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Took me two years waiting for a treatment that would greatly improve my mental well being and I still didn't get the treatment. Had to go to a private doctor in the end and pay for hormone replacement therapy.


Anyone else had an absolutely dire time with our NHS?

Yes a close friends partner nearly died in childbirh last week. Babies were delivered successfully if incompetently.
Could get a midwife but no anaesthetist, and a bungling junior doctor fethed everything up.
My local hospital has a very bad rep though.


Not the worst story in my circle of friends, by far though.

The NHS is random you can get good care, or jobsworths who dont care and administrators who will cut corners in a penny wise - pound foolish way.

 Orlanth wrote:
Yes a close friends partner nearly died in childbirh last week. Babies were delivered successfully if incompetently.
Could get a midwife but no anaesthetist, and a bungling junior doctor fethed everything up.
My local hospital has a very bad rep though.


Not the worst story in my circle of friends, by far though.

The NHS is random you can get good care, or jobsworths who dont care and administrators who will cut corners in a penny wise - pound foolish way.

Terrible that your mate and his family had to go through that. The cost cutting is what pisses me off as HRT is a cheap treatment. We are talking less than 10p a tablet here. The NHS could have just written me a script to take to a chemist. But nope... Had to spend £200 for a 30 minute phonecall with a private doctor who gave me the go ahead to start 5 minutes into said phonecall. The NHS probably spent more money making me continue useless sessions of speaking to a gender team than it would have cost just to give me the medication..

Maybe the docs saw your siggie.

HRT can fix many things, but not a Mark of Slaanesh.

Working in the nhs, no one intentionally goes there to do a bad job, but the services are overstretched if you need something which is not 'an emergency' - so you don't get stuff as quickly, or the latest treatments as you would privately - but that's why you pay private.

Nhs is never going to be funded as it thinks it needs, the populations demographics are producing more demand on resources, and services which support people outside hospital are being cut, putting more pressure on it.

I want the bus to last and produce a good service, but don't think it's possible in its current form

My sister lost a kidney to misdiagnosis a decade ago. all sorted in the end - NHS payout resulted.

The worst I had is a knee I split open playing rugby was not properly treated (left to wait for 2hrs without triage review, then waited so long for cleaning/sutures the anaesthetic had worn off). This resulted in the wound reopening (all 20 stitches) ten days later. That was Basildon Hospital that was since put on special measures and sorted itself out - both my kids were born there without incident.

I have Private cover with work that I have used a few times and found this preferred for obvious reasons - mostly convenience.

Nonetheless it am a big supporter of the NHS (I just avoid Basildon A&E ).

I've had plenty of good experiences with my local GP's, more than I can count. The flip side is that someone I know's mental health treatment only ran so far before they effectively gave up (three counselling courses and one CBT course).

I think to a large extent, anything they deem a medical priority tends to be treated as fast as the service can manage, if it's something they think can wait, you get jerked around a lot more. Which, tbh, is not unusual in an organisation with limited resources.

My hospital appointments as both an in and out patient have been fantastic, as in the treatment and care I have received.

My experience with GP's has been pretty abysmal though. Barring my childhood GP everyone of them has looked and acted like I am bothering them.

GP receptionists are the pits as well. They must make them specially for the role.

Yes, mental health help from the NHS is appalling.

Trying to keep things obscure, but a nasty case of post-natal depression and scramble for some help resulted in a letter from the local NHS health service which finished off by saying in these exact rather stark words: "...but we will not be helping you at this time". Finally, got some paperwork sorted and got in to see someone who had her on anti-depressants within 5 minutes of seeing her. The follow up complaint letter fell on deaf ears as well :(

The NHS saved my mother's life when she had a major brain hemorrhage at age 50. She had 10% chance of surviving, and they made sure she did.

NHS saved my life when I was 12 and developed a spinal curvature so severe that I'd have died by the time I was 16, from my own organs being compressed.
And again at 18 when my spine had a near fatal infection.

They gave my best friend dignity by providing monthly injections that allowed him to walk without hobbling. Without those he would have been in a wheelchair before age 50.

They gave my aunt a few more months so that she could see her daughters graduate, and home care to allow her to rest peacefully.

Their gender clinics and mental health services are woefully underfunded, and I'm facing an 80 week wait myself to even be assessed.
But the fact I'm alive to feel inconvenienced by this is more important to me.

They will learn, and they will start to cope. Ten years ago, GIC could take one person a year, with a maximum waiting list of 10 or less. The expansion has not caught up with demand.

I or my family have had several poor experiences but also several absolutely tip-top experiences. I will share a couple of them.

