Feckin Useless Doctors

I think if it’s not COVID-19 related or life threatening then they don’t wanna know
Regardless of what’s being said on the news the rest of the NHS seems to have gone into a sort of mothballed state

 

I have to agree @stevethegoolie my stepdaughter announced about a month ago that she is pregnant, now around ten weeks, but she called her mother a fortnight ago as she was worried because she had been bleeding for over a week. She is a very shy girl and, if I am honest, we suspect she is actually on the autistic spectrum (Her father, her brother and her half-brother and half-sister by another mother have all been diagnosed with autism.) and is not good a confronting situations. She phoned the midwife twice and got an answer service, left a message and never received a reply. We told her to either phone NHS24 or get herself down to A&E. So she phoned the number and was told basically they weren't interested unless she had Covid19. That was the point where I told her boyfriend to get her down to A&E and, if they didn't see her, kick up hell. Once she got there she was treated properly, blood tests, scans the lot as, I gather, bleeding in the early stages can indicate Ectopic pregnancy and other serious conditions which have a real potential to be very serious but the 'automated' system and everyday NHS seems to be geared now to turning anyone away that doesn't have a juicy case of Covid19.

 

I have a lawyer friend whose wife is a professor and an expert in virology and epidemiology and the two of them were unfortunate enough to contract Covid some time ago. For him 65, a little overweight and a type 2 diabetic, it was a bit like a mild flu and he felt strange for a few days. For her, an 'ultra' athlete who does those extreme triathalon's/Ironperson's event, 46 and, if anything slightly underweight, it affected her brain and gave her hallucinations and all sorts of odd things. He took her to hospital and the Medico who saw her at A&E tried to turn them away, talking down to her and acting like a Class 1 Utter Prick until she couldn't take it any more and explained to him why he was talking utter bollocks and gave him the numbers of several experts to consult with who would hand him his arse on a plate. Yes there are some in the NHS who shouldn't be allowed to be in charge of handing out aspirins.

 

I’m not gonna make excuses for poor treatment in the NHS... it’s one of the largest employers around... BUT here’s an example of how Covid has altered things in a Trust that I know well.
This trust has a specific chronic condition team consisting of 4 consultant anaesthetists, 1 advanced nurse practitioner & 1 specialist nurse (this is the clinical team only) due to staffing shortages and management changes (revolving door job) this team were already behind on their waiting lists but were making steady progress into reducing it. Then Covid hit the NHS, the government said to the NHS “stop ALL non essential activity and move staff to help with the Covid situation”
The chronic condition service was stopped for 5 months. 2 anaesthetists and the ANP were moved to front line activities, one anaesthetist was shielding due to health conditions, one couldn’t work front line due to disabilities following a motorcycle accident 8 years ago and so helped advise the management on latest Covid information; and the specialist nurse (not front line due to health conditions) manned the phones for all urgent calls for the chronic condition service and working through the 5000 odd referrals and follow-up patients to triage them for when the service was restarted normally.
5 months of clinics and treatments for this service couldn’t happen and so these “missed” patients are added to the backlog.
In the meantime, the Trust has to review and replan how to work in the new Covid environment. They don’t have the luxury of believing alternative points of view, they MUST stick to the government advice for Covid, or risk being hauled over the Coals by the upper levels of the NHS and being sued left right and Center by the public. So systems and procedures are designed and brought in place to cope with bringing unwell and often aging patients into a large collecting area (hospital) and to try to give them the best care possible whilst maintaining the new Covid standards of care.
On the back of these systemic changes, the chronic condition service reopened just over a month and a half ago, the anaesthetists came back about 4 weeks ago... So treatments are now being given in hospital again but consultations are done over the phone and they are just starting to do video clinics (again this is a massive change for the consultants to ensure they maintain best practice in a change of consultation techniques)
The patients appear to be generally accepting that the service has suffered due to the 5 month hiatus, but like someone panic breaking on the motorway, the queues build up for miles and it’s hard for some to understand why they are being affected by something they can’t see.

I am sorry that people are suffering, and yes... in a company this big there are rotten eggs... but the majority are just hard working common folk suffering their own illnesses, pains, stresses and family life issues as us... they don’t want to give poor care, they actually came into the job to help people.

 

Just got back from the hospital after seeing a consultant orthopaedic surgeon
Gotta have surgery to fit a cage onto vertebrae in my neck
This will be followed by surgery on both shoulders but I need another consultation to see if it requires fixing of my shoulders or if shoulder replacement is necessary
So I’m on the list and just waiting for a date to get the first surgery done
It’s Feckin ages since I did a cartwheel

 

Glad you have an answer and a solution... Is the orthopod gonna do the cage or is he getting neurosurgeons involved?

Do you want me to ride your bike for you when you’re recovering?

 

The cage is an internal contraption to fuse 2 possibly 3 vertebrae together

no more breakdancing