Last week I found myself facing a daunting task - telling an audience of NHS communicators just how bad the NHS is at communicating. Fortunately the NHS Communicate conference where I was being interviewed by Channel 4 News Health Editor Victoria Macdonald was held online, so if there was any booing I did not hear it.
Thank you for sharing my father's story. Patients and families from all communities have to be vocal on their experiences if anything is to change in the NHS.
Using private services an the NHS isn’t as simple as it looks. Firstly front line staff (of whom we have major shortages) spend time writing tenders for their own jobs (all of this taking them away from their core job) then private providers tend to cherry pick the easy jobs, making a profit on them, leaving the tricky expensive stuff to an underfunded NHS.
The failure of the NHS to communicate with patients & family is extremely upsetting. My mother 94 recently had a fall & broke her shoulder - she is fortunate in that she has an alarm system & I installed a camera - so she was in hospital promptly. The care overall was fine but the communication awful. It seems A&E information isn't linked to ward information leading to repetition & worse, the patient not receiving the care they need. I'm a retired teacher, I'm very confident & persistent & eventually things sorted themselves out but not without the duty manager where my mum mum lives, helping us traverse the care system. Goodness knows what happens to some patients. It was exhausting.
It is getting so much worse (NHS) and I feel that this might be the plan! My own experience, I have been asked to go to A&E (last Friday) for an urgent MRI - on arrival I was booked in, and then waited two hours for a triage nurse to take my BP and pulse. Then told to wait another 6 hours to see a doctor! Now, I don't know about any of you, but I do not have six hours to sit and wait for a doctor when I have kids to collect from school and tea to make for the family! Yes, I get it, health is a priority. But really, six hours? Since then, I've been back numerous times with the same waiting time and longer.
My anger and frustrations whilst reading this are not only derived from my own personal experiences but from knowing that there are simple technical solutions, free or low cost or easily sponsored (who wouldn’t want their logo shared across the NHS).
For one example, check out: https://Bob-E.ai. It is a trainable new generation ChatBot that only shares information you train in to it. Approximately 90% of our healthcare enquiries are routine. It’s no longer rocket science!
In a much less distressing example, I recently saw my wonderful doctor about a symptom completely unrelated to the angina treatment I have very successfully had from him. At the end of the appointment, he asked how my consultation with the cardiologist went, as he had never received any results - it was about two years ago…….
Thank you for sharing my father's story. Patients and families from all communities have to be vocal on their experiences if anything is to change in the NHS.
Outstanding commentary and the only way that the NHS will ever change
Using private services an the NHS isn’t as simple as it looks. Firstly front line staff (of whom we have major shortages) spend time writing tenders for their own jobs (all of this taking them away from their core job) then private providers tend to cherry pick the easy jobs, making a profit on them, leaving the tricky expensive stuff to an underfunded NHS.
So very true. Had a similar experience to ‘Andrew’ with my late father when he broke his hip.
The failure of the NHS to communicate with patients & family is extremely upsetting. My mother 94 recently had a fall & broke her shoulder - she is fortunate in that she has an alarm system & I installed a camera - so she was in hospital promptly. The care overall was fine but the communication awful. It seems A&E information isn't linked to ward information leading to repetition & worse, the patient not receiving the care they need. I'm a retired teacher, I'm very confident & persistent & eventually things sorted themselves out but not without the duty manager where my mum mum lives, helping us traverse the care system. Goodness knows what happens to some patients. It was exhausting.
I hope your elbow has healed.
AI will make nhs change. It has no choice.
Also had a similar experience with my dad when he was admitted to hospital very distressing and move to care home was terrible communication
It is getting so much worse (NHS) and I feel that this might be the plan! My own experience, I have been asked to go to A&E (last Friday) for an urgent MRI - on arrival I was booked in, and then waited two hours for a triage nurse to take my BP and pulse. Then told to wait another 6 hours to see a doctor! Now, I don't know about any of you, but I do not have six hours to sit and wait for a doctor when I have kids to collect from school and tea to make for the family! Yes, I get it, health is a priority. But really, six hours? Since then, I've been back numerous times with the same waiting time and longer.
I don’t know why you’re so worried about communication with patients. I’m sure all those NHS staff have had their gender awareness training.
My anger and frustrations whilst reading this are not only derived from my own personal experiences but from knowing that there are simple technical solutions, free or low cost or easily sponsored (who wouldn’t want their logo shared across the NHS).
For one example, check out: https://Bob-E.ai. It is a trainable new generation ChatBot that only shares information you train in to it. Approximately 90% of our healthcare enquiries are routine. It’s no longer rocket science!
In a much less distressing example, I recently saw my wonderful doctor about a symptom completely unrelated to the angina treatment I have very successfully had from him. At the end of the appointment, he asked how my consultation with the cardiologist went, as he had never received any results - it was about two years ago…….