Brendam. Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 I heard a couple of days ago about a 91 year old lady, who couldn't get out of bed for 36 hours as she felt so ill. Her Nephew called in to see her and finding her ill in bed, called the lady's doctor, asking for a home visit. He was refused as - guess what? - none of the doctors at the practice had the time to visit the old lady even though she was obviously pretty poorly. The Nephew then did what you and I would have done, he rang for an ambulance at around 9.15am and - guess what? - it was 6.30pm when the ambulance arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time an ambulance had arrived, this poor old lady had lain in bed for 48 hours. Guess what? She had double pneumonia!! I am gobsmacked and absolutely disgusted!! Do we have to be something/somebody special to get healthcare from the NHS these days?? Was this lady too old for the NHS "professionals" to go to any trouble for her? I sincerely hope not. Bren. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Disgusting response (or lack of it) to any individual let alone a lady of such advanced years, unfortunately Brendam it appears that when you reach a certain age some members (not all I hasten to add) of the medical fraternity are no longer interested in giving 'old codgers' anything but the basic attention and practice a form of ageism bordering on euthanasia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverlady54 Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 I think a lot does depend on where you are in the country and what it is you say to the person on the other end of the phone. When I was caring for my dad, I never had problems getting a doctor to visit him at home and provide the necessary treatment. You do have to make sure you give all the facts and if you think it requires emergency action then don't be afraid of making that clear and if you can't move or transport the patient to hospital yourself, you have to be very clear that you don't know what the problem is and it could be life threatening, so a paramedic will be sent. Don't worry about calling them out (as long as it really is serious), that is what they are paid for (by us). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Correct SilverLady. It does depend on where you live as to the differing responses that you get. My Mother lives in Somerset, and her Doctor, surgery and nurses are totally light years ahead of Warrington in the way in which they do their job. I was amazed as I expected the opposite. And they have 8 Drs in the practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Awful to read that Brendam and I trust the lady and her family have put in an official complaint about her lack of treatment and also the slowness of the ambulance to respond. I hope she is ok and on the mend and feeling better now. I'm a bit split on this as my elderly mother-in-law's surgery which is based over at Bewsey do seem very good and they have popped out to see her from time to time even though she does not live on their patch so to speak but she is registered with them. Saying that she also pays for one of these age concern emergency lines so if she feels ill and presses or does not respond after pressing then an ambulance or paramedic will arrive pretty quick but being diabetic I guess her records say 'urgent'. I would like to hope that the elderly ladies case you refer too was just an error and is not the norm, but it's these types of errors that can result in someone dying or becoming seriously ill due to delays so they should NOT be allowed to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry hayes Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 I have had many experiences of the national health service. None of the have been brilliant but nearly all have been acceptable. (putting food by patients who can't feed themselves was the worst) Matrons would probably improve that, although I would like a completely new re-think of the whole service. Don't believe Aneurin Bevan envisaged what has evolved. I think hospital out patient departments do a brilliant job considering the number of people who are using them. We are feeding an insatiable monster. Happy days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted September 10, 2011 Report Share Posted September 10, 2011 Doctors ditched the "on call" scenario when Gordie gave them a pay rise for less hours, leaving the out of hours calls to other Doctors. Just imagine how bad it'll get when Dave puts them fully behind the steering wheel, with control of their own budgets - hard luck for the "old" folk then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted September 10, 2011 Report Share Posted September 10, 2011 Completely agree Obs, I also agree with your analasysis of where it started to go wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted September 10, 2011 Report Share Posted September 10, 2011 wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted September 10, 2011 Report Share Posted September 10, 2011 Well you cannot be wrong all the time, The law of averages says you will get one right every so often Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted September 10, 2011 Report Share Posted September 10, 2011 iyo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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