Current Affairs

[Gill W]

Gill, Foxys post got me thinking and can you please point out where anything I posted about the social care proposals would have led you to assume I thought the £86000 covered the total care home costs?

You said

Well said Foxy, and I agree that this seems a fair way to provide some way to protect everything above the £85000 threshold, and I have still not heard how Labour would fund this

That implied to me that you believed EVERYTHING over £85000 would be protected - no distinction was made between cost of care and accommodation.

t seems eminently sensible for the govt not to make firm plans now, which might require amending due to any future crisis, especially when the media and left wing politicians take delight in highlighting govt changes of plan.

As per your quotation highlighted above - you are always going on about Starmer needing to have plans, yet you appear to be quite happy for the government not to make plans.

That seems to be an unusual stance.

I do wish you wouldn't speak for other forum members especially when you get it so hopelessly wrong. I think we all knew what the implications were.

What am I wrong about? I am correct to say that cap refers to the cost of care.

When I was reading the posts, it seemed to me that nobody had mentioned that the financial cap was for care only - and the comments gave the impression that the cap was for the total of all costs incurred. So I posted a small piece of factual information. That's hardly 'speaking for other forum members. The irony doesn't escape me that you complain that I have spoken for other forum members, whilst speaking for other forum members yourself.

As for being 'hopelessly wrong' - that sort of language seems designed to devalue anything I say - I don't think you speak to anybody else on the forum in that tone.

I am similarly baffled. I wonder why some forum members seem to consistently assume that those who disagree with them must be ill informed idiots. It goes right back to the assumption that those who voted to leave the EU only did so because they didn't understand.

That's a bit rich coming from you, as, from where I was sitting, it seemed that you spent quite a lot of time trying to portray me as an ill informed idiot. Indeed the level of anger that was directed at me from your direction was one of the chief reasons I gave up posting on the forum.




This thread has been fairly quiet for weeks, in spite of there being lots of news going on.

Yet, I post a bit of factual information that I thought may be of assistance and muse on what the detail of the plan is.....I wasn't disagreeing with anyone - and in 24 hours I get a barrage of people coming at me, trying to belittle me.

I've got better things to do than try to defend myself against a group of people on here, so don't expect any more replies

[oldbluefox]

This thread has been fairly quiet for weeks, in spite of there being lots of news going on.

True, and that's the way we like it.

[david63]

do I really need three letters for the same appointment?

Yes - one to book the appointment, another to cancel the appointment and the third to rebook the appointment.

It is all about targets - you are given an appointment within the target timescale which at the time they know will not happen but that does not matter because the "box has been ticked". The original appointment, which was never going to happen, has to then be cancelled "due to unforseen circumstances and then the new appointment, which was always the one you were going to have, has to be sent out. Simples!!

[towny44]

If it's so easy to fudge the figures, why is the NHS backlog so big?

[Kendhni]

I love Johnsons new language fudge, he no longer has to defend his breaking of every promise he makes because he now only gives an 'emotional commitment' about what he says. But I am sure that will be enough for his boot lickers.

[Kendhni]

I can't remember which Health Secretary it was but years ago, to show that the NHS was getting better, a promise was made that patients would see a medical professional within so many minutes of arrival. This of course was just the usual BS that one expects to come from the mouths of civil servants.

What happened in reality was that a nurse was diverted from doing something useful and, within 5 minutes of you arriving for an appointment, you were called to see this nurse who confirmed your name and age, before telling you to go and sit down and wait for the usual hour+ to see the doctor. She then put a tick in the box to say the hospital was reaching its target of seeing patients within X minutes - which allowed the government to employ more worthless civil service paper pushers to count them up and produce worthless graphs showing how hospitals were performing.

[oldbluefox]

I cannot say this is my experience of having an appointment. I have rarely had to wait for many minutes before being seen. Of course that all depends on other patients turning up late or needing a longer consultation which can impact on those waiting to go in. The reverse can happen, of course. I went in early to see the cardio consultant because his previous patient had not turned up.

A&E, ie without an appointment is a different kettle of fish altogether. I presume the nurse who initially sees you is the triage nurse who will assess what your needs are and how quickly you need to be seen. From my limited experience of A&E it seems that many of those turning up could be self medicating at home, time wasting or out of their heads on drugs or alcohol which means those who are there for more pressing accident or emergency needs have to wait that little bit longer until a station becomes available.

[Manoverboard]

A couple of years ago I sliced my finger with a machette while cutting kindling, so had to go to A&E. Blah, blah, blah, sit over there I was politely told. Been here long I asked the guy next to me ... about 4 hours he said and you he asked. I reckon on about 10 minutes and of course he laughed thinking it was a joke. After 5 minutes I was called and went straight into a room for a doctor to put 5 stitches into my bleeding finger.

The guy next to me had a fracture but my blood trickled all over the receptionist's counter and the floor etc so I was obviously a far more urgent case.

[Onelife]

A couple of years ago I sliced my finger with a machette while cutting kindling, so had to go to A&E. Blah, blah, blah, sit over there I was politely told. Been here long I asked the guy next to me ... about 4 hours he said and you he asked. I reckon on about 10 minutes and of course he laughed thinking it was a joke. After 5 minutes I was called and went straight into a room for a doctor to put 5 stitches into my bleeding finger.

