RANT; The NHS!!

NJW69

When any member of our families are involved it's hard not to be upset however waiting lists are lower now than they have ever been. I can remember the storys in the papers about people waiting 5 years and above for surgery such as hip replacements.

The standard now is 18 weeks.

Yes, still a long time when in pain but there should be services to support the patient until surgery is available aka your GP (whose average salary is now circa 135k).

One of the first things the new government are doing is abolishing targets including the 18 week target for inpatient treatment, the 4 hour target to be seen in A&E and the 48 hour target for you to see your GP.

Targets are not there just for the sake of it but to respond to the needs of patients and their expectations of the NHS.

snapping_crocodile

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I do hope that your Mum gets her operation and recovers quickly, OP, and I know it must be doubly frustrating when you are a nurse, but could I ask whether it is possible that the couple of phone calls you made to see whether something could be sorted out, actually resulted in the Consultant saying 'put her on the end of my list and I'll do it if there's enough time'? One of my old bosses would do that if I asked him very nicely, but there was always the risk that they would be cancelled at the very last moment as a result. So in a way, although it was sometimes unsuccessful, the attempts to fit someone in were actually proof that the staff did care and were going that extra mile to try and help.

Although there is no excuse for the nursing staff to be so unhelpful.

I'd call the consultant's secretary Monday morning and explain she has been cancelled whilst waiting to be wheeled down. I'd then call admissions and point out that it was a very late cancellation (they look bad on printouts). If admissions is like some of the ones I have dealt with before, I'd then look at instigating the Complaints Procedure. PALS are nice, but it's surprising how quickly a telephone call to the chief exec's office gets results.

Thank you for all your replies

Jojo the tight fisted....my mum is going to phone the secretary first thing monday morning. She was so lovely and helpful on the phone last time. I *think* her slot was actually a cancellation of someone else but not 100%. It is excellent of consultants like the one you used to work for, to try and slot people in like that :T

We will have to wait and see what they say tomorrow. I think the bit that annoyed me the most was the simple lack of apology. My mum said she understands things crop up and ops get cancelled, but as antoher poster said a simple apology, although it wont change the situation just, in my mind, shows a bit of respect to the patients :cool:

Thank you everyone, all your advice has been much appreciated

skintdragon

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Nurses are quite well-paid, aren't they? When you take into account shift allowances and all that?

No, nurses are not very well paid at all, especially as they are almost all overworked in the NHS. Some have to work nights, weekends, bank holidays etc just to boost their income to make ends meet.

skintdragon

callow wrote: »

The trouble with the NHS surgery lists and beds is they are run on a "just in time" system. Which is fine for a supermarket but for a hospital where things often don't go plan it is not a good idea. There is no slack whatsoever.

Where I work patients often have their surgery and then have no ward bed to go to. They spend several hours in theatre recovery waiting. We have to give them lunch in an area that is really for unconcious patients coming around from their surgery.

As someone previously said, I can only see it getting worse.

Oh, been there, done that!!!! It is a very frustrating situation indeed. PACU is the holding area for patients post op, whilst the rest of the hospital tries to discharge patients and turn bedspaces around. It is frustrating when the surgeons know there are no beds for patients to go to post op, yet they put knife on skin, then leave the nurses to sort out where their patients will go afterwards. :mad:

andyrules

skintdragon wrote: »

No, nurses are not very well paid at all, especially as they are almost all overworked in the NHS. Some have to work nights, weekends, bank holidays etc just to boost their income to make ends meet.

Depends which trade you are comparing.

Nurses' salaries, compared to general female (using best fit) salaries in, eg banks, offices, shops, is way higher. I know at one time it was on a par with teachers' salaries (not NQT) and I've never heard anyone on here claiming that teachers are underpaid!

The nurses and teachers I know manage their mortgages, homes, holidays etc very well. If both are nurses/teachers, they are considered comfortable and would not qualify for any kind of concession/benefit that was not universal.

garthdp

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Sandoval, would it be possible for you to increase the size of Courier New that you use at all, please? It would make it slightly thicker and easier to read, whilst still standing out.

Not sure if he can actually get any thicker;)

andyrules

garthdp wrote: »

Not sure if he can actually get any thicker;)

lol, don't hold back

Sandoval

garthdp wrote: »

Not sure if he can actually get any thicker;)

I'll admit it. Girth has never been one of my problems...

garthdp

Sandoval wrote: »

I'll admit it. Girth has never been one of my problems...

No doubt you can get one hand comfortably around it - and frequently;)

Sandoval

garthdp wrote: »

No doubt you can get one hand comfortably around it - and frequently;)

I'm typing this with my free hand as we speak strangely enough...