Wait 13 Hours to See a Doc

[Freeborn]

Is that article telling the truth about the long wait for medical attention?
My husband said that in New York and other Larger cities here you have a lengthy wait also, but not 8 to 13 hours.

Every now and then we get horror stories like this making headlines but I have to say that they are very much the exception and not the norm.

When I had to visit A&E I was seen by a triage nurse within 10-15minutes.
I then had about an half hour wait before I was seen by the correct medical professional.

My daughter recently had to go to A&E and she had about the same waiting time.

There are definitely failings in the NHS and numerous areas for improvement.

Many of the failings are down some good old fashioned piss poor management - I once applied for a job in the NHS for which I had many transferable skills and a skill set that would be have been perfect for the role.
I heard nothing in reply.
A cousin of mine who has a relatively senior position within a neighbouring health trust heard about my application through the family grapevine and phoned me up to tell me I had no chance of getting the job. She explained that managers are extremely reluctant to employ other managers from the private sector as they fear their approach; they tend to far more results driven.
There has also been serial underfunding from central government of the NHS by successive administrations and some rather dubious business practices.

The major concern I hear about is the length of wait for ambulances.
I could relate quite a few instances where I've known people wait hours for an ambulance from our local hospital literally just a couple of miles down the road.
There are several contributory reasons for this not least being the lack of trained ambulance drivers due to the very poor wages they are paid and the long and stressful hours they work.

I am under no illusions about the failings within the NHS but its not all bad, not by any stretch.
The NHS is a wonderful achievement.
It both could and should be better, people tend to only broadcast the bad aspects of it whilst all the good gets glossed over or ignored.