips and monitors so i don't think i would have been so good sat on a chair

Has your wife had hers out yet?

shaunywrx

In my experiences with the nhs hospitals, all of them have been very good, unfortunately my mother was admitted to hospital in march this year with a very serious illness, and was not really expected to see the week out, but all the staff (and i do mean all, from nurses, cleaners, doctors, auxillary nurses, etc, etc) were fantastic, to see the work they have to do, and the hours they put in is unbelievable, every one of them was curteous polite and very sympathetic, but in the end (three weeks later) my mother died, but at no point did any of the staff ever give up on her, or treat her with anything but respect and compassion. It's not a job i could do, and for that reason, i think all nhs staff deserve a medal (and far better pay) and people who do have problems and genuine complaints like the original poster are quite rare.
P.S. I would just like to say to any nhs staff on this site (apart from the administration/managers) that you do a wonderful job, and i thank you for your dedication to your work.

Hoppy

Very well put, Dan

Example 1: GP said I had diverticulitis, that can kill. I was in hospital 20 mins later. Turned out okay though.

Example 2: I have had a painful hip/knee for three months. Very debilitating. Tried various treatments, osteopathy, x-ray etc without success, so doc says I need an MRI scan. That will take three/four months on NHS. Phoned local private hospital who can do it for me within a few days. I'm being scanned tomorrow, but will be £850 worse off.

I'm not a big NHS fan (the inefficiency is breathtaking) but if I have a nasty crash or heart-attack etc, please don't take me to a private hospital.

Richard.

Leslie

It is worrying to see the widely different NHS experiences by people depending on where they live.

Les