using peoples' names

[bazaarboy]

as a GP in training I see a large number of patients each week, and by simple probability some (and it is a very small proportion) people will leave dissatisfied.

I would urge people using this website not to use the real names of people and practices - no one is on trial here, and it could be seen as defamatory

how would you like to see your name and address on a random forum, being called a "difficult patient"? ... no i didnt think so

[craigwalsh]

and by simple probability some (and it is a very small proportion) people will leave dissatisfied.
Does this "small proportion" leave your examining room so dissatisfied with your medical service that they run to a forum --- called www.nhs-sucks.com (http://www.nhs-sucks.com) --- to tell the world how unhappy they were with the medical services you provided? If so, then I would say that you're in training for the wrong profession bazaarboy.

no one is on trial here, and it could be seen as defamatory

This is what's called a "consumer commentary website" --- a place for people to share their stories, both good and bad, about the NHS. Comments are only "defamatory" if they are untrue.

As an example, my comments about the folks at the Worcester Royal Infirmary and the St. John's Surgery have been posted here for quite some time. They certainly know who I am, and they certainly know how to find me. If they think my comments are untrue they can certainly take the necessary action against me. But not a peep. I haven't even had a letter or call from them asking me, meekly, to remove any of my comments from this website.

how would you like to see your name and address on a random forum, being called a "difficult patient"? ... no i didnt think so
Well, whether you think it's fair or not, there is such a thing as doctor-patient confidentiality. And there are good reasons for that. You want your patients to be completely open and honest with you: I assume that's the best way to make an accurate diagnosis of whatever ails them.

But while some notion of fairness might say that this duty of confidentiality should run both ways, it doesn't. My bank can't tell the world that I am a nasty guy --- but I can tell the world about them (as long as it's true). Same with my doctor.

I don't like it when doctor's write nasty little messages in charts. And please don't tell me that this isn't done: I've seen it on my own medical charts. I think the practice has diminished now that anyone can pay their £10.00 and get a copy of their chart. I find this as distasteful as you apparently find this website, bazzarboy.

Good luck with your medical career. And thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts on this forum.

[bazaarboy]

craig
thanks for your reply, i was beginning to think no-one had anything to say on this forum...

you have to bear in mind the enormous number of doctor-patient encounters that take place, 300 million per year in primary care alone.
given how few cases end up on forums like this, i would say yes, people dissatisfied with their care are a very rare phenomenon...

[craigwalsh]

i was beginning to think no-one had anything to say on this forum...

I read every message posted here --- which can (at times) be quite depressing.


yes, people dissatisfied with their care are a very rare phenomenon...

Anecdotal information. I would imagine that someone within the NHS has done some sort of "customer satisfaction survey." It would be interesting to know what patients really do think of the NHS. I would imagine there would be a tremendous variances in the responses, depending upon GP's surgery, hospital, etc.

I was with my previous GP for circa 17 years. During most of these years I never had need for their services, so if you'd asked me for my opinion about the NHS during those years --- when I had no contact with the NHS --- I would have been satisfied.

Once I had medical problems, and started actually using their services, I was extremely dissatisfied. Gruff, unfriendly doctors. Incredible problems getting through to anyone on the telephone. Old building, designed as a house, with a surgery crammed inside. And what's with the large number tags and the red/amber/green system in the waiting room? Worse than a bakery or the deli at Waitrose.

When they "delisted" me --- largely as a result of this website --- I thought I was in for a very rough ride. The NHS re-assigned me to a different surgery, and they are absolutely fantastic. Friendly, helpful doctors who do not seem rushed off their feet (although they probably are). The doctor comes and calls you from the waiting room. Purpose-built building, which is airy and bright.

But your comment about the "rare phenomenon" is presumably your anecdotal opinion. Are you aware of any research (surveys?) to support this?

