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Last July my son broke his leg and and had to have a pin put in -- no sweat it hapens. Yesterday he had a bit of a lump on the surgical wound. No problem Plaster and Germoline. Today it was worse a bigger lump. So rang NHS direct -- waste of time after 25 mins talking to a phone jockey I was put thru to a nurse. Another waste of time -- take him to your GP was the answer. So at 2:45pm ring my GP .. Is an emergency (how the feck do I know was I at medical school for 7 years) Yes says I. OK says she ring back at 3:00 she says to make an emergency appointment. FFS 15 mins diifference and if it was an emergency !! oh well. Rang at 3:00 and this receptionist gives me the third degree -- anyway get an appointment and its an infection treatable by antibiotics..

But why the feck am I paying taxes -- discuss

Hope it heals up quick for him.

imagine you were American, they pay taxes AND pay for healthcare ... the NHS is a much maligned organisation, but by christ where would be as a country without it.

Quite agree Kev.  We (sad to admit it) need to pay more taxes to sort out the NHS.  We have one of the lowest rates of tax in Europe. Not to say that I want to pay more in tax of course.  I just think it's all distributed a bit incorrectly.

I'm not talking about the amount of tax I pay for feck all -- i'm talking about service -- it was shiit. I know the NHS is special but your local GP service has gone to pot

It's annoying, some of the stuff they come out with is just stupid, I guess it's down to the individual centres though, mine is pretty good, can't get an appointment for a few days, but they generally are good.

My Mum and Dad's on the other hand, not so good.

Until the health service treats the public like customers and not patients the service will never please us all. What we have is ok - I have had great treatment from my local hospital, but I was not dealt with us a customer and it was not as good an experience because of it.

"And how can we help madam today, ruptured spleen is it?"

I agree

2 years ago i asked for a sick line for a week off work

i felt like a crock of shit with a flu like symptoms...and i work outside and couldnt face it..


Doctor said he cant do that as I would be a burden on society!!!!....I have never been unemployed,I pay my taxes and insurance....and i have never had a sick line form a doctors


7 years  to be a cheeky little pimple ridden shit..told him if it wasnt for the likes of me he wouldnt have that fat arse squeezed into his leather chair,that we taxpayers provide him....then i changed docs...


that felt good....rant over

whatever faker

dang...caught

Problem is that it's not a business, so the customer is not always right - for example, lots of people think they need emergency appointments when actually they don't. If you let everyone get what they wanted when they wanted, it would be chaos and the real emergencies wouldn't get seen. I'm sure they're not really trying to give you a hard time, they just actually want to try and find out whether it justifies an emergency appointment that someone else might need more.

I know it's not perfect, but no healthcare system ever will be - in a sense i guess it fails everybody in the end... Until it secures immortality for all it's always going to be an easy target for criticism.

I spent 7 weeks in Hospital in 2004, the STAFF were Fantastic, the SYSTEM was Shite!!!!!

Just spent 1 week here in Hospital, shared  room with Rats, Cockroaches and armies of Ants. Cost 1.1K

Give me the NHS ANYDAY

To be honest, my GP, consultant and the attending staff have been fantastic. Since first symtoms of my condition over 7 years where my GP was straight onto it, to the continuing help and treatment I need, the NHS has been great.

The delay in my recent op was down to me selecting the best place to have surgery and not taking the date that coincided with DTD's initial launch date. I was even offered an earlier date by 'phone.

Appointments at a GP's practice are now given out differently due to efficiency, people would book days in advance then not show because they felt better or turn up saying they were fine, wasting time. And if it was an emergency, dial 999.

Its well know that GP receptionists are a nightmare. They act like frontline troops, custodians of the GP surgeries and they are not always pleasant to deal with. I think they go to some kind of special boot camp as part of their induction training..lol

I do hope your sons infection is healing but his condition doesn't strike me as being life threatening so I would not have classed it as an emergency. If the GP thought it was your boy would have been seen straight away. I know infections are nasty and acute swelling like that can be alarming, but its not a medical emergency so sounds like he was seen almost immediately anyway. Its coming across to my like it was the receptionist who pissed you off. Why dont you complain as the NHS takes complaints very seriously? Complain to your local health board as GPs are private contractors and they need to keep certain standards.

My personal gripe (nothing to do with your boy) is the way society has pathologised every sniffle. We are a 'sick' society. We put pressure on the NHS but going with the slightest thing. Ive got a friend who has hay fever and shes at the docs regularly, taking up vital appointments that real sick people could have. People have forgotten the basics of a healthy life. Exercise, a good diet and a few smiles a day keeps the doctor away. Too many people have something missing in their lives and the doctor becomes a substitute for all those things.

