Cheetah7

I admit to being one of those people to slate the NHS and like many, have my own catalogue of disasters including my wrongly diagnosed now *****ed up broken leg.

But today, I have been forced to change my thoughts on our health service and although I have been twice a victim of medical negligence, well let's just say I realise that we are indeed very lucky indeed to have our healthcare system.

My husband has gone to see his seriously ill mum in North Africa.

When he left his country, it was a thriving fairly modern country, up and coming and westernised.

He landed yesterday and the country has been so damaged by one of the frequent earthquakes that his mums house is barely standing.

He described it as nothing being rebuilt, hot and very dusty, almost 3rd world.

Let's talk about his mum. She has very poorly controlled diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure and poorly controlled thyroid problems.

Medical treatment is sub standard and poor, facilities are lacking and people will suffer their lot when all they require are tablets to not only save their life, but to enable them to live an almost normal one.

Tablets that cost pence in the United Kingdom but cost a fortune in Algeria.

So his mother is suffering, unable to live a normal life and because she can't get the treatment she deserves and needs, her life expectancy is very short.

I am fully aware of some of the dreadful things that have happened to people having treatment in our hospitals.

But I would say a majority of the time when you go to the doctors with symptoms of diabetes, you will be tested, diagnosed and treated with whatever is available to your doctor.

If you have high blood pressure, more often than not it will be diagnosed and treated.

My mum had thousands of pounds worth of treatment to save her life back in March from the NHS.

I know they make mistakes at the cost of others, please don't tell me that I don't, because I am paying that price myself.

But I also know that when I was in Thailand and had my accident, I was shitting myself in case my insurance for some reason would'nt pay up.

The facilities in Patong were poor, the Xray was so black they couldn't read it.

For every bad doctor or nurse there is in the NHS, there are thousands that are fantastic, work hard to do their best.

Abdel's mum won't have long with her untreated conditions, and I suspect she would dream of a service like the NHS in her country to help her spend more time with her family.

Our National Health Service may not be perfect, but it's all we have and we won't realise what we do get out of it until it's gone.

And when you are faced with a thousand pound bill for an essential operation, money you may not have, you might wish with all your heart you could go back to the days the NHS looked after you.

Mistakes, negligence? yes it happens. But being able to be considered for the most basic of treatment in the first place is something we should consider ourselves very lucky for.

Oh, I never mentioned this before because I didn't think. I would like to thank the doctors and nurses and all other staff at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital for their unquestionable and outstanding care that they gave to my mother in March.

Three cheers to our health service.

CasG

While i have not experienced anything so horrific as his, I do agree that the NHS has a lot to be said for it.....

On a personal level - I nearly died a couple of years ago, and would not be here now if it was not for the quick response and good resources.

On a professional level as a MH nurse, I found that the system here is somewhat lacking when I got here (where I worked anyway).

Cheetah7

My sister in Cyprus cant even see her doctor without paying first.

Suppose we get so use to what we have, you don't see the good in it.

What's the Aussie healthcare system like?

tiredwithtwins

hiya sam,
sorry to hear your husbands mum is so ill, it must be a rotten time for you all.
hope she's ok and treated appropriately soon.
sue x

Lordflasheart

Hi PP,

Just want to take issue with one of the things in this post. Tablets in this country do not cost pence. They are very expensive. The fact that you get what you need for the price of a prescription is due to subsidy via the NHS.

Felt I needed to point this out as many people refill their entire prescription when they only require one specific tablet. I come across it alot in my line of work, and seeing 20 boxes of out of date Digoxin for no good reason kinda winds me up when services are being cut due to lack of funding.

Hope your leg is all good now and your hubbie's mum is OK.

glittababe

Well said Sam completely agree X

Cheetah7

It does depend on the medication though. Sometimes my doctor tells me to buy it over the counter as its cheaper.

Dont know about MIL's medication though. She was on neomercazole but I dont think they have it now where she lives so isnt on anything,.

lacey21

Hi PP,
back again,
we are luck to have the NHS service I can tell you. I have just been to France and the nearest Hospital was about and hour away and we only saw one ambulance while we were there! Maybe people are not ill! I don't know but what I do know is that when you are ill in a foreign country then it is no laughing matter.

I wish your mum in law a speedy recovery. I can't add anything else except that we should have acceptable health care every where in the world.
hugs Lace xx

Cheetah7

One thing I noticed at Uni last week and that was all the student nurses were eagerly hanging on to every word the tutor said, all of them aspiring to give the best they can.

I know as I said, through cuts and finance and sometimes shit attitude, things don't always work.

But we should never give up trying to do the best we can because others have.

Its the future nurses that can make the changes which may or may not be against the tide.

