Leslie

Just thought I would mention my ideas about the NHS after my recent experience.

I had to go into hospital to get some treatment on my heart after a problem I had a few weeks ago.

The doctor, who was Indian, was a particularly pleasant man. He speaks better Engish then I do! He performed the treatment which was to install an unusually long stent into the main artery which supplies the heart with its own blood circulation. I was told it was 90% blocked,so its a good thing he found that out. He achieved the job very well which was not easy to do and which was a bit painful as well because of the long stent.. It has all been completed perfectly and he has a very good reputation. Takes a bit of skill to insert a stent into an artery in your wrist and find the way through to the correct place to install it.

The nurses were really superb in the way they looked after us all, nothing was too much for them to do and they took a pride in the job. They all had a very pleasant and friendly attitude too.

I must say we are very lucky with the standard of NHS treatment down here in the South West.

Les

GlesgaKiss

Have always found nurses to be great as well. Glad the procedure was a success.

The only thing I would say is that I've not always been that impressed with the standards of cleanliness in recent years.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Good to hear everything went OK Les.

LOL, when my mum was in orthopedics, the cleaners were followed around by a supervisor with a clipboard checking all off the jobs she did, and even then they both missed the dried blood on the remote panic buton cord

I won't go into the rest of the stuff as I've said it before. But its fair to say in areas where it excels, in others its the opposite.

dpb

Last time i was in hospital was in Zambia a month ago , for my girlfriends mum to check cataract treatment possible .

As we approached the place it was obvious something terrible had happened , somebody was wailing ( loudly ! ) ,im guessing they had left it too late , probably due lack of funds and now it was only going to get a WHOLE lot more difficult still - all we could say was sorry

We were directed to another ward and the whole family moved on , it was at least 90 degrees and no aircon lol , to be greeted by 3 people at their desks seemingly more intrested in the tv than anything else . In the entrance to this ward was a recently vacated wheelchair heading out and sick all over the floor .This was still there after mum had been assessed and we were made appointment with eye hospital down the road , people gingerly trying not to step in it . It was at this point it struck me how much id not like to be ill here/this country .
The appointment was for the next day and they of course were there most of the day getting served . Mind you the intial appointment was 8 quid and and the glasses ( 2 pairs about) 30

Havnt had hospital for me for 20 years possibly also

Ant

I always liked the nhs until my grandad died.

They gave him wrong medication and at the wrong times, didn't change his infected dressings enough like they were suppose to. Left it 4 months to decide to amputate but by then it was too late.

As far I'm concerned they contributed to his quick decline!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

My experiences have been positive so far......once you can get as far as the procedure.

I waited over a year in total for a hernia repair
I waited nine months for a repair to a deviated septum.......didn't work.
I waited six months to have a dfiscectomy in my neck, and by the time it was removed, the nerve had suuffered permanent damage
Mow I've waited over aYEAR to get treatment, (surgerty) for sciatica........still not got an appointment for the surgery

Anyone tells you it's quicker to get seen now for anything but life-threatening stuff is either lying, or a fool....or both of the above: a politician!

cster

But there is not really much to compare it with is there?

Kirstiestar

iTrader: (2)

You are lucky then, as not so good in the South east!

After having a bad fall off my horse i was air lifted to hospital (cant fault air ambulance team) Where they sent me in for x rays & MRI etc, then proceeded to give me so much morphine they almost killed me. After spending a while trying to keep my heart going they decided i was fine to go home and literally chucked me out with tons of painkillers.

I woke up the next day in an incredible amount of pain and my head/face was really swollen, i went back where they left me in the corridor for 5 hours waiting to see them, before i could no longer sit and they found a bed, chucked that in the corridor and left me for another 3 hours. Finally i saw someone who checked my notes etc and told me, again that i was ok and sent me home.

I stayed on painkillers a long time, and then one day about 2 years later i woke up with backache. Took some nurofen thought nothing more of it and went to work. The pain never went and for the next year i was given endless physio/drugs/accupuncture to the point i actually thought it may just be in my head! I begged my Doc for an X ray and he was reluctant as i had not had any accidents in the last couple of years. Anyway he eventually did and they came back positive, i had a broken THREE vertebrae and 2 discs had worn down to nothing. I had developed sciatica & arthritis because of the time they had been broken too which pisses me off as this wouldnt of happened had they been noted! Its been 5 years now, ive had 3 major spine operations (I was lucky enough to be taken on by a private surgeon so no more bloody NHS thank god) but im still not fixed, ive had years of endless grief with morphine messing up my system and all the terrible side effects ive suffered and still am.`I recently had to give up the job i love and im just sitting in limbo, waiting to see my surgeon to tell her it hasn't worked again cant help thinking what could have been if they had seen the breaks (which are clear as day i have my scans) Tried to sue them they stated i knew my spine was broken when they discharged me that night, please!!
Sorry for the long post but the rant has done me good

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Sadly, similar experience here.

