P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[cruising.mark.uk]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

As a small sample with problems and comments on our surgeries,  I wonder how many of us completed the NHS GP Survey this year.  Apparently the latest survey consisted of around 2.56 million questionnaires sent out to patients aged 16 or over registered with GP practices in England, from 2 January to 25 March 2024. 699,790  patients completed and returned a questionnaire, resulting in a national response rate of 27.3%.  it appears even given the opportunity to comment many don't bother. These results look unrecognisable to me from the comments I read everywhere. 

 

Access

• 49.7% of patients said they find it (very or fairly) easy to contact someone on the phone at their GP practice (of which 18.9% found it ‘very easy’ and 30.8% found it ‘fairly easy’).
• 47.9% said they find it (very or fairly) easy to contact their GP practice using the practice’s website (of which 21.0% found it ‘very easy’ and 26.9% found it ‘fairly easy’).
• 44.8% said they find it (very or fairly) easy to contact their GP practice using the NHS App (of which 20.9% found it ‘very easy’ and 23.9% found it ‘fairly easy’).

Last contact

When patients last tried to contact their practice:

• 67.8% phoned the practice
• 13.9% visited in person
• 11.1% contacted the practice online, using their practice’s website
• 3.9% contacted the practice using the NHS app
• 1.8% used a different website, or different app
• 1.4% contacted the practice in another way

The survey asked patients a series of questions about their experience following the contact they made with the practice. 82.7% of patients said they knew what the next step would be in dealing with their request

Of those patients, 93.1% knew what the next step would be within 2 days.

Actually, it's likely that the survey results are far more representative of the the perception of the public about the true state of the NHS than are the comments you read elsewhere, unless you read 699,790 or more such comments in the same 3-month period.

 

I suspect comments on social media about the NHS are similar in some respects to social media comments about cruising, i.e. heavily skewed to negative comments because people are less inclined to report positive experiences than they are negative ones. And, in the same way that only a fraction of 1% of people who cruise contribute to this site, I'd be willing to bet that the comments about the NHS on social media are made by a tiny proportion of patients, certainly nowhere even close to the 27% nationally who responded to the survey.

[Dermotsgirl]

6 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

That’s shockingly bad. It’s not one of those practices run by a company is it?

No, it's not a company one. Just a small croup of my surgery and one in a neighbouring village.  

 

I have a friend who works in in a GP surgery, and she says that my surgery is abusing the 111 system 

[Dermotsgirl]

21 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Actually, it's likely that the survey results are far more representative of the the perception of the public about the true state of the NHS than are the comments you read elsewhere, unless you read 699,790 or more such comments in the same 3-month period.

 

I suspect comments on social media about the NHS are similar in some respects to social media comments about cruising, i.e. heavily skewed to negative comments because people are less inclined to report positive experiences than they are negative ones. And, in the same way that only a fraction of 1% of people who cruise contribute to this site, I'd be willing to bet that the comments about the NHS on social media are made by a tiny proportion of patients, certainly nowhere even close to the 27% nationally who responded to the survey.

it's a balance really isn't it?

 

For example, at first I was pleased with my husband's experience with our local hospital, when he had his abscess drained. He turned up at A&E at 11.30am, and was on the operating table at 10pm, which I thought was good.  I was also pleased that, when they found an incidental (a dilated appendix) on the CT scan, they wanted to look into it. My husband was put on the two week pathway, and various tests were done.  Fortunately,  my husband was told at the colonoscopy appointment that no cancer was found, but they recommended that he stayed on the 2 week pathway, as other investigations were being done.  All the tests were completed 3 months ago, and we have heard nothing since, despite multiple attempts at chasing - we feel we are being blanked. We are going away for a short holiday next week, but when we return, the formal complaint will be submitted, if there has been no progress - after all, we still need to know why his appendix is enlarged and if anything needs to be done about it

 

In the beginning I was happy, now I am  unhappy - but I have posted about both aspects on social media. 

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

57 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

No, it's not a company one. Just a small croup of my surgery and one in a neighbouring village.  

 

I have a friend who works in in a GP surgery, and she says that my surgery is abusing the 111 system 

Even worse, then. Your friend’s right, too. I’d be very surprised if the contract between GPs and NHS trusts allowed them to pass back that essential triage work to another part of the NHS.

