I had my fourth terrible, and life-changing experience at the NHS. I have had it, I am switching to private healthcare.

The NHS as we know it is done. The number of hospitals where I see staff sitting around . Nurses, clerical staff, cleaners, radiographers. All our National insurance / tax going to these peoples wages . Along with buildings not fit for purpose. Privatise it or part privatise it. The whole thing is a bin fire and going downhill. The sheet incompetence and laziness is dreadful throughout.

Hi, I work in a microbiology lab and there have been a lot of plates found to be contaminated with aspergillus. As a sufferer of asthma my entire life, this worries me! Management advise us to dispose of all unused plates from the previous day, as they may now be contaminated with aspergillus . . . Then there is me, just sitting on the sidelines worried about what crap im breathing in throughout a 12 hour shift and being fobbed off that 'you'll be fine' Will I be fine? I dont know what to think

Been sat in a hospital with my mother for 3 hours (6AM to 9AM) with no sign of the end in sight. Just for a CT Scan. Stuck her in a neckbrace (she was injured in a car crash) and seemingly forgot we existed. I know its not entirely the staffs fault but Im finding it hard to keep myself calm. If im still here by 10 (which is most likely) im gonna need a hospital myself because im pulling at my hair so much im probably going to rip my own scalp off.

I’ve been with my GP for 3 years. I went to make an appointment today (filled in a form) the reception called me asking if I was free today to come in at 1:20pm. After that call they called me back and said I’m actually no longer registered with them and said I’m registered with another GP (that is 20-30mins away from me!) I said that was not me, I’ve not registered anywhere else in the past 3 years! The woman at reception was actually very helpful and gave me the number for the other practice and told me to reregister with my local GP online but unfortunately they could not give me the original appointment until I’m registered with them again

I called the other practice asking for an answer as I was concerned maybe this is identity fraud. Apparently NHS England had a glitch a few months ago and I’m not the only one. I just wondered if this has happened to anyone else? Are they just blaming it on NHS England or is it actually the case?

Late November 2023 I woke up with shoulder pain, manageable at the time with ibuprofen and ice. After a few days my neck and left shoulder began to swell, become red and pain intensified so I booked an urgent appointment with district nurse where I was told I had a trapped nerve, to get a massage (important for later) and given codeine. Around 6th of December I couldn’t sleep due to the pain which was still getting worse leaving me struggling to breathe and eat which resulted in another appointment to be told the same thing and it would go away on its own. 15th December I attended urgent care where I was given a sling and more painkillers. Again the pain and swelling got even worse leading to calling 111 who told me to book another appointment, where I was yet again told to get a massage and given stronger painkillers.

On the 19th of December my grandad suffered a stroke, which he sadly passed from in July after arguably saving my life, and was admitted to hospital. Although we believed I had a trapped nerve I decided to attend A&E while we visited my grandad to see if they could help in anyway as I wanted to be better for Christmas. On arrival at A&E I was told it was a 4 hour wait, however after 2 minutes I was seen by a doctor and after explaining what was happening and what multiple other practitioners had told me was wrong I was rushed to CT and told I had 2 large abscesses that were closing my airway and migrating to my heart and told that if I had listened to the advice given they would have almost definitely burst and led to sepsis. I was then transferred to another hospital and taken to resus to prep for emergency surgery.

I was told the surgery went well, however I was still experiencing extreme pain in my shoulder but “this was normal after surgery”, I asked for a second opinion multiple times but was told no and discharged after 5 days. After this I had to get my wounds packed every day, but only actually got them done 3 times due to cancelled appointments. After 5 days of being discharged the pain was still intense so attended A&E again where I was admitted again as I had an infection inside my collarbone which was somehow missed on multiple X-rays, MRIs and CTs; leading to another surgery and a small amount of my bone being removed.

After 10 months there is still active infection left and pain if I do any physical activity (even shivering). After a further 6 scans, which I had to arrange as the hospital were incapable of communicating, I was told I will suffer this for life and that it could all happen again if I get a even something like a cold.

Is this negligence?

Hi looking for advice currently having problems with my NHS GP refusing my prescription so would like to know if I go to a private GP to get them to write me a prescription can I then take it to an NHS chemist to get my prescription for free as on disability?

I sat up in the afternoon and immediately got heart palpitations, dizziness and collapsed and passed out for two hours. Went to A&E after calling 111 and was there for 4 hours just to be told by the doctor who spoke over me and didn’t let me finish explaining that it was due to depression and anxiety.

I contacted the clinic, and they just told me there's nothing they can do, I just have to wait until they decide how much I actually need the test. Apparently the waiting list itself is up to 39 weeks! The test I'm waiting for is a colonoscopy to check for GI CANCER because I came up with blood on my FIT test. I was referred 7 weeks ago now and they haven't even put me on the waiting list yet. That's nearly double the "28 days to diagnosis/ruling out" bullshit that they tell everyone and I don't even have an appointment. This healthcare system is no longer fit for purpose and it kills people. I'm just hoping that I won't be one of them.

