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The day I put my finger on what's so good about the NHS
LAST week I had to go to hospital.
It wasn't anything serious, I merely injured a finger playing football. It actually happened two months ago and although painful it seemed so innocuous I didn't bother going to my GP until my wife (fed up with my moaning) told me to make an appointment. To cut a long story short, I was referred to hospital where an x-ray was done and on Thursday afternoon I went to the hand clinic at Leeds General Infirmary.
My appointment was at 2.15 and as someone who has written stories in the past about NHS waiting times, I'd pretty much written off any chance of returning to the office before nightfall. However, after making my way to the clinic in the Clarendon Wing, I was ushered into a waiting room and within five minutes I was sitting in front of a computer screen looking at an image of my finger with a hand injury specialist.
I had, it turned out, suffered an "instantaneous dislocation" and torn some ligaments that had left my index finger crooked and swollen. The doctor explained what I'd done, even drawing a quick sketch, and told me because it hadn't become twisted I wouldn't need surgery. Instead, he said, a series of physiotherapy sessions would help to heal the damaged tissue and, in time, my finger would be as good as new.
At which point he walked me to an open-plan room round the corner where one of a team of physiotherapists was on hand to begin my rehabilitation. All this for a finger you might say, but by three o'clock I was back at my desk working – which I regarded as something of a minor miracle.
But there's a serious point to my tale. The NHS is rarely out of the news for one reason or another and often gets a pretty bad press. Last week, swine flu was back in the headlines following a significant increase in the number of deaths linked to the virus in Yorkshire, while in October stories surfaced that the NHS will face huge funding difficulties in the future as the crisis in public finances begins
to bite.
Other typical criticisms revolve around getting a GP appointment and staff being rude or uncommunicative. Hospital infections are also a recurring issue, while some staff would probably say they have less time to do their job due to red tape and cost cutting measures.
Of course, it's not all bad news. A recent study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine revealed that changes to intensive care units in England since 2000 have helped to save thousands of lives, cutting the risk of dying in hospital by 13.4 per cent.
Not only that, but waiting times, particularly for cancer and heart conditions, are at one of the lowest levels in NHS history. And yet many people still grumble about the health service.
Dr Shaibal Roy is managing director of Iwantgreatcare, an online site that allows patients to rate the doctors that treated them.
He agrees that the public perception of the health service isn't always a favourable one. "We have become used to identifying poor quality, rather than high quality care in the NHS. But whenever I go abroad and talk to colleagues they always say how much they admire the NHS."
However, he believes we are starting to see greater emphasis placed on what patients themselves think. "This idea of prioritising patients experiences has become a new focus within the NHS in the last few years. Good clinical care and good service have become increasingly important, it's almost like a movement within the NHS," he says.
Dr Roy believes that the input of patients is at "the centre of care" because it helps staff to understand what patients want and where they can improve.
"Understanding the human aspect of hospital care isn't new, but I think the idea of harnessing it and trying to get feedback from every patient definitely is. It's not about being touchy-feely, but if you engage with a patient, if you get them involved and treat them with respect and dignity then they are more likely to listen and follow what the doctor, or surgeon says."
Above all, he says, the experience of patients is
crucial. "Whether people are being treated for an injured finger or a life-threatening illness, we want to make the kind of experience you had routine, we want everyone to get that level of care and that's the challenge."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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