r/nhs

Hi! Could you please share your experience of having the Mirena fitted by the NHS? I’ve got a couple of questions

1. Can you ask for pain relief before the procedure? Not Nurofen, but proper pain relief. Eight out of ten women I’ve spoken to say it’s excruciatingly painful, yet doctors keep lying and saying it doesn’t hurt. That’s the first red flag that’s really getting on my nerves.
2. If I can ask for one, how do I go about it?
3. Can I ask the doctors to sign a form that might help me if my friend (who is having it fitted) faints from the pain (she has a very low pain threshold and has had similar episodes before), and this form would prove that they deemed it unnecessary to administer anaesthesia before inserting a foreign object into the human body? I hope this makes sense, but I’m really worried about her.
4. For heaven’s sake, why is everything to do with women’s periods, acne or depression treated with contraceptives that have a list of side effects as long as a football stadium?
5. Why is the doctor recommending the Mirena without any alternatives, when Ukrainian doctors only recommend it for those who have given birth, and my friend clearly hasn’t? Also, why do they say here that it lasts for 8 years, whereas in Ukraine they say it lasts for less time (yes, it’s the very same Mirena)?
6. Please could you tell me how to prepare for having the coil fitted and whether it’s even worth it, as it will be a hormonal coil and not for contraception, but to address the issue of period pain.
   Thank you, thank you so much for reading
   It’s been almost a week now; I’ve scoured the entire internet in three languages, and the British doctors’ advice raises a lot of questions for me and sets off a lot of red flags. I’m incredibly worried about my friend and can’t stop thinking about all this. We live together, so I’ll be keeping an eye on how she’s doing after the Mirena is fitted.
   She’s already suffering from severe depression, and I don’t want them to make things worse for her.

Do hospitals cancel/reschedule surgery if patient does not bring slippers and dressing gown?

For a day case but the letter says to bring them, but don’t have any and procedure soon.

I have normal trainers for footwear and it’s probably like 30 degrees tomorrow and can wear jacket if cold?

I (F, 29) am originally from the States, diagnosed there in 2015 with Hashimoto's and was suspected of having a meningioma (small tumor) in my brain. Had MRI in 2018, which confirmed a benign meningioma in my brain, margins stable. I haven't had an MRI since. In the past year, I've had a series of three fainting spells on two separate occasions. I know that none of these episodes have anything to do with the meningioma, but I think 8 years is too long to go without a follow-up MRI, no?

Any advice on how to get a referral for an MRI from the NHS? I have already been to my GP and asked. They were confused as to how I knew in the first place because they were unaware of the MRI I had in the US (though it's in my history now). I just went into A&E yesterday for another spell and asked again about the MRI. They said it's worth asking the GP to have a neurologist have a look, and apparently they can't refuse if I request it? Has anyone got an MRI through NHS? And any idea as to whether it's worth going private or waiting for NHS?

Im autistic so Im very much anxious about the whole process. Ive had ultrasounds, an x-ray and an MRI before, but a CT is very different.

Im also having it with contrast (omnipaque 350) and I dont think Ive ever had any experience with iodine so Im worried about the potential for an allergic reaction - I have eczema so I know that Id have an increased risk of having a reaction.

Ive been asked to drink a litre of water beforehand, but it doesnt say a timeframe.. simply 'on the way to the clinic', which doesnt give a lot of info because of the distance travelling would be different for different people (its either an hour walk for me, a 10-15 minute drive, or 30 mins on the bus). Should I make sure to drink it within an hour?

The scan is also a CT KUB, would the report only focus on the urinary tract, or would it also report on any other organs/tissue - for example if they found an issue with my liver, would that be reported on? Would they focus on every part of my abdomen/pelvis equally, or would there be a much bigger focus on the KUB and then only obvious issues would be reported on because of a lesser focus on other structures?

Also, is it odd to have contrast used for a CT KUB? Everything Ive looked up seems to say that the majority of them are done without a contrast agent, so I feel like its odd that Id need one?

Can anyone give a run down of roughly what would happen during it as well?

Thanks :)

Would love medical staff and patient view in this.

We’re constantly told the UK has a "birth rate crisis" and that we need more babies to support the economy. We are even told that maternity wards close cos people have not enough babies. Or that they borrow staff to other wards as mat unit employees just sit around twiddling their thumbs.

