I want to put my thoughts on NHS waiting lists out there for folks to comment on. What I’m seeing personally and with friends and family really worries me.
It’s March 2021 and we’re still being told to “Stay at home, Save lives, Protect the NHS”.
That’s all well and good as the NHS fights Covid but what’s happening to the NHS waiting lists?
No, really! What’s happening to them?
Personal experience so far.
First off let me speak my piece about my own personal experience as someone who is on an NHS waiting list to see a Gender Identity Specialist.
I was referred by my GP in early 2020 and was told to expect a wait of 20 months!
This is to see the specialist who then decides whether to put you on another waiting list to proceed down the road of Gender Reassignment. This is NOT to start the process, just to see a specialist who decides if you can proceed down this road.
In October 2020 I received a letter stating that they acknowledge my referral and that I am now on the waiting list to see a specialist and the waiting time is currently 30 months.
Fast forward to February 2021 and this has now jumped to 44 months.
That’s almost 4 years!
Even if the waiting list doesn’t get any longer that means it will have to be over 4 years on a waiting list to see a specialist!
So, I have decided to go private, filled a form in online, I have an online consultation and can see a specialist next week!
I have friends who don’t have this luxury and are stuck in the queue.
Now some people might, and have, say, “Well your issues aren’t life-threatening”.
Sorry, they are very important to those of us who find ourselves in this position and Trans people already have one of the highest suicide rates, so tell me again, it’s not important. How would you feel if you had to wait 4 years to see a specialist? Well, you might have to if the waiting lists continue to get longer.
So, this brings me into other services and experiences with friends and family who are on NHS waiting lists.
Friend #1
I am quite angry about this one as this is affecting this man’s life now to the point where he is literally house-bound because he is waiting for a hip operation which was originally scheduled for April 2020.
Three times now he has been given dates for operations, three times he’s self-isolated and had a Covid test, and three times the operation has been canceled!
The poor sod is beside himself and is now trying to scrape together the money to get this done privately, even selling his car, as like myself he doesn’t see an end to his misery anytime soon.
The hospital has told him to expect at least another 6 months before the operation can feasibly be rescheduled.
That’s 6 months he’s housebound, that’s 6 months he’s in constant pain every time he moves, and that’s 6 months of his life he could be recovering in lieu of returning to work and earning himself and this country money.
Friend #2
Because of lockdown, he is now facing certain death because his cancer wasn’t diagnosed soon enough.
Due to see a specialist in March of 2020, this was postponed again and again and by the time he was diagnosed, it was July by which time the cancer was inoperable and he is relying on radiotherapy to try to remove the cancer.
Poor bloke has already resigned himself to the fact he is probably going to die prematurely.
I won’t say any more on this as it makes me so very sad and also so very angry at the same time.
Friend #3
Dealing with a parent at the end of their life isn’t the easiest thing to deal with.
I know this from experience as my father passed away in March 2020 but at least we were able to have the care and support of the NHS.
Imagine you’re dealing with a parent who is incapacitated because of illness and then imagine nearly all the support mechanisms, which would make your parents and your life easier at this harrowing time, pulled from underneath you and your parent. The NHS has said she would only get any end-of-life care if she was moved into a hospital or a care home.
Caregivers have not been to see her mother now since October and she has been looking after her mother since.
Synopsis
The health service survived covid but is it going to survive the increasing waiting lists?
The mental issues as yet undiagnosed?
Or the obesity issues caused by lockdown?
Or are you in the “it’ll be right!”, camp?
Let me know your thoughts.