We hear so much about hospitals , GPs, nurses and care workers. My wife is 69 and she stayed in 4 different hospitals in London. I was visiting her in the hospital everyday. We hear so much about governments and funding. In my opinion the staff on the ground are responsible too. Very few are doing their duties well in the wards. Patients don't like to stay in the wards. Patients have to wait so long for the respond. Staff go for their breaks so often. Whenever we press the buzzer, we get one answer, " I tell the nurse". If your loved ones in hospital, please visit them. I saw some patients who had no visitors, they suffered more than the patients who had visitors. Patients go to hospital for cure. But we go home with the same symptoms. And we go to hospital again with same symptoms. Is that nice? When my wife went there third time, she refused to go home without the acceptable result. And they told her that cancer spread to her bones and lower part. She have 12 months to live. After so many xrays, ultrasound, MRI, blood tests, urine tests, why it took so long to find out? She had breast cancer history. But it was cured. Government should abolish the trusts and take over the responsibility as soon as possible.
Hilary Mantel, your very famous now deceased author told of her own missed diagnosis that so changed her life, of waiting wrapped in a sheet in a long line of those alike waiting for their CT scan. Then our own Rob Delaney, who was filming in your country and on NHS (Americans can sign onto it) told of NHS and their EXCELLANT treatment of his toddler son who died of a brain turmor. He went on at length of all that was done for his entire family without ever seeing a bill.
You can see we are confused. But then healthcare ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE is so confusing.
Thanks for your note to us and welcome to Forum.
It is hard to wait. It can be hard to get information. It can feel hard to be heard. But remember that the system or service is made up of people. Not robots. Health workers need breaks - without breaks, they make mistakes. If a staff member tells you to "tell a nurse" it's because they are not a nurse, or are not your nurse. You don't want a cleaner, kitchen staff or desk clerk treating you without any medical training, right? Or the nurse from the next ward who know nothing about you. You meed the nurse assigned to you, who has been handed-over who you are & what you are there for.
"Patients go to hospital for cure".
I must disagree. People go to hospital to seek medical advice & treatment. For emergency treatment, for planned surgery, to treat acute or chronic illness.
Expecting advice & treatment is realistic. Expecting a cure is unrealistic.
For Your specific case, please look for a Cancer Foundation to get specific advice & support for you both. Breast cancer does have a way of reappearing years later, sometimes quite suddenly. It often metastasises to the bones. I am truly sorry about this for you both.
https://cancersupportuk.org/
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-health-services/cancer-information-and-support
https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/breast-cancer-resources-and-links/
Conservatives in the UK want to get rid of the NHS and have healthcare like in the U.S. This would mean profit-making and soe people would get very rich. So the NHS gets used and abused very much how Medicare gets blatantly ripped off here.
Now factor in Labor and their nonsense. Keep letting more and more people into the UK. The majority of whom will be low-wage earners or not work at all and live off England's social programs and will break them. Same as in the U.S. Only the U.S. is a bigger economy. England no longer has an empire to fall back on. So it can't continue to support everyone.
There's too many people flooding into countries like England, France, Germany who were once able to offer a lot of perks to their citizens are now a total mess and in chaos.
His Majesty's government needs to shut down immigration to the UK. Less people means England's social programs will have a chance to recover.
Isn't the NHS already run by your government?
I'm so very sorry for your wife's dismal hospital experience and her diagnosis. I wish her next 12 months to be the best ever.
Here in the states this happened to my family 20 years ago. My mother in law was very sick. Her doctor kept telling her she had a virus. Then they said she needed her gallbladder removed. My gut was telling me, something else, but the rest of the family wanted to believe the doctors.
She went to her doctor's, she went to the ER, she went again, got admitted, got pushed out, a very much unsafe discharge, and lieing on the paper work that she was able to walk. Much hip pain, and just was given pan meds. I was young with young kids and didn't have the knowledge I have now.
So I called my mom's long term doctor, they were not accepting new patients, I begged them to please find an exception. They finally did, he saw my mil, put her directly into a different hospital.
The hip pain was diagnosed as metastisized bone cancer, and a few days later she was gone.
This shouldn't of happened to you or your wife or to anyone and I'm so sorry 😞