Bud the Wiser

Another question. How are waiting times worked out?

Bevm

There are good and bad NHS trusts. It's not policy, only incompetence in some places and competence in others. I assume there is some overall rating system we can access, like Ofsted for schools. Was it Staffordshire that recently had a big scandal?

I know that when we lived in Whitby the Scarborough hospital was regarded as risky and the Middlesbrough one as good and they were about equal distances, so often there was a choice.

There are also stats for life expectancy in different areas, but that brings in a lot of complicating factors.

Bev

chris955

Its what I have always said, it is the perception that things must be better somewhere else, they couldnt possibly be the same could they ?

Bud the Wiser

Thanks Bev. I would seem that where you live can relate to what treatment you can receive. Although I do note that patient choice allows you to move to an area that does provide treatment, although that may be impractical for many people. I tried to find a link to a programme that I heard about where a brain tumour patient was denied 'avastin' ( I think that's what it's called ) because he lived in one trust, yet the same drug was available ust 3 1/2 miles away in another trust. I think it was east midlands that denied it and Yorkshire and Humber that would subscribe it.

I did find this youtube clip that has a similar story...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Cdw0IzmVE


another......... from the east midlands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULkSHvb1vo

MagsB

My husband is diabetic, and I recently asked on a British Diabetic forum where would be a good area to settle in terms of diabetes care. Nobody really bothered to answer me

Bud the Wiser

Not sure if this link will help Mags.

http://www.activequote.com/news/NHS-...th-checks.aspx

which led me to this.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c7pr5

Fish n Chips 56

Oh yes Perception, people believe what they want to believe, there is good and bad in all places, things and all people, you just have to seek out what works for you.

Funnily enough the grass does always seem greener somewhere else, people need to be very honest with themselves.

chris955

Couldnt agree more

MagsB

Many thanks Bud!! This helps a lot. Now we at least know we should avoid Essex

mikelincs

Depends what you mean, waiting for an operation is classed as the time between having a date set for the operation etc to the date of same. If it's in an A&E dept its the time from when you check in at reception to the time you are seen by a staff member, which is why many A&Es have a triage nurse who decides on how urgent your condition is. Once s/he has seen you then the waiting time is done.

Bud the Wiser

Apologises for not being clear. I assumed the end of the waiting time was when the operation had been performed and did not include after care and recovery. I was unclear when, officially, the waiting time began, i.e. Was it from the date of diagnosis of the problem by a GP, or after referral to a consultant, or as you say, a date set for the operation.

Thanks for your clarification.

dunroving

From my recent experience, I think it starts when the specialist (consultant, whatever they are called) decides you need treatment X (e.g., an operation).

For my recent surgery, the surgeon's secretary mentioned an NHS deadline date (Nov 16th). I think this was approximately 6 months after the specialist said I needed the surgery. This was over 2 years since the initial GP referral.

If I hadn't been operated on by Nov 16th, they would have missed a deadline which would go against them when they were evaluated. I had my surgery on Nov 15th. When I was talking with her about setting the date she mentioned if their hospital had no spaces, they would offer me another hospital to do it - which I think was an indication of how important it was to meet their deadlines.

This was Scotland, of course, NHS England may well be different.

mikelincs

Also it might just depend on what YOU want from your GP, we moved here 5 months ago, and until a couple of weeks ago my wife had only got her repeat prescriptions from the health centre, but after seeing the doctor as she had a bad back, he quickly arranged all blood tests, and sorted out an appointment with the diabetic nurse who has now set a schedule of regular appointments. Perhaps we were remiss in not seeing a doctor when we arrived, when all this would have been sorted out.

dunroving

The Postcode Lottery is a colloquialism used to describe the fact that the level of treatment you get varies depending on where you live. This can be something as (relatively) harmless as how long you might have to wait for an appointment to something as serious as whether you can get a certain treatment.

It's not a formal decision or strategy of the NHS - except, of course for the formal differences between English, Welsh and Scottish NHS, which have formal differences like cost of prescriptions.

dunroving

Just watched a segment of the One Show about the number of people who walk into A&E for routine treatment like sore throats, coughs and colds, aching back, etc. Apparently the cost of treating people in A&E for routine conditions is a lot higher than in a GP surgery. They itemized some of the charges, including £56 initial cost of triaging all patients.

It's a shame that people take the NHS for granted in this way - I liked their idea of presenting people with an itemized bill when they leave A&E, just to increase awareness of the cost and make people think twice and maybe make an appointment with their GP instead.

I was surprised to see that an ambulance trip was something like £250 - I'm sore you could probably add a zero to this if it was in the US!