The NHS’ founding father, Aneurin Bevan, was born and lived in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, in a small miner’s cottage on Charles Street. Here, on a neighbouring road, three generations of one family and a local doctor tell of their interactions with the NHS and their hopes and fears for its future.<\/p>\n
Kay Thomas, 74, has various health problems associated with ageing. She said: <\/strong><\/p>\n I never go to the GP unless I have to, but I know other people do. <\/p>\n Some just go for the sake of it; they have a cough and think they’re dying. <\/p>\n You see people get grumpy and complain to the receptionists. I would lose my rag with them. They are too demanding and not willing to wait. <\/p>\n Of course, I have seen lots of changes in my time. <\/p>\n We used to have the St James hospital, right here in Tredegar. <\/p>\n Now we have to travel 20 miles or so to different hospitals.<\/p>\n It’s not that convenient as I can’t drive so I rely on family members to take time off work.<\/p>\n But still I am grateful for the care I get and the advancements in treatment. <\/p>\n The NHS is a brilliant service and should never be allowed to die out. <\/p>\n Kay’s daughter Jacqueline Thomas, 49, is a Tredegar town councillor and works in occupational health. She has asthma and high blood pressure. She said: <\/strong><\/p>\n People in Tredegar are very proud of the NHS; it started here, with miners and steelworkers giving a penny a week.<\/p>\n But I’ve noticed things have got less convenient. <\/p>\n You used to be able to get a GP appointment on a Saturday morning in an emergency but that went years ago.<\/p>\n I can’t blame the GPs or the NHS – it was a service that was costing too much so it had to be cut. <\/p>\n Now I find you have to phone at 8am if you want an appointment, which is no good when you start work an hour earlier in Newport like myself. <\/p>\n Often I go to the chemist instead and pick stuff up off the shelf; self-diagnosing. <\/p>\n My old GP had known me since I was four. <\/p>\n But he’s retired and now I just see the locums who don’t know anything about me. <\/p>\n Of course, I know that looking after my health should start at home. <\/p>\n But for the last year, I’ve not eaten healthy. I get invited to so many events where it’s buffet food with sandwiches and cakes which I find hard to resist. <\/p>\n I work too hard as well and would like to be able to go to the gym every day but it’s not possible. There are not enough hours in the day. <\/p>\n Jacqueline’s husband, Mark Thomas, 53, works in the steel industry in Port Talbot, as well as being a trade union representative. He weighs 17 stone and his nickname is Pasty. He said: <\/strong><\/p>\n From the moment I wake up, I spend a lot of time sat down, either driving or at my desk. I am conscious that I am a lazy person by nature. <\/p>\n I do find it hard to eat the right things and to exercise the way I should. Often it’s takeaways or ready meals. <\/p>\n I play golf once a week, but is that enough? No, not really.<\/p>\n I’m aware that some blame overweight people or smokers for being a burden on the NHS. <\/p>\n But I would pin the blame not just on individuals but modern society, of our busy lifestyles and the way food is packaged; it is very hard not to put on weight when even so-called healthy food isn’t healthy. <\/p>\n Although I recognise I’m not in the best of shape, my body’s not yet telling me I need to do anything about it.<\/p>\n So until I get an ache or a pain, or something happens, I’ll just carry on.<\/p>\n I am conscious that one day, I’ll need to use the doctor because of my lifestyle. <\/p>\n But I’ve told people at work that if I drop dead of a heart attack, don’t revive me. I don’t want to be a burden and if your time is up, it’s up. <\/p>\n Jacqueline’s daughter, Asheley Thomas, 29, is a learning disability nurse in the NHS. She has a two-month-old son, Hywel, and is currently on maternity leave. She said: <\/strong><\/p>\n I had fantastic care during my pregnancy. I could ask my midwife anything and she was so supportive and knowledgeable. <\/p>\n I saw her throughout my pregnancy and a month after as well.<\/p>\n We both had a tear in our eyes when it was time to say goodbye. <\/p>\n To be honest, I’ve always had good care on the NHS. <\/p>\n I know it can be a nightmare to get an appointment, but there is high demand and Tredegar is increasingly deprived. <\/p>\n There used to be two youth cafes, but now they are gone. Just walking around town, you can see people who don’t look well. <\/p>\n Personally, I view the NHS as a vital lifeline.<\/p>\n If we were ever to go down a private insurance route, a lot of people would lose out. <\/p>\n It’s also a big employer in this area. I know two paramedics, five other nurses, one doctor and some healthcare assistants.<\/p>\n But having worked in it as a nurse, I also worry about its future. <\/p>\n I hear about budgeting, and the need to cut back. <\/p>\n Learning disabilities has been badly hit but we do manage just about and I get cross when I hear people dragging it down instead of praising it. <\/p>\n If you don’t work in it, you don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. <\/p>\n I frequently work 14-hour shifts, where I go to the toilet just once and don’t eat to be able to fulfil the demands. <\/p>\n Sometimes, I will cry at the end of my shift because I’m so overwhelmed and stressed. <\/p>\n I feel defeated, like I should have done better.<\/p>\n A lot of nurses and healthcare assistants feel like this, but we have done our best. <\/p>\n I just think the NHS needs more investment and fewer targets, and then it could thrive.<\/p>\n Dr Krishan Syal, 69, is a GP and partner of Glan Yr Afon Surgery, which covers Tredegar. He said: <\/strong><\/p>\n I will be 70-years-old in August but am still working full time.<\/p>\n I want to go part-time but my business partner and I haven’t been able to recruit new partners for the past four years. <\/p>\n I feel like I have to stay to maintain practice stability.<\/p>\n GP retention is not just an issue in Tredegar; it is nationwide. <\/p>\n People don’t want the job as it comes with too much pressure and responsibility. <\/p>\n We can only realistically see so many patients in a day, yet we also cannot restrict numbers as we are the first point of contact and have a duty of care. <\/p>\n Patient safety can’t be compromised, but we are seeing patients with very complex needs and a ten-minute consultation is often not enough. <\/p>\n People also have to start looking after their own health, with a greater input from public health bodies. <\/p>\n People are overweight, and still smoke.<\/p>\n They need to know how to live healthily, eat healthily, not to put on weight or smoke, reduce their alcohol consumption and exercise. <\/p>\n Pilot projects are often started to help this, but after the pilot is done, the money runs out and then it’s finished.<\/p>\n The current situation seems unsustainable to me. <\/p>\n We need to recruit more GPs and make the workload more sustainable, otherwise increasing numbers will be leaving from the stress and physical strain. <\/p>\n Having said this, I do believe the NHS has got a bright future. We don’t know anything different, so we have to do our best.<\/p>\n The NHS: Fit For Purpose? airs at 10:40 BST on Wednesday, 4 July on BBC1 Wales.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The NHS’ founding father, Aneurin Bevan, was born and lived in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, in a small miner’s cottage on Charles Street. Here, on a neighbouring road, three generations of one family and a local doctor tell of their interactions with the NHS and their hopes and fears for its future. Kay Thomas, 74, has Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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