SO sorry to hear your sad news, Sadie. And I can well understand how angry you & your family inevitably are following what sounds like a total lack of empathy from the staff concerned with her care at the hospital.
I have read all the posts on here on the subject and fortunately, have no experiences of my own in recent years to relate....yet.
However, my sister in law, having suffered a double mastectomy several years ago following breast cancer was diagnosed with a brain tumour 6 months ago. Her husband fought to have her transferred from a local hospital to King's where the consultant tasked with her care was based . Since then, she has received the best care anyone could wish for and the family have been treated with utter respect & kept totally informed about her condition and are satisfied that everything possible has been done for her recovery. Only time will tell whether her treatment has been successful but thus far, I am convinced that the family have nothing but praise for her care.
As others have said, we can only speak from our own experiences and inevitably some will be positive whilst others, negative. Hospitalisation/illness/the need for expert care leaves us vulnerable & we are "at the mercy" of the practitioners concerned. Without knowing the statistics, I would assume that the "good treatment" far outweighs the "bad"...although some might argue against this based on personal experience. If a loved one sadly falls into the latter category, I'd like to think I would fight tooth & nail for those responsible to be held to account although this might well be the path to further heartache & distress.
This is such an emotive subject and my heart goes out to those like Len & Sadie whose families have suffered in one way or another. But whatever the level of medical care, respect & empathy cost nothing and this should be second nature to staff whether they be top or bottom of the NHS ladder. The manner in which they deal with the public can make a difficult time worse or less stressful...Is this too much to ask ?
Sadie that is a heart breaking story, and notwithstanding SHG and Lens wife and many others it is becoming more and more common.
I have had good and bad experience with the NHS in about equal measure, but I can't help feeling that the service is run for the benefit of the staff rather than the patients.
The ENT emergency 'drop in' at Lewisham means you have to be referred by your GP and wait two weeks, even if you're already an outpatient. I suppose there is a good reason for this, but I haven't worked it out yet.
My brother in law finally died in Lincoln General Hospital by basically being starved to death. My mother who suffers badly from Dementia has had heroic treatment from the NHS.
It is so patchy, so uneven, and so difficult to understand the systems. Now I am getting old I have wanted to visit my GP on a few occasions with things that are worrying me, but I am completely put off by the first phone call when someone barks 'is it an emergency?'. I simply don't bother because I basically feel guilty for being ill or troubled in any way, and hence wasting the valuable time of the NHS workers.
I know it is a matter of funding the service, but for those who work in the service it is an everyday thing if for example somebody passes on like Sadies Nan, but for most of us, contact with the service is frightening, or at least unsettling or confusing.
I don't have a solution, but wish I didn't feel so intimidated whenever I have dealings with any part of the NHS.
Fanny, I hope all goes well for your sister-in-Law.
I am writing this as a total outsider (both to the NHS & the UK, having lived abroad now for many years).
When I lived in the UK, I was treated several times under the NHS, maily in Greenwich District Hospital and the treatment and post operative care were absolutely brilliant. However, from what I understand the NHS is no longer run by health care professionals, but by bean counters who are looking to be profitable rather than having the patient's care as their priority.
Furthermore, the way I understand it the Liverpool Care Pathway, is a legal form of euthanasia.
After having moved abroad I have been able to see how other countries operate.
Here in Luxembourg the social security system is on a par with the NHS cost wise, and on the whole I would rather be operated on here then under the NHS. This is based on my experience with hospitals here and what family members and friends have expereinced in the UK.
My mother recently had her cateracts operated on here in Luxembourg. First the one eye and after about 6 weeks, when the Drs were absolutely sure everything was OK, the other eye. After each operation, she was seen by the Dr the day after the operation, 2 days after that and then at increasing intervals.
A friend of the family whose wife passed away several years ago and therefore is alone at home, had the same operation in the UK. Both eyes were operated on at the same time and our friend was sent home in a taxi with some cream to put on his eye, with instructions to take off the bandages the next morning and to apply the cream as instructed. There was no follow up care by the surgeon or the hospital in general. As can only be expected under the circumstances he got an infection in both eyes and had to go into hospital again until the infection cleared up.
My father's uncle died of a heartattack after his bypass operation was postponed 4 times due to no hospital bed being available on the day of the operation!
My Missus is a nurse and I have to deal with hospitals in my job. The financial pressures are massive and the cuts made are leading to a deterioration in quality. Community Nurses are under enormous pressure
There are good and bad staff in all organisations but the majority strive to do their best under very difficult circumstances. I am very sorry for Len's family experience. Condolences to Sadie Jane as well for the loss of her Nann.
