Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: pscocoa on 11 August 2012, 18:40:41
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Whilst waxing my daughter's Focus I heard some cries for help in the distance - elderly neighbour (83) on floor in garden. Got in and raised some help to get her covered and shaded and then phoned 999. She was in agony - possible broken collar bone. I was told at 12.52pm an ambulance is on its way "as we speak" and they ran through some things I had to do. 3 phone calls to 999 and 1 HOUR later ambulance turned up. I asked crew what time they got call and they said "10 minutes ago" at 1.30pm. What a disgrace.
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As you say a disgrace >:( >:( >:(
Perhaps if they had told the truth in the first place and said ETA over 1 hour someone could have taken her to hospital by car >:( >:(
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Make a formal complaint to the Chief Exec of your Ambulance Trust ..............
The 10 mins stated by the crew would have been when they got it - even so, theur target would have been an 8 min response time. Looks like multiple failures here ........
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I've found that many a time, either no ambulance available or I have to shout our control room to 'hurry' them up. Several times I've thought 'sod it' and took em to hospital in the police car.
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Had similar here a month or so ago. Needed an ambulance in a hurry,was told it was on its way.It turned up two hours later.Driver said he had been 30 miles away and got the call twenty five minutes before he arrived here.I was very pissed off indeed.
Seen severeal reports of very similar ocurrences since in the local paper,which might suggest (yet another) system which needs overhauling from top to bottom.
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luckily I live within 5 mins of the local hospital A&e and ambulance station, every time we had to call one its been here very quickly
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welcome to the tory run heath service we will have OAPS dieing on hospital trollies next
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This hasnt all started in the last two years. ;) The NHS budget is ring fenced (including inflation) so I dont know why they are apparently having to suffer these "savage cuts".
Imo the whole thing needs to start again from scratch tbh. It needs managing properly,but needs a lot less managers. ;)
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trust me albs that load of old bo£$ocks 'ring fenced' will not wash in this area anyway...pushing PCT into administration no there budget ARE NOT ring fenced in any way
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Imo if the NHS budget was doubled tomorrow it wouldnt solve any of its problems.Its budget is absolutely enormous,but it employs far too many people.Its among the top 20 employers of people in the world. Its a huge inneffecient organisation which needs root & branch reform,but no-one has the balls to do the job.
It has a massive problem looming in the years ahead due to the fact that Labour racked up the PFI onto a different level and did deals with building companies (party donors probably) to build hospitals on credit.The credit terms were over a long period,but at "payday loan" rates.It will bankrupt the NHS in the future,but Labour knew this would happen a long time after they had retired on their gold plated pensions so didnt give a toss.It was criminal, no other word for it.
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reforms one thing but they are now lying off fully trained paramedics in all areas...i will not argue yes less manager more foot soldiers....but unfortunatley that is'nt the way its going....the anbulance services was running on a skelton staff as it was
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which is due to poor management.Too many chiefs (with the big salaries,pensions etc.) and not enough properly trained indians.
Politicians dont decide who keeps their job and who doesnt.Thats local managements job,and no doubt they have the feathers in their own nests at the top of their list of priorities.
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yes but that still don't alter the facts their budgets are supposed to be ring fenced when they are not...another lie this shower of !"£$ told us regardless of cheif exec or not.thus affecting waiting times/attendance times
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When we needed the Ambulance at Newent last year for Jan their turnout was excellent - about 20 mins. The paramedic arrived first - about 10ish minutes then the ambulance which was the other side of the Forest of Dene by the River Severn when they got the call.
Considering where we were I was very impressed! :y
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The budget has definitely been ring fenced.If they had cut the overall budget after promising they wouldnt, the press would have slaughtered them for it the minute they got found out.How its distributed etc. across the various regions/ departments etc,is another matter of course.
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I wonder if it's down to the handling of emergency calls rather than the health service itself. Based on my experience trying to call out the Police recently it's just another call centre staffed by idiots these days.
