Hospitals

[Jim K...]

Good old private pet health care....

[Jim K...]

Shurely that's DIY a step too far?

[Graeme]

Delighted to say wife came home yesterday, after her fall last Sunday, and Operation Monday.

While she was there, I went in daily. A large multi story for visitors and substantial ground level outside car park for staff. The staff car park was stuffed to the gunnels Monday to Friday, but probably less than ten per cent full at the weekend. Card controlled, so no outsiders. Who was not here at the weekend? Hospital ran as normal, nurses, support staff, physios, concession staff, porters, cleaners, kitchen staff etc. Presumably a few surgeons and senior doctors don't work weekends, but who were all the others? Surely not all admin. staff, 9-5 M-F pen pushers?

[invalid]

They tend to try and empty wards for weekends so less doctors and nurses needed.

They won't have as many radiographers, and lab staff in.

They won't have many receptionists in.

fewer consultants and their staff.

the list goes on.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oh yes. Admin is massive in the NHS and mostly useless pointless and obese.

Alaos whilst routine care is avaailable at wekends consulatnats and specialists tend to be off or manning A&E only .

[John]

Graeme [e-mail]> wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Perhaps less "Clinics" being operated. My local certainly does MRI scans and other "equipment critical" tests over the weekend. Me and my wife have attended on Saturdays.

[Martin Brown]

The vast majority are people who run routine health services 9-5 M-F like audiology, chiropody, dentistry, occupational therapy, psychiatry and sundry other specialisms. There is only a skeleton technical and analytical staff on at weekends too and far fewer medical staff at the weekends. Operating theatres, Xray and MRI are fully staffed and utilised on weekdays but routine work is not normally done at weekends.

A&E and ICU are the main areas where weekends are similar to any other day. They have to provide full service on any day of the week.

BTW if you have to go daily to a hospital for an extended period there is usually a way to buy a week long pass but you have to ask matron for the right forms. Otherwise the parasitic organisation that the hospital sold all it's satellite carparks to will fleece you by the hour.

[charles]

I think your "few surgeons" is very inaccurate. Nearly all the out-patient clinics are only M-F and that is a vast part of a hospital's work.

[Roger Hayter]

So true. And mostly engaged in writing protocols, policies and guidelines which require more managers to enforce them.

[The Other Mike]

No, just not many operations at a weekend or several days a week. Contracted hours and not an hour more. With many NHS elective operations farmed out to private facilities.

The reason?

The rather unpleasant situation where £1 of extra income requires the payment of £13500 in tax

Early retirement or shorter hours is the solution for many. There is, and will be for several years to come, a severe lack of new medics entering the system.

Apparently there is also a rapidly advancing GP staffing crisis. They simply cannot afford to work.

Just one of several articles

There is no doubt a similar article on the likes of the times & the telegraph behind their paywalls.

--

[Graeme]

In message <qnf5ab$17gu$ [e-mail]>, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nezumi.demon.co.uk> writes

No visitor parking charges at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary :-)

Tickets are issued, though, and exit times checked.

[invalid]

my last ct scan was Sunday at 6pm.

people were still arriving when I left.

[invalid]

or you could just select that option on the pay machine.

[Steve Walker]

There would have been far fewer nurses, doctors, admin staff, even cleaners, because none of the large number of clinics would be running at the weekend and no elective surgery. Basically all the outpatient and day patient cases, plus elective surgery are dealt with Monday to Friday and only the inpatients and A&E run seven days a week. Even "urgent" operations are put off until Monday if possible.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Many are department secretaries - taking, cancelling and amending appointments; dealing with requests to departments for prescriptions for meds that are only prescribed by hospitals; dealing with patients' telephone queries, etc. All very necessary.

I agree that there is too much paperwork though.

SteveW

[Martin Brown]

If the pay machine has such an option. The car park barrier requires you take a token on entry or to have a magic card to wave at it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Are you implying there is no need for admin staff, then? Or any who don't work office hours?

My recent experience of my local hospital is the admin side could well be improved. And I'd rather admin staff did as much as possible of it, leaving the medical staff free to do their main job.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Why does your comment not surprise me?

But then I'd guess you'd prefer a doctor to write the letter etc to you confirming an appointment. Only the top man for you in everything.

[harry]

99% of none medical staff only work "office hours" Wages, accounts, personnel.gardeners, maintenance. Few from Xray ,path lab Probably around 10% of staff work with patients. Everybody else is support staff.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And done by people who simply have no idea about medicine. E.g. take my case. cancerous teststicle, and it needed a cat scan to establish if there were any secondaries. Now they couldn't book the cat scan before the op because they cocked it up, and there was no point in having it just after apparently, becayse they would see false results due to the op.

So they booked it for 4 weeks post op.

I turn up for the op and te surgeos syas 'wheres the bloody cat scan: I cant operate without seeing what the chest is like' I expalined it had been booked 4 weeks hence. 'Well I am not operating without a least an X-ray' and he marched me up to an X-ray machine, and took the picture HIMSELF in total violation of NHS protocol - demarcation and all that - and then whipped out me bollock a couple of hours later.

And that is the way it is. These admin people are f****ng useless. As are SOME but very few of the doctors.

I still dont know why with three blocked arteries amd one vanished altpogether I got the wrong stent fitted to just one. Resulting in overall 4 years of farting around as the first one was excruciatingly painfully repaired with the right one, and then the other two were stented later on. Because I insisted.

Wrong paperwork?

Ive had bad experiences with one British surgeon, one Indian opthalmologist and watched a complete balls up in A & E by a Nigerain doctor.

There is a lot wrong with the NHS. Its way more pricey than it needs to be and they spend too much on admin and not enough on doctors.

But its a sacred cow. As the Polish guy said who came in to change my 2 day old paper curtans said 'lots of money in NHS, good place to work. Good holidays and pretty nurses'.