Mlle du Gers just blogged recently about the sheer volume of people who bitch and whine about the UK, ranging from its culinary abilities to the public services, and weather to what to watch on TV. Well, I just spent a very brief day-patient visit in one of our UK hospitals yesterday, and all I can say to such detractors about our NHS is pfiddlesticks. You lot are boring, moaney gits with bugger all else to talk about, I'm sure. My visit (apart from the fact no hospital visit is ever going to be as much fun as, say, a trip to Alton Towers, or a nice day out at Blackpool) was as stress-free as it could have been, and was staffed by an entirely professional, cheerful and considerate group of nurses and doctors (with one particulary nice male nurse's bottom to appreciate, too, which made the whole indignity of being in an operating theatre in a flimsy gown slightly less terrifying, but still - sooooooo not the place to start telling it like it is under anaesthetic, eh?) . I doubt they ever hear much in the way of thanks, but they bloody well should. Through the medium of dance, perhaps... A whole cabaret of showgirls and men in top hats and penguin suits tap-dancing to some great music hall classics should just about do it...
As if to compound the fact my NHS experience was nothing but pleasant, I spoke to my neighbour on returning to the house, and she was telling me about the expenses her family have to pay in basic healthcare in Eire. She then went on to describe the further expenses on daily living that we as UK citizens consider part and parcel of our social rights, and sadly our discussion strayed onto the severe lack of cancer care afforded to Irish citizens in the east of the country. Yes, that's our neighbour, Eire, the Celtic tiger that was not-so-long-ago lauded by the SNP as a major example of what Scotland could look forward to, should we ever become independent from the rest of the UK.
Now there is talk of severe unemployment in Eire, a potential country on the verge of bankruptcy, and much more in the way of doom and gloom. By this reckoning pestilence, famine and rivers of blood are next on the list. Now I'm no genius, but that doesn't look promising for anyone, and regardless of your political preferences, I'm guessing no-one could argue that was caused by Brown's maleovolent hand of doooooooooom... Not even the Tories could blame Brown for that much chaos, as much as they'd like to. Heck, even the bank bosses couldn't get all the blame for that... well, OK, we could at least try...
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3 comments:
I totally agree with all you have said, but do remember that it IS Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary - not the most overrun or overworked NHS Trust in the country! Try living somewhere like Crawley! My aunt was in the cancer ward in Guldford - yep, Guildford, the nearest cancer unit to Crawley - and the wards were a bunch of Nissen Huts that a bunch of Tenko extras wouldn't have looked out of place standing outside doing roll call!
The problem is we've all been spoilt in good old D&G with A+ healthcare.
We do moan and bitch, but try paying for it. I haven't had my thyroid blood tests in over a year because, quite frankly, I can't afford it. And we moan about paying taxes and NI contributions - it's all bloody worth it I tell ya!!
True enough. My thought is that we rarely say thanks for good service, but are quite happy to whinge and bitch about poor service, despite the fact its rarely the fault of the staff of an organisation. Just look at the protesters smashing in the RBS bank in London. The staff still have to turn up to work the next day, and they're the one's who'll have to deal with the broken glass and stolen computers - not some smarmy, hoity-toity big boss with a mercedes, an account in the Bahamas and a family seat in the home counties.
D&G Infirmary might have a relatively quiet time, but those big Scottish parliament brain-boxes decided, in their infinite wisdom, that out of hours GP's should be allocated per head of the population, rather than by distance.
The resulting mess is one single out of hours GP covering Dumfries to Kirkcudbright, and another over to Stranraer. How on earth does that work in a region that covers over 70 miles from one end to the other? If you're ill out of hours now, you have to make the judgement call to either call an ambulance or call NHS 24 (who invariably send you to the hospital) or wait until the morning. Considering that the signs of, say, Meningitis can appear deceptively like flu until its dangerously late, then how many people are going to bother an ambulance until the 'flu' becomes something distinctly more deadly?
Now - I ain't bitching about the actual service, I'm bitching about the fucked-up logic and decision making that is usually made much further up the chain by people who have no clue as to what constitutes a 'normal' life on account of the fact they spent most of their existence within the confines of either mummy and daddy's estate, public school and Oxbridge, and later on Whitehall. Harley Street would be their first choice if they so much as cut a finger, anyway.
The cancer care in Eire, from what my neighbour was telling me, amounts to one specialist cancer ward in Dublin, and not much else anywhere else. So over on the west coast you'd have to be willing to travel all the way to Dublin for chemotherapy? That definitely doesn't seem right.
I used to think Ronan Keating was a wanker for doing a cancer charity thing after his mum died (the uncharitable person that I am - I thought it was a publicity stunt). Now, in light of this information, I'm not surprised there was a need for it at all. Sorry Ronan. You're da man after all.
Wow girls, you've managed to bring up both of the hospitals I've worked in!! How'd you manage that lol. I totally agree that in NHS D+G we have it much better than in some places (Guildford included!) but as always it's by no means perfect. I'm not going to bitch about it here but tbh it's the politics from management that cause the most problems (big surprise!). Oh, and the fact that the professions seem to be too busy bitching amongst themselves to ever stand together of course!!
Glad you had a good experience Joocey babe.
LXX
ps who was the male nurse??
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