[Dermotsgirl]

7 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Even worse, then. Your friend’s right, too. I’d be very surprised if the contract between GPs and NHS trusts allowed them to pass back that essential triage work to another part of the NHS.

Exactly, they are using the 111 service as a triage service. We have been fortunate in that we don't often need a doctor, but the last few months have been an eye opener

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

Yes it is a Ring so they don't  need to press it, I can hear it go off and look on my phone to see who it is and I can hear it as I approach the door if I have been out so anyone approaching the door will also be able to hear it.

That’s interesting. Ours doesn’t ring unless it’s pressed, but most delivery people just ignore it and bang on the door, which we can’t hear from the other end of the house. I’ve never fathomed out why they don’t just press the thing. Maybe they think the video only starts if it’s pressed?

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

That’s interesting. Ours doesn’t ring unless it’s pressed, but most delivery people just ignore it and bang on the door, which we can’t hear from the other end of the house. I’ve never fathomed out why they don’t just press the thing. Maybe they think the video only starts if it’s pressed?

It depends how you have your settings set up ours are :

 

[Josy1953]

@Harry Peterson another thought, is the battery on the unit at the door charged, one of BiL's neighbours hadn't taken their battery out and recharged it and then said that the chime didn't work in the house, their son had installed the bell but hadn't told them that the batteries would need to be taken out periodically and recharged using the orange charging cable.

[indiana123]

On 10/18/2024 at 9:52 PM, Dermotsgirl said:

Even if it is urgent our surgery won’t book a same day appointment if you phone. Instead, they tell us to phone 111. You have to go through the 111 palaver, then if 111 deem if to be urgent, 111 phone the surgery and the surgery will phone the patient and finally book a same day appointment.

 

I suspect from previous postings, but not certain, that Dermotsgirl and myself live in very roughly the same area.  If so,the situation really is dire.

 

What happens in our surgery is that when phoning at 8,30  you hang on then at about   8.45 you get a recorded message saying that no more appointments are available  so please go to              the Walk In Surgery in Faversham....which must be about 20 miles away!!!

 

There is a much closer Walk In at Sheppey Hospital, half the distance away, and very good it is too, but surely like  Dermotsgirls surgery saying dial 111 the Walk In  should not be used as our Main Surgery, but we as the patient have no choice.

[Josy1953]

Good morning early risers, another early morning for me, woken by the rain battering the windows at 4:20 again.  DH doesn't seem to be affected by the weather once he is in bed nothing disturbs him. 

Have a great day wherever you are. 

[grapau27]

Good morning.

11°C, cloudy and breezy here.

I hope everyone had a good night's sleep and we all have a good day.

[purplesea]

Good Morning,

After a lovely and warm sunny day yesterday, that felt like summer, we are back to wet and windy weather.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable Sunday.

[Josy1953]

How I feel today

[kalos]

Morning 😀 I sometimes worry about losing my memory but try not to worry and find

the best thing is to do is to just try and forget about it .🙃

Weather here seems pretty calm at the moment but I read most of the bad weather

will be up the west side and up north of the UK.

Whatever your weather ,have a good day and Take Care 🙂

[Eddie99]

Morning all 🤒 

Well, I’m by no means fully fit but I’m a lot better than yesterday.  Don’t like this Covid thing at all and I’m glad I managed to avoid it for nearly 5 years.  OH is 3/4 days ahead of me & is pretty good apart from a residual cough

Son is just back from 2 weeks on Ventura.  Pretty good all round

[Snow Hill]

A damp and windy morning here, bit of difference to yesterday which was mainly warm and sunny, managed to empty the planters of their summer bedding and plant up a few of them with autumn/winter/spring bedding (violas and primroses) will complete once the weather improves tomorrow. 

 

 

[Dermotsgirl]

8 hours ago, indiana123 said:

 

I suspect from previous postings, but not certain, that Dermotsgirl and myself live in very roughly the same area.  If so,the situation really is dire.

 

What happens in our surgery is that when phoning at 8,30  you hang on then at about   8.45 you get a recorded message saying that no more appointments are available  so please go to              the Walk In Surgery in Faversham....which must be about 20 miles away!!!

 

There is a much closer Walk In at Sheppey Hospital, half the distance away, and very good it is too, but surely like  Dermotsgirls surgery saying dial 111 the Walk In  should not be used as our Main Surgery, but we as the patient have no choice.