Yet, every maternity unit I’ve seen or heard about is absolutely slammed, understaffed, and operating at breaking point. It's always busy, so many emergencies, midwife's have no time to check on birthing women, ultrasound appointments are cut to bare minimum in comparison with care offered in Europe.

How can we simultaneously have a "lack of babies" to the point where facilities allegedly close from underuse, while the facilities we do see with our own eyes are physically unable to cope with the demand? Is the system just cutting funds and falsely blaming the baby "crisis" as an excuse, or is the "crisis" narrative completely disconnected from the reality on the ground? Or is there a patchwork of places in the UK where there are no babies whilst others are swarming with them? None of it makes too much sense to me.

A very close relative of mine has been failed by the NHS for essentially my entire life time. Being offered treatments that have only made his situation worse, and being treated by incompetent staff time and time again.

(For the record most staff are brilliant, and I love the principle of the health service. But I can't ignore the amount that just are terrible).

I'll give some past examples before getting on to what has made me write this today:

- had wounds dressed with primary dressings the wrong way around, leaving them to stick to the wounds. We had to remove these as district nurses refused to come until their allocated time days later. I have never seen him cry before this day.

- had nurses dress his wounds but not covering them all, leading to bandage to stick directly to the wound. Again unacceptable and painful

- Time and time again had wounds dressed at a DEDICATED clinic who completely ignore infection protocol, this just last year leading to sepsis.

I could go on and on....

But now on to why I am writing this.

He is currently in hospital, and has been for essentially six weeks. I say essentially, because he was wrongly discharged twice in this period before returning days later. The first discharge was admitted to be a mistake by the discharge team on the ward he was on....

Throughout this spell in hospital many things have happened that are alarming and I believe dangerous. But we will focus on the main / worse things.

1, Information not being passed on to staff during hand over. At the moment he cannot really walk. He is normally fairly mobile but because of his current illness his knees completely buckle. This information is important because he's a big guy who is not easy to get up if he falls. I should add he is extremely delirious as a result of infection so doesn't know where he is etc. despite this staff try to get him up etc, despite it apparently being in his notes to not do this. But some staff claim they were not told about this or other parts of his current condition. So which is it? Information not being passed on? Or staff not bothering to read the information? This is extremely dangerous for him and the staff.

2, Another wound dressing story! A nurse of this ward dressed his wounds so badly that almost every member of staff came over to see it the day after. The one seemingly in charge saying that 'a toddler could do a better job'. That's good and all, but it's him who has to suffer. So why is this happening?

3, perhaps the reason I'm typing this now the most, he can't swallow at the moment because he's essentially forgotten how to do it. So why is a nurse trying to force medication into him and making him choke in the process. This all happened when my mum was in the room. Not only was she pleading with this nurse to stop but the patient himself was showing visible signs of being scared despite the delirium. Yet she carried on until my mum got me to come to the hospital and stop them. This just is not safe. How can you essentially choke a patient who evidently can't swallow when their family is telling you to stop? Why are they not listening? When confronted with this they couldn't explain it. I offered two possible explanations, either the nurse is incompetent or doesn't care. I was of course called rude for this etc, but I have overheard these staff describing other staff on this ward as 'not wanting to do any work' etc, which when confronted with they didn't really have an answer.

I could go on and on. Fundamentally I am worried about him being there on his own because I just cannot trust the quality of care. My conversations with the staff were overheard by other patients on the ward who all seemed to agree with me unprompted.

I understand the health service is under pressure and the principle is great. But that isn't an excuse for individuals being negligent.

The NHS was founded upon the idea that you will not be treat according to your ability to pay. Unfortunately I don't think this is true of the NHS anymore. You indeed are treated accordingly to your ability to pay. Once we began accepting below minimum standard care with the excuse of underfunding and understaffing this principle died. If you've got money you can afford care that meets the minimums, if not you are rolling a dice on the NHS. You may have a brilliant experience with the many brilliant staff. Or you may have a terrible experience and your condition worsened by the growing number of incompetent staff the service emoloys.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some reassurance or insight from anyone who has done an NHS trainee psychological practitioner pathway (like EMHP, CWP, or PWP).
I interviewed for a trainee role back in mid-June and received a conditional offer. I have already cleared all of my pre-employment checks—my DBS, Occupational Health, and references are all fully completed and green. HR said in an email that I’m ready to start.
However, they also told me they could not issue anything (I’m guessing my final unconditional contract) because they are waiting on the January start date to be released.
Is it normal to be left sitting on a "conditional" offer and how long will this realistically take until it is unconditional?