[bazaarboy]

you're suggesting my argument is anecdotal information?? lol
"Pot calling the kettle black" is an appropriate response i think...
this entire forum is full of unsubstantiated claims...

if you're looking for validated satisfaction surveys, the literature is abound with good quality data, take a look in medline / pubmed etc

more specifically, GP surgeries participate in independently-run patient satisfaction assessment questionnaires on an annual basis, as part of the quality outcomes framework
on top of that, the PCT poll patients independently themselves for verification of the survey results

i'm surprised you're weren't aware of this systematic review of patient satisfaction, given you're the admin of a site called "NHS sucks"

[craigwalsh]

"Pot calling the kettle black" is an appropriate response i think...
this entire forum is full of unsubstantiated claims...
You are, I feel, completely missing the point. This website does not profess to be "fair and balanced." Heck, even the name of the website indicates that there is a certain bias here. The site does not dwell in statistics or surveys. I started the website because my personal experience with the NHS was awful. I felt the NHS sucked.

I took the time to send what I thought was a well-researched, unemotional, detailed complaint to the Chief Executive of the Worcester Royal Infirmary, John Rostill. He personally acknowledged the receipt of this complaint, and said he put it in his briefcase. Whereupon it was lost.

Yes, this is anecdotal --- but it's what Mr. Rostill told me. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was easier to say that they'd "lost" my complaint rather than actually answering it, but that is just pure supposition --- a cynical, unsubstantiated assumption on my part.

So rather than write more letters I purchased this domain name and started this forum. And it made me feel better posting my grievances here --- even if nobody actually read them. I found the experience cathartic, and it is my hope that others will also find posting their grievances here helpful.


i'm surprised you're weren't aware of this systematic review of patient satisfaction

Like other members of the public, I have read about this review process. But I don't understand your "surprise." I am not an expert on the NHS, and this website isn't designed to provide any sort of "analysis" of the NHS.

This is simply a place for folks to post (if they want) their grievances against the NHS. The fact that you have failed to understand that makes me wonder, at least a bit, about your diagnostic skills.

By the way, I did include a section for folks to post compliments about the NHS, and there are some nice things posted there. Not everyone thinks the NHS sucks.

[bazaarboy]

...The site does not dwell in statistics or surveys...

? really, odd - just earlier today you were asking for this sort of evidence:

... Are you aware of any research (surveys?) to support this?...

... made me feel better posting my grievances here --- even if nobody actually read them. I found the experience cathartic...

and thats perfectly ok, everyone has a right to vent out - when they feel they've been wronged, but then you say:

... the fact that you have failed to understand that makes me wonder, at least a bit, about your diagnostic skills...

ouch! a little below the belt, n'est pas? rather uncalled for - and I don't think you're qualified to assess a medical practitioner's diagnostic skills, especially in these circumstances, lol

going back to my original point, I still feel that people contributing in this forum should refrain from using people's real names - harmless venting you say?
it seems a bit "nasty" to me, happy to make eponymous defamatory comments under the cloak of anonymity - I would say: if you start dropping names then have the courage to tell us you name...

[craigwalsh]

just earlier today you were asking for this sort of evidenceYou misunderstood me.

You made a comment, and even put it in bold type, saying "people dissatisfied with their care are a very rare phenomenon." I simply said, "How do you know this? Prove it."

It's just as easy for me to say, "Most people are dissatisfied with their care." Or like you, I can even put this in bold letters: "Most people are dissatisfied with their care." But just because it's in bold letters doesn't make it true.

You made the statement --- it's not my role to substantiate your comment. I just found it hard to believe without any sort of proof.

happy to make eponymous defamatory comments under the cloak of anonymity - I would say: if you start dropping names then have the courage to tell us you nameAs I have said, comments are only "defamatory" if they are untrue. Under no circumstances can the truth be considered "defamatory."

Eponymous? The dictionary says, "giving a name to something: having the name that is used as the title or name of something else, especially the title of a book, play, or movie, such as the eponymous hero of the play."

Perhaps you meant "anonymous defamatory comments," not "eponymous defamatory comments."

As for having "the courage to tell us you name," perhaps my user name is a clue. My user name is also my "real" name. You're the one cloaked behind "bazaarboy." And all of my postings (including this one) are signed with my "real" name, and there's even a link to my online photo gallery.

Not very anonymous. Not even eponymous.

Dare I repeat my comment about your diagnostic skills?