A few years ago my wife was suffering from heavy irregular periods with pain. In my view this was caused by a combination of stress (we were trying to move house) and early onset of menopause. The GP in Reading was pretty useless, and the receptionist was a miserable harridan. (The GP and receptionist in Henley are brilliant.)

She went back to the GP and was luckily seen by a younger lady Army GP doing locum work. This doctor got my wife booked into the local hospital (Royal Berks) Gyne ward for an emergency consultation which was carried out a couple of hours later. She was seen by a very kind, understanding young senior house officer. Pills were prescribed, which didn't do much good.

I ended up taking my wife to the nearest BUPA GP at Farnham, an hour's drive, where I paid about £500 for a general health check and particular attention to her actual problem. The BUPA GP essentially confirmed my diagnosis, took my wife off the pills and told her to get more rest. Whilst this didn't seem worth £500 to me, at least my wife felt better about everything because it must be good because it was private and expensive.

A more positive story involves my father who several years ago developed a fungal infection of the eyes causing detached retina. My mother called me over to look at him, and I quickly decided he needed to go to Moorfields Eye Hospital immediately to avoid nearly certain blindness. We all jumped into my car and drove there. To cut the story short, he was seen very quickly and attended by one of the senior consultants, given all kinds of tests, and then ended up in Ealing Hospital Infectious Diseases Ward where he spend the next few days practically hovering between life and death as the infection spread. The ending is happy, though, as he has made a nearly full recovery and can legally drive again which is no mean feat at the age of 88.

Based on these and other incidents I agree with the people above who say the treatment you get depends on what you have and where you go, and it is also partly how you behave.

Reading is a rather patchy working class town with lots of "imigrants and diffrunt people" which I think colours the situation in various ways. Henley is a nice posh upper-middle-class town and has what might be called a "better quality" of patients and receptionists. This sounds awfully bigoted but GPs' receptionists are recruited from the local population, and Henley is full of semi/retired middle-class ladies wanting a bit more pin money to supplement their pensions, and probably like dealing with the kind of posh yummy mummies and so on that make up a lot of the local demand. Reading is full of sour cows resenting immigration and my wife is oriental. I was treated perfectly well by the same receptionists in Reading, and I am white.

I don't mean that working class people are ignorant boors. Having worked with them quite a lot they are equally likely to be "salt of the earth". I mean that middle-class people are perhaps better at being smarmy when it is appropriate.

As for the point of patient behaviour, there is no doubt that polite, articulate middle class people are better at playing the system. To generalise, instead of slouching around Moorfields bitching at the nurses because of the queue and wait, I politely made it clear that my father was not only seriously ill but also quite aged and infirm and it would not do him any good to wait for hours to be seen, please could they see what might be done to help. Result -- jumped to the top of the queue. In the circumstances I don't think this was unfair since he actually was seriously ill. I am sure it helped to save his sight and possibly his life.

Again, I want to make it clear that I don't believe middle class people are morally superior, they are just better at working within the social structure that gives them privileges.


The current state of the NHS can be explained by a number of causes:

1. Medicine like political careers ends in failure because we all get ill and die.

2. There are more of us, living longer, than ever before, so point 1 is causing more and more strain.

3. There is a serious recruitment problem in a lot of key staff areas, particularly doctors and nurses. There are various reasons for this, but Trusts are forced to try and make up the numbers by hiring expensive agency staff, which puts an additional strain on budgets.

4. Another important factor is bed-blocking by patients who are well enough not to stay in hospital but can't go home because the social support and care they need there is not available. This is because there is a disconnect between the NHS and local authorities, whose social care budgets also are under strain.

More money of course would help but there are also deep-rooted organisational causes of the problems, which if sorted out would improve matters without massive budget increases.

Personally I've found that taking some of the coal from my bathtub and pelting the orderlies with it for attention also works well.

Class does not matter .

Long as your on time, respectful and treat people well your just going to get as much help middle. Working, or upper class. Attitude goes a very Long way.

Those things are not limited to any class but a person.

Recruitment issues are because the NHS is overworked, under paid and bloated by backroom desk wasters or ultra paid bosses.

The basic staff are discracefully paid..

I have found the staff of the NHS are generally working very hard against massive underfunding and a negative media. Mental health gets no where near the money it needs, despite the legal requirement that it be treated the same as physical illness. Mostly because it is not visable. Unfortunately the NHS needs a lot more money, needs a lot of things fixing and is going to face more and more issues with an ageing population that is going to live longer and longer.

