Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

I can confirm everything that Lettie has said......when I worked for the trust we often went without meal breaks and we sometimes gave up time off to ensure that the ward was staffed.....not for extra money but for 'time owed'.....which was taken at the units convenience...which was not necessarily convenient to the Nurse.
We were audited out of existence and I personally used to bring home work to compile statistics on how well(or not) we were doing as a unit. I went into nursing to look after people and in the 25 years that I worked on the unit I can honestly say that I gave 110%.......as do most of the staff......but I was damn glad to be able to get out 2 years ago. Fed up with the politics and paperwork. I wouldn't go back for a gold clock!

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

Some years ago my son, then aged six months, became ill at 6pm so I phoned my GP who attended within 20 mins (luckily my own GP was on call that evening). He examined my son, decided he needed hospital treatment and phoned QPH and told them we were on our way. We arrived at QPH where my son was again examined, we were told he required emergency surgery and an ambulance was called to transfer him to Pendlebury Childrens Hospital where we arrived shortly after midnight, a surgical team was called out and he was operated on at 4am and made a full recovery. You can't call the NHS to me. Why do we only hear the bad stories about the NHS ?

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

The answer to that question is in the first sentence....'some years ago'
And..... it is not all bad, but too much governmental tinkering has had a bad effect on how the thing runs.....it all started with trying to make helath care a marketable commodity...... how on earth can you treat people like tins of beans.
League tables and all that spin has created a monster of a problem. How do you compare a mini with a rolls royce..... because that is what the league tables do.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

I worked within the health service for almost 29 years in all and I saw it go rapidly downhill when government meddling started. That isn't to say that during that time I gave anything less than my best...... but nurses started to feel undervalued when they were given derisory pay increases.....I could go on and on! Lettie will know exactly what I am on about.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

I totally agree with you Margaret, but the some years ago was only six, the government interference was well underway.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

Very lucky, my family and myself must have the best GPs, nursing staff and receptionists around. Three cheers for Dr Manuel and Dr Dixon, and all their staff.

As for hospital waiting lists etc, well that's another story.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

I am not calling the N.H.S. i know it's not there fault i myself have been to B.R.I. with one of my kids on a saturday night, most patients are there because of drink related injuries, i have seen it when all the cubicles are full and patients on trollys in corridors and i belive it to be most weekends. I have seen it when some idiots dont even need to be there they have a sore finger and he as took two drunken mates to keep him company, shouting abuse at nurses about the time they have had to wait. I have seen police at the hospital at weekend nights because of the abuse the patients give to the people who are there to help them. I think the work our nurses do is brilliant.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.
 

My doctors also does this and its a pain. There are only about two doctors there that I trust to be sane for the most part, but I can rarely get to see them because the jumped up little receptionists who have NO medical training seem to think that they can ask all sorts of personal questions and then deem whether or not I am ill enough to see a GP or the nurse. I have resorted to saying that Doctor X sent me for tests and told me to come back when the results were back so can I see him again please? I hate to tell fibs, but at least it gets me to see the GP I want to.

Re: Whats happening to the N.H.S.