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got to the Belmont next day
Err has Fort William got its looooooong awaited new hospital then ? Or is it still the same old Belford?
I’ve protected the NHS by keeping myself healthy all my life
there are many illnesses and disabilities that are nowt to do with how healthy you are
what you actually mean is you have been lucky with your genetics and what you have had. Its highly offensive to those who have blameless illness to suggest its all their fault for not being healthy which is what you are doing. And 60% obese patients is bobbins!
But, for the record, my second break in Knoydart: set the bone myself, got to the Belford next day for a quick plaster job, no physio, and whipped off the cast myself six weeks later. Just sayin,’ like.
...and the very next week, the same set of numbers came up again.
Which was nice.
Something to do with the two operations and the metal t-piece I still have in my arm
That sounds quite expensive for the NHS - was it due to carelessness on your part or just an unfortunate accident which apparently aren't likely to happen if you keep fit?
Sorry - I've not been following the thread very closely. Is the metal T piece part of an ebike?
The reason the 'branding' is about pay is because 90% of the press are stooges for the right wing Gov and push the message the Gov want. But many ferhook whits choose to not read past it.
My daughter is in nursing. Even back in the summer her hospital had a waiting time at A+E between about 25 and 28 hours depending on when you took the snapshot (and in the daytime, not even when filled with piiished eeejits either).
The elected by a few PM even announced privatisation by rhe back door today if anyone was listening. Let 'independent' suppliers fill gaps where needed. What - at a higher cost and wirh private profit for their owners instead of having the capacity required in the real NHS. It's being set up the way the railways and energy supply are. And aren't they roaring successes (well yes for the private owners !)
@ceepers Your assertion that dentistry has evolved in the last half century is something that a) should be blindly obvious to anyone who's given it a moment's thought and b) something I hadn't given a moment's thought to. So thanks for that.
As a kid I had four perfectly good molars removed under a general to 'make room' due to overcrowding. I have no idea today whether that work was necessary; I'd like to believe that it was undertaken in good faith, it was a local family practice of long standing. Between that, a couple of premolar extractions and never getting my wisdom teeth, I have 22 out of 32 in a full adult set. On both sides of my mouth I can get my tongue in the gaps with my teeth clenched.
Somewhat ironically I finally had my first wisdom tooth eruption about a year ago, though it's done little after breaking the surface and in any case there is nothing to oppose it so is pointless.
I have a (remaining) molar which broke maybe six months ago, but has been problematic for years in that if I catch it wrong with food there's a sharp acute pain. Almost opposing is a premolar which the dentist said was 50:50 as to whether it was salvageable; he saved it in the end but it was several visits and some of the worst pain I've ever known. Over on the other side is a canine with a hole in the back, it's not giving me any trouble as yet but I can feel with my tongue that the hole is slowly growing and, well, as you said yourself, I'm conscious that at some point it'll hit a nerve.
In high school I broke both front top incisors. The lad on the other side of the desk threw a punch at me, I ducked and kerbed them on the edge of the desk. Lost half of one and three quarters of the other. They've given me no end of trouble over the years. Multiple crowns; nerve burned out; metal insert; abscess requiring several courses of antibiotics and a root canal; etc etc.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, the family practice I've been going to since I had milk teeth is now part of a MyDentist chain. I was late for an appointment once so they struck me off, then covid hit and the country shut down before I had chance to complain / appeal.
Fast forward to literally today, there's a local practice accepting NHS patients for "a limited time." I got in, the first appointment they have free is the middle of April.
At 2:30, I shit you not.
And 60% obese patients is bobbins!
What I can believe is that it's a convenient excuse for everything. An ex was probably classed as obese, "have you thought about losing weight" was the first thing out of many practitioners' mouths for wildly unrelated GP visits like eye pain.
I don't doubt that being overweight causes or exacerbates many issues. But it's definitely the go-to when many of them see a fat lass.
I also won’t take lessons on condescension from you, tj….
you probably should though.
Yours, impartial observer.
Oof! But made me laugh.
I’m enjoying Chuck Norris, having joined the discussion, regaling us with the tales of him and his dad
Can’t wait to the next bit where he replaces his own kneecaps using only a blunt, rusty pair of garden shears, using parts fashioned out of the splintered skulls of his enemies
*swoon*
But, for the record, my second break in Knoydart: set the bone myself, got to the Belford next day for a quick plaster job, no physio, and whipped off the cast myself six weeks later. Just sayin,’ like.
