“Wellness” programs

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

.......That's because the NHS is absolutely rubbish and that's putting it very politely.

I imagine that you expect this part of your post to be controversial.

I do think that the NHS has lost its way, the TV series GPs behind closed doors show staggering amounts of money being .... down the drain.

But about 14 months ago someone called an emergency line and reported me for obstructing the public highway by laying unconscious and blocking two lanes of a major road.

The rubbish NHS sent a blinged up Ford Transit type van with a terrible blue and yellow reflective sticker job and a couple of people in untrendy clothes to clear up the mess.

Then on having dumped me in an almost brand new building, some other bods were getting prepared to send me to Coventry in a crummy little helicopter so that someone else could drill a hole in my head. In the end they didn't bother, something to do with the brain haemorrhage being not life threatening.

Then after serving some terrible food (actually this is non sarcastic, the food was terrible) they stuffed me into some million pound machine and said oh you have a lesion on the lung, a kidney mass we should look at that as well. Along with good news that the fracture in the neck (C5 vertebra) was as harmless as it could be.

Then after some more terrible food they said you're fine to go home but please spend another few thousands of the NHS's quids on further lung CT scans.

Mind you I have missed out on some more terrible food, being serious I didn't get that part, if you aren't throwing A&E patients out then there is probably something wrong with them so surely the cost of a good pie and mash is inconsequential in the £30k nominal bill they have just run up?

I am sure that the OP will be in shock at how low that number is having seen medical bills posted on line and how I didn't even have to pay it.

Bye

Ian

 

[Drago]

There are some health insurance scheme that dish out fitness watches and the more you're active the more your premiums reduce. Mine has plummeted in cost since I attached it to my puppy's collar!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

There’s next to nothing here to promote and facilitate the habits which lead to healthy ageing. The NHS is about treating disease and / or accidents not promoting health.

 

[Alex321]

. It has become increasingly common though for people to pay for medical care privately if they can afford it. That's because the NHS is absolutely rubbish and that's putting it very politely.

That is not putting it remotely "politely", it is a complete insult to a brilliant service.

The only real benefit of going private in the UK is speed. You don't get any better treatment, and there are very few things not covered by the NHS.

I have gone private, when I had a problem with my knee about 4 years ago. I was operted on (keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic) three weeks after first contacting them. It would have been at least another three months on the NHS, possibly more. That cost me £3,000 including follow up physiotherapy and for me, was worthwhile.

But I would never describe the NHS as being remotely close to rubbish

 

[a.twiddler]

"Fat cat managers" is a phrase that's been bandied about for decades. Constant reorganisation imposed by beancounters which saps resources while purporting to make savings for the future has been endemic.

Yet despite this, not only do patients get treated for illness and accident when needed in a timely manner but do get health promotional support and follow up for ongoing conditions. I used to be healthy as a horse, healthcare would be something needed by "other people" but I have learned differently since then and when I've needed it, it's been there with knobs on.

I don't think I've been living in an alternative universe while I've been in my part of the world, it's highly likely that other UK citizens have had a pretty similar experience. So it's certainly not "rubbish".

 

[presta]

I was wondering if your National Health (or equivalent in other countries) requires participation in a program like this?

There was a time when I would have been all in favour of this, but now that I'm unable to exercise for reasons that the NHS refuse to acknowledge, the prospect seems quite frightening. AF, the NHS assure me, is no reason not to exercise, and they don't feel the slightest inclination to question this, even after repeated attempts to do so have resulted in 10 trips to A&E in an ambulance.
It's taken CFS patients decades to get it acknowledged that graded exercise makes their condition worse, and now that NICE have finally issued draft recommendations that exercise shouldn't be prescribed to treat CFS, livid doctors are trying their damndest to get them overturned.

My last employer offered wellness schemes. Anyone could talk to a counselor and discuss any issues confidentially. No requirement to but I guess if you did have issues then you'd have less of a claim on your employer.

By the time we'd had one suicide, another on sick leave for months, and me well on the way down the same road, my employer hired a 'counsellor' to come round the lab for a 'chat' with everyone.
Everyone that is, except me. We can't have any risk of someone saying anything they don't want to hear, can we.

The NHS doesn't, or at least shouldn't make moral judgements.

But they do.

If you have long term conditions such as Diabetes you do not pay prescription charges. After the age of 60 in England prescription charges are free, Scotland and Wales have different rules.

There are also pre-payment certificates if you're on a regular prescription, which mean if you need more than two items a month it won't cost you any more.

The G.P practises here in the U.K used to do check up type visits

I get a bit fed up with their @rse-covering games to pretend to the Ombudsman that they're providing good healthcare, whilst they're systematically ignoring the real issues that affect quality of life.