In terms of GPs, don't forget that they don't work for the NHS. They run their own practices that are their own businesses. They are paid for the work by the NHS, but poor treatment or poor receptionists is down to the surgery itself, not the NHS.

 jhe90 wrote:
bloated by backroom desk wasters or ultra paid bosses.

This annoys me no end. I don't work for the NHS, but I know many people who do. The non clinical staff are just as over worked, under paid and dedicated to the NHS as the clinical staff. People like to bash them, and complain about them, but they are what keeps the NHS running. They are the ones that makes sure that doctors are where they need to be, clinics are booked, staff are paid, computers keep running, bills are paid and so on. Every business has good and bad people, and the NHS is no different, clinical or non clinical, but the media view of Angel nurses and lazy, bloated office staff is wrong. Doctors and nurses can't do those jobs. If anything the issue with bosses is not enough pay. They don't attract the best bosses as hospitals are huge complex organisations where management get hung out to dry at the slightest issue. No one from private industry wants to touch it, and hospitals struggle to get similar staff as middle managers don't want to go near the jobs either.

Wasn't there some fashion of strike a few months ago?

 Steve steveson wrote:


In terms of GPs, don't forget that they don't work for the NHS. They run their own practices that are their own businesses. They are paid for the work by the NHS, but poor treatment or poor receptionists is down to the surgery itself, not the NHS.

This does not get a lot of attention. I would think the majority of the UK assumes that GP's work for the NHS.

My experiences in the NHS have always been excellent.

My medical condition was diagnosed during pregnancy, was born with a surgeon and surgical theatre ready and waiting in case of complications. Had great outpatient care in the Renal units at St Georges in London, Southampton, Evelina Childrens Hospital in London, Kent & Canterbury and Portsmouth.

Been lucky with my GP, too, but only been registered at the one practice except for my temporary one during Uni, so that experience may change in the future.

Only time I've been to A&E with some kind of injury was only for a minor cut on my thumb from my scalpel slipping and me being a dunce and cutting towards my thumb. Quite a long wait but that was fine as they were busy and my injury was only small so I knew I was low down on the triage priority.

I can't really complain. I've had massive wait times for treatment but that's near universal on the NHS unless it's an emergency.

Where the system falls apart is when my care is referred back to a GP or vice versa. There's no real communication and things get missed.

 Steve steveson wrote:
This annoys me no end. I don't work for the NHS, but I know many people who do. The non clinical staff are just as over worked, under paid and dedicated to the NHS as the clinical staff. People like to bash them, and complain about them, but they are what keeps the NHS running. They are the ones that makes sure that doctors are where they need to be, clinics are booked, staff are paid, computers keep running, bills are paid and so on. Every business has good and bad people, and the NHS is no different, clinical or non clinical, but the media view of Angel nurses and lazy, bloated office staff is wrong. Doctors and nurses can't do those jobs. If anything the issue with bosses is not enough pay. They don't attract the best bosses as hospitals are huge complex organisations where management get hung out to dry at the slightest issue. No one from private industry wants to touch it, and hospitals struggle to get similar staff as middle managers don't want to go near the jobs either.

I can confirm that. My mom, whos a trained accountant, works in a PCT doing performance etc. For years she's effectively been doing the jobs of two or three people. When she goes on holiday, the entire department grinds to a halt because they rely on her so much, and she comes back to a 3 week backlog of work because nobody knows how to do her job(s).

Yup. Getting doctors and nurses to do that paperwork and general managering will not help anybody.

We need those managers and accountants so that our doctors and nurses can get on with treating patients instead of filling out endless forms, trying to organise contracts with suppliers etc.

I've been in relative good health all my life and I think I'm not even registered with a GP so my contact with the NHS is minimal, but I do recall when I broke my toe as a teenager* a decade ago, having to wait an entire DAY to have it checked out by a Doctor, who basically took one look at it and told me to come back for an X-ray - took him all of 2 min. I was a non-emergency case I know, but that did seem like an extremely long waiting period to be essentially told to come back later. I wish I'd taken a book. Or two. In fact, the entire series of A Song of Ice and Fire would have done quite nicely.

*Kicked someone in the shin playing indoor barefoot football with a sponge ball, which we were using because my Church's youth group was afraid somebody would get hurt.

My attitude to waits is that if there's someone ahead of me and I'm the least important person who needs the attention of the medical professionals, I got off lucky. I'd rather have a fractured toe and wait three hours than need open heart surgery and be seen in five minutes, you know? Likewise, I wouldn't want the person who needed that surgery told they needed to wait behind me because I got there first. It sucks if it means you have to wait around in pain/discomfort, but the people are there to help us, and generally speaking, do the best they can.