But, for the record, my second break in Knoydart: set the bone myself, got to the Belford next day for a quick plaster job, no physio, and whipped off the cast myself six weeks later. Just sayin,’ like.
Pfft.
After an iron like erection lasting over 2 days I resorted to rabbit punching my dick repeatedly whilst thinking of Margaret Thatcher. Only after that didn't work did I trouble A & E.
It was then discovered that I had punched my dick so much and so hard that I had caught leukaemia, which I treat once daily with half a paracetamol and a bit of a sit down.
For the record, when I broke my collarbone on a Sunday evening at Swinley, I went to bed with two paracetamol so as not to overwhelm a busy Sunday A&E. went in the next day and they failed to spot it. Six weeks later after a private scan, they were a little more certain 😉
For my second trip I narrowly missed appearing on 24hrs in A&E (yea I was in THAT bed with the same consultant). I was probably too high on fentanyl and the junior doctor performed her first chest drain on my very torso. I could have done it myself, for sure, with a decent butter knife and a brake bleed kit, but sadly the five breaks in my good wrist meant it was a struggle. And the butter knife was blunt.
You were lucky.. the only first aid we had was "let the dog lick it"
^^ You owned a dog??
This reminds me of that time I lost a limb. Stung a bit but it’s amazing what you can do with a pack of cable ties and a spare inner tube. If I was a fat lad it would’ve probably killed me but, being the prime specimen that I am, I’ve suffered no ill effects and didn’t even need to go to hospital. I should be given a golden stethoscope for services to the NHS. If we could just all man up a little bit, not get ill and power through any injuries or illnesses we could turn the NHS around in no time.
And 60% obese patients is bobbins!
Read it again. I wrote '[the physio] said 50-60% of her patients were suffering extended complications because they were overweight.'
Interesting the way people pick out single points and respond to them with personal attacks (then pile on my non-personal replies to those attacks), while avoiding addressing issues round quality of life, taking personal responsibility for your health, and realistic expectations for the ageing process.
As regards my first break being expensive: came off the bike at the end of a 3500km trip, breaking the arm. Got back on the bike, rode it one handed to a railway station, put it in storage then took a taxi to the hospital. Guess it depends on what you think institutions like the NHS are for: patching you up when you break so you're good to go - or doling out a lifetime of diabetes, blood pressure and mental health medication.
I'm completely on board with all the current strike action and the motivation behind it (not pay, that's a distraction). But it's dishonest not to look at the bigger picture.
But hey, ignore that and crack on with the personal attacks.
While people are not in A+E because they are obese it is clearly a very big reason why a lot of people end up with illnesses which they need hospital treatment for in later life so shouldn't pretend it isn't.
I woke up dead this am but resuscitated myself as I needed to be at work. Can’t put any pressure on the NHS.
I wrote ‘[the physio] said 50-60% of her patients were suffering extended complications because they were overweight.’
Still bobbins.
MY Missus died of aggressive metastatic cancer. what you are saying is its her fault. Nice
Its been pointed out to you how offensive you are being and you double down
You were lucky.. the only first aid we had was “let the dog lick it”
^^ You owned a dog??
No, "the dog" was a nickname for Uncle Steve.
Guess it depends on what you think institutions like the NHS are for: patching you up when you break so you’re good to go – or doling out a lifetime of diabetes, blood pressure and mental health medication.
Ah, got it. It's fine to use the NHS to intervene in consequences arising from lifestyle choices, so long as they're your lifestyle choices.
... also, how the hell does mental health fall into that logic? If folk are suicidal they should just pull their socks up and learn to cheer up a bit? Maybe go do a bit of plastering?
… also, how the hell does mental health fall into that logic? If folk are suicidal they should just pull their socks up and learn to cheer up a bit?
Somehow, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that's part of Therese Coffey's big announcement to save the NHS.
Telling it like it is to all the woke libtard snowflakes who clog up our valuable NHS just cos they're feeling suicidal, the poor petals.
You, pull your socks up and be happy!
Next!
Just to clarify, I genuinely was just having a giggle rather than a dig at you, I'm not even entirely sure what the current argument is about on here.😁
I woke up dead this am but resuscitated myself
"Aye, tell it to the youth of today and they just don't believe ya"
MY Missus died of aggressive metastatic cancer. what you are saying is its her fault
No I'm not. Cancer is going to get 1 in 2, 1 in 3 of us (that ageing population thing, again). It got my BiL in his mid 50s. It's one of those population-wide inevitabilities (like childbirth and maternity, but NOT IVF in my opinion) that the NHS is for, and can achieve good results at, provided it gets the funding. Again: population vs the individual, inevitability vs choice.