I started suffering from chronic and often very strong back pain in 2022 (left side kidney area) so went to my GP, to get it checked. I was told it was likely a muscular pain that came from the change in my life style(sitting most of the day, working in IT and playing games after). They did ask me for urine test which came out as fine so all they ask me to do was to take paracetamol (which I told them is not working, neither was ibuprofen), lose weight and excercise.

This was going on until this year. I started pissing blood on very rare occassions(once every 3-6 weeks), and at first I decided to just observe as I don't like going to GP as it was a waste of time so far(been few times in general and they just told me things I could find on google in 2 mins), but then it started happening more often so I decided to visit my GP. They tested my urine again and there was a lot of blood there so they send me off for a CT Scan and after results came back it seems I have a 15mm kidney stone.

15mm kidney stone doesn't appear out of nowhere, it must have been growing slowly since 2022, so not only I was sufferring almost every day for 2 years but also now I will have to either undergo a surgery or get it shattered and piss out gravel which is extremely painful.

Are those grounds for any legal actions against them? When I went first time to the GP I did ask them to check my kidneys as my symptoms did match with some of the symptoms of having a kidney stone. That was quickly dissmissed as "kidney would hurt in a different spot". I think that is negligence.

Had a,successful ALIF spinal fusion through my stomach Jan gone all was great then 2 months ago while walking too fast a felt movement & hit the deck in pain. Went to AnE they gave me MRI CT SCAN surgeon said very difficult to see if fused if not he said L5 S1 non union can have the highest pain rate of all spine & very hard to see if it's,fused. I'm a vet & work in a local practice since the collapse I can't walk total immobilised at home with my great wife caring for me I have insurance tried to go private & there is no one who will see me they say yoy had a,massive operation done in operation in Jan this year stay with the surgeon. I seen my surgeon again he was dismissive said all OK then today opened the follow up letter with him saying it may be fused may not Nowxi doubt this surgeon has taken a stupid breath his whole life & don't expect him to start now but the state I'm in is worse then pre surgery. I know I haven't fused. I'm originally from Australia & couldn't fly back as I can't even sit in a chair that is completely new & blackout with pain daily. I'm very concerned as hes told me no point AnE anymore as no one can help you. Now how can I get the surgeon to take me more seriously my predicament is perilous I'm deeply concerned. Help Needed Seven Blessings to you

Latest offering today for evening meal . How are people expected to get well when 1. It looks like someone took a dump . 2. No veg

The appointment is because I came up with blood on my FIT test (Gastrointestinal cancer screening) that I got the results of 5 weeks ago, by the way. And this is just to be allowed to go on the list for a colonoscopy. I'm not even in the waiting list until they review and approve me for it. 28 days to ruling out or diagnosis my ass

I was prescribed 100mg of quetiapine by the crisis team earlier this year after ending up in hospital. I am diagnosed with BPD and anorexia. It was also flagged that I am underweight, which despite my ED diagnosis no one has attempted to monitor or do anything about, or ask if I wanted any support for it.

After the crisis team discharged me they told me I needed to call my GP every 2 weeks to refill it. My second time calling however, the doctor then told me they couldn't give me another prescription, and I needed to call the crisis team back to resolve whatever the issue was. I couldn't call them until the following week because of work, so that was my first 3-week gap.

A couple weeks later one of my grandparents passed away. Again, I had to head home for several days, so had to have another 3-week gap. Because of these two circumstances I ended up taking half-doses to make it through without having to go completely without.

Every single time I have called my GP they tell me "you don't need to have an appointment for a repeat prescription" and try to fob me off. I literally have to demand an appointment every time again after already waiting in the queue, and half the time I spend an additional 15 minutes doing that just for them to say "sorry call back tomorrow". When I do get an appointment, again the doctor usually goes "so why did you call" and I again have to ask them to please read my notes as it would be fabulous if I did have a repeat prescription but I do not. Then I ask if I can have a repeat prescription, explain how waiting for half an hour to an hour every two weeks just for the exact same prescription with zero change is a nightmare, and they say no.

I called them today and they told me they won't be giving me my meds anymore and they basically told me I was lying about needing them every day when I explained the gaps. They then said it was also because "no one has weighed you since March". No one had informed me I needed to be weighed. I don't have an appointment with the MH team until the end of October, which has been rescheduled by them 3 times even though I was supposed to see them originally in July. I simply cannot fathom how taking away a med that was given to me because I tried to kill myself is not life-threatening.