My experience with my family and partner is that the NHS can be brilliant with critical and severe conditions but are now less good with dealing with 'non urgent' health problems. This is related to the cuts, when there is less money, something goes. The hospitals concentrate on critical illness.
The present government has massively undermined the NHS public sector provision with lots of cuts, a messy reorganisation, with a constant bombardment bad publicity and searching out of errors from a Conservative dominated media with amplication of anything that goes wrong. Many of the Conservatives come from a Public Relations background and they know what they are doing. The Conservatives want to outsource all Health Care to private companies. This will not automatically lead to any improvement in care.
Outsourced care disappears behind commercial contract confidentiality and there is much less publicity about anything that goes wrong. The main interest the profits made for the companies providing the service.
The NHS can and must improve but it is made all the more difficult whilst being undermined by cuts and privatisation. The service is just becoming more defensive and fragmented. If we lose the NHS and all have to get private insurance, it will be a lot more expensive and harder to receive care.
I am absolutely no fan of "Cast Iron" Cameron's Tories but it is only fair to point out, as political points are being made, that Labour were in power when my father died although it was indeed the Tories, or more accurately the Coalition, when my step father died.
Patients with strong families or lots of family members / people to advocate for them are more likely to get better treatment.
No fan of Labour with the NHS. They started the process of privatisation and ploughed on with terrible PFI contracts that has burdened NHS Trusts with terrible contracts and debts with extortionate costs built in - in effect privatising the future. They have also appear to have chosen to use the privatisatisation and outsourcing of the NHS for an election winning issue instead of organising any effective opposition to stop it.
It is terrible that the Conservatives largely appear to use anything that goes wrong to drive an outsourcing agenda that many of them profit from, from their interests in the private medical sector. There should be clear processes to continually improve things. The current political climate does not encourage it. Everyone is busy watching their backs. Lessons don't get learnt. Patients and their families don't benefit from the best service.
The NHS is a political football. It was rather tragic to hear Labour MP Darling in the Scottish debate earlier telling Salmond not to turn the NHS into a political issue when the NHS is the major thing the UK Labour party are using to attack the Tories.
My mum will be complaining about the way they were treated at the hospital, also she was my nan's next of kin but they never once discussed anything with her, she will be complaining about that. but first thing is to get the funeral sorted out.
Labour did not start the privatisation process, it happened under Thatcher with the PFI's. In opposition, New Labour was vigorously anti, but when they came to power in '97, they actually extended the PFI programme as Brown saw it as the best way to fund the NHS, the ultimate buy now, pay later scheme. We have been experiencing creeping privatisation ever since. Failing hospitals trusts were poorly funded, probably deliberately so, and then they were handed over to private companies to run. I am not a fan of any of the major parties! I am sorry and further disheartened to hear of the experiences of Len and Sadie. The jewel in our Crown is being chipped away.
I am a staunch supporter of the NHS and indeed work on the sharp end at a hospital. If I were 25 years younger I would make sure my family were covered by private health insurance. The best I could afford.
I would reccommend this to anyone. How sad is that.
Comments
RIP Sadie's Nan.
RIP
I have read all the posts on here on the subject and fortunately, have no experiences of my own in recent years to relate....yet.
However, my sister in law, having suffered a double mastectomy several years ago following breast cancer was diagnosed with a brain tumour 6 months ago. Her husband fought to have her transferred from a local hospital to King's where the consultant tasked with her care was based . Since then, she has received the best care anyone could wish for and the family have been treated with utter respect & kept totally informed about her condition and are satisfied that everything possible has been done for her recovery. Only time will tell whether her treatment has been successful but thus far, I am convinced that the family have nothing but praise for her care.
As others have said, we can only speak from our own experiences and inevitably some will be positive whilst others, negative. Hospitalisation/illness/the need for expert care leaves us vulnerable & we are "at the mercy" of the practitioners concerned. Without knowing the statistics, I would assume that the "good treatment" far outweighs the "bad"...although some might argue against this based on personal experience. If a loved one sadly falls into the latter category, I'd like to think I would fight tooth & nail for those responsible to be held to account although this might well be the path to further heartache & distress.
This is such an emotive subject and my heart goes out to those like Len & Sadie whose families have suffered in one way or another. But whatever the level of medical care, respect & empathy cost nothing and this should be second nature to staff whether they be top or bottom of the NHS ladder. The manner in which they deal with the public can make a difficult time worse or less stressful...Is this too much to ask ?
I have had good and bad experience with the NHS in about equal measure, but I can't help feeling that the service is run for the benefit of the staff rather than the patients.
