NHS postage

Greylocks

To the OP.
Think yourself lucky to get patch testing - privately this costs a small fortune.
Regarding the postage the wastage will comprise less than10 to the power of minus ten of the total budget.
Cost of new drugs due to pharmaceutical companies clawing back costs of drug discovery and Locum costs are the places to start to cost-cut.

robatwork

Greylocks said:

To the OP.
Think yourself lucky to get patch testing - privately this costs a small fortune.
Regarding the postage the wastage will comprise less than10 to the power of minus ten of the total budget.
Cost of new drugs due to pharmaceutical companies clawing back costs of drug discovery and Locum costs are the places to start to cost-cut.

I don't. Symptoms started and first appointment was last December. Left with an epipen and an entry on a waiting list, and to fend for myself. I don't consider 10 months lucky or acceptable. Pretty much everyone I've met in the health system is lovely and helpful. The system itself is broken, and our hospitals in my area are are a disgraceful shambles. But that's for another vent.

Murphybear

robatwork said:

Greylocks said:

To the OP.
Think yourself lucky to get patch testing - privately this costs a small fortune.
Regarding the postage the wastage will comprise less than10 to the power of minus ten of the total budget.
Cost of new drugs due to pharmaceutical companies clawing back costs of drug discovery and Locum costs are the places to start to cost-cut.

I don't. Symptoms started and first appointment was last December. Left with an epipen and an entry on a waiting list, and to fend for myself. I don't consider 10 months lucky or acceptable. Pretty much everyone I've met in the health system is lovely and helpful. The system itself is broken, and our hospitals in my area are are a disgraceful shambles. But that's for another vent.

I don’t think the whole NHS is broken, just parts of it.  Our local GP surgery is brilliant.  They do a triage online service now. You fill out a form with all your details and why you want to see a GP and they phone back very quickly and offer you an appointment within the most suitable timescale.  Some people need to see someone very quickly, some can wait a few days.  The last time I used it the call back was 15 minutes.  It was about 12.30 and I was asked “can you come along at 2 o’clock this afternoon.”.   That’s what I call 5 * service.  Sadly both my husband and I have a few medical issues and need appointments fairly regularly.  We’ve never had to wait more than a day or 2 for an appointment.  We are often offered a telephone appointment.  Contrary to what many people think a lot of things can be discussed on the phone, such as blood test results.

Just after everything opened up after Covid I fell over at home and hit my head very hard.  My husband phoned for an ambulance and it turned up in 15-20 minutes.  After a thorough examination they took me off to A & E, they said this normal policy for head injuries as patients will need a scan.  At the A & E we were the only ambulance.  I was put in a wheelchair and taken in.  I was seen very quickly and they took blood, measured my blood pressure and gave me an ECG.  The last 2 were repeated frequently.  I was given a CT scan and when the results came through one of the Drs arrived to let me know the results.  I was lucky, the injury was not internal so I could go home.  She showed me a picture of my head/face and I looked like some demon from hell, I was black and blue.  She lent me a phone to call my husband (he wasn’t allowed in the ambulance so soon after Covid) and while I waited she brought me a big mug of tea and a sandwich as I have diabetes and hadn’t eaten.  From start to finish the whole thing took less than 4 hours which is pretty good by A & E standards.  I award this A & E 5* out of 5.  

robatwork

Lovely to hear murphybear, sounds like your GP and A&E aren't as swamped as the ones local to me. From personal experience of the local A&E here, I had a wound stitched in a corridor as it was so busy, by a paramedic not a doctor. It unsurprisingly got infected afterwards which meant more doc visits and an unpleasant scar. I have other worse stories but I don't want to sound too negative. 

EnPointe

Silvertabby said:

Back in my LGPS days, separate benefit statements (current employment, deferred, different employers) would be issued in separate envelopes.  Cue complaints from fund members, re the cost of more than one stamp.

The answer was that it was much cheaper - and quicker - to send out the benefit statements this way than incurring the admin costs of an employee paid to collate all statements into the same envelope.

 exactly this  as those letters are printed and stuffed automatically 

cannugec5

This thread might lead people to believe that GPs are a part of the NHS. They aren’t. They are contracted by the NHS to provide primary care. 

Personally we have fantastic GP services as and when required. Yes, we have accepted the change to more telephone consultations and sometimes physical consultations with an advanced nurse practitioner, but the bottom
line is that we get an appointment on the day we make contact - even for non-urgent issues. As far as primary care is concerned I cannot complain. 

However that wait for the orthopaedic appointment is another issue…