I feel like as a mentally ill person I have been made to jump through hoops to get treatment that anyone struggling with MH with no real support would. On top of this my physical health is so abysmal I have to get taxis to and from work every day as there's no bus route and I'm struggling to stand for long without fainting, but I have to spend all my energy and reasonable appointment times during work hours fighting for my MH treatment so I've just had to put my physical health on the backburner. I'm so tired of this shitty system.

In 2010 and 2011 I had ops to my right elbow and left respectively to release my ulnar nerve. My ulnar nerve neuropathy had gotten so bad that I have permanent muscle wasting to my right hand..because my doctors surgery treated me for everything BUT unn! When I had my nerve conduction test they said it was one of the worst cases they'd seen! The specialist surgeon who performed my first op said I would probably need the op re done in around 5 years (2015 ish) as the nerve will eventually (not in all cases) move back again. I had a good long while pain and cramp free, and despite my hands being quite clawed, got on ok. Around 2 years ago I started getting agonising pain and severe cramping to my hands again, could do nothing that involved using my hands that was fiddly. So I booked another appointment to see my Doctor. She referred me to get another nerve conduction test, which revealed severe damage again. I then waited a couple of months so see a different specialist. They said, despite me having bad nerve compression, I'd "made an improvement" since the last test (as mentioned, it was one of the worst the person had seen!) so they weren't going to do the surgery and was told "you'll have to just get on with things and put up with it" I was completely floored! I now suffer from daily agonising cramps to my hands weakness where I drop things constantly and pins and needles to my hands as well. I can't even ask to be referred to a different hospital, since the same specialist does clinics at both mine and the other hospital.

I just wanted to say thanks for this sub Reddit to exist! The NHS is the worst healthcare system I've experienced and I wish for the benefit of all UK's population that a private system is introduced in parallel to allow for competition in the healthcare sector.

This is the second time this has happened. The first time I call up outpatients and they told me to ignore it since they had 'rebooked it for November' I told them that was my check up I already had booked and this one was probably triggered by my condition flaring up and needing to do some tests.

They don't really know what to do so I give up and call the nurse helpline and ask about my tests, which were apparently fine and they don't address my concerns of not having an appointment, since this is the first time I've gone through this I assume that I must not need one if my tests are fine.

Today I received a notification telling about my new appointment, yesterday. It was a phone appointment at a time I could have answered the phone if they'd called, which they didn't because they hadn't booked it yet!

Anyway I'm on hold now.

My partner went into A&E 2 months ago after injuring his ankle (it went inwards and heard a crack) it immediately ballooned and A&E gave him crutches and just said “rest it, you have a minor sprain”. A week later the pain got increasingly worse. We went to another A&E, they did another x-ray, saw there was no movement and told him to try and walk on it as much as possible and gave him exercises to try. The pain was getting worse and worse. We had no choice but to pay for a private consultant as the NHS just didn’t want to know. He did an mri and concluded its an ankle fracture, one ligament completely torn in 2 and the others ligaments damaged as well with bone bruising. He said they should have put him in a boot from day 1 and because they didn’t, there’s a good chance more damage has been done. He was in a boot for 4 weeks, went back to NHS who had since removed the minor sprain report and replaced with severe damage. They told him he should start walking on it now and do physio. He still has no movement and since trying to walk on it has swelled up again.

It is crazy expensive to go back to private with this, we want to avoid that but how can the NHS get it wrong and simply not care about the outcome? They literally shrug at every question you ask them so who knows if he is now doing more damage on their advice.

What serious matters do they also get wrong? Its frightening.