I gave myself a kidney transplant last week, using a handy ‘how to…’ guide I bought from Argos
Next week I’m going to go for the triple heart bypass. How hard can it be?
It’s one of those population-wide inevitabilities (like childbirth and maternity, but NOT IVF in my opinion) that the NHS is for, and can achieve good results at, provided it gets the funding
We needed IVF to treat infertility that was a sequelae to my cancer treatment in my early 20s. If IVF is a no-no, are we also ruling out breast reconstruction post mastectomy?
It's easy to have an opinion on who the deserving/undeserving sick are when they are talking about people other than themselves, whose lives they don't fully understand.
There is a discussion about when end-of-life care should trump active intervention, but covid didn't just kill people who were screwed anyway, it killed a fair few people who had potentially decades of decent quality life ahead of them, whether they were overweight or diabetic or whatever. Your definition of 'quality' may not chime with theirs, but that's not relevant.
Just because you are fortunate enough to be in a position to maintain your personal fitness, and place a relatively light burden (so far) on the NHS, doesn't mean that you get to be the reference point about the value of the lives of others. All that can change overnight for anyone, they could fall ill, lose fitness, gain weight, suffer mentally. Suddenly you are the burden on society, and it may feel different to have other people standing in judgement on your ongoing 'value'.
We have the population we have right now, for good or worse. Society in general needs to be better at addressing the early causes of ill health, but that is a long-term project to reduce the burden for future generations, and is separate from offering a basic level of care to people who are suffering right now.
Loving the fact that someone has leveraged this thread for an extended humblebrag. Brilliant!
Its a highly emotive subject and i dont claim to know the answer, but IVF could be an area where joined up government thinking could be applied.
There's a cost to providing IVF to people wanting to have children, there's a cost to having large numbers of kids in the care system needing foster carers/adopters to provide them with a loving and supportive start to improve their life chances (and save on longer term social costs).
If we're considering hard conversations about end of life treatment, maybe hard conversations are needed at the start? Again, not saying I know the answer, I've had friends go down both routes.
I know adoption may not be condidered "the same" as having a birth child, but maybe a wider societal view is needed. (The fact that MrsMC is needing to place the tenth child from one woman at the moment may be influencing my thinking!)
Montgomery - all your posts are about personal responsibility for illness totally ignoring other factors and also taking huge risks yourself ( self setting a bone? easy way to cause fat embolism)
You are also ignoring all the other factors that make heathy lifestyles hard for some and that much diabetes is auto imune based.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and you have no idea about much of the stuff you are spouting - just doubling down on being offensive.
Your knowledge and understanding is poor to the point you cannot recognise how poor it is
If we’re considering hard conversations about end of life treatment, maybe hard conversations are needed at the start? Again, not saying I know the answer, I’ve had friends go down both routes.
I kind of agree with this, but it is all hot potato stuff. Fortunately or unfortunately medical advancement has meant that people that could not have babies now can, people can change sex where naturally they couldnt. People are living way longer than they used to because we are finding ways to stop people dying.
Personally I would stop home births tomorrow. Its an un needed drain on the NHS. If you want your baby delivered by the NHS, go to a staffed maternity unit. Every baby born at home requires 2-1 care instead of 1-1 care. That has a huge impact on the maternity units.
The end of life care thing is really fairly well sorted IME but perhaps less so in some areas of healthcare. You also run up against religious ideology. Until recently for example muslims were forbidden to sign DNACPR forms and still are forbidden from using an ACP with restrictive care options ie no escalation - thats a tricky one to deal with
We do need an honest conversation about what can be done on the NHS. IMO IVF is not something that should be offered for example. At the moment its a postcode lottery with some folk being offerd 3 cycles, some 1 and some none - thats just wrong. Others of course will have a very different view on this.
Unfortunately, we have to try to deal as best we can with the latest crisis, which is likely to be dozens of unnecessary deaths in hospital corridors and the back of ambulances today and tomorrow. Sure, it's also if we could try to help people make healthier choices, but that is an investment which will start paying off in a decade.