The ENT emergency 'drop in' at Lewisham means you have to be referred by your GP and wait two weeks, even if you're already an outpatient. I suppose there is a good reason for this, but I haven't worked it out yet.
My brother in law finally died in Lincoln General Hospital by basically being starved to death.
My mother who suffers badly from Dementia has had heroic treatment from the NHS.
It is so patchy, so uneven, and so difficult to understand the systems. Now I am getting old I have wanted to visit my GP on a few occasions with things that are worrying me, but I am completely put off by the first phone call when someone barks 'is it an emergency?'. I simply don't bother because I basically feel guilty for being ill or troubled in any way, and hence wasting the valuable time of the NHS workers.
I know it is a matter of funding the service, but for those who work in the service it is an everyday thing if for example somebody passes on like Sadies Nan, but for most of us, contact with the service is frightening, or at least unsettling or confusing.
I don't have a solution, but wish I didn't feel so intimidated whenever I have dealings with any part of the NHS.
Fanny, I hope all goes well for your sister-in-Law.
I am writing this as a total outsider (both to the NHS & the UK, having lived abroad now for many years).
When I lived in the UK, I was treated several times under the NHS, maily in Greenwich District Hospital and the treatment and post operative care were absolutely brilliant. However, from what I understand the NHS is no longer run by health care professionals, but by bean counters who are looking to be profitable rather than having the patient's care as their priority.
Furthermore, the way I understand it the Liverpool Care Pathway, is a legal form of euthanasia.
After having moved abroad I have been able to see how other countries operate.
Here in Luxembourg the social security system is on a par with the NHS cost wise, and on the whole I would rather be operated on here then under the NHS. This is based on my experience with hospitals here and what family members and friends have expereinced in the UK.
My mother recently had her cateracts operated on here in Luxembourg. First the one eye and after about 6 weeks, when the Drs were absolutely sure everything was OK, the other eye. After each operation, she was seen by the Dr the day after the operation, 2 days after that and then at increasing intervals.
A friend of the family whose wife passed away several years ago and therefore is alone at home, had the same operation in the UK. Both eyes were operated on at the same time and our friend was sent home in a taxi with some cream to put on his eye, with instructions to take off the bandages the next morning and to apply the cream as instructed. There was no follow up care by the surgeon or the hospital in general. As can only be expected under the circumstances he got an infection in both eyes and had to go into hospital again until the infection cleared up.
My father's uncle died of a heartattack after his bypass operation was postponed 4 times due to no hospital bed being available on the day of the operation!
There are good and bad staff in all organisations but the majority strive to do their best under very difficult circumstances. I am very sorry for Len's family experience. Condolences to Sadie Jane as well for the loss of her Nann.
My experience with my family and partner is that the NHS can be brilliant with critical and severe conditions but are now less good with dealing with 'non urgent' health problems. This is related to the cuts, when there is less money, something goes. The hospitals concentrate on critical illness.
The present government has massively undermined the NHS public sector provision with lots of cuts, a messy reorganisation, with a constant bombardment bad publicity and searching out of errors from a Conservative dominated media with amplication of anything that goes wrong. Many of the Conservatives come from a Public Relations background and they know what they are doing. The Conservatives want to outsource all Health Care to private companies. This will not automatically lead to any improvement in care.
Outsourced care disappears behind commercial contract confidentiality and there is much less publicity about anything that goes wrong. The main interest the profits made for the companies providing the service.
The NHS can and must improve but it is made all the more difficult whilst being undermined by cuts and privatisation. The service is just becoming more defensive and fragmented. If we lose the NHS and all have to get private insurance, it will be a lot more expensive and harder to receive care.
Patients with strong families or lots of family members / people to advocate for them are more likely to get better treatment.
No fan of Labour with the NHS. They started the process of privatisation and ploughed on with terrible PFI contracts that has burdened NHS Trusts with terrible contracts and debts with extortionate costs built in - in effect privatising the future. They have also appear to have chosen to use the privatisatisation and outsourcing of the NHS for an election winning issue instead of organising any effective opposition to stop it.
It is terrible that the Conservatives largely appear to use anything that goes wrong to drive an outsourcing agenda that many of them profit from, from their interests in the private medical sector. There should be clear processes to continually improve things. The current political climate does not encourage it. Everyone is busy watching their backs. Lessons don't get learnt. Patients and their families don't benefit from the best service.
My mum will be complaining about the way they were treated at the hospital, also she was my nan's next of kin but they never once discussed anything with her, she will be complaining about that. but first thing is to get the funeral sorted out.
I am sorry and further disheartened to hear of the experiences of Len and Sadie. The jewel in our Crown is being chipped away.
I would reccommend this to anyone. How sad is that.