NHS back to full stength

[Bill]

Good to see the junior doctors have given up their strike action and are now all systems go to try and clear the backlog. Or are they?

Last Saturday I had an appointment at Halton General to see a vascular specialist. I arrived to find an almost empty carpark and upon entering found the place deserted and in partial darkness. I walked the full length of the ground floor then up to the main level without seeing a single person. No patients, nurses, not even cleaners. I found the vascular department deserted in complete darkness so began to wonder if I’d made a mistake.

I continued on for the full length of the hospital, the cleaver lighting returning the corridor to darkness as I passed, until I finally reached the front of the hospital where the first sign of life was a single lady receptionist who asked “Mr Green?” I was relieved that I hadn’t made a mistake but a bit shocked to realize I must have been the only patient in the entire place. I was told to go to the outpatients department which true to form was empty.

So, after eighteen months of waiting, I finally got to see the specialist who gave me a couple of pamphlets explaining my condition and told me to go back and see my doctor.

Bloomin marvellous.

 

Bill 😊

[ninearches]

It's great to see that everyone is suddenly "well" & in no need of NHS services.

[Confused52]

5 hours ago, Bill said:

So, after eighteen months of waiting, I finally got to see the specialist who gave me a couple of pamphlets explaining my condition and told me to go back and see my doctor.

It's good to heard that your condition can be sorted by your GP.

The NHS will continue to be a basket case until someone works out how to make everyone involved work together to improve to outcomes for patients. An example is that GPs want to get the same fraction of the total budget that they used to have - that nothing can ever change has to mean that everything new must be additional cost and the NHS budget always grows and eventually swallow up the other public services. Of course that can't be true since Social Care is going swallow it all. Has it all gone past the point of no return?

[Observer II]

Think your right Con,   the NHS has always been a collection of silos, where groups try to protect their little Empires without interest in the whole, thus any form of overall efficiencies are doomed and all costs are additional, making the whole a black hole for funding   .  

[Bill]

That sort of thing is commonplace in all the public services, but the general public isn’t that interested in the economics, they’re more concerned that they can’t get to see a doctor and if they can it takes an age.

I’ve never had an issue getting doctors or hospital appointments but since Covid it all seems to have gone to pot. Restricting appointments to reduce numbers in the waiting room made sense during covid but it’s stayed that way to this day and gives the impression that the doctors are'nt that busy.

In the past, the receptionist assessed the situation and was able to make judgment calls on what was going about and the doctors ability to deal with the demand and hence the number of appointments they could fit in. Now though it’s all done digitally with predefined timeslots where a simple consultation is given the same time allocation as something much more serious. The net result is far fewer appointments which makes life easier for doctors and staff, but creates long waits for the public.

I heard proof of this recently when a nurse taking blood samples said that before these changes were made to reduce mass queueing with tickets, she used to average around 40 people a day. There are no queues now, but she only does 25 a day and never a single one more. Unsurprisingly the wait time for blood test appointments can now run into months.

 

Bill 😊

[Lt Kije]

I agree since covid it had gone to pot, I had one of the few Doctors that if you got up early enough you could see a Gp, open surgery every morning, since covid I have to go on an App (ask my Gp) and if I am deemed ill enough I might get an appointment later in the week

[Observer II]

Well you certainly need seeing to !    😆

[Bill]

It’s been two weeks now since the specialist said he’d write to my doctor and I thought that I might have been be contacted by now so this morning I called into the surgery to find out what’s happening. They confirmed they’d had no letter and if I needed to see the doctor I’d have to go online on Monday.

I’ve already tried this twice now and got nowhere, can’t even see where I’m supposed to be clicking. Not being funny but if I can’t work this out then there’s got to be a hell of a lot more older people that can’t.

Grrrrrr. The system sucks!

 

Bill 😊

[Confused52]

I tried to get the local Practice Manager to call me back so I could explain why sending texts containing links to the other half's chocolate bar phone with a 3x2 inch screen was going to get anywhere, he could be bothered to ring back. This was for the Autumn Covid jab booking and when you go online using the link only a handful of appointments are visible. If you scroll down to the very bottom there is a button that says show more and that lets you see all oof the appointments. On a smartphone you would not get as far as the button, on the chocolate bar you don't start. These people have no grasp on reality - the service is to offer jabs principally to those over 70 for God's sake!

[Observer II]

It'll  all be sorted by a freezing Winter, or by Mpox or by a GP's strike - not to worry !    😉

[Bill]

The assumption they make is that everyone lives with a mobile in their hand. I don’t and that’s why I often miss the text messages they send. If they bothered to ring the phone then maybe I’d stand a chance of hearing it.

Had to get my son to help me the other day with another stupid app. Where’s the bloody confirm button it’s telling me to press? It’s easy he said, just touch the screen there and flick your finger upwards, everybody in the world knows that, apart from me it seems.

