What A Damning Indicment Of The Nhs

[youngmafbog]

- By the NHS !!!

http://news.sky.com/story/1246738/thousands-of-hospital-kidney-deaths-avoidable

Perhaps instead of employing the additional 5000 managers they should have paid for some basic training - like patients need to drink water.

But really this is not down to money, it is common sense like washing your hands that many nurses seem to have forgotten.

Thanks goodness I have private health care.

[emmie]

whilst i totally agree, i found that private health care often doesn't live up to its reputation, for myself or the other half. totally let down.

[black_cat51]

you don't suddenly get better nurses working in private healthcare (in fact they are often paid less, or get less preferential terms and conditions)

[emmie]

not my experience, they got paid more, many were from Asia, some couldn't be understood at all, they gave poor quality care, little understanding of the needs of a dying patient, all added up to disillusionment with the whole lot. I used Private care once and found the same, i only did so because it was offered via the company, admittedly quicker than NHS. I would have put the o/h in a NHS hospital, but he seemed to think his consultant knew best,

[ChillDoubt]

Private health care doesn't mean better health care.
It means quicker, but usually with less resources!

[youngmafbog]

Personally I have only had good things from private care. In fact they sorted out two things the NHS said could not be fixed.

[shaneystar2]

Not a good story at all but we had private health care for years .When a push came to a shove they didn't want to know and let us down badly.The NHS rode to the rescue .

[emmie]

my o/h's hospital was supposed to be one of the best private medical facilities, what a crock

[TWR]

Looking at the TV Last night there was a program about Hospitals in London, as usual the Frid / Sat night pizz heads abusing Paramedics who are trying to help them, why the hell don't the NHS Hospitals charge these people with their self inflicted injuries! Eg/ Broken nose due to a fall, Head Wound due to a fall, a bed for the night as they were too pizzed to find their way home, a moan? no, but common sense.

[scooping]

Spending on the NHS increased by 70 per cent, in real terms, that is after inflation, by 70 per cent in the Thatcher and Major years.
In the Blair and Brown years it in increased, in real terms, by 100 per cent. That is a compound increase of 240 per cent.
The coalition have increased spending on the NHS asking only that it achieves 4 per cent annual efficiency targets and, even then, that four per cent is ring-fenced and goes back into the NHS.
The streets of Germany, Australia or Latvia are not filled with dying. Our national obsession is ridiculous but no politician dare say it.

[emmie]

TWR, i agree, but its unlikely to just be the capital

[campbellking]

Don't forget that when things go badly wrong there is very little scope for acute emergency care within the private sector (it is rare for a private hospital to have an intensive care unit). Some of the worst cases we have had come through our unit are a result of poor practice within the private sector following what should have been simple routine procedures.

[jomifl]

Ten times as many people die of incompetence in hospitals than die of drunk driving. Drunk driving casualties are fairly obvious but hospital casualties are invisible.

[ChillDoubt]

I concur entirely with what campbellking said.

When the excrement strikes the air conditioning in the 'Golden Nugget' (our nickname for the local private hospital) we have to sort out the fallout.
Ask yourself this, if private healthcare is so good, why don't any of our doctor's who require surgery themselves EVER go to the Golden Nugget?

[Sqad]

campbell and chilli

Things can "go wrong" in both the private sector and the NHS and it is the same surgeons providing the services in both sectors, so a bit harsh to bang on about "Golden Nuggets."

Private patients pay their taxes and NI and should have access to NHS facilities, e.g intensive care.

Yes, at one time the quality of post operative care in the private sector was questionable, b ut in my opinion that has been dealt with.

I have had hip replacements in Private Hospitals and my colleagues have been operated on in the private sector.

if campbelking could be more specific about which "simple procedures went wrong in the Private sector due to the "private sector", then i will try and comment.

[campbellking]

Am going out in a minute, but will make this brief. Gentleman had a cystoscopy, was nursed afterwards in a private room, nobody noticed he had arrested as inadequate obs were done post-operatively, by the time anyone noticed and performed CPR, he was left with massive hypoxic brain damage and died subsequently on our unit.

[Sqad]

campbelking....that was unacceptable medical care as described by you.
Just as unacceptable as it would have been in the NHS OR are you saying, that it couldn't happen in the NHS?

[Baldric]

My OH was a NHS Sister for a looong time, she says it's amazing how many Patients who came to her dept. in the early stages, then went Private, but ended up turning up in the back of an Ambulance, back to the NHS when it all went pear-shaped and the Private Medics couldn't cope!

[campbellking]

Am saying I have to go out now! Things happen in the NHS, but this particular chap I think would have had better monitoring in a recovery setting and also would not have been so isolated in a private room (frilly curtains hide a multiple of sins). If he had been in a main ward setting, he would have been more 'open to view' and the problem more likely to have been spotted.
Must fly, so bye!

[Sqad]

Baldric we could argue for and against each sector until the cows come home, but the fact remains that the NHS in it's present form is unsustainable and the Private Sector, already playing a significant part in the NHS, is set tp pay a bigger part in the future.

[ChillDoubt]

I fully accept that things can go wrong Sqad as they invariably do, I'm just pointing out to the layman that 'going private' does not give one any guarantee's, just that one would be diagnosed and treated earlier.

The Golden Nugget up the road lives on a wing and a prayer (as I daresay most do) in that they have to borrow a lot of our kit on a regular basis because one of the consultants wants to use it there. On rare occasions it has a knock-on effect in that it's not back from CSSD quick enough and an NHS patient gets cancelled.
Yes it's rare but can and does happen.

As for the scenario given by campbellking yes, we've had similar instances where the consultant performing an NHS operation has left the table in order to quickly pop up the road and rectify matters or where the private patient needs admitting via A&E from the private hospital.

As I said, not one of our consultants who has required even minor surgery has EVER had it performed privately because the anaesthetists have told them that should matters go awry they'll be up sh!t creek!