Oh what fun. Just when you thought we actually had got rid of the NuLabour nanny state do as I say bollocks up pop BlueLabour with a tick-the-box-your-government-knows-best bullshit scheme where all NHS staff have to lecture you to promote "Good Health" every time you have the misfortune to come into contact with you.
Now we all know this is going to be a box ticking exercise like the last lots' "Quality of Outcomes" shit. As an example of what will happen here I give you Mrs Dracunculus. She was at the doctors today, routine visit for a long standing complaint just to review, make sure its not getting worse, check the ongoing medication and tweak as necessary. Now she gets five minutes of the doctors time in which he has to do this and she informs me that five minutes was fully used. But in the future three of those five minutes is taken up with a stern lecture from Dr Mopp about how the glass of Sauvignon she likes of an evening will make her sodding tail fall off so what's he going to miss about the actual problem he was being consulted with in the first place?
What we have here is the underlying problem of the NHS. It was set up with the noblest of motives; free at the point of use so all citizens would be able to have their serious medical needs attended to and we would be free of the spectre of people dying for want of seeing a doctor. But since its founding its grown to way, way more than that simple basic service, and we're all partly guilty of making it suck. Over the generations we've demanded more, more, more from the NHS. We want every sniffle and cold treated, every illness given immediate and the best treatment, the treatment of ridiculous conditions (you can get a sex change on the NHS for fuck's sake) and the system simply can't cope. Accordingly the government step in to lecture, harangue and bully us into whatever bullshit they can come up with to try and keep us "healthy" and out of the doctor's surgery. We allowed the NHS to change from a backstop into a state monolith that seeks to control our "healthy choices" because they feel they have to just to stop the whole edifice collapsing in a mountain of debt and unpaid bills.
I'm quite aware that the Cuban Habaneros and that bottle of Malbec aren't good for me thanks. It's my choice and when I want your health advice I will ask for it. Oh, and I have BUPA so, state, kindly sod off.
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Now I have a badly broken leg....(thank you Mrs "I didn't see the motorcycle because I was driving with my head up my arse")and I have to say I received excellent treatment from the NHS. Going through A&E last visit, I was astonished by the number of 'self inflicted wounds' in the form of drunks, dopers and general twats taking up time and space. If you could possibly take your scaly self round there and incinerate a few, the system would work a lot better.
I agree with you about the tick box bullying - but "the treatment of ridiculous conditions (you can get a sex change on the NHS for fuck's sake)" I disagree with because this leads patients, post gender reassignment, with a wonderful increase in their quality of life.
They do this in all sorts of ways. Recently I consulted an NHS GP about a recurring joint condition I get as a result of several serious sports injuries when younger no doubt also exacerbated by passing years. On previous occasions I have seen a private GP and received a straightforward prescription for a fast acting and highly effective medication. The NHS was reluctant to prescribe such medication as there was a small risk of increased blood pressure ( I don't suffer from high blood pressure) despite acknowledging that this product was by far the most effective on the market. If I hadn't already known of its existence I would have been fobbed off with something much less effective.
The condition is painful and won't disappear without strong medication. Over the counter stuff just doesn't work.
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