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Sorry, but where do you get the ring fenced budget from? Do you work in the NHS? Are you aware of the constant bombarding of frontline NHS staff with cutbacks and savings propaganda everyday? Every NHS organisation has to make a 5% efficiency saving year on year with a £20 billion target by 2015. Its in the DOH white paper for every one to see. Doesn't sound like ring fencing to me? And who goes in the efficiency savings? Unfortunately paramedics, paramedical staff, nurses. Not managers. They are busy working out efficiency formulae.
The very reason why managers exist. Because the govt. sets NHS institutions punitive managerial targets. And doctors/nurses/physios/therapists are no good at showing they can/are/have achieved these targets. They are set by managers and need managers to respond to. Hence they exist and will continue to till the idiots who run the country realise that health isn't measured by managerial targets but rather by patient outcomes.
We have just been told that we will probably loose our only specialist nurse(in our specialty) in a large teaching hospital, due to the fact that there are cutbacks being made. So it must be the so called ring fenced budget that causes us to loose the only specialist nurse we have in a tertiary level referral hospital? So once she goes who will provide clinical backup for our patient base? Perhaps the managers? Or the so called people who think that NHS budgets are ring fenced.
Rant over!
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Sorry, but where do you get the ring fenced budget from? Do you work in the NHS? Are you aware of the constant bombarding of frontline NHS staff with cutbacks and savings propaganda everyday? Every NHS organisation has to make a 5% efficiency saving year on year with a £20 billion target by 2015. Its in the DOH white paper for every one to see. Doesn't sound like ring fencing to me? And who goes in the efficiency savings? Unfortunately paramedics, paramedical staff, nurses. Not managers. They are busy working out efficiency formulae.
The very reason why managers exist. Because the govt. sets NHS institutions punitive managerial targets. And doctors/nurses/physios/therapists are no good at showing they can/are/have achieved these targets. They are set by managers and need managers to respond to. Hence they exist and will continue to till the idiots who run the country realise that health isn't measured by managerial targets but rather by patient outcomes.
We have just been told that we will probably loose our only specialist nurse(in our specialty) in a large teaching hospital, due to the fact that there are cutbacks being made. So it must be the so called ring fenced budget that causes us to loose the only specialist nurse we have in a tertiary level referral hospital? So once she goes who will provide clinical backup for our patient base? Perhaps the managers? Or the so called people who think that NHS budgets are ring fenced.
Rant over!
unfortunately it is NOT a rant it is the truth,but still a small minority voted this shower in but also want a plod/paramedic/fireman within nano seconds of putting the phone down BUT the inconveint truth is that the budget is NOT ring fenced and front line services are affected.I worked for the L.A.S for 18 months (just after this shower were ousted last time) and belive me the damage that is being done to the NHS now will take years to put right
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8341737/True-extent-of-NHS-job-cuts-revealed.html
http://www.hsj.co.uk/news/finance/businesses-call-for-osborne-to-dip-into-health-budget-if-economy-worsens/5035579.article
The NHS budget is ringfenced,but the truth is thats not the whole story.There are various elements to it and one of the biggest elements is NHS inflation (primarily the cost of drugs) runs much higher than inflation in almost any other area,so in real terms the budget actually gets smaller.I suspect the reason for this was Labours blank cheque attitude,where they allowed the public sector to grow like a mushroom on steroids and simply raised taxes time and time again to pay for it.
As in other sectors,the suppliers to the NHS took advantage of this and racked up their prices over and over again.We have all heard the stories of £75 light bulbs and pills costing the NHS many pounds where they could be bought over the counter for a few pence.They saw the gravy train and hitched a ride on it,as they knew the money was freely available come what may.
This couldnt carry on forever,it has to stop.The people who are supposed to be managing the NHS shouldnt have let it start in the first place,but no doubt they wer/are also in the first class carriage on the gravy train.
If the message starts trickling down from the beauracrats that the gravy train mentality is coming to an end that should be a good thing,if its managed properly.It looks very much like it isnt being managed very well at all.