The NHS here is the best system of healthcare anywhere. Its not perfect by any means but it does a very good job and the amount of lives it saves year on year is beyond my ken but id say its pretty impressive. The commercialisation of the NHS into a customer/ provider set up is really not a good idea (but its been happening for years). The government is year on year turning the NHS into bureaucratic jungle based on raising expectations of the public. There are already mechanisms through which people can complain and these complaints are taken seriously. Peoples expectations of the NHS grow all the time against a backdrop of low and reducing investment. In my area you wouldn't believe the complaints we get. The fecking poster on the wall wasn't hanging right.. FECK OFF!!!  You want us to use time checking fecking posters. Go chase yourself!! I mean I would never say that but this is an expectation of perfection and the NHS is not and never will be perfect.

Finally, my own experience attending the nhs with my mum was a mixture of good and bad. My mum was terminally ill and got a rapid service from her GP anytime there was anything wrong. At the hospital she would have to wait up to 10 hours for a bed and sat in a waiting room all day because of NHS systems and the pressure on beds. They bring people into hospital with the assumption that other people with be discharged. When this doesn't happen, there is a long wait. So the systems can stink but the staff (all but 2) were great and I didn't see many people that were not thankful for the care they were receiving.

That was a bit of a rant, but I work for the NHS and I think its a great public service. Where its not we should complain. Where it is we should also say something about that too. I wonder how many thankyou cards to staff there are against complanits? It might be quite intersting to see because actually the vast majority of people are very happy with what they get. You wont find many GP receptionists getting cards though......lol

Agree 100% with this.  Too many people are in to the docs with the slightest sniffle, it's a massive burden.

I hope things sort themselves out soon for your son Boss

The NHS has its plus points and also negative areas.   I think everyone has had a bad experience with the NHS at some point.  However they also do some great work at other times.  My negative experiences include waiting eight months when I was a Kid to have anything done about severe back pain, it was only after I waved a PPP form under their noses one day that they took any action to help me. Within a week I had had a back operation  as a private patient .  They also missed two of my Dads heart attacks and told him it was indigestion.  He had his third attack within a three week period and after scans at the Hospital it revealed he had already had two previous heart attacks.. 

However they also provided great care for my Gran and Grandad in their declining years.

They do a lot of good, but sadly make a lot of errors as well.   

Can see it from both sides as I also work for the NHS.
However after breaking my leg and being treated in the NHS I wouldn't want that shite care/service etc on anybody

I have mixed feeling's about the NHS.

My Op went well and I was treated really good. But the place was so understaffed, rushed and basically lacking funding. I am yet to see anyone after my Op to tell me what they did, how it went or what I should do (bar a leaflet telling me to bend my knee etc etc).

Nowadays with all the super bugs going arund in hospitals it's freaky stuff ending up in hospital.  God knows if ou'll come out feeling better or even alive.  The idea of free treatment is fantastic but if only they'd deliver a better service. 

Right... off to get a dentist appointment!

works fine on mainland Europe :)..you can even see a dentist that..and I don't mean just in a museum or Hans Christian Anderson book

Approx 750 people per Doctor an increase of 150ish per doctor in the last 10 years.

Average figure of visits per person per year has been on the rise for 15 years as well, at a shocking rate.

A "sick" society, putting pressure on a shrinking Health service, many trusts have managed to have a surplus of cash this year after all the publicity around under funded authorities around the country in the previous few years, the suits now horde our tax for a rainy day.  And yet Branch's such as Mental Health and Maternity still get there budgets vigorously cut, does not make sense.

Hope your boy has a speedy recovery Duke.

I work on the front line in the NHS and while the service is not by any means perfect most of the people who deal with patients are there because they care and on the whole are compassionate individuals. My reception staff do a bl**dy hard job often dealing with abusive patients with unrealistic expectations of an over stretched service. They are often hit from both sides - patients for not giving out nonexistant apointments and from clinical staff who shout when extra patients are squeezed in. They are inundated with gifts at Christmas time and receive thank you cards on a regular basis.
We can all find good and bad examples in every system. If the people involved, staff and patients took a little bit more responsibility for themselves and their problems perhaps things would run smoother. We are also only human and mistakes do get made.The problem is when this is not aknowledged. We also pay taxes!!
I hope the infected leg soon is better.