In purely practical terms, one of the basic functions we should expect from our governments is to provide adequate health services for the population at any particular moment. This lot have allowed that basic function to be neglected for over a decade, and this is the result. The fact they have also neglected public health intervention and preventative care is a secondary sin, but the building is currently on fire, so we have to put that out and chuck the arsonists out of office first.
part of Therese Coffey’s big announcement to save the NHS.
you are soooo last health secretary. The new announcement is that things are just fine but don’t go to A&E. And any operation you may be waiting for is cancelled. And 40 hospitals when the Lego bricks finally arrive.
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/lego-city-hospital-60204
The new announcement is that things are just fine but don’t go to A&E. And any operation you may be waiting for is cancelled. And 40 hospitals when the Lego bricks finally arrive.
I wouldn't put it past them to go into full gaslighting/denial mode. It got them through the first few weeks of covid - admittedly to the massive detriment of us little people - but since when has that been a problem?
I wouldn’t put it past them to go into full gaslighting/denial mode.
They're already there. According to Rishi, the current situation is a 'challenge', but hospitals shouldn't cancel elective operations (even though their recovery beds are full).
It's not a 'challenge' that the NHS can just sort out with a quick brainstorming session in conference room 3. People waiting 24 hours for an ambulance, and then dying in the back of it, or in a corridor, is a complete disintegration of the emergency care pathway.
Also FWIW, my self-treatment anecdote.
I had a mate at school who reset a damaged elbow by himself (couldn't tell you what was actually wrong with it as, obvs, he never found out at the time). A few years down the line as things got worse with it, he had to have a series of operations on the NHS that I am pretty certain cost >10x what it would have originally cost to go to A&E and get it sorted at the time.
Cool story, huh?
I know adoption may not be condidered “the same” as having a birth child, but maybe a wider societal view is needed. (The fact that MrsMC is needing to place the tenth child from one woman at the moment may be influencing my thinking!)
As you well know... it's fostering that is VERY different to having a birth child, and that is where the need is greatest. It's an entirely different job. But even adoption can be a path that many people simply are not up to, especially with older children (whether that is their own assessment or that of professionals). As for adopting new borns, the opportunities there are very slim on the ground and come with additional complications that aren't for everyone. Treating fertility issues is still healthcare, and availability of treatment is already overly rationed and restricted, we don't need to be oversimplifying the choices faced by people looking to access it.
[ No skin in the game as regards treatment for me, we didn't need IVF or anything else. My uncle and aunt did receive MBEs for their fostering of many kids over the years... as well as having three children of their own. ]
There are plenty of healthcare interventions which could be viewed as 'unnecessary' through the deserving/undeserving prism.
As I mentioned, why do we fund breast reconstruction surgery, or disfiguring birthmark removal? Or surgery to mitigate scarring after burn injuries? Because the mental health burden of these conditions can be significant, just as the burden of even relatively mild pain/discomfort from hernias, bunions etc is still considered worthy of intervention.
Why carry out vasectomies on the NHS? They could just wear a johnny, couldn't they?
I strongly believe that the NHS cannot do everything and we need an honest conversation as a country about what it should and should not cover
For example - when I did my stint in A&E many years ago Saturday evenings was drunks falling over or fighting. Sunday morning however was full of amateur sporting injuries. christmas day was full of old ladies falling over after too much food and sherry
all of those are lifestyle injuries. Which ones are the deserving unwell?
A good friend of mine who is a consultant anaesthetist was sat on her arse at home for the majority of spring 2020 since almost all of the routine stuff at her hospital was cancelled due to NHS directives to keep the hospitals free for and because of Covid. Actually she wasn't sat on here arse, she was off out on her bike most days in the sunny weather we had at the time, but you know same thing.
Routine cancer screenings were mostly halted during this time too and it was made very difficult to see a GP face to face. Access to sports clubs and facilities was curtailed whilst fast food takeaways took advantage of eat out to help out schemes. 40,000 care workers were also fired for not getting a vaccine. Children forced to stay at home with abusive relatives and not in school where most of these problems are spotted, etc, etc.
And we wonder now why there is a huge backlog of patients on waiting lists, increased pressure on the NHS, bed blockers due to lack of onward social care, a mental health crisis amongst school aged children and more aggressive late stage cancers being reported etc.?
What an utter mis-managed shambles!
But hey, ignore that and crack on with the personal attacks.
To be fair this comment by you was a highly personal attack:
y’know, like some of the ebike riding **** on here
There are valid reasons why some people ride ebike, and not simply because they are lazy or don't care about their own health.