My Dad had a bad head injury back in 1999.

Basically he fell 8ft onto concrete whilst repairing a crane arm on a lorry. The first aid member at the site were fantastic. My Dad wanted to get up but they basically sat on him to make sure he didn't. He was speaking fine at this point.

He was rushed to hospital but forced to wait in A&E to be seen for a good hour. In that time, some medical assistant came and sat him up in a wheel chair before he had been seen by a doctor! Within minutes he had a seizure. Then by the time I got there (I was 15 at the time) he was still in A&E, some 5 hours after the accident, shouting and screaming incoherently. All we could make out is that he kept shouting my name and saying 'don't let them take Chris, don't let them take Chris!'
That image will stay in my mind forever and I'm getting a lump in my throat just writing this. He was critical for 48 hours but pulled through.

But he was never the same. His personalility had changed and he became very secretive. So much so that by October 2005 when he had his massive stroke, he had amounted some £20,000 of credit card debt that my Mum and I had to pay.

I lay the blame for all this squarely at the door of the NHS and idiot who thought it was a good idea to sit a man up who had blood coming from his skull.

So I am sorry Les, I beg to differ on the abilities of the NHS.
My old man has been in and out of hospital on and off since 2005 with various bad seizures and strokes and it hit and miss what service he gets.

I had to be physically restrained when a young 'know it all' female doctor asked 'What do you want me to do?' All I asked was for some pain relief I could see my old man was in pain.
Suffice to say after I brought this to the attention to Hospitals Director or Care, she was suspended, then moved to another Hospital.

The NHS does and always will have major issues.

Chip

Jeff,

Ever heard of "dignitas"

GlesgaKiss

My grandfather's throat cancer was dismissed several times by doctors as catarrh, despite the fact he'd had a cancerous lung removed about 7 years previously. I'm sure he even dealt with the same specialist as the first time, who still told him it was catarrh. More tests then concluded it was cancer which by that time had spread elsewhere. He was only given a few months to live. When my grandfather was understandably upset, the specialist asked him, "What do you expect me to do about it?"

Around the same time, my mum had a car accident where both femurs were shattered, as well as other injuries. After the first xrays and during the first operation, perhaps understandably given the circumstances, they missed a fracture in her hip which then had to be opened up again to insert a bigger rod/pin and fix. After that op she caught MRSA, which seemed to be rife in (the old) Edinburgh Royal at the time. They then opened it up again to clean or whatever, gave her loads of anti-biotics, and she appeared to be recovering. She was then allowed to go home. One day while speaking on the phone she felt something running down her leg. When she looked, it was fluid... the MRSA obviously hadn't been beaten.

Long story short: she had to go back into hospital again, have the wounds reopened, cleaned, and this time left open and regularly cleaned - iirc - until they could be sure the MRSA wasn't going to be a problem, after which they would now fit a hip replacement because the longer pin in the second op (pre MRSA) wasn't going to do it! She spent nigh on a year in a wheelchair with these open wounds.

Nevertheless, I'm thankful to them that she's still here today, and in the end she did get back to relative normality after the hip replacement. Although after all the countless, and probably unnecessary, ops she has several problems that she wouldn't have had if standards had been higher - in my opinion. Having some teeth fallout is one example. The massive scars are another (as was one on around the wound on her arm - location of another, this time external, pin - because the surgeon 'slipped'. Oops! Never mind, it's only a 6 inch scar).

So on to the cleanliness.

In her ward the skirting was filthy, and so was anywhere that there was a corner or two edges meeting. The fold up tray thing she was supposed to eat her meals from had grime and all sorts encrusted round the ridge on the edge of it. My gran had to come in and clean the whole room.

That used to be a job that would have been done by anyone fit to clean in the hospital! Now it was being done by immigrants who look like they've just stepped off the boat. A little dust around the room and a proper cleaning of the bits you can see first and they're out of there!

Also, has anyone notice how hospitals, in the main, now smell like food and god knows what else rather than disinfectant? When I was little, all you could smell was disinfectant. Pretty scary as a place to visit when you're a child, but reassuring at the same time. Not now... they smell more like a branch of Dominos.

Kirstiestar

iTrader: (2)

Dont get me started on cleanliness! i was once left on a bed that had blood stains on (not mine) Then the old dear next to me **** the bed so bad it was dripping off the sides and on to the floor, the smell was horrendus and they left her like it for nearly an hour!! I was bed bound at the time and couldnt get up to 1) get away from the smell that was making me heave, and 2) get some help as the nurses were ignoring the bell. Bad times

Dingdongler

What you have written makes little sense, it's gibberish.

One minute they've almost killed you with morphine and can barely keep your heart going and then they send you straight home?? I don't think so pal.