Yes, I believe we live in the same area too.

 

Which is why I was shocked when I read that your surgery just sends people to Faversham, without any human interaction. On the day that my husband was seeking an emergency appointment, that would have just about finished him off! Before the abscess had burst (sorry for too much information) he was in so much pain he couldn’t manoeuvre himself into a car, let alone endure the 20 mile journey.

 

it would have been bad enough for him, but can just imagine how awful it would be to get that message if you were elderly and ill or in pain,  and had no one else to turn to. 
 

What I have observed from my dealings with the NHS since June, leaves me feeling concerned about accessing healthcare as I get older. 

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, Eddie99 said:

Morning all 🤒 

Well, I’m by no means fully fit but I’m a lot better than yesterday.  Don’t like this Covid thing at all and I’m glad I managed to avoid it for nearly 5 years.  OH is 3/4 days ahead of me & is pretty good apart from a residual cough

Son is just back from 2 weeks on Ventura.  Pretty good all round

Glad to hear that you are coming through it.

 

my friend and her husband got Covid last month and it floored them. She was in bed for a week and he was completely laid up for 2 weeks. He’s still not back to his old self, and he’s a previously very healthy man in his early 50s.

 

it just seems like a lottery , both in the acute stage and afterwards - you just don’t know what effect it’s going to have on you.

[Eddie99]

Thank you

Its quite a sobering experience - as I mused after my OH had hauled me up from the bathroom floor 🙄Collapsing whilst brushing teeth wasn’t on my agenda for yesterday

What would anyone living alone do? Or someone with a housemate who couldn’t help?  Lie there & recover, in time, and crawl back to bed eventually, I suppose

 

Anyway - best wishes with your accessing very basic service from the NHS mission.  It’s sad, isn’t it?  

[zap99]

10 hours ago, indiana123 said:

 

I suspect from previous postings, but not certain, that Dermotsgirl and myself live in very roughly the same area.  If so,the situation really is dire.

 

What happens in our surgery is that when phoning at 8,30  you hang on then at about   8.45 you get a recorded message saying that no more appointments are available  so please go to              the Walk In Surgery in Faversham....which must be about 20 miles away!!!

 

There is a much closer Walk In at Sheppey Hospital, half the distance away, and very good it is too, but surely like  Dermotsgirls surgery saying dial 111 the Walk In  should not be used as our Main Surgery, but we as the patient have no choice.

Occasionally we want an apt to see a Doctor. It maybe something that we know we need some antibiotics for.. say.. after all the fill in the online forms faff a few times with no response, now our first step is the walkin centre. That isn't how it should be. It seems the job of the system and the receptionists is to stop those pesky patients from messing up their day.

Edited Sunday at 11:28 AM by zap99

[davecttr]

Raining again this morning. The good news is my carpal tunnel surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and I have the food for a couple of weeks siege until the stitches come out. I have been practicing with my aids but socks and trousers are still a problem so maybe lounging around in my new towelling dressing gown rather than just using it after a shower to dry me off.

[kalos]

 

Just here to remind everyone that today is the 20th of October 2024 😀

This means you can have subtle TV advert reminders from a certain 

rabbit to buy and stock up on your batteries ready for the BIG day .

Even better, what's better than laid back on a Sunday afternoon and 

tune into channel 5 for a double bill of crap Christmas films 🙄.

 

Here's wishing you all a very merry October 😒😒 Humbug indeed !!!

[purplesea]

38 minutes ago, kalos said:

Even better, what's better than laid back on a Sunday afternoon and 

tune into channel 5 for a double bill of crap Christmas films 🙄.

Funny you should say that, I've just been looking to see what was on TV this afternoon!!

[puddledpotter]

On 10/17/2024 at 9:18 PM, yorkshirephil said:

Welcome aboard @puddledpotter. Good to meet you too and that you got through disembarking unharmed. Now you have made the leap we hope you will join in the banter.

 

On 10/17/2024 at 9:18 PM, yorkshirephil said:

Welcome aboard @puddledpotter. Good to meet you too and that you got through disembarking unharmed. Now you have made the leap we hope you will join in the banter.

Thanks, I may pop in now and again.  😄 

 

[puddledpotter]

On 10/18/2024 at 8:23 AM, Rupert2251 said:

Welcome to the family, we Stokies get everywhere 😁

We do!