The problem with the NHS is that everyone keeps living longer, but requires infinitely more medical care, as age begets health concerns. Everyone living to 90 wasn't envisioned when they set up the NHS, anymore than it was when the pension age was set. It's why the requirements for things things keeps rocketing year on year, and will continue to do so.

 Ketara wrote:
My attitude to waits is that if there's someone ahead of me and I'm the least important person who needs the attention of the medical professionals, I got off lucky. I'd rather have a fractured toe and wait three hours than need open heart surgery and be seen in five minutes, you know? Likewise, I wouldn't want the person who needed that surgery told they needed to wait behind me because I got there first. It sucks if it means you have to wait around in pain/discomfort, but the people are there to help us, and generally speaking, do the best they can.

The problem with the NHS is that everyone keeps living longer, but requires infinitely more medical care, as age begets health concerns. Everyone living to 90 wasn't envisioned when they set up the NHS, anymore than it was when the pension age was set. It's why the requirements for things things keeps rocketing year on year, and will continue to do so.

Aye, of course and I'm not complaining about that. My point was simply that I perceived the hospital to be under severe strain and understaffed at the time. 3 hours in a waiting room, 2 hours in a private bedroom, the doctor popped in and had a quick look, then disappeared for several more hours before returning and telling us to come back on a later date for an x-ray. Was probably the most boring day of my life. Though I did get a week off school, and then 2 weeks off for Easter, which was effectively a 3 week holiday, which was awesome.

I think it was on a weekend and my local GP was probably closed, so we had to go to an A&E department.

I've had to think long and hard before making this post, this is going to out me pretty massively. To anyone who knows me in real life, sorry if I haven't told you this yet oh and don't talk about this unless I bring the subject up! For those involved with the tale of many painters Azazelx is running this is why I've been really erratic with my involvement there.

So yeah I'm transgender, not really out yet and certainly not ready to present as female. I finally figured it out back in March and promptly had a massive emotional breakdown. Rather than go to my GP I did some research and went straight to a private doctor initially for advice but that quickly became treatment. Two months later I started HRT (in fact today marks exactly 4 months on hormones). So three cheers for private doctors who move quickly. In the mean time my very supportive GP has referred me to one of the massively underfunded GICs so I've got that nightmare to look forward to. I've got a minimum of 9 months waiting time for the GIC I've been referred to even give me a first appointment, never mind actually getting hormones or any other treatment from the NHS. Transgender care is one area where the NHS really is pretty useless at the moment. I'm very glad that I'm able to afford the ongoing costs for private care until the NHS gets moving as to be perfectly honest I think that if I was facing the long delay in getting an appointment at a GIC without any bridging treatment I would have probably killed myself already. As it stands I'm still prone to horrible bouts of depression, anxiety, self doubt and of course there is the ever present spectre of dysphoria but slowly things are getting better.

To any other UK Dakka members who are transgender and waiting for the NHS to do it's thing I suggest you investigate the service offered by Dr Webberley. It is quite expensive at about £300ish to get started and about £60 on average a month on going costs but in my experience absolutely worth it if you can afford it. Since I started I've generally been feeling much better even though my daily life hasn't really changed all that much yet.

I'm not sure if this counts as a bad experience with the NHS yet or not but certainly I'm expecting a lot of bullgak from the GIC when I eventually get an appointment.

If anyone wants any more details please PM me, I'm more than happy to answer any sensible questions and to talk in greater depth about my experiences so far with Dr Webberley.

And I can't believe I just typed all that...

Generally had pretty good experiences with the NHS.

Apart from the time prescribed drugs fethed up my legs.

Little mistakes though.

Nick, good luck with it all. I know about what can go wrong with the surgery at the end and the ongoing process after and I don't envy you it if you go through with it. It is something the NHS really need to work on, but I guess with them being chronically underfunded and the smaller proportion of transgender patients... It's a shame.

 Nick Ellingworth wrote:
I've had to think long and hard before making this post, this is going to out me pretty massively. To anyone who knows me in real life, sorry if I haven't told you this yet oh and don't talk about this unless I bring the subject up! For those involved with the tale of many painters Azazelx is running this is why I've been really erratic with my involvement there.

