What is it with the health service these days?
I’m a big supporter of the national health and proud of what it offers the nation but just lately my confidence in it has been severely dented.
Firstly when my mum passed away back in September certain things left a bad taste in my mouth regarding how things were handled. It’s fair to say on her death bed mum didn’t look very nice, a bloated face, blood streaming from her mouth, she was on a ventilator machine and her hair looked very unkempt. I know the nurses did all they could for her but as I left a nurse assured me she’d ‘tidy her up a bit - make her presentable’. A couple of days later I took my Granny (my mums Mum) to the hospital mortuary / chapel of rest, it was heartbreaking enough for her seeing her daughter dead but when we entered the room where mum lay it was evident that mum hadn’t really been ‘tidied up at all’. I wasn’t expecting garlands of flowers and unicorns in attendance, just for her to look presentable and respectable. When Granny left the room she looked ashen faced and shaken, I Just felt bitter, which soon turned to anger as the attendant in the mortuary tried to rush us as he had ‘another appointment’. Sorry if I come across as a tad graphic but its only now I feel able to talk about it easier.
My next gripe is about my recent appointment at the same hospital when I went to see about my eye. Firstly a bit of back story, I damaged my eye playing football years ago aged 13, thus ended any football aspirations. My eye ended up having a detached retina which I believe boxers get quite a bit from heavy blows to the head. Anyway, the years passed and so did the operations but my eye never really recovered and instead deteriorated. My recent appointment was basically to see about tidying up the way my eye looked. I was told that because my eye is effectively of no real use why should they bother operating? I stated that a lot of people have cosmetic surgery these days for very minor things, they just plead depression or anxiety, here was I stating a very genuine and honest case. The female doctor added she could speak to a colleague at Queens Medical in Nottingham that deals specifically with the cornea part of the eye and if I’d not heard anything by February to get in touch. I left hospital quietly fuming. (I will pursue this though)
My last moan is about my local doctor’s surgery. Usually when you ring to make an appointment you have to wait ages, and then if it ain’t serious they say its best to pop in and make an appointment in person. So last Friday I did exactly that, popped in and stood at the reception desk requesting a non urgent appointment, I was then told its better to phone to make one !!!
I followed that by making an enquiry for a flu jab which resulted in the receptionist asking me if I’d had a ‘letter’. I retorted I didn’t but with my eye condition the hospital had recommended a flu jab. The receptionist huffed, puffed and moaned until I interjected and said leave it and I’ll discuss it with the doctor.
What a palava it is just to get things done, I pay for prescriptions and I’m not a typical hypochondriac yet it just seems so much hard work to get anything sorted.
Now just to show I’m not a miserable bastard and that I’m sure the NHS does work for millions out there here’s a photo of my kinda nurse.
I’m a big supporter of the national health and proud of what it offers the nation but just lately my confidence in it has been severely dented.
Firstly when my mum passed away back in September certain things left a bad taste in my mouth regarding how things were handled. It’s fair to say on her death bed mum didn’t look very nice, a bloated face, blood streaming from her mouth, she was on a ventilator machine and her hair looked very unkempt. I know the nurses did all they could for her but as I left a nurse assured me she’d ‘tidy her up a bit - make her presentable’. A couple of days later I took my Granny (my mums Mum) to the hospital mortuary / chapel of rest, it was heartbreaking enough for her seeing her daughter dead but when we entered the room where mum lay it was evident that mum hadn’t really been ‘tidied up at all’. I wasn’t expecting garlands of flowers and unicorns in attendance, just for her to look presentable and respectable. When Granny left the room she looked ashen faced and shaken, I Just felt bitter, which soon turned to anger as the attendant in the mortuary tried to rush us as he had ‘another appointment’. Sorry if I come across as a tad graphic but its only now I feel able to talk about it easier.
My next gripe is about my recent appointment at the same hospital when I went to see about my eye. Firstly a bit of back story, I damaged my eye playing football years ago aged 13, thus ended any football aspirations. My eye ended up having a detached retina which I believe boxers get quite a bit from heavy blows to the head. Anyway, the years passed and so did the operations but my eye never really recovered and instead deteriorated. My recent appointment was basically to see about tidying up the way my eye looked. I was told that because my eye is effectively of no real use why should they bother operating? I stated that a lot of people have cosmetic surgery these days for very minor things, they just plead depression or anxiety, here was I stating a very genuine and honest case. The female doctor added she could speak to a colleague at Queens Medical in Nottingham that deals specifically with the cornea part of the eye and if I’d not heard anything by February to get in touch. I left hospital quietly fuming. (I will pursue this though)
My last moan is about my local doctor’s surgery. Usually when you ring to make an appointment you have to wait ages, and then if it ain’t serious they say its best to pop in and make an appointment in person. So last Friday I did exactly that, popped in and stood at the reception desk requesting a non urgent appointment, I was then told its better to phone to make one !!!
I followed that by making an enquiry for a flu jab which resulted in the receptionist asking me if I’d had a ‘letter’. I retorted I didn’t but with my eye condition the hospital had recommended a flu jab. The receptionist huffed, puffed and moaned until I interjected and said leave it and I’ll discuss it with the doctor.
What a palava it is just to get things done, I pay for prescriptions and I’m not a typical hypochondriac yet it just seems so much hard work to get anything sorted.
Now just to show I’m not a miserable bastard and that I’m sure the NHS does work for millions out there here’s a photo of my kinda nurse.
1 comment:
Sad post about your mum and your recent experience of the NHS. But the picture did make me laugh!
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