[bazaarboy]

I don't need to publice my name because I'm not making any defamatory remarks... waaait a second here - I think I see the drive behind this forum, you seem to be:

"an angry man"

No wonder you were removed from your poor ex-GP's practice:
combative, accusatory, carrying your medical dictionary around the place...

you're the sort of chap that would really ruin anyone's day, a sort of healthcare terrorist and no amount of reasoning has any effect on you

I daren't go into the root of all this (bad experience as a child?)

and by the way, my comments aren't defamatory against you, because well, its the truth - lol

have a good life

[craigwalsh]

Dr. Bazaarboy --- I think any reader of this thread on this forum will readily see who is "the angry man."

In your last post you've displayed all of the traits that I have come (alas) to expect from many of the folks I encounter within the NHS.

You've accused me of somehow withholding my name when it is actually my user name, and is plainly shown at the bottom of every one of my posts on this forum.

When I've pointed this out to you, suddenly I am a "healtcare terrorist" who has (using those phenomenal diagnostic skills you obviously possess) possibly had a "bad experience as a child."

Yes, you will fit into the NHS perfectly.

Sigh. ;-(

[nil by mouth]

as a GP in training I see a large number of patients each week, and by simple probability some (and it is a very small proportion) people will leave dissatisfied.

I would urge people using this website not to use the real names of people and practices - no one is on trial here, and it could be seen as defamatory

how would you like to see your name and address on a random forum, being called a "difficult patient"? ... no i didnt think so



Royal National Orthopaedic hospital
Labelled by
MrTim Briggs and Gill Thurlow Rehab
How many times have a patient/carer disagreed with a medical person and been labelled a "difficult patient? The medical person can write what twaddle they like in the medical notes and then it is set in stone forever. Thank goodness these web pages are around for us to give our true opinions and not just brushed aside with scary comments like "defamatory".
Do you really believe that the medical profession do not stick together and than its just collateral damage with the complainer expendable?
I also think that a lot of people are happy with the quality of their care they receive but it the other group who are not and it’s the way they are treated that should concern us all. You don’t know it could happen to you next!
Gill Thurlow made the last few years of my daughter’s life unbearable.

[craigwalsh]

Thank goodness these web pages are around for us to give our true opinions and not just brushed aside with scary comments like "defamatory".


Dear Nil --

Thank you. Occasionally some NHS folks drop in on this site --- they are most welcome to do so --- and offer jabs about not naming names, etc. I just shake my head. They're missing the entire point of the website.

I didn't set up this site to deal in statistics, or dwell in picking apart research about the NHS and how it's performing (or, sadly, not performing). This is simply a place where you can vent, as I did, when you receive inferior service from the NHS, as I did.

It almost doesn't matter if anyone reads the site or not: simply writing down my experiences with the NHS made me feel better. The fact that a fair number of people do read these pages, as shown by the page counts next to each thread, makes me feel even better.

I have been labelled a "difficult patient" --- "many complaints." Here's a place for me, and for others, to name people who have provided poor service.

There is also a place on the forum to write about NHS compliments, and a few people do so.

[justice4all]

Bazaarboy.
I haven't read this whole exchange yet, but I will when I'm not so tired.
I put my name and the quacks that have seen me down on this site. I have been subject to 4 years of torture, initially physical and later mental. It ain't over by a long shot. The quacks are thugs, with few exceptions. Sold out to their Mammon god, arrogant and pathetic practitioners. We haven't all only had English fare to judge quacks by. Those who have experinced real doctors are not cowed or impressed by the quackery of a sham elitist profession in the UK. I too have made an open challenge to the classist, racist, torturer and well on the way to be murderer quacks who I have had the misfortune to place my trust in , since I should really have been able to, a trust that has been devastatingly betrayed. They too, like Craig said, know exactly who I am and what's happening and are too cowardly to challenge me in court if they think that they are being defamed, but sneaky enough to conspire like a gang of thuggish lowlife in covering up and denying proper treatment, which would require admitting previous cockups. This reprehensible lack of integrity and the tendency towards coverups you would know more about than most I'll bet.
I'm sure if some quacks were to keep memos and directives regarding who is to get what treatment for what reasons and release them to the public , in the way the MP's secret manipulations, lies, fraudulent and criminal behaviour was revealed, there would be outrage; but at least doctors with integrity could gain the ascendancy and move on. As you ( plural ) act with common purpose though, you are all guilty. You have to do something definite to go against the flow in order to be innocent. If you can't put up, then shut up, and quit your attempt at bullying and hang your head in shame. You're fooling nobody here. We have felt the lies , and abuse first hand, in our bodies and in our minds and in the suffering of those close to us who are equally badly affected, or in the case of young children , sometimes even worse. I'd say you should be ashamed, but that doesn't seem to fall in the character trait for UK quacks, so puffed up with pride , with so little reason to be. If someone told you that you deserve respect just for being a doctor, they were lying. Qualifying as a doctor earns you the right to earn the respect of the patients and the community. If all you want is the respect of other doctors, just show them you earn more , or have a bigger house , or a fancier car or something, but don't come on here and whinge at not being respected by those you maim and kill.