So yeah I'm transgender, not really out yet and certainly not ready to present as female. I finally figured it out back in March and promptly had a massive emotional breakdown. Rather than go to my GP I did some research and went straight to a private doctor initially for advice but that quickly became treatment. Two months later I started HRT (in fact today marks exactly 4 months on hormones). So three cheers for private doctors who move quickly. In the mean time my very supportive GP has referred me to one of the massively underfunded GICs so I've got that nightmare to look forward to. I've got a minimum of 9 months waiting time for the GIC I've been referred to even give me a first appointment, never mind actually getting hormones or any other treatment from the NHS. Transgender care is one area where the NHS really is pretty useless at the moment. I'm very glad that I'm able to afford the ongoing costs for private care until the NHS gets moving as to be perfectly honest I think that if I was facing the long delay in getting an appointment at a GIC without any bridging treatment I would have probably killed myself already. As it stands I'm still prone to horrible bouts of depression, anxiety, self doubt and of course there is the ever present spectre of dysphoria but slowly things are getting better.

To any other UK Dakka members who are transgender and waiting for the NHS to do it's thing I suggest you investigate the service offered by Dr Webberley. It is quite expensive at about £300ish to get started and about £60 on average a month on going costs but in my experience absolutely worth it if you can afford it. Since I started I've generally been feeling much better even though my daily life hasn't really changed all that much yet.

I'm not sure if this counts as a bad experience with the NHS yet or not but certainly I'm expecting a lot of bullgak from the GIC when I eventually get an appointment.

If anyone wants any more details please PM me, I'm more than happy to answer any sensible questions and to talk in greater depth about my experiences so far with Dr Webberley.

And I can't believe I just typed all that...

I'm using Dr. Webberley Just paid £30 for my prescription and waiting for it to get written... How long did that take for you? It's been five days so far and I've heard nothing. Had my assessment, blood tests and got everything paid.

 Steve steveson wrote:


This annoys me no end. I don't work for the NHS, but I know many people who do. The non clinical staff are just as over worked, under paid and dedicated to the NHS as the clinical staff. People like to bash them, and complain about them, but they are what keeps the NHS running.

Generally this applies to other state funded bodies as well, so Local Authorities, Environment Agency, HMRC etc etc. Most civil servants and local authority bodies are the same with low paid dedicated staff trying to achieve things for the populace as a whole. It's easy to bash those things you don't understand and why they do it.

 MrDwhitey wrote:
Nick, good luck with it all. I know about what can go wrong with the surgery at the end and the ongoing process after and I don't envy you it if you go through with it. It is something the NHS really need to work on, but I guess with them being chronically underfunded and the smaller proportion of transgender patients... It's a shame.

Thanks, surgery is pretty terrifying but at the same time I want it. Then again everything to do with transition is pretty scary if I'm honest.

DaughterOfHorus wrote:
I'm using Dr. Webberley Just paid £30 for my prescription and waiting for it to get written... How long did that take for you? It's been five days so far and I've heard nothing. Had my assessment, blood tests and got everything paid.

Well there were all sorts of delays for me due to blood tests but once I got the prescription written I was able to order the drugs within a couple of days. I would suggest sending an e-mail they're usually faster than the wait you've had. Though having said that from what I know Dr Webberley has had a huge influx of patients this year so that might be slowing things down a bit. I hope you're able to get your hormones soon though they've really helped me.

BTW if you're interested the way things have gone for me have been an initial 4 week prescription on a relatively low dose (2 Evorel 100 patches a week and 5mg of Finasteride daily for me) to see how things go. This was followed by a 12 week prescription on the same dose, then a blood test at the 3 month mark to see how my oestradiol and testosterone levels are. Since that test I've stared my next 12 week prescription at a higher dose (2 each of Evorel 100 and 50 patches a week Finasteride unchanged).

"Well there were all sorts of delays for me due to blood tests but once I got the prescription written I was able to order the drugs within a couple of days. I would suggest sending an e-mail they're usually faster than the wait you've had. Though having said that from what I know Dr Webberley has had a huge influx of patients this year so that might be slowing things down a bit. I hope you're able to get your hormones soon though they've really helped me.

BTW if you're interested the way things have gone for me have been an initial 4 week prescription on a relatively low dose (2 Evorel 100 patches a week and 5mg of Finasteride daily for me) to see how things go. This was followed by a 12 week prescription on the same dose, then a blood test at the 3 month mark to see how my oestradiol and testosterone levels are. Since that test I've stared my next 12 week prescription at a higher dose (2 each of Evorel 100 and 50 patches a week Finasteride unchanged)."







Hopefully I get it this week and can order them. Does that £30 cover the medication or is that just for the prescription? The £30 is a recurring payment so I may have my GP take over that after a month.

You will need to pay for the drugs too. For me at the moment it's about £50 plus p&p every 12weeks.