You wake up the next morning and your face hurts? So? You fall of a horse and it's going to hurt.

Many spinal fractures are treated conservatively ie no surgery is needed. That's probably what you had

The bottom line is if you really had a case and there was negligence on the part of the hospital you could have sued. That fact is you didn't sue because you didn't have a case. What you have is a whole load of moans and whinges which you want to blame others for.

Grow up (and learn to write in a manner that doesn't resemble the ramblings of a five year old with special needs)

HTH

Dingdongler

Glad to hear you are better Les

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Glad to see your doing well.

Although my hand is nothing in comparison I have to admit I was treated swiftly by a very helpful n friendly woman.
But like above the place was minging. Things like old tape where signs used to be really bug me. Why they don't put those plastic sleeves up is beyond me.

Last year when I was rushed to A&E in Florida after a sting ray sting it was as if I was dying with all the hype. However it was amazingly clean, and they put me in a wheel chair to do some wheelies

Lee247

Great to hear you are getting back to the peak of fitness, Les
I think we are lucky in the North East. My Sis in Law had the best treatment at the Bobby Robson centre, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle. Could not fault them for their care

john banks

Les, I'm glad you were treated like the Duke of Edinburgh.

Turbohot

On that Indian bit, my late father in-law had leukemia with 6 months to live. On one of those Chemo days he bumped into an Indian consultant. He started to shout from his wheelchair- "Namaste! Aap kaise hain?" The doctor was puzzled to see a white patient with scouse accent speaking Hindi better than he did! They both had a good banter, and my FIL proudly informed the doctor that he had an Indian daughter in-law. Memories, eh.


Glad to know you are well.

cster

Like your bedside manner

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

LOL, yes, actually. I had already contacted them when the surgeon on my first discectomy told me I had a high chance of finishing up a quadraplegic whether I had the surgery or not. It could have been caused by the surgery, or the disc moving further into the spinal cord, which it was already pressing on.

BTW: I'll trade you........my pains for yours? No? Thought not.

Leslie

Thanks to all for the good wishes.

Les

Kirstiestar

iTrader: (2)

Absolutely no need for that to be honest. Can't stand a keyboard warrior, pal...

Dingdongler

Firstly there is no point sending me a pm calling me a sexist pig. I had no idea you were a woman and even if I did there is nothing in my post that is remotely sexist.

I'm also not a keyboard warrior. You have the freedom to post whatever you like on an open forum but then I have the right to question it and hold you to account.

Your entire original post seems to be factually incorrect and I've made it clear exactly why that is. You have not responded to that at all. Instead you've decided to pull the sexist card on me and accuse me of being a keyboard warrior.

So you want the freedom to verbally attack an organisation but don't want anybody else to have the same freedom to hold you to account? If anybody does then they are sexist and a keyboard warrior???

GlesgaKiss

Kirstiestar

iTrader: (2)

I'm not going to even bother explaining myself to you, why should I? I sent you the pm so this didn't have to be across the board. You obviously love the attention, I for one dont. So I shall take in your rude and nasty comments, thanks for showing me the error of my ways. Have a nice day

PeteBrant

The NHS is truely something we can be proud of. Well, for now anyway. Once Cameron and Co have finished privatising it it will be ****ing ruined.

dpb

I assume your more than willing to pay more tax

EddScott

From what I've heard of our local hospital I actually fear for my safety if I become ill.

I know an older chap who had a fall just before easter and broke his hip. Taken to the local hospital and because it was easter, there was hardly anybody there. A relative arrived the following day to find him dehydrated and in a poor way. Nobody really seemed to care and he died on Monday.

Our daughter was born in the same hospital and my wife had a bit of a hard time. The midwife had a terrible attitude so much so that I and my wifes aunty discussed asking for her to be removed but we were not sure whether this would make the situation worse. We had an indian doctor who displayed a complete lack of interest in my wifes distress. The few other nurses who were present were very nice.

They've even tried to close the maternity ward meaning you'd have to travel over an hour to the next hospital. One of the doctors blew the whistle and they suspended him.

They've spent a fortune on a new A&E department but you have a standard 3 to 4 hour wait with mostly miserable, slightly chubby nurses trudging about like they've all the time in the world and god help you if you dare to interrupt them from their glacial like trance. Not to mention the dictators they seem to always employ on the reception desks. Although they aren't quite as bad as GP surgery receptionists.

Chip

I too have experienced excruciating pain as well as you though thankfully only for a short period but when I do get it I would swap it unless I could get my hands on a gun at the time, thats how bad it has been in the past.

Hope your OK anyway

Chip

mamoon2

I'm just amazed when i hear about these "stent" surgeries. To be able to insert a stent at the wrist and feed it through your arteries up to your heart just blows my mind. Incredible stuff