And if just one can make a difference, then its worth it.

tiredwithtwins

This might get me shot down in flames, but here goes.
as an experienced nurse of 18 years, im recently finding that newly qualified nurses seem to have no sympathy or more importantly, empathy for their patients. |Now this obviously doesnt apply to ALL newly qualified nurses, but im afraid to say that once out of university (says it all......how the f' can you learn how to care for a person sat in a lecture!) they seem to lose any people skills, if they had any at all.
A newly qualified nurse i recently worked with had no idea how to talk to one her patients - patient just told she had metastatic liver cancer and wouldnt live to see christmas - the nurse just didnt have a clue and had to fetch me to sit with the pateint! and i resigned from my job because i was told i had a huge fault (although apparently it was a good fault, ffs!) - i talked to my pateints too much, when i should be task managing. sorry, but talking to a patient is a HUGE part of the nurses role....this must be a contributing factor to the increasing number of complaints - no-one talks to the patients any more!! task managing means less time to LISTEN to the patient......which is why things get missed and mistakes are made.
until they start training nurses in HOSPITALS again, instead of 3 or 4 6 hour shifts on a ward, then we might see an improvement in the nhs.

I apologise to any newly qualified nurses who dont come under this category...there are some truly wonderful young nurses out there who are a credit to the profession, they are caring and hard working......and the increasing number of mature students coming into the profession is excellent.

sorry, but its my bugbear about the nhs.......

Cheetah7

You have a point. When I was a care assistant twenty years ago, the training as you know was so different.

They stopped enrolled nursing to bring in a single level nursing system and now they have changed it and you have three ways you can exit the programme.

You cannot beat practical experience.

I worked for a sister that would check the nurses appearance before they went on the ward.

ALL jewellery was removed, no chewing gum, hair off the collar, plastic aprons and hats worn, beds washed, clean linen and doctors were made to wear white coats.

I saw someone in Asda two months ago in theatre scrubs.

You should be made to wear the uniform with no deviations from it and if you don't like it, leave.

Doctors should be forced to wear white coats and wash their hands more and you know last week, a nurse tutor said MRSA had 'been blown out of control'

Well you tell that to someone who's baby died of it or to the woman who got it in her wound and it wont heal.

When mum was in hospital, doctor tried to do bloody gasses and never washed her hands.

When my sister said 'arent you going to wash your hands?' the doctor replied 'dont worry about that'.

I personally prefer old school to some extent and am proud to have worked in my time for the people that I have. So I can take with me what I have learned throughout my career.

tiredwithtwins

yes, i still maintain 'old school' was the best way to train.

with regards to mrsa, there needs to be a whole new mind set brought in to sort that out, rather than throw money at it and waste it on naff posters etc.
Visiting time should be brought back to just a couple of hours in the afternoon/evening, with a strict limit of 2 visitors. All should be made to wash thier hands on entry/exit to the ward.
ALL staff should wear scrubs that are ONLY worn in the hospital.....a perfect way of containing any contamination,
and every member of staff should be made to do a 2 hour course on infection control and hand hygiene every 6 months......nurses, docs and cleaners, everyone.

the number of staff going to a patient should be limited....its diabolical the number that go these days.
You may not beleive this, but its true - in one morning i had a patient have -
me and a care assistant, the consultant, reg, SHO, 2 HOs and several med students. THEN, they had 2 dieticians, followed by 2 physios, a palliative care team which consisted of 1 consultatn, the specialist reg, and 5 speacialist nurses, 2 specialist pharmacists. THEN, the PICC/hickman line nurse...with her consultant, spec reg, SHO and another specialist nurse. They were closely followed by the pharmacist and the pharmacy technician, THEN the pain control team - 3 specialist nurses.
The patientline rep managed to sneak in before dinner and wash the bedside tv. (the cleaners dont come in til later)
I think us and the physios were the only ones who washed their hands.


world gone mad? I think so.


this is the norm for most patients.......

Grayling

MRSA is a worldwide problem.

It is just as prevalent in the US and Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/a.../superbugs.htm

It is caused by the WORLDWIDE overprescribing of antibiotics.

It is not the fault of the NHS

G

Cheetah7

Trouble is though Grayling, some of the staff dont help.

At our hospital, linen is stored in the corridors for patients to dip in and help themselves.

I was in the canteen one time when a patient with a urine catheter taped to her leg walked in and she was wheeling a drip.

Our hospital was in the national papers the other week due to rats and roaches.

Which can happen anywhere, but ours is due to poor hygiene.

We need to pay and train the cleaners properly, people need to be made to feel valued.

The doctors go around in their short skirts, high shoes and stethescope round their necks, they never wash their hands and even admitted to me it was too much hassle.

Whilst they do a good job, there is no doubt the drop in standards of cleaning, handwashing and dress code, have a huge effect on MRSA.

Someone was brought in with a stab wound two months ago and there was a trail of blood going up the corridor which remained there for two days.

Amazulu

I had to use the NHS recently for some pretty serious treatment & all I can say is that overall it was superb. My consultant was, without a doubt, world class. The level of care from the nurses was first rate. East Surrey Hospital was crowded & a bit run down, but they were getting the job done. I got transferred to St George's in Tooting, which was brand spanking new & state of the art. I think a lot of people in the UK don't realise how lucky they are to have the NHS & really take it for granted.