Is the NHS getting better?

There are a lot of talks about putting more money into the NHS etc...
I was just wondering from some of you that have lived in the UK for many years.  Do you think the NHS is getting better? How do you think the future of the NHS is going to be?

NO

Marilena what aspect of the NHS is it that worries you? The NHS is huge so it's difficult to say if it's improved overall or not.  I would say you will get better medical care outside of London simply because the system is under less pressure.  It is still difficult to find an NHS dentist. GP services seem to be improving (in my experience).

NO

I agree,and you can pump a zillion quid a day into it and it will make no difference.The rot was started by Thatcher in an attempt to save money,closing hospitals especially the mental hospitals (which she should have been jailed for),getting rid of the matrons and appointing managers,contracting out cleaning services etc,all things which have IMO contributed to the decline.She stated her intention was to get rid of the pen pushers,yet in her first year they increased by over 14,000,stupid woman.

Dave

Service is very, very region dependent and not at all standardised.  For example, in Edinburgh, pregnant women are not offered a 20 week scan.  If you want one, you have to go private and pay £140 for it.  For a test that detects organ abnormalities in an infant, some of which can be treated in utero and others which, if they know about before birth, can be treated more quickly and thus the baby has a better chance of survival. 

Yet we pay the same amount everyone else does into the NHS.

Ditto many cancer treatments. 

I agree,and you can pump a zillion quid a day into it and it will make no difference.The rot was started by Thatcher in an attempt to save money,closing hospitals especially the mental hospitals (which she should have been jailed for),getting rid of the matrons and appointing managers,contracting out cleaning services etc,all things which have IMO contributed to the decline.She stated her intention was to get rid of the pen pushers,yet in her first year they increased by over 14,000,stupid woman.

Dave

We have Matrons all over my hospital.  Guess where my ward's matron is when there is only one staff nurse on the ward with 30 patients who need blood, IV's, labs etc etc etc a cardiac arrest, people in pain waiting desperetely for pain meds, people choking on their own vomit and 3 more unstables getting sent up from accident and emergency?  You know where she is during all that....in her office with the door closed on the phone and computer organizing next weeks staff meeting.  She may come out for five minutes to tell me that they won't pay for an additional nurse to be brought to the floor for that shift then go back to her office to sit on the computer.  Matrons are worthless.  All the ones at my hospital anyway.   There is no difference between them and managers.

Matrons are worthless.  All the ones at my hospital anyway.   There is no difference between them and managers

I should have phrased what I said better,I should have said old style matrons,who were permanently on the ward checking that everything was running smoothly,I havent worked in the NHS since the re-introduction of matrons,but knowing how things work I would assume that they are managers by another name,just more pen pushers.

Dave

I don't think its getting better.. If anything its getting WORSE... Staffing levels are horrendous. What they need to do is increase the ward staff nurse levels first. To do this they need to do lots of things.. More flexibility in scheduling. better communication with managemnet, more respect from management and doctors. With proper staffing levels nurses would not be nearly as overstressed/overworked and would have the time to actually give the kind of care that should be given. Morale would be better. Retention would be better. Agenda for change hasn't really done a thing .. Pay should be improved and raised to reflect the responsibilities and  work that a trained nurse does and is expected to do.
OKAY off soap box now. LOL
Kaylesh

Our local paper reported that NHS Lothians Trust spent £10m last year on agency nurses.  £10m that could have gone towards paying NHS nurses a better wage and hiring more at a better wage.  Maybe then they'd actually stick around.  Putting them on a 24/7 rota, where they have to be free to work any shift, any day of the week doesn't work.  You wind up losing folks b/c they have other commitments - further schooling, elderly parents, children, for instance.  I mean, if you're a single parent, it'd be impossible to arrange childcare w/that sort of schedule.  If you're not, how is your spouse supposed to also work - given that they don't pay you enough to live on? 

We often have two RN's on a 30 bedded ward of patients who mostly need constant care.  Lots of IV's, fully dependent for activities of daily living etc etc.  They have forbidden us to use agency so if one nurse calls off sick then you just have one RN if they can't find a replacement from the ward staff. They usually don't bother trying.

 We are also not paid overtime.  If we work over hours then we get "time owing" which means we can take those hours back sometime and leave early on a shift.  Impossible to do when there are only 1 or 2 RN's on the unit.  Staffing that gets lower than that is illegal.  I currently have 30 hours of "time owed".  This also leads to the staff not taking breaks in a 12 hour shift and still not be able to get around to all the patients to provide good care and give them what they need. Then this leads to family members and visitors screaming at nurses and threatening them who have been on their feet for 12 hours with nothing to eat because "they aren't taking care of mom"  This leads to nurses getting the hell out of health care.

Improving conditions for nurses would really improve the quality of care that the patients recieve and improve the NHS.  I would rather see them get serious about instituting nurse patient ratios and sticking to them rather than getting a  pay raise.  But that's just me. 

I'm whinging on because staffing is a huge issue.  When I first started there were 4-5 RN's on the floor during the day and now we are down to 1-2.  They are bringing in more health care assistants who (wonderful as they are) are less expensive to the hospital and are unable of doing a lot of what needs to be done on the ward because they aren't qualified.  Of course the patients/visitors see all these "nurses" on the floor and wonder why the hell mom is waiting so damn long for her pain meds.

Im sorry to go on and on I just often wish the public knew what goes on. 

Im sorry to go on and on I just often wish the public knew what goes on. 

NEVER be sorry, it's vital that people really know how tough it must be to be a good nurse.  You are doing an amazing job and the NHS would be even more screwed without people like you.

NEVER be sorry, it's vital that people really know how tough it must be to be a good nurse.  You are doing an amazing job and the NHS would be even more screwed without people like you.

YOU have nothing to apologise for - people die b/c of staffing shortages.  It is NOT the staff's fault.

I never had any experience with the NHS so I don't really know what to expect. I was just curious about what people think of it. 
Having a baby there concern me a little but lots of people do it.  I know there is a private hospital just for having babies in London but we will not be in London. Do you know of any other hospital like that in the Yorkshire?
Thank you

I never had any experience with the NHS so I don't really know what to expect. I was just curious about what people think of it. 
Having a baby there concern me a little but lots of people do it.  I know there is a private hospital just for having babies in London but we will not be in London. Do you know of any other hospital like that in the Yorkshire?
Thank you

It varies so much, there's no point in worrying about something that may or may not come to pass in the future, honestly. 

If you go private for maternity you will have to pay the entire cost yourself out of pocket, as few - if any - private healthcare plans in the UK cover maternity care.

Let's just put it this way:  JK Rowling, now a billionaire, gave birth to two of her children right here in the NHS Edinburgh Royal Infirmary - her third was born abroad.  She lived, and so did her kids.  She even *gasp* spent the night on the maternity ward!  In an NHS hospital, no less.