The UK has a track record of producing clunky technology in public services. It’s expansion into healthcare (aided and abetted by GP ‘businesses’ with their zealot ‘ gatekeepers’ will hit vulnerable groups, especially the elderly and the less well off because of its reliance on technology (which requires IT awareness, an internet subscription and a computer/iphone). I’m pretty good using my iPhone or computer to pay all of my bills and manage my bank account via Aps which are technically set up to be user friendly. However, I dread using the clunky health Aps which, to use an old fashioned expression, run on tea cakes! Factor in the inputs by surgery staff (all over the place in my case - one week I could order both Nebivolol and Amiodarone) plus its reliance on expensive technology, its certain to be detrimental to the healthcare of large groups of people.
This thread needs to be sent to the M... - British Heart Fou...
This thread needs to be sent to the Minister for Health
My GP has recently switched from Patient Access to nhsapp.service.nhs.uk, which I'm still getting used to; it offers a bit more than than Patient Access, but I miss the latter's graphs that showed me blood and other test results going back in some case to 2008.
When I was waiting for my TAVI, I had to fill in an on-line form about myself, which I found very clunky, and complete a questionnaire about how I was every Monday for remote monitoring.
The NHS hospital where I had my pre-TAVI assessments and the one where I had my op are within the same health authority, but couldn't access each other's records of me.
With the private and public sectors working more closely together, I'm afraid that we'll never see compatibility of records. Blood test results from a private hospital arrived on an eight-page spreadsheet, with the results in small print in the left margin and the normal range in the right one. I included them in my own spreadsheet, with anomalies in red, so that a medical person can get an overview of the last 20 months.
I agree it’s a mess! I have had to resort to private health to stay well. The NHS has had my contributions for 61 years of work but is not keeping their part of the contract when I finally need it. Shameful!
I'm conscious that I'm taking out more than I put in. I reckon that my three hours in Casualty on Tuesday (ECG, blood tests, staff time) would have cost me at least £1,600 privately and I wonder if any private hospital would have commenced diagnosis within 40 minutes of my arriving. Last year I had three quotes for my TAVI: £42K in Oxford, and £60K and £75K in outer London (and probably £1K more for the check-up a few weeks after the op). I was "in" for only two nights - and it could have been just one. The £75K quote was from the NHS hospital's visiting consultant.
Last year I had half-a-dozen scans, with the simplest one, the ECG, probably "worth" £550. Dunno what the CT and MRI scans would have cost.
Our NHS contributions over the years is a collective insurance policy that will pay out when needed and I’m pleased you are being well looked after. You shouldn’t feel guilty. Alas such good care is patchy according to where you live in the UK as is the expertise. However, insurance companies don’t waste billions on failed systems, they appoint efficient technical and admin staff and managers on merit, not quotas or ‘cloning’ . Hospitals are bloated with layers of management, the latest fashion being eagerly adopted is ‘Diversity’ which has its own department and management, rather than a part of the HR and Training Dept. All staff have benefit /sickness packages that are gold standard. The top level management earn city salaries plus perks. It’s not their money to splash about but splash they do. One shouldn’t overlook the fact that we have large spread unemployment, hence lost contributions to the ‘policy’ and unsustainable inward immigrations, with many migrants unable to contribute who have health problems that may never have been addressed in their country of origin and are given urgent care. I could go on…..
How dare you tell it like it is!! My pennorth now. The NHS is a bloated monster of inefficiency, arrogance and laziness, with a workforce bigger than any in Europe and probably in the top five of biggest employers in the world. It is run for the benefit of the people who work there and not for it's patients (customers)! GP services are "on their knees" and cannot cope. Maybe if the 50% plus doctors who work part time put in a couple more hours then...... who knows? The waste would have a private manager apoplectic with rage. The NHS managers just go through the motions with consultants in the form of senior doctors actually "running the show" in a fashion! I feel sorry for the NHS employees' silent minority who do all the work, carrying their non-productive comrades. Many years ago Sir Gerry Robinson, a well respected business guru went into Rotherham Hospital with a view to improving productivity and efficiency. This he did but months after he left, they went back to how it was. It didn't suit them!