It has become increasingly common though for people to pay for medical care privately

I've been having difficulty finding private healthcare companies that will provide second opinions. They all seem to have been warned off since I obtained a report from private consultant that left the NHS a little embarrassed in the honesty department.

As far as I'm concerned they are fantastic.

And so they are when it's all going their way, but if you question them, challenge them, or dare complain, they're utterly ruthless, and will do whatever it takes to destroy you. It's on record that patients have been murdered for upsetting the NHS.
"Protect the NHS", remember.

Good afternoon,

I imagine that you expect this part of your post to be controversial.

I do think that the NHS has lost its way, the TV series GPs behind closed doors show staggering amounts of money being .... down the drain.

But about 14 months ago someone called an emergency line and reported me for obstructing the public highway by laying unconscious and blocking two lanes of a major road.

The rubbish NHS sent a blinged up Ford Transit type van with a terrible blue and yellow reflective sticker job and a couple of people in untrendy clothes to clear up the mess.

Then on having dumped me in an almost brand new building, some other bods were getting prepared to send me to Coventry in a crummy little helicopter so that someone else could drill a hole in my head. In the end they didn't bother, something to do with the brain haemorrhage being not life threatening.

Then after serving some terrible food (actually this is non sarcastic, the food was terrible) they stuffed me into some million pound machine and said oh you have a lesion on the lung, a kidney mass we should look at that as well. Along with good news that the fracture in the neck (C5 vertebra) was as harmless as it could be.

Then after some more terrible food they said you're fine to go home but please spend another few thousands of the NHS's quids on further lung CT scans.

Mind you I have missed out on some more terrible food, being serious I didn't get that part, if you aren't throwing A&E patients out then there is probably something wrong them so surely the cost of a good pie and mash is inconsequential in the £30k nominal bill they have just run up?

I am sure that the OP will be in shock at how low that number is having seen medical bills posted on line and how I didn't even have to pay it.

Bye

Ian

The problem with people like you who've been fortunate enough to get a good service from the NHS, is that most of them have no conception whatsoever that there are a lot of others who don't, and they get quite hostile and aggressive toward anyone who dares say so.

 

[annedonnelly]

@IanSmithCSE You need to move north. The food at the RVI during my stay was pretty good. I tried to arrange to go back on a weekly basis just for the bread and butter pudding.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good evening,

,,,,,
The problem with people like you who've been fortunate enough to get a good service from the NHS, is that most of them have no conception whatsoever that there are a lot of others who don't, and they get quite hostile and aggressive toward anyone who dares say so.

It's always risky to assume, do a search for my user name and covid and you may very well change your mind.
e.g. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/covid-vaccine.267960/page-234#post-6384907

The NHS is a big government department and like computers things can go wrong.

@IanSmithCSE......bread and butter pudding.

Oh no, this may be a problem nutritionally!

Actually this is before adding a pie, beef burger or some Turkey Twizzlers, but nothing can beat a Bernard Matthews Cheesy Hamwich (https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/bernard-matthews-8-cheesy-hamwich-460g/58892.html) to finish it off.

Bye

Ian

 

[Drago]

"Fat cat managers" is a phrase that's been bandied about for decades. Constant reorganisation imposed by beancounters which saps resources while purporting to make savings for the future has been endemic.

Yet despite this, not only do patients get treated for illness and accident when needed in a timely manner but do get health promotional support and follow up for ongoing conditions. I used to be healthy as a horse, healthcare would be something needed by "other people" but I have learned differently since then and when I've needed it, it's been there with knobs on.

I don't think I've been living in an alternative universe while I've been in my part of the world, it's highly likely that other UK citizens have had a pretty similar experience. So it's certainly not "rubbish".

Spor on. The NHS delivers as it does despite the vastly top heavy management, not because of it.

Ive mentioned before on these hallowed pages how Mrs D only lasted a few months in the NHS after finishing her degree before the insanotymof it got too much to bear. The management structure isn't a pyramid, like in most other large organisations. In a noteworthy number of instances, particularly in mental health for some reason, its pretty much linear - managers managing the manager below them, in turn managing the manager below them, and so on.

It defies all reason, logic, and accepted (at least elsewhere) practice. The NHS doesn't need more money, it needs a gang of toughs to go in with a big stick and a broom to clean out the Golgafrinchans, but the who mess is so cast I don't know where or how anyone could conceivably begins.

Having just finished a business degree it pretty much broke Mrs D's brain, so she quit and did her PGCE and went into teaching. Hell, you know an organisation is a mess when being year head in a state secondary is considersbly more restful (she not teaching now - shes medically vulnerable, so when covid hit the principal made her his PA so she could physically remain isolated at work but on the same money, which was decent of him) than the NHS.