"Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

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seahermit
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Re: "Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

Postby seahermit » Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:33 am

It's hard to know what to criticise first! In the first place, I myself would not touch Specsavers, heard too many stories of their lack of expertise and emphasis on marketing ploys. Currently I use Wilson, Hancock and Wilson in Cambridge Road - expensive glasses but, so far, courteous and faultless service.

Secondly, it seems very irresponsible for an optician to play down a problem and rule out further examination. It only needs a brief check to pre-empt more serious issues later. You don't take risks with eyes and I would not have accepted a response like that from Specsavers.

As for making you play piggy-in-the middle, going to and fro between optician and doctor, I can hardly believe this happened. The whole point of
putting systems online is that communication should have been instant, you should not have been involved and your surgery should have been updated automatically.

Enough for now. Just realised that "Town like Alice" is starting on BBC2 - irresistible intelligent viewing!

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seahermit
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Re: "Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

Postby seahermit » Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:06 am

I don't normally stay up so late but "Town like Alice" must surely be one of the greatest wartime dramas, terrific, made up for a lousy week.

My hospital experience was very poor but no worse than many other people's and atleast there were no critical consequences. Complaints don't have much effect, there has been massive publicity about some of the worst scandals but the whole NHS has continued to decline. Only a very big change in approach will change the existing culture.

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Richard
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Re: "Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

Postby Richard » Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:13 am

We have become a nation willing to accept poor care and errors that often result in death, for the sake of holding onto a 1948 ideal that is struggling to cope with modern day needs.
There needs to be more responsibility and accountability for bad service.
Nurses and doctors may protest loudly that the NHS needs more money but all that’s happened over the years, despite massive spending, is that there is a “culture of cover up” over preventable deaths, mainly down to mistakes and lack of care.
The system is bloated and wasteful and spending has often been squandered, weak leadership led to the failure of an £11.4bn attempt to update the NHS’s patient record systems. When I mentioned a health issue to my (latest) G.P. he said he was unaware of some of the 'procedures' carried out on me in hospital as they were simply not recorded on the system on his computer.
The biggest issue is that when the NHS fails in care, it leads to misery, permanent problems, and avoidable early deaths, yet there is strong support for 'our wonderful NHS'.
A culture of unaccountable power held by senior medics led to many deaths among the elderly, owing to administration of powerful painkillers, not so very long ago. Many objections and alarms were raised but denied by condescending consultants and when the Police were called in by concerned parties they took over 12 months to begin investigations, which took many months longer to gather and then finally act on the evidence.
Over £1 billion has been lost to fraud. Patients waste nearly the same amount annually in missed appointments.
It’s easy to blame all the NHS’s ills on money but lapses in care and service go beyond this.
Shifting emphasis from diagnosing and treating illness to predicting and preventing ill health would make a huge difference. The NHS spends up to 10 billion a year on treating complications caused by diabetes, being overweight plays a large part in causing type 2 diabetes.
It is no use pretending that the health care system is perfect and putting the blame on inadequate government spending for every issue the NHS has, in that scenario we are destined to be cared for by a rapidly failing utopian ideal.

Where NHS funding spend is too low it is in the area of long term care of the elderly (over 65) and in providing sufficient doctors and nurses as well as more beds.
Those can be remedied, the money will have to come from taxation, but funding is not the only problem in the NHS.

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ColinL
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Re: "Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

Postby ColinL » Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:30 am

Last autumn I had been having appts with my GP and was expecting a home visit on the Friday morning. At the time of the appt the phone rang from the GP to say she was concerned with the last test required and was admitting me to hospital and had arranged for an ambulance to take me in. She said it could just be for the weekend or perhaps longer. It was 8 days. Some medical staff had what looked like mobile phones attached together uniform but were infact integrated computers. They could press a single button and say 'call xxxxx'. It would repeat the name for verification. This meant that the staff member couod continue to speak to me whilst waiting for a response. It is a sign of the time that the hospital put up notice in corridors asking the public not to abuse staff as they were actually working not doing personal things.

Prior to discharge a staffs her came to issue follow on info for when I got home, such as physio, home help, copy of referall letter back to GP and the consultant that I was under before admission. They also have me a walking and stairs test as they knew my house had a lot of stairs. I received a follow up call at home one day and four days later.

Meanwhile I understand that Branson is seeking yet more compensation from the BHS for something. That follows on from an error in a contract tender that meant he did not get a lucrative tender so he sued the NHS and we had to pay him anyway. By contrast Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs have offered their two hotels to the NHS during this crisis. The NHS under Failing Grayling had said no top down reorganisation but then done that very thing creating problems for managers and staff. I cannot believe that Grayling still has a post in govt. The little island of Cuba that The US is trying to crush has just sent a team of specialist viroligists to Italy to help free of charge at the same time as the US is trying to corner the market in protection equipment and drugs so that it can deprive the rest of the world a supply at reasonable costs.

There are many problems and cockups in the NHS but it is miles better than an American style system where a chronic ailment might mean bankruptcy and losing ones home.

Apologies for grammatical or other errors I am still under NHS care months later and find it very difficult to concentrate.

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Richard
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Re: "Over 70's might be told to stay indoors for 4 months"

Postby Richard » Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:05 pm

My sympathies with your aliments, ColinL

If people who could pay (in employment and not on benefits) contributed a small amount it might help a little. If it's 'free' at point of service people will take it for granted, ring ambulances for almost anything and fail to meet appointments without reasonable excuse.
Once you are admitted you will be assessed for social care at home and this takes time to arrange and is generally a step forward but if you have not been admitted then that procedure may not be automatically invoked.
I have had good treatment at the Conquest, yet fairly recently it was in 'special measures'.


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