You could double the budget and it still wouldn't be enough. I actually abhor deifying and applauding a workforce for doing their job and getting well paid for it.
Can I say, I have first, second and third hand experience of this fragmented organisation and it needs tearing down and rebuilding!
I could write pages more but it would be a waste of my time and unproductive, just like they are!
I couldn’t agree with you more! I visited hospital purchasing depts in the South when the purchasing company I worked - and which employed experienced and qualified purchasers - won the NHS contract for a group of hospitals in the South and negotiated contracts with suppliers on terms which were eminently more favourable than those previously negotiated by a home-grown, bloated in-house purchasing team. A couple of years later, some newly appointed ‘suit’ responsible for NHS purchasing ordered it back ‘in house’. The result was …well, need I tell you?
'Fact checking '- All staff have benefit/sickness packages that are gold standard' Rubbish tell me what benefits do a nurse get? Prove it?
My sister gets none nor does my mates daughter who has just started a nursing career (and she has to repay her training). Add to that my ex partner who is a medical secretary and gets just a salary and no benefits.
As for sickness benefits they deserve it with what they have to put up with.
It is generalisations like this which really do get me going.
point of information - we contribute to the funding of halth service through our income tax, we do not make a specific contribution for the NHS and none of the funds gathered from us are specifically earmarked for the NHS
the concept of an NHS contribution (or "stamp") dates back to before WW2:
Panel doctors provided what we would describe today as primary health care for low paid workers (but not their families). Payment was in the form of the “health stamp”—a deduction from the weekly pay packet. Private patients paid fees to private doctors
see: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... or any book on the history of the NHS
Remember the abandoned NHS patient record IT system from a decade ago? Its budget was £6.4bn (that's £6,400,000,000!), costs rose to about £10bn and it was then abandoned. And what we appear to have now are multiple clunky systems used by the NHS with overlaps for some, and no doubt all costing mega £millions to finance every year.
Think how many nurses and doctors could be employed for that! The sad story is here: theguardian.com/society/201...
The public sector has squandered many many £billions on failed IT projects They don’t recruit talent as that would show their mediocrity so they recruit in their own image. In my twenties I applied for a local council clerical vacancy. I had all the right experience and qualifications they asked for. The interview was going well until I was asked who I voted for and the interviewers demeanour subtly changed. I didn’t get the job. I’m glad about that as I went on to achieve things I never imagined I could, held an executive position and travelled the world. I thank my lucky stars I didnt get that clerical job with the Council!
Yes I do remember as I worked for a large organisation supplying health products and had an inside view
Systens like that are forced onto the NHS staff and they are expected to just deal with it. This is becuase the government bean counter counters make the decisions instead of the staff. They have since forced other computer systens on them for patient management which also are not really completely satisfactory. My wife was complaining for months about a system called Lorenzo that was hoisted on them but they just had to make do with it as they werent about to get a more suitable one.
Add in all the privatised services sucking out money, the latest being Epic, a US corporation that's sucking out all our (formerly) private data and making millions out of it!
I agree with the previous posts and on Friday experienced the clunk! Appointment with cardiologist at general hospital having seen same doctor 3 weeks earlier for a private consultation/ECG/echocardiogram.
He couldn't access my NHS notes which included his report sent to my GP and myself which I could access on the app. The ECG was repeated on Friday.
I had to tell him what his report said - he understandably had no recollection of ever seeing me.
Next time I will go armed with a hard copy of my notes - if I can get them to print out. There was no time for me to go through the process of getting logged onto the app - should have done it whilst waiting to be seen but I wrongly assumed the information would be available. I should have known better.
No interface at all with private/NHS services.
