Tregeddows Blogpile

The reality of Today's NHS

Update September 1st 2005

Great, Doctor gets me a new appointment for last week - unfortunately forgetting I was away that week! Now have to wait 3 weeks for the next one which isn't bad. In the meantime have had yet another course of antibiotics, and now wondering how long before I need a further one.

Update August 11th 2005
Went back to the Doctor, who is going to try and speed up the hospital appointment, and said to manage the problem with painkillers, and another course (7 days) of antibiotics in the meantime. Given previous antibiotics have only held off the problem for about 2-3 weeks, that should leave me going back to the doctor with 8 weeks to go before my appointment at the hospital. In the meantime the drug companies are making money from me as I try and control the problem. We'll see how it goes. Didn't sleep well last night as a result of the pain, but still made it to work.

(August 10th 2005)

Once again I find myself needing medical treatment. I go and see my Doctor, who refers me to a hospital. The hospital makes an appointment to see me for what will probably be a simple procedure - but the earliest I can get it on the NHS is in 12 weeks time.

In the meantime what do I do about the infection caused by the problem the hospital are due to investigate? I'll go back to my doctor who will probably either need to prescribe long term antibiotics, or if they can't, is likely to advise me to contact A+E when it gets really bad.

A similar thing happens with the dentist - you need emergency treatement and they prescribe antibiotics (a temporary fix for a few weeks) but the earliest appointment can be months away, unless of course it is an emergency (hanging around for rushed treatment) as again there is no capacity to allow for this kind of situation.

The huge pressure and long waits mean that the service is firefighting and having to spend far more because things are more serious when patients are seen (if they make it).

The sensible thing would be to invest in some up front capacity to see people with any consequential problems early, reducing the overall cost because the system then does not have to treat additional conditions arising as a a result of leaving things for weeks while treatment is made available.

In the meantime the problems are affecting my work and home life, leading to additional costs for my employer.

Of course, you can always go private, if you can afford it, or are so desperate you'd rather pay than suffer. I've finally done this with the dentist. I'd had enough.

I'll see how things go and let you know how this all progresse.