Reply To: NHS in crisis

Some A&Es are setting up a GP type facility where the people who think it appropriate to attend with illness/injury that could be self treated are seen. Personally I think the 4 hour maximum wait should be abolished so the people cited in the previous sentence get pushed further and further down the queue. I am an ex NHS professional and have spent much time in the A&E environment so do know a bit about it all. The abuse of both GP system and A&E by malingerers is rife and a little more personal responsibility would go a long way to help.

The NHS in general is being expected to “keep people alive at any cost” by society sadly this costs, local paper regularly has shock horror headline “X who has terminal cancer is denied ultra expensive drug which might give them another 6 months to live” in reality the cost of the drug would pay for 4 hip replacements. There are many contentious “treatments” that people expect IVF is one of them.

My OH is a retired NHS ITU consultant who regularly had to say no to admitting people as there was nothing further in the way of treatment to help them – they were going to die. My in-laws are the you have to something type of people. Friday before Xmas they were going to dial 999 as FIL had a runny nose and was a bit shivery it was extremely strongly suggested that Paracetamol and going to bed early would be a better idea. Next morning hey presto was better.