Hospitals

same thing. canula is kust a needle with a valve

If a staff member has to be available 24/7 for emergencies then the same staff members are available for routine work (and analysis) using the same equipment 24/7? If 25% of such equipment has to be run "out of normal hours" an appointment system but with a delay if an emergency occurs can be operated and it would take pressure off some other aspects of hospital services even if it's freeing up a parking space to make life easier for others.

While day time Mon to Fri appointments for those not working may not be too much of an inconvenience for those working it may result in half a day being taking off. A commute from home to the hospital for me is 15 minutes each way but when I was working the time from work to the hospital and back was 2+ hours and all for a test taking a few minutes (excluding waiting time). IMO this is the main reason why very early or late appointments are the first to go where you can book via a web interface.

"Anti-social" shifts may suit some people but what is often the killer is rotating shifts where each week the shift starting time is incremented by 8 hours. Although 25+ years ago, this shift routine is what caused some nurses that I knew to quit the NHS.

Nor necessarily where parents are both working and share the responsibility for getting and fetching kids from school or to prevent kids having the latchkey lifestyle experience etc.

A little later in my career I learnt that faced with a difficult (technical) problem a long relaxing break often resulted in that light bulb moment and going to work the next day resulted in a change of direction in design or fault finding.

Its the same with many/most/all private company schemes. I was lucky to have a final salary scheme which only ended 2 years before my retirement.

I have my final salary part of the pension for most of my contributions plus a bit from the money purchase new scheme.

However, many of the rules with regards index linking of the pension and early retirement were changed during the previous 10 years. At one time people were leaving at 55 with a near full pension which was index linked to RPI. Now people leaving before the normal national retirement age, and take the pension, have up to a 50% hit on the amount paid. The index linking on the pension is also capped to CPI or 2.5%, whichever is lower. The final salary was also changed in the 10 years from 1/60th for every year of contributions to 1/65th.

I was paying around 8% of my gross salary for this pension (plus another

- just a money purchase scheme).

Or outsourced (semi outsourced)

My local hospital has

I'd agree too - in my limited experience. The admin side is not as well organised as the medical side.

But it doesn't help having the common view that money spent on admin is wasted, and would be better spent on front line care.

But I do know that any team or crew - be it medical or otherwise - needs to be efficiently organised. Which is a form of admin. And of course that admin needs to be efficiently organised too.

Can't say it bothers me. Even at my advanced age I can walk the length of any carpark. Unlike many younger who seem to get very annoyed if they can't park right outside.

They probably think the same when visiting the gym.

You could pick up the syringe, unwrap it or whatever, do the injection and dispose of the syringe in 1 second?

I'd doubt even in the army days when the troops were lined up for injections that they'd manage 1000 in a day. ;-)

Of course being Turnip the 1000 he types might mean anything from 100 to

At one time, the total going into my pension ( employer plus my contribution) was over 25% of my gross salary. With that sort of investment, easy enough to provide a very generous package.

My experience of night-time access to x-rays and scans is that having come through A&E and been admitted, unless they suspect a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage or something equally catastrophic, you are sent for scans and have to wait in a queue. There are no free periods for scheduled patients.

SteveW

What does a gay person look like ?

I have some gay friends and they;d nevr go to that sort of thing. Rock Hudsun was the fiorst gay man to die from. AIDS. One of those in the drag race programme on TV isn't gay. A lot of gay men have beards and moustaches , Gareth Thomas the ex rugby player is gay.

Do you know how to tell a Gay person from a hetrosexual person, you can't alway tell by looks.

" We've had a letter from a Mrs White from Hendon asking how she can tell whether or not her son Gerald is Gay.

Well Mrs White the answer if simple. If he shags men he is. If he doesn't then he's not."

Rory McGrath on "Who Dares Wins" Channel 4 Fridays 10 pm. 1980 something

michael adams

...

Round here was an "NHS Holiday" today. Doctors' surgery closed, both local pharmacies closed.

I don't know why they all have to close at the same time.

Or perhaps they chose today on purpose as it's the first day of school half term.

Owain

Half term is obviously a moveable feast. My grandson in Gloucestershire has his next week and in Surrey it's a week later.

Half term here is next week and (in some schools) the week after too.

The additional week is in lieu of those odd INSET days; they do that 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. instead, over the year.