pacemaker generator change due concern re NHS crisis

[ScoobyDoo71]

I’m due to have my pacemaker generator changed at the end of this week. All family including me getting over hideous cough / viral infection with negative LFTs. So still feeling under the weather which I’m sure is adding to current worry.

My concern is both from a patient and nurse perspective. In 30 years I have never known things in the NHS to be as bad as they currently are. I’ve had to rely on healthcare since birth as born with congenital heart disease.

So often people take good health for granted and often fail to realise what a luxury health is.

I have always felt reassured that if I run into a health crisis the system is there to get me through it, however I am now really twitched as despite all staffs best efforts I don’t have the faith that I used to.

For people with long term conditions especially when reliant on devices such as pacemakers our only option is for hospital care. Given the nightmare that staff are currently dealing with it terrifies me that this care may not be there.

Its only now the reality of how dependent I am on someone else having the expertise time and resources to change the pacemaker is dawning on me.

We are so lucky in this country to have access to health care for all, but I fear things will become very difficult over the coming months and when your health is often on a tightrope that is a scary thought 😳😬😭

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I do not doubt that there are sectors of the NHS that are under strain, particularly A&E. However having had a day case surgery procedure on 23 Dec and an unfortunate return to my local A&E on 24 Dec where I was dealt with promptly, I did not see signs of any significant deterioration since previous occasions. Nor and to the point did I see any evidence of staff at 'breaking point' as some would have you believe, and certainly not the young male nurse who found time to read a novel whilst on duty. The state of the NHS is of course something that affects us all , especially those that are forced to use it including me, and it therefore attracts attention, particularly when something isn't going well and then the media get involved and it gets banner headlines and the facts may gets exaggerated. So my advice to anyone dealing with the NHS is to assume its business as normal until you get directly and adversely affected by something, on the understanding that there is no point in worrying about something that may never happen.

[Letsallhope1]

hello ScoobyDoo71, I’m in the same situation as you are being a congenital heart disease patient just a couple of years younger than you are. I’ve been watching with fear the deteriorating of the NHS . For me, the main worry is the emergency service which is nothing like it used to be. I do at times end up in A&E with very fast Arrythmias and while I used to be prioritised, last time I ended up there I waited in a crowded room for 5 hours before being seen (absolutely appalling !).

That said, the battery change of a pacemaker is a very standard and easy surgery which is planned and scheduled by your cardiac team, so I would not worry for that! You will not be put at risk of waiting too long for the pacemaker to stop working properly and the surgery itself last 30-45 minutes and you’re out on the day or the following day. I’ve had already a few changes of batteries and even device but always been straightforward. All the best!

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Sadly, the main problem as I see it is the money is going on the clipboard carriers and managers and not on the staff at the sharp end. Don't get me started on the non-jobs which are being created to tick boxes!! Added to that, spending hundreds of thousands on a special drug for one person-is that right too? I wouldn't want to play God, but there HAS to be a limit on the amount of money spent on certain things.

[ParrotLover22]

Hello Scooby-Do. I, for one, am extremely worried about the Crisis in the NHS. It should be given 'Top Priority' but it does not look that way does it??? I have had my Pacemaker Yearly Checkup Cancelled for today until September 2023. A lot can happen in that time!!!