[justice4all]

bazaarboy
Is that what you are, a cheap spiv? Give it time and you can learn to be a lying, torturing, fraudster and murderer, like so many quacks in the No Hope Saloon. You can also get to manifest your pomposity and fascist-racist tendencies, knowing the NHS mismanagers will waste millions defending you against those you have killed, or whose lives you have destroyed. One for all and all for one eh spivboy ? Like all good criminal mafias.

My name , as I said , is also clearly stated in a main post on this site. I have also challenged quacks regularly in the electronic media, notably the Guardian, with regard to their criminal abuse of their positions, covered up by this spineless government, but none so far are up to the challenge, preferring censorship. Wonder why spivboy? Maybe you'll have the guts, or do you prefer to snipe from the sidelines of your self-delusion of superiority over these no-nothing victims..err. patients ?

I would welcome a site naming 'problem or difficult patients', such as you 'threaten'. In fact I insist this should be made public. But you chinless wonders prefer the occult method of posting such defamatory garbage about by methods that affect patient care, but remain hidden. The true methodology of fascist cowards. Go on spivboy. I dare you to publish such info. In fact I goad you. Go on . Take the suggestion to your leaders. You could make a name for yourself, in similar fashion to the name you give 'difficult patients' I expect. [ Secret note 1089/2009: Ensure spivboy is not permitted to progress in any way. He is a threat to out luctrative racket]

I was not a difficult patient until I started pointing out the murderous incompetence and gross deriliction of duty and the criminal negligence of quacks. Now I'm sure that I'm classed as a difficult patient. You ( common purpose ) have wrecked my health, destroyed my ability to earn my living, caused grave physical and mental suffering on a par with torture and have grossly violated both my and my family's human rights. That's my accusation spivboy. And here's the challenge. If you think that's defamatory. Check out my name, look up my contact details on your secretive NHS computer where you write down all your defamatory notes, while forgetting to pass on the important clinical details , or where you put the wrong info about people , which negatively impacts on their treatment, and sue me. Or get one of the waffling bigmouths who will give you sage advice and encourage you in your spivvery to sue me. I've got nothing to lose. My life is already shortened by 15 to 20 years at least, which is a relief at this rate. Go on spivboy. I double, make it triple dare you. I'll take out fifteen quacks, a whole lot of administrators and a couple of politicians. But I need you to get the ball rolling spivboy. I can't get access to a legal representative any other way. You lot like playing for high stakes , like excessive pay and people's health and lives. Let's uncover some of the cesspool of disease that is the NHS today, despite the head in the sand approach and blind belief that it is something to be proud of by so many people living in nostalgia land. And I repeat , as I have before. There are the few , very few exceptions in terms of quacks when it comes to factoring in the members of the second or third class, is there even a fourth class, quite possible, victims...errrr... patients. Those who do speak up on behalf of medicine proper, ethics , integrity and fairness get put on gardening leave or worse. Bullying of the type that victims...err... patients, know only too well. But there are very many decent ordinary staff, not least the nurses and orderlies, doing a reasonable to good and even excellent job under very trying circumstanaces. A pity the fat cat quacks couldn't come up to their standards of service commitment.
So sue for defamation spivboy, or go peddle your cosmic debris chicanery and waffle hot air elsewhere.