NHS fit for purpose ?

[Observer II]

Went to see my GP last week to get refered for a hearing test.  She checked my ears and decided I needed ear drops to clear the wax.  Started with the ear drops, but while it may have softened the wax it didn't clear it, in fact it got worse.  So I rang my GP  again to book an appointment for ear syringing (something they always used to do); to be told they don't do it anymore, but refered me to Bath St.  I phoned Bath St and discovered they couldn't fit me in until next Feb.  Tried Warr Hospital, to confirm I'd been refered for a hearing test, which was scheduled for Dec, but asked about getting my ears syringed, "sorry, we don't do syringing, and you can't have a test if your ears need syringing." So now trying to go private to get my ears syringed.   Seems the wheels have come off the NHS wagon.      😠

[Bill]

I think it’s already been said on here about doctors not doing ear wax removal so it’s use over the counter stuff of wait until February. I get a build up every few months and I use Otex-Express and that generally manages to clear it out within a few days.

I heard on the telly this morning that NHS doctors are going to start prescribing e-cigarettes to people who want to stop smoking, that’s assuming you can ever get to see one. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense that the cash strapped NHS should be paying for something like this especially when most folk already know it’s ten times safer and ten times cheaper than fags.

 

Bill 😊

[ninearches]

My Dad used to pour a tea spoon of hydrogen peroxide down his lug hole. It used to froth up like Vesuvius.

[Bill]

I think that's what they put in the Otex Express to speed things up. It's like pouring a bowl of Rice Krispies down your ear.

While on health issues, I had routine blood test the other day that thankfully didn't show anything untoward but it did flag up a big drop in vitamin D levels. The doc said that the covid situation has created this especially with older people who tend not to go out so much these days. Hopefully some cheap gummy chewy things will have my levels back to normal because I cant see we'll be having much sunshine in the next few months.

 

Bill

[Latchford Locks]

Blocked ears are very frustrating I suffer occasionally and it sends me mad there are a few private options out there normally around £ 45 per ear.

But it saves the frustration of a blocked lug hole !

.

[Observer II]

The problem is, I need hearing aids asap, primarily to listen to TV movies. At the moment I hear the background music and sound, but can't hear the dialogue. My TV was bran new last year.  Been using Otex, which is Hydrogen peroxide, which seems to soften the wax, but not expel it; and we're told not to use cotton buds.  Such are the ravages of age.   😷

[ninearches]

I think what you get with tv sound these days Obs is not as sharp as when it was in mono. Wrap around sound has spread the output round the room. We usually put subtitles on anyway but they are not always accurate.

[Bill]

The Otex only loosens and partially dissolves the ear wax so if you leave it in, it just dries out and achieves nothing. I always put a good dollop in for about 15 mins while lying down then turn over for another 15 mins while I do the other ear. The drops run out onto a tissue and take with it a small amount of wax each time. Eventually after a few days there’s no frizzing because the wax has gone.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Actually Bill, I think most of the wax has gone - so it's down to bad hearing I guess.    

[Observer II]

Still can't get an appointment for syringing or the booster.   Tried the walk in centre at S/Heath this morning, the queue was round the block, so gave up.  Phoned 119 again,  no booster appointments available in Warrington for the next Month.   If the people responsible for organising this, had been in charge of the Dunkirk Evacuation, we'd have lost the War - utter shambles.   😠

[Bill]

My wife received a text a couple of days ago advising her that she’s due a booster. It said she could book online or ring 119 (or something).

Not wanting to spend ages trying to get through or on hold we decided to book online and got an appointment at the Village Hotel. Most of the immediate slots were booked up so the best we could find involved a wait of about two weeks which was fine for her.

It took less than 5 minutes to book.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

I have mine booked at the village hotel for the 2nd December ten to eleven.

Took a bit of fiddling as i have not got used to this smart phone device and so typing in the info required was a bit hit and miss.(small letters and fat fingers are not a great combination when it comes to smart phones.)

so name input date of birth and postcode then choose any criteria (parking was my only one) add email and phone number and done. two minutes later a text and an email confirming and giving the booking confirmation number.

Just got to write it all down so i don't forget.....🤭

[Observer II]

Thanks to Con, I've finally booked it. 

[Ian]

On 11/13/2021 at 1:27 PM, Bill said:

My wife received a text a couple of days ago advising her that she’s due a booster. It said she could book online or ring 119 (or something).

Not wanting to spend ages trying to get through or on hold we decided to book online and got an appointment at the Village Hotel. Most of the immediate slots were booked up so the best we could find involved a wait of about two weeks which was fine for her.

It took less than 5 minutes to book.

 

Bill 😊

Got my notification on Friday and found the same with the Village Hotel, dates were showing as available but as soon as you went to book it, message said this date was no longer available. Did the same process for all this week with same results so looked at Northwich option which was next closest and had my booster on Saturday.

