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I went to the doctors with a lump on my left earlobe. I was advised it didn't look 'concerning' - but best to have it removed, so I would be referred for surgery.
After some weeks, I called the surgery to say I'd heard nothing and was advised I should receive a letter 'soon'. After another few weeks, I called the GP again and was told they would look into it and call me back. When they rang back, I was advised that the referral had been lost - so they would resend it. Meanwhile, the lump was getting bigger....
I received an appointment to attend a minor surgery unit at another GPs. The surgeon had a look at it and advised that as it was very close to the jugular vein, that she wanted an ultrasound, before tackling it. So a referral was made for this - and I attended a few weeks later at a local hospital.
I received a call from the GP advising I needed to go in to discuss the results - which I did - only to be advised that they would be referring me back to the minor surgeries unit.
The MSU wrote back to my GP, advising they didn't fancy doing it - so I was referred for a consultation at the local hospital's ENT department - after which I was booked into a local private hospital for sugery....
I've no idea how much that chain of events cost the NHS - but it certainly wasn't cost or time efficient.
But it definitely was massively unprofessional and reads like you got fobbed off the first time you called up. The second time around I'm not sure why you were referred back to the same place, but all the referrals get triaged so rejections happen ahead of time (so that slots aren't wasted on inappropriate patients for that service). Still definitely not great to have further waiting.
Private hospitals can be referred into already for many straightforward ops with minimal complications. They generally can see routine stuff faster too. They do have a larger list of exclusion criteria so the stats for them are never like for like - this is a typical list [choose and book is NHS Referrals] http://www.circlehealth.co.uk/gp-information/bath/exclusion-criteria
Personally I've been misdiagnosed multiple times by Hospital Drs... I had a run of bad health in my early 20s - one time being told I had a much more serious condition than I did, and another being sent home twice by A&E only to wind up so ill I couldn't swallow water without throwing it back up and needed surgery within a day.
The NHS is absolutely not perfect, but looking at the brutal cost in the States I'd rather keep it and try to find better ways to improve it. I know someone here will come and quote private prices for a healthy person and I'm sure it'll be reasonable based on that one set of maths.
If you have money in the UK One cost effective option is to see a specialist Privately for a consultation and to be referred into the NHS for the procedure. That often skips out weeks if not months of waiting for the first consultation, and is much cheaper than doing the whole thing privately.
The sacred cow aspect is significant. We are not supposed to mention that our "emperor" NHS has no clothes. The fear must be that it might collapse under its own weight or disappear in a puff of smoke salbutamol.
The pie-in-the-sky idealism should have shrivelled away decades ago but, because this is Britain, everything has to be fair and, moreover, be seen to be fair. Result - equal shares of misery for all. Fair but unhelpful.
A realistic solution might be to keep Accident & Emergency free at the point of delivery but make everything else chargeable. There would be a corresponding reduction in direct taxation and an increase in health insurance. This would, of course, be considered unfair but at least it has some chance of funding itself.
http://www.gponline.com/exclusive-patients-fail-show-14m-gp-appointments-year/article/1351972
All good.
However the nhs hospital have continued to sent appointment letters followed by a cancellation and a new date for me to see their surgeon - I had one a couple of weeks ago, 10 months after the op. For the first few I kept ringing to say it was fixed but they still keep coming - at least 6 since the op. I assume I'll be in their system forever.
I work part-time NHS; part-time private.
People can be odd -- they just don't seem to get the cost of a DNA (Did Not Attend).
A week ago I found myself waiting for a new client who DNA'd. I wrote a super-polite email saying, "sorry you couldn't make it this morning." No mention of charges or anything. (Basically, I'd written it off and didn't expect any further contact from the time waster.)
But the client wanted to re-book, with the excuse of, "I'm sorry, I forgot. I won't do it next time!" I said no problem, we'll just add the cost of wasted room rental and a nominal charge for my time to my fee -- outrage! "I'm not paying for treatment I've not had!"
I didn't bother to waste any email electrons with a reply.
But my work in the NHS has a higher DNA rate than my private work. It's not really a like with like comparison, but feck me, DNAs cost a lot of time and money.
https://www.gpathand.nhs.uk/
I have a positive view of the NHS in general. I've always been well-treated, and reasonably quickly, too. The only real gripe I have is getting a GP's appointment in the first place. Once that major hurdle has been overcome, the rest falls into place.
DNA's are a scourge. I think it's precisely because the service is free that they seem to ignore the huge costs of them not showing up. I always receive text reminder for my renal consultant appointments, although I wouldn't dream of missing one anyway. That's a good system.
DNA's should have the option of either charged a fixed fee, or being made to run in front of the bulls at Pamplona wearing a red T-shirt.
Bottom line - a service that is notionally free is taken for granted.
The NHS is unfixable. It will collapse at some point.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
i had some issues a few months before so just assumed it was a follow up. Apparently not.
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The reason was I received the letter telling me that my appointment date was the day before they had sent the letter...
The problem is simple. Not enough GPs. And the reason for that is not enough people are allowed to train to become doctors. The government deliberately restricts numbers to keep costs down.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Why nobody wants to do anything about it to enable NHS money to be able to be allocated to health services and not legions of people who either cannot or will not administrate efficiently is a mystery.
This is why I like working for startups - dead wood isn't tolerated and if you don't perform, you are out the door.
- The NHS is in crisis
- All nurses are "angels"
- Nurses are underpaid
- All NHS staff are overworked
- the NHS is the best in the world
- The tories are planning to deliberately destroy the NHS (baffles me, since only 11% of Brits have private health care, so clearly the cast majority of tories need the NHS for non-emergency and A&E)
- the NHS is being privatised
- The NHS is being packaged up ready for privatisation
- the NHS can only survive with immigrant staff
- NHS is inefficient
- Doctors are underpaid and overworked
- Only labour can protect the NHS
This article goes beyond that, and alludes to the path conversations usually take: