Thursday, March 1, 2007

Don't bother coming to A+E....

Please don't come this week, unless you really really have to. I'm not joking. Unless you are one of the minority of patients who are actually attending for valid reasons i.e. an ACCIDENT....or in an EMERGENCY situation (yes, it really is that simple, its not rocket science, its on the front door for all to read!). I promise you that "problems" you have which are self inflicted, stupid, chronic or things that "I was going to see my GP but I didnt get round to it" will be met with extra disdain. At the best of times we don't have much sympathy for you coming in with your sore throat which has been there all week and you havent even bothered trying something as simple as going to the pharmacist before taking the plunge and coming into A+E.

This week, and probably the coming weeks are different. Its a very very special time for several reasons.
1) Below-inflation pay rises for NHS staff. Yippee, our job sucks and you want to effectively pay us even less for the anti-social, below par working conditions..I hope the nurses actually do what they threatened and have a strike...then we can also strike with a clear conscience...problem is we're too scared of being seen as the "baddy"....
see this link to read more

2) Most of the doctors working their socks off in the hospital now face the prospect of NO job come August due to a very ridiculous computer-selection procedure which tested creative language skills rather than clinical skills thus throwing some very skilled clinicians with poor writing (read: embellishment/ plagiarism/ assistance) skills. You may have noticed that the doctor treating you has a tear in his eye. No its not because he is so empathetic, its because he is literally on the brink of breakdown because he has spent the last 10 years of his life training to be a doctor, accrued lots of debts, has a mortgage and 2 kids and will possibly be forced to either leave the country to find work, leave medicine altogether (Waste of £250000 taxpayers cash in trainig on both counts). Or go and prostitute himself in some other way to make ends meet. Generally looking quite grim . He certainly won't be sympathetic to you showing him your verucca because it hurts. You probably do not have any idea what real pain and agony is (Unless you have had a heart attack or a baby perhaps). I, being the infamous Dr NoNo with my powers of extrasensory perception and psychic ability saw all this coming a long long time ago and hence am calm in the face of a storm. Bizarre really for a wound up, control obsessed Type A personality....


So, have a heart this week at least. Don't get p*ssed and fall flat on your face then punch your best mate in the jaw and drag your sorry selves into hospital to be seen. Don't dump granny at the moment let her relax a bit under the covers. If you have a temperaure, take some paracetamol and stop calling the ambulance for back pain that you've had for 4 years.
Just for the moment...just don't bother*

[*Disclaimer : If you think you may be having a heart attack, or your bowel is perforated or any other serious complaint along those lines its still acceptable to come in...sympathetic exceptions will be made for you]

8 comments:

Anonymous GP said...

Great post.. I'm just a medical student.. ahem.. and I'm feeling depressed about this and wondering if its worth the work. Maybe better to quit, do something else, and let the qualified doctors who are in this debacle have more chance of a job.

All this work for unemployment? This is a disaster.

Anonymous said...

I am getting ready for my first of three night shifts in Big City, Ruralshire.

Oh joy!

And its a full moon!! Oh double joy!!!

Another weekend lies in wait for me to enter the dark world of chavs/scumbags/pissheads/smackheadsand other assorted lowlife pondscum.

There will also be a smattering of "real patients" within the calls received.

I will endeavour (as always) to prevent the inappropriate callers from attending A/E.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

I think working in an NHS hospital this week has been difficult for everyone. I hope that you remain calm in the storm. Best of luck with it all. Michelle

The Angry Medic said...

Yep, I agree with Dr Tempest (and not just because she's friends with my tutors. Who me, bootlicking? Perish the thought. Cough.) MTAS has got everyone down...you're the first mediblogger I've met who's not crying/fuming/shitting bricks over the whole affair. Hope that means you got through okay.

Good luck not being Dr House to the patients this week! You've been blogrolled. Hope you don't mind the heading I've given you :)

(Where's YOUR blogroll, by the way?)

Anonymous said...

Dear NHS Escapee,

My name is Barbara O’ Brien and my blogging at The Mahablog, Crooks and Liars, AlterNet, and elsewhere on the progressive political and health blogophere has earned me the notoriety of being a panelist at the Yearly Kos Convention and a featured guest blogger at the Take Back America Conference in Washington, DC.

I’m contacting you because I found your site in a prominent health reform blog search and want to tell you about my newest blogging platform —the public concern of health care and its reform. Our shared concerns include health reform, tort reform, public health, safe workplaces, and asbestos contamination.

To increase awareness on these important issues, my goal is to get a resource link on your site or even allow me to provide a guest posting. Please contact me back, I hope to hear from you soon. Drop by our site in the meantime—www.maacenter.org/blog.

Thanks,

Barbara O’ Brien
barbaraobrien@maacenter.org

sewa mobil said...

Nice article, thanks for the information.

Nurse and Hospital Stories said...

"Just for the moment...just don't bother*"

haha. A mean and unsympathetic plea, eh. btw, looking forward for an updated post Dr No No.

Take care,
Peny@uniform discount

In Rude Health said...

Dear Dr No NO,

I understand that you haven't been blogging for a good few years, but there is a chance you still pick up these comments, so I'm having a go regardless...

My name is Robbie, and I'm editing In Rude Health, a book of humorous medical anecdotes that will be illustrated and published at Christmas-time by Freight Books, a small Scottish publisher (www.freightbooks.co.uk). In my research for this book I've been reading through blogs such as yours, and I was wondering if you would have any you'd like to contribute. Naturally, the more risqué the might be the better, but what I'm aiming to do is make something funny and enjoyable, but which also shows Joe public just what sort of things you folk in the NHS have to deal with.

Naturally all stories submitted will be treated as completely anonymous. I do hope you will consider submitting a story or two. Please email them to: inrudehealth@gmail.com

Best wishes,

Robbie