The guy next to me had a fracture but my blood trickled all over the receptionist's counter and the floor etc so I was obviously a far more urgent case.

Whimp!!

You told me that you sutured your own finger and took paracetamol

[Manoverboard]

You can't thread a needle using only one hand .... just saying

[Onelife]

You can't thread a needle using only one hand .... just saying

Shropshire men use superglue…just saying!!

[Manoverboard]

Shropshire men use superglue…just saying!!

That'll be why they all walk round with their hands in their pockets then

[Kendhni]

Shropshire men use superglue…just saying!!

A lot of medical personal use glue. I always keep a tube of medical glue in the house in case of serious accident ... never had to use it yet, but know of a couple of cases where it saved the persons life.

[Stephen]

I cannot say this is my experience of having an appointment. I have rarely had to wait for many minutes before being seen. Of course that all depends on other patients turning up late or needing a longer consultation which can impact on those waiting to go in. The reverse can happen, of course. I went in early to see the cardio consultant because his previous patient had not turned up.

A&E, ie without an appointment is a different kettle of fish altogether. I presume the nurse who initially sees you is the triage nurse who will assess what your needs are and how quickly you need to be seen. From my limited experience of A&E it seems that many of those turning up could be self medicating at home, time wasting or out of their heads on drugs or alcohol which means those who are there for more pressing accident or emergency needs have to wait that little bit longer until a station becomes available.

Second paragraph, spot on Foxy

[oldbluefox]

Just don't get me started on those who fail to turn up for appointments.
The cardio consultant I mentioned earlier had travelled over from Newcastle to Carlisle to see his patients. When I got there 15 minutes early he was wandering around because of a no show so I got in early. But what a waste of this chap's time and energy!! I am appalled by the number of no shows at doctors', dentists' and hospital clinics. Then we wonder why waiting times are so long.

[Onelife]

A lot of medical personal use glue. I always keep a tube of medical glue in the house in case of serious accident ... never had to use it yet, but know of a couple of cases where it saved the persons life.

as in...

During the Vietnam War, emergency medics began using the all-purpose glue to seal battle wounds in troops headed for surgery. The glue was so good at stemming bleeding that it was credited with saving many lives.

[david63]

Recently when I have had an appointment it says at the bottom of the letter how much a missed appiontment costs in pounds - doesn't mention how much it could cost in lives that could potentially be saved

[Stephen]

Unless no shows have a good reason for missing an appointment, let alone not phoning in to cancel then they should be fined. How they would get the money is another matter. As I understand it, if you don’t show up for a hospital appointment without informing the hospital then you are referred back to your GP and have to start again, and rightly so.

If a patient does the same with the GP more than twice in a row without informing the surgery then they should removed from that practice.

Harsh but fair.

[barney]

Unless no shows have a good reason for missing an appointment, let alone not phoning in to cancel then they should be fined. How they would get the money is another matter. As I understand it, if you don’t show up for a hospital appointment without informing the hospital then you are referred back to your GP and have to start again, and rightly so.

If a patient does the same with the GP more than twice in a row without informing the surgery then they should removed from that practice.

Harsh but fair.

But that’s penalising the terminally stupid Stephen.
That’s discrimination

[Stephen]

Sh*t happens

I’ve been thinking about this a bit more, can you hear the cogs turning. I think allot of the problem with no shows, especially at GP practices, and I’m not defending no shows for one minute, is trying to get through to their practice on the phone to cancel. It’s horrendous.

For the likes of most of us who no longer work we can spend ages if needs be being number 30+ in a queue, but for most, they just don’t have the time. And by the time they do get through to cancel the appointment has been and gone. And if it’s like our practice it doesn’t matter what time of day it is.

My suggestion would be to register all patients with system online, if your practice operates this system, as I did ages ago. You can make appointments (if your quick), see test results, order more meds, and most importantly, cancel an existing appointment at the touch of a button. No hanging on the phone, just click and it’s freed up that appointment for someone else.

You will never stop no shows but it would be a step in the right direction.


Just a thought

[Chalgrave4]

Much is made of patients not turning up for appointments (Which I agree is a despicable thing to do) but you hear nothing of when things are the other way around. Over the last 5 years I have turned up for medical appointments on 3 occasions to be told my appointment has been cancelled, No text , no phone call nothing. "You will have to phone in to rebook - it will be about 3 weeks" being the only response.
About 6 weeks ago my wife had a telephone appointment with a Hospital Consultant, Having waited all morning for the call she then telephoned to be told the appointment had been cancelled. She received a letter cancelling the appointment 4 days later - dated the day of the appointment.
So perhaps the medical profession needs to get its own house in order before any punitive measures are taken

[Stephen]

Fair point.

[screwy]

Change of subject.
There has been an outbreak of COVID on the MSC Virtuosa.

[towny44]

Change of subject.
There has been an outbreak of COVID on the MSC Virtuosa.

Do we know how many passengers are involved and how they are handling it, the latter is far more important than the news of an outbreak, since going forward this is likely to be a frequent occurrence.

[Manoverboard]

Mixed reports ranging from one death and super spread to ' it's just a rumor ' ... either way it is due to dock at Southampton any time soon.