BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped

Subject: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 02:55 AM

Article here in Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/27/nhs-direct-health-phone-service

Apparently too expensive to have fully qualified nurses answering questions and giving patient advice. Nurses to be replaced with specially trained advisers.

Anyone else think this is potentially a bad idea and probably won't save that much money in the long run?

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 03:08 AM

It was a waste of time to begin with, I once rang them, I was in very very severe pain with arthritis, best advice I got was to take two aspirin.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 03:15 AM

I never understood the idea in the first place, Tam. HOW can ANYONE diagnose anything over the phone? It's incredibly dangerous. Most of the time they seem to simply tell people to go to their doctor anyway, from what I've heard from friends....I guess that way they cover themselves legally, should anything dire happen.

I think it will save money, because it was a service that basically states the blindingly obvious, which is if you think you're ill, or your child is ill, go to the GP.   

Put the money into GP services, have far more nurses on hand there who can actually SEE the patients and then decided if they need further treatment and appointments.

And while they're about it, charge drunken prats for every bit of treatment they require, night after night, week after week. Don't just charge them £30 a head, as is being suggested, charge them however much it costs to actually treat them, from the medical staff's time to the very last bandage and needle used. I'm sick to death of selfish, out of control people who seem to think they have the right to get stoned every single night of the week, whilst the NHS is being bled dry by a behaviour that never existed years ago.

Alcohol abuse is bankrupting the NHS. Staff are threatened and abused..It NEVER used to be this way. It should NOT be this way.

The time to change it all around has arrived, bigtime.

This is not just about the NHS, it's about a country whose people have become out of control of their own instincts, led there by stupid politicians who for way too long have encouraged The State to make the decisions in their lives. 24/7 drinking has been a total disaster, morally, socially and spiritually. The ONLY people to have benefitted from it are The Corporate Alcohol and Nightclub Bastards who have made an absolute fortune, whilst our people lie in drunken heaps on the ground, their souls crying out for help...

Once, financial bills start to hit them, they'll start to think twice about getting totally legless when they go out...Public money is NOT there for folks to just piss and vomit all over, then use it to wipe their arses afterwards.

We need to bring personal responsibility, morals, self respect and respect for others back to this country. It is one thing to be kind, compassionate and empathetic, but those wonderful emotions have been sorely abused by way too many.

Tough Love is what is needed at the moment, not a love that allows people to be self indulgent and selfish...

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 03:22 AM

The time and place of treatment are not the time and place to determine whether a person is to blame for his or her own injury, and if it is suggested that a person should be charged, if drunk, for whatever injury or illness he or she has, and whether he or she caused or contributed to that injury or illness, the stupidity of the idea beggars belief.

The state should serve the people.

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 04:05 AM

No, the people should have responsibility, Richard. The State should not serve them up on a Conveyer Belt of Drunkeness, for LIFE.

I am not talking about charging people 'there and then', but they should have a bloody great big bill sent to them later if they are persistant offenders. They have deliberately got themselves into this state. If they do this over and over and over, then they should damn well be made to pay for it.

It is draining the NHS financially and huge amounts of money are being poured into this whilst being taken from other parts of the NHS. The NHS is there to serve people who are ILL, not those who feel it is their right to get stoned all the time, knowing that they'll be tucked up into bed by a pretty nurse at the end of the night, should the need arise, because they've got themselves severely injured through sheer over indulgence.

Why should NHS staff have to put up with this, night after night, ad infinitum? It is not what they are there for.

The State is *failing* its people, not serving them...

Apologies to Tam for taking this off thread. We should start a new one about the NHS and alcohol I guess..

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 04:40 AM

NHS 24 worked pretty well when Marion here had a small stroke a few weeks ago. It was pretty obvious she'd end up in hospital, but the helpline passed the details on to their admissions desk, which meant she got through reception and seeing a doctor quite a bit faster. Anything that empties waiting rooms has to be good.

What better advice could you get for treating acute arthritis than taking aspirin? It was an exacerbation of a chronic condition. You'll have been seeing a specialist to manage it.

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: John J
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 05:58 AM

Shutting this service is a poor show in my opinion.

The Mrs JJ had occasion to call them a couple of years ago, their response was brilliantly helpful. Within 10 minutes of making the call an ambulance appeared at our front door, whisking herself off to the local hospital.

She's now fine.....well as fine as anyone who is married to me can be. It could so very easily have been a different story.

There are few services without fault and I would agree with many of the comments already made. The government are effectively dumbing down this service - that won't improve it.

In days gone by it was possible to phone your GP for advice, just try that today! NHS 24 fills the gap left by the reduction (by GPs) of their services.

That's a separate story altogether.

JJ

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 06:01 AM

Within 10 minutes of making the call an ambulance appeared at our front door, whisking herself off to the local hospital.

Would dialing 999 not have had the same result?

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 06:05 AM

The only I've had occasion to use it the advice was helpful and apposite. When the nurse was beyond her experience she transferred me to a doctor.

It was a weekend - it saved me several hours sitting in A&E.

Paws

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 07:01 AM

Silly me - I thought (in terms of the application) a Nurse WAS "a specially trained adviser" ...

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 08:03 AM

Just one of a thousand hidden cuts to the NHS. We've got a Walk-In Centre which has been really useful, with nurses and a duty doctor. They've just stopped having the doctor. No consultation,no warning, just a notice went up "As of August 1st there will be no..."

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 01:46 PM

The last time I used NHS Direct call centre I was referred to the out of hours clinic, which was very good. Saved me sitting in a crowded late Saturday night (after 11:30pm) A&E packed with drunken yobs and yobettes.

Turned out I had blood pressure something like 240 over 112 - stupidly high. (The doctor broke out into a sweat while he took my BP the second time and immediately referred me to Observation ward in A&E) I don't think waiting in A&E forever until the triage nurse could see me would have helped my condition much.

The 2 other times I have called NHS Direct (when I found out my daughter passed away and very bad case of food poisoning) I was referred to the out of hours clinic where I was seen quickly by the doctor (usually from a rota of GPs) who was not rushed in every direction by the demands of a busy A&E.

Other events where I was in near screaming pain (menorrhagia) I went directly to A&E on the advice of GP who could not see me, I sat 3 to 5 hours, shaking, moaning and weeping before I was seen by a doctor.

NHS Direct call centre nurses are not there to diagnose. They are there to advise and direct callers based upon the symptoms described and that they do. They have the clout to refer you to out of hours clinic (you cannot just show up).   

When you are sick or injured out of hours, would you rather talk to a qualified nurse or a someone with medical training "comparable" to emergency 999 dispatcher? What if it isn't even as much training as 999 dispatchers receive?

It is all very well to say shut the call centre down and give the GP surgeries the resources to take up the slack. But the NHS and the current government is not likely to do this.

I do agree that misuse of medical resources by the Friday and Saturday nights all right for fighting crew, should be repaid by them that abuse it. However that is another strand of administration that the NHS and the government do not want to pay for. It would probably turn out to be more expensive to run than it's worth.

Subject: RE: BS: UK: NHS call centre to be scrapped
From: Stu
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 01:33 PM

It's worked well for me when I used it, and I'm saddend but not surprised to see the Tories dump it - they hate the NHS with a passion.