There is no need to describe them in terms which won't pass the swear filter.
you are soooo last health secretary.
Apologies, I must be suffering more after effects than I thought after I accidentally brutally cut my head off while combing my hair.
I got better by myself though.
sat on her arse at home for the majority of spring 2020
One of my relatives is a diagnostic radiographer who's normal work was suspended... she worked longer hours than ever in Spring 2020 as it was all hands on deck creating split wards etc. She had to live apart from her young family as well. Was you friend working for an NHS hospital trust?
kt360
Free MemberA good friend of mine who is a consultant anaesthetist was sat on her arse at home for the majority of spring 2020 since almost all of the routine stuff at her hospital was cancelled due to NHS directives to keep the hospitals free for and because of Covid.
Which previously banned troll are you?
Was you friend working for an NHS hospital trust?
No, because she doesn't exist. Check the age of the account.
Its also nonsense because a consultant anesthetist would usually have ITU responsibilities for ventilated patients of whom there were far more
Also even if that were not true she would still be in the hospital supporting colleagues
and more aggressive late stage cancers being reported etc.?
My Julie had a very aggressive metastatic cancer during covid. Zero delays in treatment / diagnosis
You’ve spelled losers wrong ya dickhead!
What a sad and pathetic bunch of stupid **** most of you lot on this forum are.
What a lovely way to start a post. Although I guess from your last sentence that you are expecting the imminent ban.
It's a fair point that the vaccine neither prevents catching Covid nor stops transmission.
My family were all double vacced and 8 out of 9 got Covid after a family lunch post lockdown.
Which negates the vacc the entire population to save granny line that was pushed.
Personally my Covid was not nearly as uncomfortable as the side effects of my second Jag.
Was you bout of Covid before or after your first vaccination?
Anyway... our hospitals still have additional load due to Covid... something that by now should have been expected, planned for, and the response properly funded.
Personally my Covid was not nearly as uncomfortable as the side effects of my second Jag.
I think you will find that was the intended aim. Although ideally not to catch Covid at all.
Whilst I do agree with some of what you've posted you're doing more harm by being abusive meaning less chance of anyone here wanting to listen. That's not the way to go about it and I speak as someone who's been given abuse on here for being unvaxxed. Also, please remember there are users here who've lost loved ones and would undoubtedly find your comments hurtful.
Whilst I do agree with some of what you’ve posted you’re doing more harm by being abusive meaning less chance of anyone here wanting to listen. That’s not the way to go about it and I speak as someone who’s been given abuse on here for being unvaxxed.
Abused for being un-vaxxed? Why, when the vaccines have actually been shown by the Cleveland, Ohio study to increase transmission and case numbers in the vaccinated. That's awful that people would stoop so low to abuse another for excersizing their right to bodily autonomy. Sorry to use profanity but if I'm going to be banned, which seems likely, may as well do it properly.
Also, please remember there are users here who’ve lost loved ones and would undoubtedly find your comments hurtful.
Thank you. And well put.
have all been strung a merry old yarn and those that still believe it need to wake up fast
You can take that to the Covid thread if you want. People will discuss it with you there.
But in this thread... there are thousands of people currently hospitalised by Covid right now, and that is one of multiple problems that hospitals (and the wider health and care sector) are currently facing that is having an effect on a&e (what this thread is about). It can't be ignored if you want to solve the current crisis.
But in this thread… there are thousands of people currently hospitalised by Covid right now,
Can I correct that for you. There are thousands of people currently hospitalised by Covid for something else but happen to have had a positive test for SarsCov2 whilst in hospital right now.
There we go, fixed it for you.
Young sportsmen dropping dead with heart conditions in record numbers. Google ‘died suddenly’ and see what comes up? Long Covid or Long vaccine injury?
So I’ve said my bit. Suggest you all need to man up and start living in the real world. Ditch your cloth comfort blankets that don’t even work. We will all die at some point so get over it! Start waking up before you all get ass-**** ed by the climate change bollocks being implemented by our great leaders who continue to fly around by private jet whilst you struggle to heat your home. Get used to owning nothing and being miserable.
Thats nearly a full house of unrelated conspiracy theories in just two short paragraphs, just need your opinion on cashless society and the JFK assassination for bingo
I think location is a factor, my mate took a tumble on the ice which out on a gravel ride, 30mins for the ambulance to get to and 45mins for the first service to come and get him off the ice and into the ambulance. slow speed tumble completely shattered his tibia and knee. a knee rebuild the next day and whopping scar. We live in the highlands of Scotland so i suppose population density is a factor....
