Paying for private healthcare

[Perkles]

£30,000,000,000 short fall in next years NHS budget.

Talk of charging for some treatment and even a £10 charge for a gp appointment is being suggested.

stopping people using the nhs as a tourist service would help,its far to overloaded

[duke63]

£30,000,000,000 short fall in next years NHS budget.

Talk of charging for some treatment and even a £10 charge for a gp appointment is being suggested.

NHS expenditure is estimated to rise by 4% more than the rate of inflation per annum for the foreseeable future. It's just not sustainable in its current form.

[C00kiemonster]

I came across this on Twitter today, apparently from the times yesterday.

About sums it all up

[duke63]

I didn't watch the whole programme but there was a trailer for a programme following an A&e doctor somewhere and as well as being the only doctor in the department he was having to arrange the rota for the followings says. Quite unbelievable.

My brother has told me a few times about the overpaid managers working in the NHS who take a big salary, are afraid to make any decisions, have numerous pointless meetings and just talk about how early they want to retire on a nice fat pension. It's not the only big problem in the NHS but certainly contributes to its poor performance.

[bb41]

My Mum has always had private medical care and it saved her life once , a scan that she needed would have taken 2 months on the NHS which would have been too late to diagnose pancreatic cancer .
She has had other tumours removed over time and had excellent treatment up until now.

We have found that end of life care is far superior with the NHS with a greater support network and palliative care has been second to none, as a family private didn't offer so much support.

I rate the NHS highly and also if you are lucky enough to have private medical care that also has it's uses .

I however have used private after an accident where my face and especially my nose face planted a rigid object , the NHS fixed it immediately but not very well and couldn't breathe properly so had it corrected privately.

They are all wonderful people and most of the professionals also do NHS work as well I just find they are quicker

[duke63]

My father in laws end of life care in the NHS was quite appalling bb41. Could not have been more different to your experience. Macmillan were also a complete waste of time. It's made me think very carefully about ever giving money to them ever again.

[bb41]

My father in laws end of life care in the NHS was quite appalling bb41. Could not have been more different to your experience. Macmillan were also a complete waste of time. It's made me think very carefully about ever giving money to them ever again.

Duke so sad your experience has been awful.

Mum has been helped with her compensation claim which she received in 10 days (asbestosis cancer) they have sorted the blue disabled car badge and the pendant alarm which she wears if she is in trouble, but not just that, they call every day to make sure she is comfortable and come out at least 3 times a week to make sure her meds are going OK.

They have also kept in touch with me as support as well which has been very helpful and we can have a bit of a laugh which may seem a bit odd but as you know in these dark situations you have to find something to giggle about with people who understand that it is not being disrespectful but it does help to alleviate some of the depression involved when a loved one is near the end of life

[Kwacky]

Someone I know is terminally ill with cancer. The MacMillan nurses have been fantastic. Really informative and supportive.

[Deegee]

My Dads end of life care in an NHS hospital was so bad we moved him out and back home, Macmillan and "Hospice at Home" were brilliant, his last few weeks were spent at home in a relaxed atmosphere with as much care and help as we wanted.

[bb41]

That is so sad deegee
My Mum doesn't want to go into hospice at the min as she wants to stay at home all the time , hopefully she can do this.
Macmillan nurses are so good to all of us. I wonder why some of us have had positive experiences and some have had really bad ones ?

[Monty]

They've got a few thousand employees and tens of thousands of volunteers, suppose when you're that big it's not all going to be plain sailing.

[Deegee]

Monty has it right I think, any large organisation will have a variance in the quality of its people. Fwiw my 2nd cousin spent 8yrs working on an NHS terminal cancer ward as a Ward Sister, she eventually packed it in to become a Macmillan Nurse, saying she felt she could make more of a difference working for them. That was 7yrs ago and she's still with Macmillan, she still feels she can do more good working for Macmillan.

BB41 - try speaking with the local Hospice to your Mum, they helped us an immense amount both with the red tape and who to speak to for organising the NHS equipment required for being at home, we found there was a Hospice liaison officer attached to the Hospital, his help and guidance was invaluable, I'd go so far as to say without him (and Mrs Gee) it wouldn't have happened.

Please feel free to pm me for any details or arrange a chat with Mrs Gee about her experiences with organising things for my Dad - I was away with work in Cornwall while she did all this, so it was all down to her as I mentioned. Regards, Dave G.

[duke63]

My wife ended up having to tell the nurses if they did not do something to help reduce her father's pain she would cause such a stink they would wish they had never met her. He was literally screaming with pain in the ward and they said there was nothing they could do.

Eventually they got someone else to help when they realised my wife was quite serious and meant what she said. It still took some time for the morphine to be administered mind as it was a weekend and there was not one person in the hospital who could authorise it.

[D41]

My Dads end of life care in an NHS hospital was so bad we moved him out and back home, Macmillan and "Hospice at Home" were brilliant, his last few weeks were spent at home in a relaxed atmosphere with as much care and help as we wanted.

Forgive my ignorance.....what's a "MacMillan nurse"??


Me Dad is in a place called Lambton House, which apparently has a very good rep....it's all Alzheimer's & dementia patients.....maybe 42 of them, and the nurses seem canny when I talk to them, and he seems happy enough.....the sad part is talking to him, which I do every few days, and listening to how what was once a very smart man....and still is....has lost all his memory....the conflabs kill me TBH, 'cos it's just the same questions over & over....makes me not want to call sometimes.

[bb41]

Macmillan nurses are supposed to be end of life cancer care nurses who link with the palliative care nurses , sadly though some areas are better than others

[Deegee]

As per bb41's explanation - Macmillan is a UK charity that funds it's own nurses among other things, they work almost exclusively with cancer sufferers. Details on the link.

http://m.macmillan.org.uk/home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;