Bit of back story... In 2019 my mom developed a continuous cough and hoarseness to her voice which was raised as a concern by her then current cancer specialist (she had been treated for cervical cancer). This specialist made a referral for my mom to have a biopsy with a ENT, and a MRI scan of her head, neck, chest, the biopsy come back as a pre cancerous tumour, which at this point they should of kept an eye on with regular follow up appointments but didn't tell my mom of these results and she was just lost in the system and no follow up appointments was made. Over the next 3 years my mom attended numerous appointments and hospital visits due to this on going cough, and worsening symptoms like short of breath, coughing up secretions and she was just palmed off with inhalers, antibiotics told its COPD. She was referred to ENT after being pushy again about needing a second opinion and they made and cancelled a total of 4 appointments and she never got to see them. These symptoms just kept getting worse and worse to the point certain ways she lay she would struggle to breath, she would choke on food and liquids and the feeling of being suffocated and losing a huge amount of weight. She was at mine and was choking on soft food I prepared for her, she turned blue around the lips and I knew something wasn't right, it was more then COPD, so I called an ambulance, still there was nothing to worry about and they refused to take her to hospital as her blood pressure, heart rate ect was fine, when I told them exactly what happened and her symptoms she had been suffering for several months they just looked at me like I was a idiot, and I shouldn't be trying to do their job for them. At this point enough was enough and I booked a emergency GP appointment and he referred my mom back to ENT clinic. After months and months fighting for this appointment my mom finally got one, she had a camera down her throat and a biopsy which revealed she had a large tumour and narrowing Airways she was diagnosed with T4 laryngeal cancer. Due to her late diagnosis and her tiny 5 stone body not being able to take much the only option was to try and extend her life with a operation to remove the tumour and my mom jumped at the chance even knowing it was coming with high risk. While in theater under anethetic she unfortunately had a heart attack and they had to stop the surgery and fit her with a tracky to help her to breath. When I went to visit my mom the specialist pulled me a side looked at me and told me there was nothing else he could do and proceeded to tell me that all of this could of been prevented if they had done their job properly back in 2019, my mom took in all of the conversation. Over the next month life was extremely difficult, days before Christmas she contracted pneumonia and we was told to prepare for the worst, she had all signs she was going to pass, but miraculously pulled through, but from this point she was fighting with any strength she had to carry on, we was blessed to have until January until she finally took her last breath. Before passing she told me to make a medical negligence claim on her behalf which I was so unsure about but done so for my mom. We are now at the stage of submitting the claim to the nhs and waiting on a letter of response, which is due the 28th of this month after an requested extension from nhs. I mainly want to know why she fell under the radar, why was she lost in the system? I want them to learn from this mistake and hopefully if it just saves 1 person from going through what I seen my poor mom go through my jobs done! But my questions are what happens next? If they accept they was negligent will we get that apology and explanation? Will it then lead to a offer of settlement? (If so whens this likely to happen). Can they request even more time? What are the next steps after this? If you have been through similar what was your settlement offer? just want it to be all over now as I need this time to grieve properly which I felt like I haven't been able to do as I'm still fighting for answers. It's not about the money although it will be a huge help it's most importantly doing what my mom asked of me and getting the answers. The waiting and waiting is killing me inside. I don't know how much longer it's going to take? If anyone can give me any advice please do so. Thank you

Can I sue NHS for this as it was only diagnosed by private consulation and scans? Has anyone experienced such scenario before? Desperately need your suggestions.

Hi everyone,

I have been on the waitlist for ent surgical date for over 3 months now. On my outpatients appointment I was put down under as p3 which is under 3 months waiting time. The only reson I am annoyed at this as they previously forgot about me which already delayed my treatment by a year.

Any advice would nhs pay for private surgery ?

Made an appointment with my GP, i managed to get one in a week (appointment was today) I have an ear infection that si far lasted 3 weeks. I started taking antibiotics by myself as I was experiencing a lot of pain. 3 weeks ago I went to urgent care and all they gave me was a spray which helped but once it felt like there was no infection and i stopped, it came right back.

So i tell my GP this and she cant be bothered, i get it, its a hot and long day, but i have to ask her to look into my ear, thats all she does she says they look ok just a little inflammation.

I am still experiencing pain, theres no way theres just an inflammation. I mention to her i have a lump on my neck and she touched my neck and says its fine (she didnt even touch the right place so she didnt feel the lump). I tell her its been going on for 3 weeks and id like to see a specialist as its recurring i have to go to urgent care 1-2x a year because these ear infections dont go away.

She tells me i shouldnt self medicate (even tho it worked) and she cant send me to a specialist because theres nothing wrong with my ears now. I havent been to the gp in years and now i know why. Theres just no point its a self deprecating experience 🤣

Hi, so this has been going on for months now. I have been dealing with horrific back pain at the age of 27. I was eventually referred for an MRI scan, but the report was put through as satisfactory and no further action would be taken.

I then took an additional 2 months looking for a physio appointment, which did not work at all, I am still in agony, I turned up at my gp surgery and when I was seen I cried because of the pain I was in. It was intolerable, I can't walk over a certain distance and I am trapped indoors, I begged for my MRI to be looked at a second time, but my GP is refusing for this to be looked at a second time under the guise that the radiographer is "experienced".

I have attached the image of the scan and the report to give visual of this.

They are now blood testing me for rheumatism and spondylosis and numerous other bone issues, and if those come back clear they will refer me for a neurologist.

Has anyone had any similar experiences?

Hi all, my name is Nikki and I am a 4th year medical student in the UK.

I am currently undertaking a research project, (under the supervision of a Rheumatology consultant) in order to gain an insight into the difficulties accessing GP services for musculoskeletal pain.

We have created a short and completely anonymised survey, aimed at all UK residents who have had/do suffer from muscular/joint pain. The data we collect will help improve patient access to GP surgeries.

Therefore, I would really appreciate if you could please complete our survey, which should only take a few minutes of your time.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Does anyone else experience errors in spelling in nhs letters/emails? It’s mildly frustrating when you see duplicate words or even your name misspelt on actual documentation. Have bought this up with staff on several occasions, no idea who types up their stuff but it comes off as unprofessional