Binners, I notice you can post stupid Meme’s but you don’t actually refute the points I made. Same as ever.
"Never wrestle with a pig. You both get covered in shit but the pig enjoys it"
EDIT: I see you've edited your post to remove the bit where you called me a ****, you old charmer, you
Is kt360 also going to try to slip in the opinion that this is also all because of illegal immigration before the ban? It would be remiss of them not to.
Yet a multitude of thick people still say .....
Well it might not be what they teach at Charm School but it is certainly in line with the widely held opinion on here - "if you don't agree with me you must be thick/stupid"
I caught covid exactly 6 weeks after my booster. For me Covid was milder than a mild cold, I did completely lose my sense of smell and taste but I have had worse hay fever.
Whilst it has always been recognised that covid isn't always severe for everyone I certainly expected to be at least as bad as a cold.
I will continue to follow medical advice concerning future booster jabs rather than the opinions of a random stranger on a MTB forum.
Although presumably in the eyes of some that makes me thick.
He hasn't used the term 'bedwetters' yet. Standards are slipping.
Does the govt actually know what contribute to the NHS problem(s) at the moment? If they don't know where the problem(s) originated from how can they provide solution(s)? Let's leave out the political intention of privatisation for now.
My questions are simple.
1. Does NHS have enough workers i.e. doctors and nursers etc?
2. Is the backlog or delay caused by the domino effect of Covid-19?
3. Is the problem caused by mismanagement of social care (got rid of all the social care now everyone just goes straight to A&E etc)?
4. Is the increased in the cost of living making it unsustainable to work in NHS for those earning below certain level? (meaning no shortage of workers but income just unsustainable)
5. What exactly are the main issues or problems facing NHS exactly?
Anyone?
I know everyone is saying lack of funding but leave that out for now.
Binners, I notice you can post stupid Meme’s but you don’t actually refute the points I made. Same as ever.
How do you know? You only joined this forum a couple of days ago and that's the first post I recall seeing from binners in that time
The recent Cleveland study has shown conclusively that you are more likely to get Covid the more vaccine doses you receive.
Link?
My questions are simple.
1. Does NHS have enough workers i.e. doctors and nursers etc? - No is the simple answer, and it will take between 5-10 yrs to get them. However unless you do something to encourage people to join these professions people will not.
2. Is the backlog or delay caused by the domino effect of Covid-19? - Yes and no. COVID has caused big backlogs in itself, however there were already shortages of theatre staff and theatres and beds. Add to this that consultants are less likely to want to do extra hours now as it literally cost them money to do it. It hasnt just got bad now, its been getting bad since 2015.
3. Is the problem caused by mismanagement of social care (got rid of all the social care now everyone just straight to A&E etc)? - Its a mixture of Brexit, Wages being low, contracts not making it cost effective, more complex patients.
4. Is the increased in the cost of living making it unsustainable to work in NHS for those earning below certain level? (meaning no shortage of workers). - Our Trust is offering free food to staff. No one in the NHS earns less than £20,270 for 37.5hrs work. This isnt so much about base pay, its about what you expect to pay 'professionals' and yes care staff (social care) are minimum wage, prob zero hr contract and doing very tough jobs. Would you prefer to wipe some ones arse all day or clean up sick, or work in Aldi/Amazon etc?
5. What exactly are the main issues or problems facing NHS exactly? - Staffing, Complex Patients, Backlog, Capacity
All of the above to some extent chewkw, but number 3 seems to be worst, as TJ said way back at the start of the thread. I only mention TJ so I can be on record as agreeing with him 🙂
For example, here's my own anecdote from the weekend.
I was on Skye, where I chatted to an old neighbour who works in the 12 bed Broadford hospital.
6 of those beds are currently occupied by long term oldies who should / would be better at home with care, or in a care home.
Of those six, several are demented, taking up huge amounts of nurse time and creating intolerable stress.
Property cost is a major issue on Skye too, there's not a chance of buying a house as a nurse. Locum docs are the routine now, at eye watering cost.
Checkw - multifactorial. Social care is a huge issue - up to 30% of acute beds in hospitals are patients awaiting social care, who do not need a hospital bed/hospital care but nowhere else to go. By definition if you run anything (whether hospital or fitting tyres or whatever) and 30-35% of your capacity to do work is lost you are snookered.
