This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2016/feb/12/the-care-i-receive-has-improved-but-i-fear-for-the-future-of-the-nhs
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| The care I receive has improved, but I fear for the future of the NHS | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The increasing number of frail elderly people with multiple co-morbidities – more than one disease – who are living too long, is bringing the NHS to its knees. That’s what the newspapers tell us. I am one of them. I’m in my 80s and suffering from hypertension, aortic stenosis, kidney disease and borderline diabetes. | The increasing number of frail elderly people with multiple co-morbidities – more than one disease – who are living too long, is bringing the NHS to its knees. That’s what the newspapers tell us. I am one of them. I’m in my 80s and suffering from hypertension, aortic stenosis, kidney disease and borderline diabetes. |
| According to the media, I should also have been getting progressively worse care as my co-morbidities multiply, and the NHS gradually implodes. Curiously, this has not happened to me. I can still get same-day appointments from my GP, and hospital outpatient appointments in a month. None of the GPs in the surgery are heading overseas in despair. They diagnose my conditions promptly and accurately. The receptionists remain charming and helpful, despite their workload and the practice has steadily improved its computer systems. | According to the media, I should also have been getting progressively worse care as my co-morbidities multiply, and the NHS gradually implodes. Curiously, this has not happened to me. I can still get same-day appointments from my GP, and hospital outpatient appointments in a month. None of the GPs in the surgery are heading overseas in despair. They diagnose my conditions promptly and accurately. The receptionists remain charming and helpful, despite their workload and the practice has steadily improved its computer systems. |
| Then, in April 2015, the cosy five-doctor practice merged with another larger one and became a health centre. I moved from a traditional, small, general practice into a brave new world where I can get blood tests, physiotherapy, podiatry and even out-patient clinics from consultants from our local hospital. All in one place. I hardly have to set foot in any of the local hospitals. This is a great: one grumble I had with clinicians is that they always seemed oblivious to their elderly patients’ difficulties in travelling to appointments. | Then, in April 2015, the cosy five-doctor practice merged with another larger one and became a health centre. I moved from a traditional, small, general practice into a brave new world where I can get blood tests, physiotherapy, podiatry and even out-patient clinics from consultants from our local hospital. All in one place. I hardly have to set foot in any of the local hospitals. This is a great: one grumble I had with clinicians is that they always seemed oblivious to their elderly patients’ difficulties in travelling to appointments. |
| And the practice has put my medical records online. I can now see graphs of my blood tests over the years, and read what doctors write to each other about my many conditions, and it seems to give me some understanding and control. I think it will make my appointments with medics less one-sided. | And the practice has put my medical records online. I can now see graphs of my blood tests over the years, and read what doctors write to each other about my many conditions, and it seems to give me some understanding and control. I think it will make my appointments with medics less one-sided. |
| My treatment in the NHS has improved over the last few years, against the odds | My treatment in the NHS has improved over the last few years, against the odds |
| However, many critics view these large new health centres as a threat to the continuity of care offered traditional GP practices. But I don’t mind who I see for trivial stuff, if I can still have trusted named GP for strategic appointments every three months, when I can discuss all my long-term conditions and their interactions, during appointments which are longer than the standard 10 minutes. She has kept me out of hospital for six years and I am now a model over-65 patient whose care has – touch wood – been wholly in the community. | However, many critics view these large new health centres as a threat to the continuity of care offered traditional GP practices. But I don’t mind who I see for trivial stuff, if I can still have trusted named GP for strategic appointments every three months, when I can discuss all my long-term conditions and their interactions, during appointments which are longer than the standard 10 minutes. She has kept me out of hospital for six years and I am now a model over-65 patient whose care has – touch wood – been wholly in the community. |
| My treatment in the NHS has improved over the last few years, against the odds, with no help from government initiatives or from the leaders of the medical profession. It has just been due to the grassroots excellence and imagination of the clinicians responsible for my treatment. And I am sure that there are many more at the grassroots like them. I would love to think that their bottom-up innovations will produce the £22bn savings that Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, thinks will keep the NHS afloat. | My treatment in the NHS has improved over the last few years, against the odds, with no help from government initiatives or from the leaders of the medical profession. It has just been due to the grassroots excellence and imagination of the clinicians responsible for my treatment. And I am sure that there are many more at the grassroots like them. I would love to think that their bottom-up innovations will produce the £22bn savings that Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, thinks will keep the NHS afloat. |
| But I am afraid that there is too much negativity for that to happen, particularly among leaders. My evidence for this comes from what senior doctors say in their pronouncements, in their reactions to criticism, and in the pages of healthcare journals. They resist any proposal for change, organisational or technological. And they also refuse to offer any alternatives. | But I am afraid that there is too much negativity for that to happen, particularly among leaders. My evidence for this comes from what senior doctors say in their pronouncements, in their reactions to criticism, and in the pages of healthcare journals. They resist any proposal for change, organisational or technological. And they also refuse to offer any alternatives. |
| The government is also unhelpful. It’s in denial about the extra costs incurred by ageing patients like me. The sole response is to try harder to make the pips squeak, after the pips lost all their squeak saving £20bn during the “Nicholson challenge”. | The government is also unhelpful. It’s in denial about the extra costs incurred by ageing patients like me. The sole response is to try harder to make the pips squeak, after the pips lost all their squeak saving £20bn during the “Nicholson challenge”. |
| It calls for more integration with social care, and then demands a 40% cut in local government spending. It calls, rightly, for more nurses, but then deprives trainee nurses of their bursaries. It calls, rightly, for seven-day working, but then has a massive row with the junior doctors, who will man that service. All its actions scupper its good intentions. | It calls for more integration with social care, and then demands a 40% cut in local government spending. It calls, rightly, for more nurses, but then deprives trainee nurses of their bursaries. It calls, rightly, for seven-day working, but then has a massive row with the junior doctors, who will man that service. All its actions scupper its good intentions. |
| And neither doctors nor the government appear to listen to the voice of the patient, despite the persistent rhetoric that “the patient is at the heart of the NHS”. Patient-champion, David Gilbert, and Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of National Voices, pointed out in the Health Service Journal on 15 January (paywall) that “patients have had no voice at all” in the junior doctors dispute. I would have thought that as customers, and as taxpayers – and the ultimate employers of the NHS – we patients should have been at the table. But it never occurred to any of the leaders that we should. | And neither doctors nor the government appear to listen to the voice of the patient, despite the persistent rhetoric that “the patient is at the heart of the NHS”. Patient-champion, David Gilbert, and Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of National Voices, pointed out in the Health Service Journal on 15 January (paywall) that “patients have had no voice at all” in the junior doctors dispute. I would have thought that as customers, and as taxpayers – and the ultimate employers of the NHS – we patients should have been at the table. But it never occurred to any of the leaders that we should. |
| That’s why I’m worried that the great quality of the care I am used to is going to fall off a cliff as I grow older. | That’s why I’m worried that the great quality of the care I am used to is going to fall off a cliff as I grow older. |
| Join our network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views. | Join our network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views. |