[Bill]

Yes, I noticed that as well Ian. All the immediate dates were showing either fully booked or limited availability, so naturally we click on the limited availability first only to find that there’s nothing available.  The first date that didn’t show limited gave me a choice of anytime during the day.

To me it’s probably down to poor software where two parts of the programme were not being updated at the same time. Another example of this is if you click the toilet required option you instantly get zero availability at every site across the country.

Maybe the people who write this sort of stuff are fans of the TV program Pointless. 😊

 

Bill 😊

[ninearches]

I think whatever requirement you tick ,not just toilets, nullifies the booking request.

[Observer II]

D

[Observer II]

During the initial roll out of jabs, there was a strict order by age cohort, provided by centralised data; and aside from some queue jumping, it seemed to work fine.   Then some smart Alec decided to open things up, resulting in a surge of applications with a system that couldn't keep up.   

[Bill]

Yes Obs, but the problem with trying to keep thing in a strict order to avoid que jumpers is that it removes flexibility, forcing people to attend at times that are not ideal or locations that aren’t exactly local. With the first round of jabs, it was more important to get the oldest folk done first to give them some protection, but the booster doesn’t have the same degree of urgency so as long as you can get it before the protect wains too much then you should be fine.

My wife’s quite happy to wait a couple of weeks to be able to get the jab at a convenient place and time but I accept others see things differently and like Ian are prepared to drive much longer distances to get done that bit quicker. No system can meet everyone’s ideal requirements and what they’ve come up with is a half decent compromise.

 

Bill 😊

[Confused52]

1 hour ago, Observer II said:

During the initial roll out of jabs, there was a strict order by age cohort, provided by centralised data; and aside from some queue jumping, it seemed to work fine.   Then some smart Alec decided to open things up, resulting in a surge of applications with a system that couldn't keep up.   

Obs, the order is by and large the same as last time except that if people delayed their second dose it variesfor them by being later than their age indication. The system is not suppose to let you book at all unless you have reached 5 months from your second dose and it will not give you an appointment for less that six months after the second dose, to be precise 182 clear days afterwards. Invitations are not by ordered by age but by last vaccination date.

If you ask the online system for an option of car parking it works fine by the way.

I have evidence that if you phone 119 the list of sites offered is different to what you are offered if you ask online. It seems that the 119 offer is less fulsome than the online one but the operators can change to an online booking if you ask them to. I suspect that if the centre you choose is one that 119 are targeting that might be why the online system loses appointments. It may be that the rate at which they are being taken up is such that they are allocating some to online and some to 119 operators. The rate at which they are being takin up is very high and much faster than when GP practices controlled a lot of the rollout. I would guess that you get the best results whilst people are mostly on the way to work and the latest vaccine supply data has been put in in the morning by the looks of it.

The order is the same as before but the system volumes are much higher because we are six months past the peak dose two rollout, in turn 12 weeks + six months past the peak vaccine delivery rate for the first jabs.

[ninearches]

We got ours done at the old Capper Neill site in Bold , just outside Burtonwood. Easily booked, straight in ,straight out. It's a health & vaccination centre now.

[Confused52]

19 minutes ago, ninearches said:

We got ours done at the old Capper Neill site in Bold , just outside Burtonwood. Easily booked, straight in ,straight out. It's a health & vaccination centre now.

Me too. There is a queue around midday but when I took my son later in the afternoon it was quicker.

[Ian]

I was chatting to the nurse and discussing the NHS App in relation to the Covid pass. She told me that the booster jab is not likely to be registered on the App, and sure enough to date, it still isn`t on my records which is surprising. I would of thought that it would be necessary for any extension of the individuals Covid pass moving forward.

[Bill]

There’s a good chance when the app was first written we didn’t even know we’d need a booster, so my bet is that it wasn’t included. Boris has been on camera saying the app will be updated shortly but that could mean anything from a few weeks to several months so not much help if like me you’re relying on it for your holidays.

The problem is that writing code changes isn’t something that you can just throw more people at to make it happen faster. There’ll be just one or two key people who actually do the work and n times more civil servants checking stuff like security and rights issues. It’s a bit like writing a book where you can’t have a thousand people writing it.

But as long as the information is in a database, it can be made available when the latest code finally gets updated on your phone.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

On 11/13/2021 at 11:15 AM, Observer II said:

Still can't get an appointment for syringing or the booster.   Tried the walk in centre at S/Heath this morning, the queue was round the block, so gave up.  Phoned 119 again,  no booster appointments available in Warrington for the next Month.   If the people responsible for organising this, had been in charge of the Dunkirk Evacuation, we'd have lost the War - utter shambles.   😠

Finally got my ear syringed, by going private -  so basically a service that was available from the NHS has been basically privatised if you want it done without waiting 3 months.  Booked in for the booster next week - fingers crossed.