There are also staffing issues for multiple reasons with lots of unfilled posts due to pay/conditions/morale/burnout in non medical roles (nursing/support workers especially). Among senior consultants there have been a lot of early retirements/people refusing to do extra work that they did historically due to pension taxation. This is a complex issue but in effect taking on extra work can mean you pay far more in tax than you got paid, so bottom line you can have more money in the bank each month if you do less work. No one in their right mind would say yes I'll do an extra days work each week and earn less money than I had in the first place.
Flu/Covid are not actually that much of an issue but the numbers being admitted are still high enough to disrupt a system that was already struggling.
Our hospital had fewer empty beds in summer than we've ever had in winter in the last 20 years - some of this is a chronic problem that has just got slowly worse over 10+ years but a combination of factors some of which are pandemic related and some of which aren't have created a tipping point.
Thank you for the answers FunkyDunc, bedmaker & Jet26.
If others have different answers to FunkyDunc, Bedmaker and Jet26 please just post your answers.
I am trying to understand where the solution can start from because the problems are all related and very complex.
Didn't we do the credentials of John Campbell last time you were around?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Campbell_(YouTuber)
I notice you can post stupid Meme’s but you don’t actually refute the points I made. Same as ever.
Ever used to be a long time, now = 2 days. Must be related to inflation.
I strongly believe that the NHS cannot do everything and we need an honest conversation as a country about what it should and should not cover
For example – when I did my stint in A&E many years ago Saturday evenings was drunks falling over or fighting. Sunday morning however was full of amateur sporting injuries. christmas day was full of old ladies falling over after too much food and sherry
all of those are lifestyle injuries. Which ones are the deserving unwell?
Tj - good questions but not necessarily simple answers. Don’t treat the drunks and then people either lie about the cause or don’t seek treatment, then some either need much more complex treatment later or become long term sick/disabled costing them state in other ways.
don’t treat the sports people - but then we discourage activity and long term nhs costs rise from fat people on the couch.
don’t treat granny - but then she end up in social care earlier which someone has to pay for.
obviously don’t treat might mean - treat but charge for, but some will not be able to afford it, others will be a pita about it (I pay your wages gone mad) and the nhs isn’t set up with the admin infrastructure for charging - so you end up adding more cost across the board to recover from some.
Shut everything down because of a respiratory disease released from a lab in Wuhan.
Says everything we need to know about the poster
Along with post "DR" John Campbell vids - he is a retired nurse like me not a doctor of medicine and the one vid I tried to watch of his on vaccinations had so many basic errors of fact in it that it was laughable
I poersonally watched people die of covid. Not of anything else but of covid
When we get to the point where we're trying desperately to exclude the 'undeserving sick' for cost grounds, it's a desperate knee-jerk because we can see the NHS disappearing off a cliff and feel powerless to do anything about it.
There are no quick fixes, because all the cupboards are bare - NHS staffing, Local authority funding and everything in between. It's like multiple organ failure, a vicious circle where the solution to one problem just shines a light on another one.
Poor social care, more waits for elective surgery, and less primary care early intervention - more (and sicker) patients arriving via A&E - takes longer to sort them, then you can't discharge them. Their outcomes may be poorer because staffing shortages and bed pressures lead to suboptimal care. Their care needs are now greater than before, but no extra help is funded, so if you do discharge, back they come, sooner, and sicker than before.
The NHS needs a post-war style settlement, and an extended period of stable, responsible government so that investment can be made in a planned way rather than in response to perma-crisis. For all the derision of the Blair/Brown years, this is exactly what they tried, imperfectly, to do. The political will was there, the money was made available, the execution was in parts questionable.
Poly - the point was just to show that "the undeserving" are a very difficult group to actually define
The logic of saying the vax doesn't work because you still got covid is hopelessly flawed. That's like saying that wearing a helmet whilst biking still didn't stop you falling off your bike. Duuurh.
Just like a helmet (you're not one of the stupid people not wearing a helmet are you on the basis that the strap may give you a minor graze ?) Won't stop you crashing, and may not even stop you dieing if the crash is big enough, it will on a majority of occasions REDUCE (but not eliminate) the consequences in terms of head injury.
I am surrounded by eeeejits.
I hope kt360 stays around for a bit longer, I am quite keen to hear his views on Meghan and Harry.