Is everyone suddenly better? NB

[dralex]

It's amazing- I'm sitting here covering the acute session, but nobody is ill!! On any normal day I'd be working pretty steadily calling people, seeing emergencies and doing visits. Have I missed something on the news about some wonder drug to cure everything, or is it just large doses of Christmas spirit. My other theory is that everyone is gridlocked in supermarkets.

What is everybody doing?

On a different note, the weather is not looking great for a sail over the weekend. ANyone else planning to sail?

 

[jimi]

All in bed too ill to move, they phoned their doctor 3 days ago but recptionist told me to eff off cos she was busy cos it was Xmas ;-) Government strategy to sort out the Y/e waiting lists

 

[dralex]

Hadn't thought of that one, but it sounds worth a try in future. If you ignore people for long enough they'll go away ( or die). Bit like the insurance loss adjusters we've been dealing with trying to sort out some flood damage on our house. The damage was done at the beginning of August and we still don't have a fix!! I'm convinced that these insurance companies have a policy of ignoring calls in the hope that the majority of people will get fed up and just fix it themselves.

What's worse is that we live on a hill!

 

[Goodge]

Do you wanna swap places with my wife ?

She's tearing Soton General trying to free up beds and get people out and you GP's have got nothing to do !

She's got ward closures due to a virus, shortage of staff and most of the senior bosses enjoying luncheons / parties.

I've bought her some roller blades so she can cover more ground quickly but I'm not sure this helps !

Gotta get the waiting lists down so the figures look good for Mr Blair but of course she won't get a Xmas bonus or much of a payrise due to the budget defecit.

Mind you, all will be forgotten for at least 24 hours.... don't you just love the Health service ?

 

[dralex]

I just find it mad- I'm certainly not admitting anyone because there's no one to admit. I do feel sorry for the bed managers and senior nurses in hospitals, but who do we have to blame?? I worked in hospitals for long enough. It's the same in general practice- the work load can really high, but it has to be dealt with there and then. There is not enough spare capacity in the system to look after people within the time limits they expect ( and reasonably expect)- the politicians are only concerned with emotive issues like waiting lists and cancers. They are also worried stiff that there may be the impression of over staffing at times of lower demand and that's not economically efficient. The system should be set up to deal with times of highest demand, which are actually pretty frequent. Ultimately, the system can never be as good as people want it while it is still totally reliant on public funding.

Today really is a weird blip, which is why I can spend so long writing this.

Happy Christmas

ALex

 

[jimi]

Know quite a few people working in the NHS and the complaints are all the same. Top heavy bureaucracy and targets inappropriate to sustainable customer care .. oh and waste on ageing consultant salaries and (not least) IT projects.

 

[riojasailer]

The Christams effect is even more marked when the patients have to pay for their care. I'm an optometrist and this week is always remarkably quiet. The only patients are the ones that have been sent by their GPs!

Happy Christmas

 

[Goodge]

Yes the NHS has many faults and in my years married to SWMBO you get a feel for how in efficient the whole system is.
Its' a blimmin shame really when people have given so many years to a career that really is their calling in life and they just get put upon the more they stay in the industry.
If my wife was in commerce or industry she would have less stress and £10k on her salary but no doubt she'll come home this afternoon with a cheap bottle of wine as a 'thank you' for her efforts.

Mind you she'd better have my tea ready when I get home, can't have her slacking now can we ?

 

[Talbot]

[ QUOTE ]
If you ignore people for long enough they'll go away

[/ QUOTE ]
That could explain why there is sometimes a 9 hour waiting time at Queen Alexanders Hospital at Portsmouth

 

[oldharry]

9 Hours!!!! How did you get yourself seen so quickly?

 

[Cutter]

Hi
On call for 5 days over Xmas so have a vested interest in this one. NHS now target driven - all patients have to be seen, treated or discharged within 4 hours of poling up in A&E. Absolute priority since we went down the disaster route of Foundation Hospital. So, we have to distort clinical priorities further and admit some who dont need it. Furthermore a high proportion of our emergencies are the mentally ill homeless who require much more input. We have to achieve 20% savings in the Business Case for our new PFI hospital - guess where those will come from. The contract negotiations were a complete shambles and the academics have been furhther disadvantaged. The NHS pension is under threat whilst the MPs further protect their own. God, no wonder we feel bad.
Think I'll retire and set up a mast racing organisation. There must be a government grant for it somewhere. Any takers?
Have a good Christmas and dont fall ill in my bit of London!
Richard

 

[dralex]

And what would be nice is if we had more resources in primary care to look after all the people who are ill, but don't need a hospital bed, but do need intermediate acute services and even care in the home. That way there may be more beds free for people to have their elcetive admissions and then everyone's happy.

 

[Goodge]

My wife runs the Community Discharge Liason team for Soton General.
There has been a great emphasis placed on this as she tries to get people out of the acute beds and into smaller community hospitals or arranging for some care in the community.
Trouble is, lots of nursing homes shut down in recent years due to increased regulation and the fact that the owners sold their valuable property to developers.
Not many carers in the community either so how do you free up the acute beds ?
Then if you cant free up the acute beds the waiting lists for surgery gets longer and Tony won't like that.
So its up to all you heroes in the NHS to work your magic despite the cr*p that you have to put up with.

There must be a solution but the Gov't doesn''t know it.

Cutter, how are you by the way ? Got an e mail from Mark Longstaff yesterday, might meet up soon .