Has anyone else experienced this massive gap between clearing checks and the intake?
When do January start dates generally get released?
For peace of mind, can the Trust rescind the offer while I'm waiting in this limbo, or am I safe since my checks are done?
Thanks in advance!

Backstory: have a double ear infection for 2 weeks. One week ago I went to Urgent Care where it was diagnosed & prescribed amoxicillin. 3 doses left and my left ear feels worse (can honestly barely hear from it) so I call GP and they schedule an out of hours appt for following day (yesterday - Saturday). Dr confirmed infection & amoxicillin hasn’t touched left ear (although right ear is completely back to normal now) so he prescribed an antibiotic/steroid ear drop to target it directly. I told him to send to pharmacy where I live (20 mins away). However by the time I got there it was closed (2pm - I got there at 2:30. I honestly thought that pharmacy closed at 4pm on Saturday’s - my mistake). I never need to go to the pharmacy and don’t walk by there often.

So I called another open pharmacy near me but they couldn’t see my prescription on my NHS app for some reason so he advised to call 111 so they could send it to an open pharmacy. 111 had to book me for another out of hours appt but over the telephone scheduled for 30 mins later. I didn’t get a call back for an hour. Here’s the story now:

The dr who called, the whole phone call her tone was full of attitude and accusation. Literally said “you already spoke to my colleague earlier today.” No greeting or introduction, nothing.
So I explained situation & said my prescription was sent to a closed pharmacy. I wasn’t blaming the dr at all, it was my mistake for not realising it would have been closed by the time I got there. She said “well did YOU choose the pharmacy?” So I said yes but I didn’t realise it was closed at the time. She got annoyed and huffed, and asked which pharmacy I’d like it sent to, so I told her another one I knew was open near me and as I was giving her the post code she kept interrupting me because she didn’t hear the number I was saying (but how could you if you keep interrupting!) had to repeat it 4 times, I was basically shouting into the phone. Then another snarky comment: “well how do you know THIS pharmacy is open?” (Again, it’s all in the tone!). So I said 111 checked all local pharmacies to me and said it closes at 8pm (by this point it was almost 6:30 so all pharmacies other than Tesco was closed). She said Ok, sent my prescription and hung up.

I just don’t understand why she was so rude! Anyway the pharmacy had run out of what I needed so I spent 30 mins on the M25 to the only pharmacy that closes at 10pm on a Saturday. 😭

Hopefully these ear drops work!

Hello,

My 12 month NHS prepayment started on 13th September 2025. But there was no charge this month, does anyone have a clue why this might be? It didn't bounce or anything as there is money in there.

I was diagnosed with prediabetes sort of by accident 5 years ago. I never had symptoms but had some blood tests done for something else and my hba1c was 45. I got a text with the diagnosis and a link to a leaflet with very basic info about prediabetes. When I asked to speak to someone about it the receptionist told me I couldn't, I'd get a blood test once a year to monitor and I could speak to the diabetes nurse "when" I got diabetes.

I figured this is a case where the NHS has decided because of limited resources they are not going to prioritise prediabetes care. Which I thought was a bit short sighted (reducing risk of people with prediabetes developing diabetes would probably save money in the long run), but ultimately understandable. I know the NHS is under a lot of pressure.

I decided to get support privately and it's been very helpful. I recently posted in another UK specific sub that I got my hba1c down to 36. Someone commented that my GP must be pleased, I've literally never spoken to my GP about it. The only medical professional I've ever mentioned it to was an A&E nurse who asked me if I had any medical conditions.

But the comment got me wondering, is the care I've received normal? What is the normal standard care for prediabetes? Is it very variable and just at GP discretion or is there a policy?

For a year ive had horrible pain in my left shoulder and recently got in an accident a work where a LOT of timber fell on my back and now im in agony most of the day to the point i cant sleep. I told him all of this and he just did some stretches on my which hurt me more and left me worse. In the end he told me to go to the gym more. I think its ridiculous. Now i feel stupid to try and get a second opinion but the man which examined me completely just made it obvious he wanted to get it over with

​

I'm literally at A&E now and I feel like I know what I'm about to be told, but 111 insisted I go immediately.

