NHS is a joke...

[Nobber81]

I'm currently off work poorly with really bad heads which I think stems back to a serious head injury I sustained in a RTA in 1995, where I suffered a fractured skull & a Sub-dural Haematoma/Intracranial haemorrhage.

My GP has referred me to a specialist at the Royal Preston, he referred me to this neuro-specialist 3 weeks ago, my appointment came though for the end of October - I hope there's nothing serious as if I've another bleed in my brain I'll likely be dead by the end of October.

I today questioned my GP as to why it's such a long wait he said ask Mr Blair, my GP is a really nice bloke and explained a few changes which firstly shocked then sickened me, he said....

4 or 5 years ago if I wrote to a neurologist say at RPH saying I've a patient suffering bad headaches who had a RTA 11 years ago...... Then he would've got a letter back from the specialist and an appointment fairly soon, he said you would've been seen by now...

However my GP explained these days his letter doesn't go to a specialist but to some offices down at Preston Docks to be read by one of about 50 women with no medical expertise between them, they then fit us in/prioritise when they see right.....

Is this right????? From what my GP says I think my vote will be changing if this is what the Labour government are doing.....

[thegooooooooooch]

I find this hard to believe as under Labour the NHS in a million times better and is probably almost perfect.

Waiting times are down, doctors and nurses are well paid and not overworked whilst moral at hospitals is tip top.

Take the new Royal Blackburn Hospital. In the six weeks its been open its only had four cases of new born babies contracting MRSA

Ask Graham Nelson. He'll tell you its all find and dandy.

tg

[graham nelson]

no its not all dandy+im very sorry for nobber81s bad experience. but if the tories were in power im not even sure id be here. just this morning i had my 3rd mri scan in 18 months +within weeks will have a 3rd major life saving cancer op. i don't want to start making personal attacks on you mr goooooooooooch-you are probably a very sincere conservative-but because the nhs has quite obviously saved my life the least i can do is defend it for all im worth.

[Juan Kerr]

I am sorry for your situation and I know it aint much consolation but the point must be made that for everyone of your bad experiences there are thousands of positive ones.
I speak of one from personal experience.
Just had to give some defence to the NHS.

[Nobber81]

Thing was in 1995-1997 after the RTA I had I was at hospital every week all was fine, never had any problems with my appointments - why the sudden change in processes???

Why fix something that for me then wasn't broken??? Why do people without medical qualifications prioritise appointments????

I don't wanna slag the NHS as they did save my life I had about a 10% chance I think immediately after the accident and they saved me. (probably worded this thread incorrectly - sorry!!)

However why now 10-11 years down the line I'm having problems with my head again, I've gotta wait 9 weeks for an appointment for investigations????

Worst case scenario a small bleed has started in my brain how big would that bleed become in 9 weeks I ask myself.....??? I just think the old processes were better...

[graham nelson]

whatever our individual opinions i hope you get any treatment you need +when you need. it. don't apologise for anything mate because with the posible worry +anxiety you may going through any decent person will forgive you almost anything. good luck.

[preston_guy]

I'm a nurse and I can understand your concern as head injuries are very dangerous if left untreated however, try not to jump to conclusions. Have a look at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence information regarding head injury: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=CG004publicinfo
If you haven't already, I would contact NHS Direct for a second opinion. I have only recently qualified whereas those professionals will have more experience and knowledge. If the problems persist and you feel they are getting worse, go straight to A&E. And in the meantime, try not to worry. Your brain is likely to have suffered some permanent damage from your accident and it could simply be that it's caught up with you and not necessarily a bleed.

[Nobber81]

Thanks Graham & Preston Guy for the reassurance!! My doc has given me some tranquiliser pills that are doing a bit of good, as you said graham the anxiety I maybe suffering isn't doing the head any good, so the medication is calming me quite a lot and easing the horrible pains I was getting, also North Ends last 3 results have helped somewhat!!

[WIBG]

I hada serious head injury in Sep 2004 and have to say the service/care I received was second to none. I even suffered bad headaches 12 months later and was seen within a couple of weeks, then sent for a CT scan within a month or so and everything came back ok.

For someone like myself who has had 10 operations, numerous scans, x ray and care from the NHS in the last 5 years I have nothing but praise for it. People forget that its a free service when compared to other countries health service and it does the best it can. Yes there are faults, but you could say that about every state run industry.

Just out of interest, who is your surgeon? I saw a Mr Roberts.

[prestonmadhouse]

People forget that its a free service when compared to other countries health service and it does the best it can.

Depends who you are as to being free.:( I pay every month towards it:rolleyes:

[Nobber81]

Me too!! It's not even an option in this country!!


Nothing to add to this other than to wish you well, Nobber81.

Long shot, I know, but if it really is a life and death situation and you still can't get your appointment shifted, can you sell the car or extend the mortgage and go private. Not ideal, I know, but if its life and death?