Ever since the NHS was established, there has been a ‘Chinese wall’ between the NHS and the private sector. For example, my wife had an ILR fitted privately. When she had a further episode of a 20 second heart pause, I took her to our local A&E. She was then admitted under NHS terms for the fitting of a pacemaker. She was seen on the ward by her private(NHS) consultant. He did not have access to her NHS records when she had a further private consultation 6 months later. This is how the system has always worked.
I totally agree with all the comments the admin in the NHS is horrific. I attend the local general hospital and my specialist transplant hospital dearie me the systems hardly speak to each other and it's a long term problem at one point I had a cardiologist in each hospital which was a total waste of resources. We don't have any means in Scotland to check any results on line we have to phone the GP after 2pm. It's ridiculous in this day and age that it's only repeat prescriptions you can order online through patient access although I can't for some reason I have been blocked it's the second time it's happened and it was so much hassle to get back on line that I have literally gave up and phone with a long list that they frequently get wrong! I also think appointments should be txt and emailed to save money, I don't need a letter things go missing in the post, obviously everyone would need to state their preference as I know a lot of people wouldn't be able to do this but for us that can it would be great. Char
if THEY really cared tell me why I HAVE to get 10k signatures for my petition to get the low carb dietary requirements of T2D’s recognised as a disability? Don’t question this till you’ve researched it please, rules are ambiguous but not for vegans & vegetarian 🤷🏼♀️
Who is 'they'? confused.
hi,
I live on the border of 4 counties and have been referred by my GP to hospitals in all 4 counties for different treatments on different parts of my body, all NHS. I have to go armed with all of my records as none of them can access my notes from another county as they use different systems.??! This is really frustrating especially when ailments overlap or they want to know when, where, who etc. Why did I have to sign a form at my GP practice a few years back to say I was happy for any healthcare provider to access my notes when they obviously can’t ? I don’t understand how they can get it so wrong!
Farcical is not too strong a word to use re your experience. Must drive you mad!
I have been treated by the NHS Southend Hospital for the last 2 years for my advanced prostate cancer, Gleason 8, PSA 30, no visible mets.
After hormone therapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy I have just had my first review which advised me my PSA was now 0.01. I will have another review in 3 months.
I have read the previous moanathon, and can only say that my treatment was professional, timely and very effective.
The NHS is a long way from being perfect but in my experience it is generally staffed by competent professional people.
I have no complaints.
I don't think anyone disputes that the NHS is in the main staffed by competent, caring and professional clinical staff. It's their management and administration that is in question on here, who collectively seem to squander opportunity and with it tax payer's money that could be diverted to clinical care which is the source of most adverse comments. What could that £10bn I referred to above lost on an abandoned IT system have brought for the benefit of patient care? Arguably that's almost an order of magnitude worse than the Post Office scandal that is getting so much interest at the moment, and that excludes any human suffering that could have been avoided.
I’m pleased for you. I believe cancer is given priority and rightly so. Not a few with chronic but non- life threatening illness often have to simply grin and bear it
clinical staff yes but on a recent visits to my nearest hospital 4 receptionists sitting on reception and I was told to log myself in on the computer on the wall in the entrance lobby. As I walked through endless corridors with grubby floors there was a group of porters having a natter (I’ve seen that often) then sitting for an age to have bloods taken I listened to a whole bunch of nurses having a natter for about half an hour. Ok so everyone can’t be nose to the grindstone every hour of the day but in my experience there’s an over abundance of staff to deal with the patients ‘they’ve allowed in’ (since the power wielded via Covid, appointments have been cut down ) so no-one was worked to death….
NHS still sends letters for appointments in this day and age. Also, many GP practices dont cater for onlin bookings. Seriously?
My late dad was treated in Europe for bypass and other issues, I can categorically state that there is a big difference in quality of care. Also, technology used is miles ahead and staff doesnt look overworked or exhaused like here.
Lastly, lack of accountability - which is often the case in public services.
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