This is starting to seriously impact my sleep since I'm here late at night.

I have a history of being told to go to 111 for non emergencies and then after waiting sometimes over ten hours, simply being told this wasn't an emergency. But I really don't want to straight up say no to what a medical official says. Would making sure I speak to a clinician address my problem?

edit: I've realized this post lacks a lot of context

Hi everyone,

I've been invited for an NHS Band 3 Admin interview in the UK. The interview email mentions that there will be a 20-minute Excel assessment before or during the interview.

I have a basic understanding of Excel, but I'm not sure what they usually test for Band 3 admin roles.

For anyone who's done this before:

- What kind of tasks or questions did you get?

- Were you asked to use formulas (SUM, IF, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, etc.)?

- Did they test sorting, filtering, formatting, pivot tables, charts, or data entry?

- How difficult was it overall?

- Any tips on what I should practise over the next few days?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks in advance!

Currently on an acute medical ward. Got woken up at 5am by an elderly patient screaming for help. No staff on the bay at all, and a towel over the door to i assume keep it cracked open. No idea how long patient had been calling for, but half an hour later I got out of bed and walked to the ward reception to ask for help. Call light was on. No staff anywhere. The actual bay nurse didn't return until around 45 mins after the screaming started.

I understand staffing issues and emergencies etc, but this was 5am on a night shift. Now the bay staff are back and giggling amongst themselves. I am so mad.

Obviously not going to disclose what was happening with the patient, but they were in such a state and obviously very distressed. It wasn't a life-threatening situation, but has definitely made their situation worse.

Is this acceptable to have no bay staff on at all? Are staff even allowed to leave an entire bay of patients unattended?

Hi all! I'm 23F, and noticed a mole on my side that's gone a bit scabby/raised/broken down? So sent a photo to my GP via Accrux and they've immediately referred me on the 2ww pathway to a hospital in London for a mole check. What can I expect? Is it reasonable to think that they might want to whip out the mole (if suspicious) on the same day? Would it be a matter of them checking one mole or would they want to look at all my moles? Never experienced this before and a bit nervous as this has all happened quite quickly, so would appreciate some pointers on what to expect to happen at this appointment, as MyChart hasn't been super informative on what will exactly be happening beyond "Dermatology Skin Cancer Screening" so would like to know what exactly this entails!

As the title says.

Bein kept overnight for monitoring but there's no beds.

Being sitting on a plastic chair until I got moved to a reclining armchair to rest aka sleep but it doesn't recline.

I asked for a blanket an hour ago and had not been given one yet, either. It's cold in here.

This is absolutely ridiculous and insane.

Humiliating.

I’ve been told the NHS waiting list is 8 years, so I’m going with right to choose and I’ve got it down to these final 2! (mental well and berkeley psychiatrists), what one out of the two would you recommend I go with?

I’m absolutely horrendous with decision making! So it’s taken me a bit over a month to get to these final 2. 😆

I read somewhere that a lot of doctors are unemployed or basically have to wait before there is a place that is vacant so they can start doing their practice, which can take from months to years. One of my relatives, from Pakistan, got here on a visit visa, did the medicine exams on a visit visa, then he passed them, and instantly got a job in the NHS. The NHS sponsored him, and he was able to bring his family. He was sponsored around 2021ish and told me the NHS spent nearly 6 figures to get him trained, but he is leaving the UK next year to go to Australia.

Even though he is my relative i find it unfair that he got here on a visit visa, did his exams and got the NHS to invest 6 figures in him and now that he has a British passport he is leaving for Australia, when it was the UK that made him.

My relative's also made me think, why is the NHS sponsoring foreign doctors and spending 6 figures on them instead of getting local doctors instead of them? They would surely save a lot of money, and they would get someone local, and the NHS would save a long procedure of paperwork or instead of paying 6 figures for overseas doctors they could make medicine free at uni and attracting more people to do medicine.

I also know that the current government is prioritising loclas now but who in their right mind though that spending 6 fogures on a overseas doctor, while having unemployed local doctors was a good idea?