Cheers spudpie, at this stage I don't think it's life or death, as things have eased slightly since I started taking tranquilizers but when you've had a head injury like the one I had you do tend to worry when you've had a headache for 5 weeks and the pills your doctors giving you aren't shifting!

Mind I'm just gonna take every day as it comes!!! If it gets really bad the A & E option is the one I'll take, they'd give me a brain scan straight away my GP said with my history, but luckily things have eased since I posted this thread so long may that continue!!!

Thanks to everyone for there opinions anyway and the best wishes!!


I hada serious head injury in Sep 2004 and have to say the service/care I received was second to none. I even suffered bad headaches 12 months later and was seen within a couple of weeks, then sent for a CT scan within a month or so and everything came back ok.

For someone like myself who has had 10 operations, numerous scans, x ray and care from the NHS in the last 5 years I have nothing but praise for it. People forget that its a free service when compared to other countries health service and it does the best it can. Yes there are faults, but you could say that about every state run industry.

Just out of interest, who is your surgeon? I saw a Mr Roberts.

I can't remember I think it was a Mr Hearn but don't quote me as I had 2 life saving operations I had a ruptured diaphragm which punctured my lungs and had to be fixed so I saw a lot of specialists I also remember a Dr Vakil - he helped me lots at the time... Like you say Mr Roberts that's another person I've seen in the past....

[pne4eva2003]

I wouldn't blame all the NHS for my problems but more a certain surgeon. Will try to cut a very long story short I actually woke up on the operating table during a back operation :eek: Wooosh a flash of gas and I was back out again, not before I actually felt the pain though. If that wasn't enough I then sat up in the recovery room after coming around from the operation, I wasn't supposed to sit up at all for a full five days, but was groggy and didn't know where I was or what I was doing but that I was in a lot of pain down my legs so sat up to rub them... the nurse in recovery came dashing across the room and pushed me back down. I was meant to have a reaction test for some fluid I had to have injected in me 24 hours prior to it being done...it wasn't done...I had an allergic reaction to it that can actually cause you to die...I had to have over twenty further injections injected into my lower abdomen and legs to counteract the fluid put in my spine. I never saw the proper consultant for months and months after the op...everytime I went to my appointment the consultant I had to see was out doing other things...he was, at that time, something to do with the expenditure of the hospital as well as being a surgeon so to see this man who had operated on my I had to go private and saw him at his moor park rooms.

When I saw him there he went ballistic and said that "there was going to be some backside kicked up at Royal Preston" because six weeks (and we are now talking six months had passed) after having op I should have had "follow up X-rays and vigorous physiotherapy"...I got sent to physiotherapy two days later...under the NHS. They made me worse, had another MRI scan...surgeon decided I needed another operation....saw him to make final arrangements for op and he decided he would not operate again as he feared there was only a 50/50 chance of making me better....so now I am stuck with a nackered back which was ballsed up even moreso by poor aftercare under the NHS. Other surgeons will not touch me with a barge pole because the original job was a cockup and have got too much fibrosis...I even saw a Mr. John Dove, privately at Stoke On Trent...£280 to see him over 10 years ago...he is the back specialist who specialists from around the country send you to when apparently they don't know what to do for the best or actually what to do. He said no further op at the moment until it gets worse and then I would eventually have to have a "Hartshill Rectangle" put in...Touch wood I have not yet got to that stage.

Hartshill Rectangle:-
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/os/oss/bwgl/impdev/impdev.html

P.S. The nurses and staff while I was actually in hospital a few times have been absolutely wonderful I may add.

[Joanpne]

My husband has arthritis of the spine, yet he still manages to continue going to work. This morning he had to see the work (Baxi - who have so far been brilliant) Doctor. When the doctor saw him, he asked him how he had managed to get to work in the condition he was in. My husband shrugged his shoulders and said "well what can I do". The Baxi doctor asked what our own GP had said to which my husband replied, nothing because we have a locum everytime I go to the surgery and I have not seen the same doctor twice in row for over 2 years:eek: The Baxi doctor told my husband to make an urgent appointment with the GP and insist that he is sent for further investigations and that he would be writing to them saying the same thing. He was then sent home from work. On arrival home, my husband rang our GP and explained what had happened that morning to be told "sorry, you can't see the doctor until next Tuesday" (7 days hence). My husband said but I am in a lot of pain and missing work and I have been told my condition needs urgent investigations - he was told "oh well you will have to go to casualty then because there is no doctor avalable until next Tuesday" :mad:

What amazes me is, when (if) he returns to work under the new rules re sick leave, my husband will probably get a warning for being off.

[graham nelson]

on wednesday at 4.30pm at rph i have a pet/ct scan costing £1000 thanks to fellow tax payers+gordon brown for setting up the funding.