Snap shots of the NHS
I’ve come across three stories this week involving the NHS all of which, in my view, point to problems familiar and unfamiliar.
I went to visit a constituent who has terminal cancer. He wanted to see me to tell me how he felt he had been let down. He was utterly diginified, and given his position, as objective as he could be. He admitted the NHS probably could not have saved him, but certainly the way the system worked ensured it. He has bowel cancer. It took him some time to be referred to a consultant. When he was, he was put down for an endoscopy - with a two month wait. As his condition worsened, his frequent visits to A&E in pain and bleeding were dismissed with pain killers - because he was on the wait list for an endoscopy. When he suggested he go private, he was told it would put him to the back of the queue for treatment.
There is a real failure in the NHS, which is diagnostics. It is the cinderella of health care - huge delays for scans, blood test results, x-rays and the like. There needs to be some serious thinking to ensure that people can get diagnosed early.
My second snapshot - my friend Marcus snapped a tendon in his arm playing rugby. He was operated on and promptly caught MRSA. Four operations later, he has lost a lot of his bicep in his left arm. When he was diagnosed and suggested he be put in an isolation room, he was told there was no point.
My third snapshot. The man in the bed next to Marcus came from the Phillipinnes. He flew into Britain a fortnight ago. he “collapsed” in an Oxford car park and was admitted to hospital for an operation. He discharged himself on Sunday and flew home - without paying his bill. The nurses told Marcus it happens all the time. Shouldn’t we at least take their passports?
Glyn Davies AM said on April 1st, 2007 at 10:08 pm:
The Bowel Cancer case is particularly shocking because it is a completely curable disease - if treated early enough. I know. I suffered Bowel Cancer four years ago and recovered from the removal of the rectum etc. and arrival of a colostomy. Recovered enough to still captain the National Assembly for Wales Rugby xv which recently put the House of Commons and Lords Parliamentary team to the sword in Cardiff.