I’m pretty useless with apps but wonder how the heck my wife would get on if I wasn’t around. She’s terrified of clicking on anything for fear of being scammed. She doesn’t know how to use the keyboard and despite living on Facebook, has never typed a single thing. Asking her to describe what’s wrong to doctor using a keypad would be an impossible task for her.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

the last time i saw a live doctor was when i had my flu and covid booster last year and that was a case of "roll up sleeve" jab jab "ok wait outside for fifteen minutes then go home".

had to review my medication last time i tried to order it. called the surgery and explained to receptionist what i wanted. "oh no problem i can do that, give it an hour and try again online".

i have managed to book my covid booster using the links provided in a text. 8th october. don't know if i will be getting the flu jab at the same time or not and wondering if i need or am eligible for the shingles one.

seen the adverts on tv and can't make head nor tail of them. first it says you need to be over seventy or have a vulnerable immune system then it says if you turned  sixtyy five on your last birthday you can get it for your birthday,...😵

still not got the nhs app to work as it keeps asking for info that i do not have. may drop in at my doctors and have a word with the receptionist and see if they can help sort that out.

[Confused52]

My understanding is that the shingle jab has two variants, the old and a better new one. If you are over 70 you get the old one and if you are over 65 you get the new one as it lasts longer.

I asked about the Flu jab when I phoned to talk to the practice manager. The answer I got was that they were doing the flu jab at the same time if you want it. That bit at the end is key, last time when the nurse was preparing the Covid jab I asked whether she had the adjuvated Flu jab (for over 65's) and looking sheepish she went off to get one. My other half was not offered a flu jab (I had had to ask after all) and she went back to get a flu jab. So you are best to ask at the time to make sure you get it. As there will not be many under 65's getting jabs this time it will be easier without the need to get the type split right, I suspect they were running short of the adjuvated form last time and were conserving it by not offering it!

I have the same concerns as Bill over the other half and mobile phones/internet only services. She watches Scam Interceptors and dreads doing the wrong thing on computers and will not touch a smart phone at all. When she worked she programmed computers, but what she finds so distressing is the Graphical Interface and the way it keeps changing. Without sufficient experience adverts are a major problem and idiosyncrasies like colours and text on buttons cause confusion. The standard parts of GUIs aren't maintained these days and designers often ignore the rules or only test on chrome. In the public sector it is truly dire - the new National Rail site has gone back years.

[ninearches]

Of course ,the problem with the tech industry is that it is driven by young people who have grown up with its development via video games ,i am still Sega Tennis level 1, & the same people have no concept of getting old(er) or that several generations have been completely passed by where technology is concerned.

[Observer II]

Have they got the vaccine for Monkey Pox ready yet ?     😉

[ninearches]

Probably relabel the covid vaccine Obs.

[Observer II]

Not heard of any prepping by the NHS for it,  perhaps they're hoping it will take out more pensioners ? !      😉

[Confused52]

1 hour ago, Observer II said:

Not heard of any prepping by the NHS for it,  perhaps they're hoping it will take out more pensioners ? !      😉

Mpox (monkeypox) outbreak: vaccination strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What are you?

[Lt Kije]

1 hour ago, Observer II said:

Not heard of any prepping by the NHS for it,  perhaps they're hoping it will take out more pensioners ? !      😉

Hang on were you not against the safe guarding they put in place for covid, and now you are complaining that they had nothing for mpox, is it me, is that not a double standard

[Observer II]

Well, I doubt many folk have seen that Con and I've heard no comment on MSM,   still I might be able to rely on my smallpox shot from many years ago !     Kyje your just making things up now. I was totally in favour of the initial clampdown on Covid, the isolation of risks, and global movement of same.   Alas this wasn't done properly leading to a lack of confidence in the lock-down principle.  I wasn't "complaining", I was asking, knowing some clever bod would supply a link, if there was one !     😉

[Bill]

I’m hopeful this monkey pox thing won’t be anything like as bad as covid. From what I’ve heard on the news it’s mostly not that bad and passes within a week or so unless your immune system’s severely compromised.

Don’t sleep with strange black men and don’t eat monkeys then you shouldn’t need to worry about there being no vaccine.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

i think it depends on which of the two variants you are infected with.

there are two variants with the same symptoms and it has been around for quite a while first identified in 1969.

can be passed on by rodents so as well as not eating monkeys or sleeping with black men keep the squirrels away from your nuts....🙈

the only time i have ever been naked with a black man was in a shower after a trip down a coal mine, that coal dust gets everywhere....🥺

[Bill]

Here’s the Padgate Medical Centres home page that we’ve been regularly using for a few years.

Where's Wally or rather patchs?

Lots of buttons to click but none for the patchs service that the waffle it tells us to use. There’s a search option at the top but type in patchs and it doesn’t find anything. Type PATCHS though and it works. As a user interface that’s utter rubbish.

There is a revised page available now but because we’ve used the old page so many times, Google always brings up the one that doesn’t work.

This is how it should have been in the first place.

BTW checkout how easy it is to read the buttons and see which one is the hardest to read.

Any surprise there? 😊

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

i did have a text not to long back saying that my surgery was changing over from patches to another system.

as i have never used it i have no idea if it works or not, a phone call to the receptionist usually sorts something out and they will either refer me to a doctor for a voice appointment or advise me if i need to see a doctor in person.

the last time i had any interaction with a doctor was when i asked about a rash on my leg, was asked to send in pictures and the doctor called me saying it looked psoriasis and prescribed some cream for it.

the receptionist now deals with reviewing my medication when the time is due.( they may refer to a doctor or not all i know is they tell me to wait half an hour and try to order online again.)

it is a toss up between submit blood pressure readings and complaints.....🤕

[Bill]

Well at least the blood pressure button has a big heart symbol on it.❤️

Maybe there should be an 😫 on the complaints.

 

Bill 😊