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NHS Direct scrapped


2nd Story

First pictures of Calamity Cameron



Discuss...........

Or don't bother.............

Cleaver

I've never really understood NHS Direct. If I have a cold or flu then I can sort myself out with over the counter drugs and a lot of moaning to the wife. If it develops in to something more serious that's giving me concern then rather than have someone try and diagnose it over the phone, I will go to my GP. So I've never really been sure what section of ill people NHS Direct appeals to.

My opinion on the second story is that it's nice to see any baby born healthy and happy, especially when a couple has lost a previous child in tragic circumstances. I quite like the name Florence too.

LydiaJ

Cleaver wrote: »

I've never really understood NHS Direct. If I have a cold or flu then I can sort myself out with over the counter drugs and a lot of moaning to the wife. If it develops in to something more serious that's giving me concern then rather than have someone try and diagnose it over the phone, I will go to my GP. So I've never really been sure what section of ill people NHS Direct appeals to.

I think I'd probably feel about it like that if it I didn't have children. However, I've found it very useful when my kids have been ill out of hours and I've wanted advice as to whether I should take them into A&E in the middle of the night or wait until the morning.

The article says it is being replaced with the new 111 system. I don't care what system they use, but I do like to have some kind of phone number where I can get a bit of out of hours advice about whether my kids' symptoms constitute an emergency or not.

I've also used physio direct (for myself), and got extremely helpful advice much faster than if I'd had to get an appointment to see a doctor to get a referral to see a physio.

Cleaver wrote: »

My opinion on the second story is that it's nice to see any baby born healthy and happy, especially when a couple has lost a previous child in tragic circumstances. I quite like the name Florence too.

I agree.

Cleaver

LydiaJ wrote: »

I think I'd probably feel about it like that if it I didn't have children. However, I've found it very useful when my kids have been ill out of hours and I've wanted advice as to whether I should take them into A&E in the middle of the night or wait until the morning.

That's a very good point. It's easy to be a bit casual with your own health, but a different case when it comes to your kids I guess.

LydiaJ wrote: »

The article says it is being replaced with the new 111 system. I don't care what system they use, but I do like to have some kind of phone number where I can get a bit of out of hours advice about whether my kids' symptoms constitute an emergency or not.

I think the Tories would prefer to save a bit of (short term) money and just have you take the kids to A&E. The NHS Direct version is probably cheaper in the long run, but I guess this is part of their drive to quickly get stuff off the public books.

Shakethedisease

I think it was designed so that those that weren't sure if their complaint was serious or not, had someone to talk to about it and get some reassurance and/or advice on how to treat it themselves. Never having used the service myself I'd assume more serious complaints are instantly reffered and dealt with through the system too.

But I think the idea was to prevent those with minor aliments clogging up doctor's surgeries so they could give more time to others with more urgent needs etc ?

Wonder what a 'cheaper service' will consist of ?


Yes, baby's lovely..and it's nice to see them so happy after thier tragedy last year.

david39

While gardening, my wife suffered a stabbing pain in her back and was unable to get up from a kneeling position. The pain was extreme and it was a Saturday afternoon, so no direct contact with our doctor.

I rang NHS Direct, who told me to give her a strong pain killer and then slowly move her into a sitting position, then let the pain killer kick in.

Thirty minutes later she was no better, and I couldn't move her to the car to take her to hospital so eventually called an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived they could not believe that NHS Direct had even suggested moving her.

We got her to hospital and she had a pain-killing injection and thorough examination and was luckily declared fit to leave, pending further treatment, but the doctor in the hospital was also aghast about the advice I had been given. Had the condition been more serious, she could have damaged her spinal chord.

I will not mourn the passing of the service after that incident. Diagnosis over the phone, with the chance of both parties misinterpreting what the other is saying, now seems extremely dangerous to me.

LydiaJ

Cleaver wrote: »

I think the Tories would prefer to save a bit of (short term) money and just have you take the kids to A&E. The NHS Direct version is probably cheaper in the long run, but I guess this is part of their drive to quickly get stuff off the public books.

I can see their point of view, and I understand there's a deficit, cuts have to be made, blah blah blah.

However, I'm a single parent. If I take one kid to A&E at 3am, I have to wake up the other kid and take both. I'd rather not unless I really have to.

My GP surgery now has a system where you can't get a same-day appointment without talking to a triage person first. They decide whether you really need to be seen, or just have advice over the phone.

I can't remember what the issue was, but I remember one time thinking "I really don't need to take up an appointment, and it will be a pain to take time off work, but I suppose I'd better make an appointment because I really need X" (I can't remember what X was, probably a prescription for something that's not on my repeat prescription list, or to arrange for a sample of my daughter's urine to be sent off for testing after yet another suspected UTI, or something else that only doctors can do.)

I phoned up, and got put through to speak to a doctor on the phone, who was able to sort out what I wanted in about 1min of phone conversation. I didn't have to take time off, I didn't take up an appointment that could have been used by someone who really needed it, and everyone was happy.

If phone systems like that are so useful and cost-effective for GP surgeries (who only provide them during opening hours) then there seems an obvious value in providing something like that out of hours too. But it doesn't need to be NHS direct. I would be perfectly happy with a phone number where you can speak to someone at the out of hours GP service that's down the corridor from A&E at my local hospital.

We'll have to see how this 111 service pans out.

torontoboy45

I used it twice and found it to be OK, but I've heard that it has its faults.
the replacement service seems something worse: less qualified nurses available, etc.

so another service effectively withdrawn in the struggle to reduce the deficit.

when - not if - better times return we can confidently expect to see a re-instatement of all services cut. can't we....

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

I've never used it, so won't miss it.

In fact, I've never used the vast majority of so called "public services", so wouldn't miss them either.

StevieJ

Cleaver wrote: »

I've never really understood NHS Direct. If I have a cold or flu then I can sort myself out with over the counter drugs and a lot of moaning to the wife. If it develops in to something more serious that's giving me concern then rather than have someone try and diagnose it over the phone, I will go to my GP. So I've never really been sure what section of ill people NHS Direct appeals to.

My opinion on the second story is that it's nice to see any baby born healthy and happy, especially when a couple has lost a previous child in tragic circumstances. I quite like the name Florence too.

Reading the comments maybe we should be getting rid of the GPs instead :eek:

Cleaver

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

In fact, I've never used the vast majority of so called "public services", so wouldn't miss them either.

Do you rate the value of a public service based on whether you use it or not? I've never required cancer treatment, but I'm glad that people who need treatment have access and on this basis I wouldn't want cancer treatment centres closed down. A bit of an extreme example, but you get my point.