The Student Room Group

NHS are a joke

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Original post by CoolCavy
Pretty much this, I waited over a year to access psychological services after being referred by a psychiatrist and that was the year prior to the covid outbreak. People like to pin the long waits on covid which is a large part but the even bigger part is constant austerity for over a decade, a bloated management system and outdated IT systems. The waitlists have always been long covid just exacerbated it.
In terms of acute care so many hospitals have had wards closed or A&Es shut, our local area used to have two A&Es and now it only has one for the entire area. This then spills over into the ambulance service as they are queuing outside for hours to do hand overs rather than driving about answering other jobs. The government promised to build 40 new hospitals and surprise surprise hardly anything has happened. Its not a good thing that acute and emergency care is being so badly affected but perhaps people will take it a bit more seriously now. Historically there has never been much public outrage over long waits for things like mental health care, chronic conditions or transgender healthcare. Things like cancer care being delayed or people being sat in ambulances (rightly) incenses the public so maybe this is finally the watershed moment of the public not voting for austerity every general election.

OP I am very sorry to hear about your operation, the waitlists are very frustrating (currently on a waitlist myself for an endocrinologist) and something needs to change before the system collapses completely. Perhaps this will finally be the catalyst for a change, who knows.


Took me 3 years to get an MRI. Took me about a year to get referred to neurogastroenterology. I have to book an appt with podiatry towards the end of the financial year because otherwise they don’t have enough money for my orthotics. The list goes on for me personally with a chronic conditions with many symptoms that need treatments from many different departments - it’s one of the reasons it took 19 years to be diagnosed with hEDS and the crazy part is that’s ahead of the curve! I’m not alone in this as is highlighted by this thread.

It’s just all incredibly sad
Yes, I'm bumping my old thread but for good reason. I will give rep to the first 3 people who correctly guess what has happened.
(edited 1 year ago)
Consultants and Junior Doctors go on strike together (simultaneously), today for the first time in history.
Original post by Talkative Toad
Consultants and Junior Doctors go on strike together (simultaneously), today for the first time in history.


Not what I had in mind but seeing how technically you're correct I'll give you the rep.
And your op has been cancelled again??
Original post by sailhorsegirl
And your op has been cancelled again??

Gold star. Treat yourself to a cookie.

My operation scheduled for the 2nd November has now been postponed whith no reason why. It's just incompetence at this point. 5 times now.
Sorry to hear that :-( How frustrating 😞
Original post by Guru Jason
Gold star. Treat yourself to a cookie.

My operation scheduled for the 2nd November has now been postponed whith no reason why. It's just incompetence at this point. 5 times now.

Sorry to hear that mate.
Yah, the NHS is an absolute joke. It has its own confirmation bias, thinking its the bees knees, which basically prevents them from doing anything meaningful to improve it.

Someone I know, my coworker - call her Catherine, not her real name - she's been well and truly shafted by the NHS in recent years. She's over 50 right, so around 2019-ish she had to get her teeth cleaned every once in a while, the dentist she had for it - call her Veronica - was absolutely w*nk. Obviously, they use a special cleaning tool which is quite forceful, but Veronica insisted on using the tool on full power AND at full speed. What was the result? My co worker's teeth were in so much pain, and even with a copious amount of paracetamol she couldn't even put her teeth together to bite on food for 3 whole days at least, she had to live on soup and milkshakes.

She goes for the same treatment again. Catherine complains to her dentist Veronica that her teeth hurt so much last time she couldn't even eat, so politely asks for the tool to be turned down a bit. Veronica just laughs and says "Oh what a baby!". She barely turns it down, and more or less the exact same happens again.

Anyway, she's got a private guy now, who seems to be miles better.

And another thing, my friend - call her Lauren - she's got a kid - call him Jack - who really damaged one of his teeth a couple of months ago. What happened is Jack was playing on the swings at a local park when one of his friends rugby-tackled him off the swing. One of his teeth comes out so much that a nerve is exposed. His mam Lauren, tries desperately to ring for an NHS dentist, who are all "oh, get him in tomorrow, he'll be fine". Lauren is fuming at these remarks, she's like "are you taking the absolute p**s?! His nerve is exposed, he's in a F-ton of pain". Anyway, it was lucky Lauren's dad actually knows a dentist, he lives nearly 40 minutes away. She got a hold of her dad, who passed the situation on to his dentist friend, who is like "get that kid to me right away!". Anyway, his tooth was successfully re-attached, but he still can't bite anything too hard for the next 2 years. Dentist was like, "if you'd waited any longer, that nerve would have died". Anyway, he's their regular dentist now!
(edited 1 year ago)
People making the same complaints 2 years ago I see: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7066555

The only thing I can say is that the French system does it better (for most part) in my opinion. The difference when it comes to quality of care is stark and can be seen night and day, I have full faith and trust in the healthcare and medication that I receive over there, can’t say the same thing about the NHS (excluding GOSH).
With all good luck, today's the day I finally get my op.
Original post by Unwisdom
Why were you paying northern ireland for 15 years?


NI means National Insurance in this context.
Original post by Talkative Toad
NI means National Insurance in this context.

Unwisdom is a troll.
Original post by Sorcerer of Old
Unwisdom is a troll.

Fair possibly

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