Maybe theres a reason (other than cost) why NHS managers would like to limit freedom of information requests ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9075181/NHS-managers-want-to-limit-Freedom-of-Information-requests.html
They are now in a position where they (if they are conscientious) should be sacking themselves in order to help create an effective and efficient organisation,but turkeys dont vote for christmas.
Its no big secret that other areas of the public sector, such as councils, have adopted an attitude of resisting cost and efficiency savings,and when the savings are forced on them they make sure that its the most obviously vulnerable people who suffer most.
This gives the media,lobbyists etc. plenty of ammunition to "fight the good fight" to keep things exactly as they are.
People arent going to think the Govt. is crap if a group of pen pushers in some distant council office lose their jobs,but they certainly will if their bins dont get emptied or their housing benifit etc. is cut.
I would imagine the same attitude is lurking in the pen pushers offices in the NHS. So could that be the reason why frontline staff are losing their jobs while penpushers arent ? Could it be that the buyers who deal with the drug companies have their own reasons for not negotiating every last penny they can from the suppliers. ;)
Supermarkets have come in for a lot of stick recently for driving down the prices they pay their suppliers. The NHS is apparenly among the top 10 biggest employers in the world, it should have huge bargaining power over its suppliers,even allowing for the fact that in some cases those suppliers may have exclusive licences to manufacture some of the products.
Imo the NHS has some very big problems (not caused by the current govt.) which need to be addressed. If Labour had stayed in power they would have had to face the challenge too.Remember they left a note for the incoming govt. informing them that there was no money left.
The NHS has had an almost endless supply of money for the last 15 or so years and imo is in worse shape now than it was then.
The answer to its troubles arent just about money,it needs to be managed by people who really care about it and are capable of delivering an effective and efficient NHS. It used to be the envy of the world but not any more,and that hasnt happened in the last two years or so.
Im not particularily standing up for the Tories btw. Ive never voted for them in my life.But to simply blame anything thats wrong with the NHS on them doesnt stand up to much scrutiny imo.
Until all interested parties have an honest objective conversation about what is the best way forward for the future healthcare of the country (which should be much more important than salaries,pensions,job security of any particular group of people involved) then I suspect we will keep going round in the same ever decreasing circles,unti lthe country really is bankrupt - which could happen in the not too distant future - and then there wont be an NHS,as there really will be no money to pay for it. :(
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Albs you can post as many links as you want the truth of the matter is that front line services have suffered and will suffer under this shower of s£$t that is in power at the moment.This is due to the budget NOT being ring femced in any way shape or form.
As for pen pusher in the council SWMBO is one of those due too a 10 % a year cut in budget how is it front line service such as extra tution for austism and the like as been scraped???....As for SWMBO her job is under fire again she finds out in the next couple of days if she as one and her service is required as she looks after trainee teachers,or prehaps we should scrap that reqirement as well,
The truth of the matter is the goverment are not ring fenceing any budgets and untill you work in the sectors thast are affected the truth of this goverment can not be seen
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Einstein said: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
We know from the Russian experience that Command style industries don't work and will NEVER effectively work once the link of an industry having paying customers is broken.
The French system is an insurance system where a hospital is paid for treating a patient from the national fund. A small means-tested contribution is made by the patient. They have a mix of of public and private hospitals. In all the statistics I've seen on patient outcomes the French results are much better. I've English friends who live in France, who have used French hospitals for treatment and confirm that the French system at all points of use is far superior to the NHS.
They both consume about the same % of GDP it is just that the French system is much more efficient.
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They kept the lady in overnight - luckily it was a dislocation - they reset it at second attempt BUT
after the 1 hour wait for the ambulance she was kept on a trolley in a corridor for 5 hours according to family.
I think Kevin posted about mismanagement of calls - which it has to be - but saw mismanagement in the oppposite way with a friend's recent kitchen appliance fire when 3 fire engines turned up - one from each of Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey - Sandhurst is on border of all 3. In fact one of calls I made yesterday put me through to South Coast Ambulance Service. Work to be done I think!!