Up to 500 people could be dying each week because of delays to emergency care, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said. Delays in accessing care across treatment stages have resulted in rising numbers opting for private medical care, with one in eight UK adults having done so in the past year.
Four people spoke to the Guardian about their experiences of accessing NHS care and medicine in recent months.
‘The consultation is in January 2024, a whole year away’
Karl, 58, a beekeeper from Lytham in Lancashire, has kept bees for 10 years and is used to being stung “with no problem”. But in September 2022, one sting to the armpit while gardening caused him to suffer an anaphylactic reaction.
“The emergency services were great – an EpiPen relieved the attack in minutes,” he said. “I went to my GP to get my own EpiPen and was informed that the immunology department at my hospital would need to instruct me how to use one and that he could not prescribe it. Given the severity of my reaction, he arranged an emergency consultation. The appointment is in January 2024, a whole year away.”
Bolton returned to his GP and asked if his case could be expedited. “I don’t want to jump the queue, but if there are people with, say, mild allergies ahead of me, I think it reasonable that a potentially life-threatening condition be prioritised. My GP has sent the request, but nothing happened. I no longer keep bees – my GP was quite emphatic on that.”
Bolton is now considering private healthcare or even looking for an EpiPen online. “I’ve not really looked into it – I don’t think I could do that legally.”
‘I sat up in A&E through the night’
On Tuesday 13 December 2022, Lucy, 79, from Suffolk, started to suffer breathing difficulties and went with her husband to A&E, where she said they had to wait for about 12 hours through the night.
“We first waited for about an hour outside A&E, from 10pm until about 11,” she said. “There were a number of ambulances – at least three – also waiting to take patients into the hospital. I sat up all night and was seen in the middle of the following morning.
“It was horrible, sitting up all night in my dressing gown, feeling awful, in a crowded room of other people feeling equally awful.
“I stayed in hospital for six nights, diagnosed with influenza A and pneumonia. The actual care I got, when I got it, was skilled and compassionate. I just felt so sorry for the staff. They worked without complaint, but I was so angry that they had to work in those conditions.”
‘I don’t have faith that the appointment will go ahead’
Carole, 69, lives with two autoimmune diseases and a history of stomach issues, and has had a phone appointment repeatedly rescheduled while her gastric symptoms have deteriorated. After an appointment with a consultant regarding her treatment for the gastric symptoms in January 2022, she was meant to have a follow-up call in April; this was pushed back several times throughout the year.
After being put under general anaesthetic for a cataract operation in October, her gastric symptoms became acute and by the end of 2022, Carole, who is medically retired and from Merseyside, said her stomach was “in extremis”. She said her December appointment was then pushed back to May 2023. “I’d have no stomach left by then,” she said. “I can’t sleep and my mouth is full of acid. I’m concerned I’m not going to survive this crisis in the health service.”
She has been able to get the appointment brought forward to January, but has also made a separate appointment with the consultant privately. “I intend to keep [the private appointment] because I don’t have any faith that the [NHS] appointment will go ahead, after all of the other telephone appointments have been cancelled and changed,” she said.
‘My local hospital doesn’t offer abdominal ultrasounds – I’m going private’
When Katherine, 54, a music teacher in Berkshire, was referred for an abdominal ultrasound by her GP two weeks ago, the first NHS appointment she could get was at a clinic an hour and a half’s drive away. The closest health centre that offered the service was an hour away, she said, as her local hospital does not offer the service. “They could offer an appointment quite quickly, but not locally,” she said.
As she is self-employed, Katherine decided to opt for private treatment for the scan, rather than spend hours driving and miss work. “At least that way I can get a convenient time,” she said. “It’s £300 but then I don’t need to miss a day of work – it’s a five-minute scan.” The private clinic she has chosen said that its team all hold consultant roles in her local NHS hospital, where she was unable to get the service.
“It seems like such a simple procedure. It’s really disappointing – I understand why consultants work in the private sector but the fact you can’t see them at all on the NHS [locally] is quite shocking.”
