I never said it was an isolated case but personally i dnt know how many hospitals there are in the country along with how many walk in centres and gp practices and then what others nhs services there are. Each is completely different in each area its not all the same. They have different staff different managers different funding etc My relatives have also had appalling service but then also amazing service. If you said the services i have experienced are a shambles and have been very disorganised then fine but the whole of the NHS is completely different and unfair to those services that provide great service and those doctors that try and do their best with the lack of funding and under staffing etc Its the same with everything you get bad bits and good bits but to label it all bad is unfair when we are lucky to have this kind of service in our country. The doctors wont change if we scrapped it and went private because they are exactly the same doctors and again can either be great or rubbish except you can pay £300 for a rubbish 5 min appointment privately. Trust me private service doesn't necessarily mean its a good one. I have just as many bad points for private as i do the NHS and the same for good. The NHS does need to make changes and it needs to be run more efficiently and like a business. It needs to be looked at because its not coping with the population expansion etc and things do have to change But ALL of it isn't terrible.
I had a booster about three years ago when I had stitches in my arm. I can only base my comments on my recent (self inflicted) experience, but all I can say is that the front line staff are brilliant. Admittedly I was in the Emergency Admissions Unit but I received fantastic care. One nurse to two beds, almost immediate access to a doctor as it was attached to A&E and I was involved in the decision regarding my discharge.
Nothing but praise for our NHS . Son in law fell over last week and broke his collar bone . Went to A and E , was seen immediately X-Rayed etc and sent home strapped up . He had his operation on Friday , 3 hours ouch ! , and his collar bone was pinned . The whole unfortunate episode has been dealt with professionally and quickly . So its a 10 from me for the NHS !
My experience of the NHS is mixed to say the least. I think if you are old, then you are old, so dont hold your breath. They are not interested past a certain age, I think they should make that age public, so we all know. On the other hand, if you have an emergency, apart from a bit of a wait you do get seen to. Any after work needed then tends to get a bit iffy. We then get into the land of cancelled appointments and put off ops. It aint perfect, it needs sorting out, seems to have one hell of a waste factor and I know I'd never get away with talking on the phone like some of the staff seem to do. But its good at times,.......... when you need it.
Now here's a thing. Food. On the emergency ward that I was on where the average stay is 24 hours whilst they assess whether to keep you in (and where to transfer you if needs be) three "meals" a day were just bought around and handed out. No one was asked if a] they wanted to eat or b] what they wanted or c] if they were veggie, muslim etc. So out of the twelve beds I doubt three meals were eaten. Because of the reason that led to me being there eating was the last thing on my mind, but I did manage the followingmandarin segments in "juice". Not sure what juice exactly, but it tasted like sugar juice and not like any fruit juice that I'd ever tasteda soup. Believe it or not it is possible to make a pigs ear of a cup a soup!a bourbon biscuit. Handy to suck on after taking a particularly large and nasty pill.So three trays of food mostly binned just for the above!
Yep, I was in a few years ago. Must admit they did ask what you wanted, but what came up never resembled what you wanted, the food was diabolical, mostly fit for the bin. I'm not saying that it wasn't ok when it was cooked, but it came round on a kind of heated trolley effort, by the time you got it, it had been on the trolley god knows how long. Fish and chips kept warm for an hour in steam, ugh They might as well just throw it away as soon as they cook it.
Back to the original point about tetanus jabs though, my GP once explained to me when I asked if I needed a booster jab, that they don't do them any more as a matter of routine as long as you've had your standard set of vaccinations. He said they will do a booster jab in some cases if you injure yourself on certain things. Being a very frank doctor (I don't think his name was Frank but that's irrelevant), he also told me why they don't routinely do it any more. According to the doc, its because there is a relatively high risk of an allergic reaction to the tetanus jab, including the risk of anaphylactic shock. He said furthermore, that there was some data that suggested that the jab increased the risk of developing allergies to other things. So in weighing up the risks, it was decided that for most people in general, repeat booster jabs brought greater risk than the risk of developing tetanus.
