Hospitals

[martin]

The subject of Hospitals has been raised in another thread - sadly I've been spending far too much time lately visiting aged parent in a very typical hospital - a 45 minute each way drive to a large impersonal brutalist 60's dump that obviously wastes power like it's going out of fashion, and is frankly a horrible place to be incarcerated, typical of the "large is good" theory of hospitals - it needs rebuilding, but there is talk of it's being closed, and everything being moved to an even bigger, only slightly more modern  hospital a further 20 miles away............totally overlooking the horrors and expense of travel for patients and visitors.... A visit to A&E takes a minimum of four hours, and the staff seem picked to be unfriendly and obstructive... Around ten days ago I twisted my ankle badly, and took myself off to a "one that got away" hospital in the opposite direction, built around 15 years ago, it's a true "cottage hospital" - bright, clean and welcoming - half an hour wait... kindly and solicitous receptionist who insisted on making me a cup of proper tea in a china mug while I waited, the fastest X-ray, results and treatment I've ever come across.... a positively pleasant experience
- the point of all that? - to "put hospitals right" is going to be a massive job, and we need to look at them "in the round" (as we need to with many public buildings and facilities - schools are a similar field) - I think there's a lot to be said for reversing the trend of ever bigger hospitals, and the closing of smaller units, -when new hospitals are built, we need to do it with energy saving on all levels considered, whether it be good design of the hospitals themselves to minimise energy use, to giving us back smaller "local" hospitals to save unnecessary travel - I think it sums up to me that we can't look at anything like this in isolation - we need "joined up thinking" to make life better, and  at the same time to tread lighter on the planet....

[dimogga]

Local walk in centre built to deal with gp overflow ... A great expense but is closed at night now cos no one goes.

They have stopped blood tests being done there  too so back to proper blood taking place at hospital for that.
X rays referred by gp dne there but not if you might have broken something.

If gps had more appointments then no one would need a walk in centre.
Or they could have had a gp triage corner at a&e.

Choice has been one of nulabours  biggest waste of time.
Closest should be the only choice ...
Good hospitals should be the only sort.

[rust]

GP's should be avalible when your ill not you book your GP appointement before your ill

Id agree lots of ailments should be dealt with in clean small "cottage" hospitals

[clockmanFR]

Martin, interesting topic.
I noticed over Christmas that we are lucky to have children of a young age that are growing up and therefore our look on life is ever the optimistic!

For us the Health care is seen as last resort and is a place for serious repairs and to be avoided at all costs.
So one child comes in screaming that he has hurt his arm so close examination first to make sure that the bone is not broken etc etc. Hour later he's back at it. Cuts and ailments heal very quickly when your young.

However my brother, (no kids), is spending most of his time hearing of the woes of the older generation relatives and is therefore constantly gloomy and sliding into morose.

Conclusion......
 

[biff]

conclusion clockman,??
                      obviously your kids have an uncle who is a bit moody, 
                                                                                                 biff

[linesrg]

Good Evening Guys,

Having been diagnosed with prostrate cancer by a pre-employment medical in August (at 54 I'm on the young side but there is a family pre-disposition as both my father and grandfather died as a result of it) I have had more exposure to the hospitals than I had aniticpated. I'm actually due to go into hospital here in Aberdeen tomorrow to have the necessary operation. FYI Foresterhill in Aberdeen is the largest hospital complex in Europe.

We have tried to expedite the operation by going private but strangley depsite offering the equivalent of a blank cheque the private hospitals haven't exactly excelled themselves.

I have to say that my dealings with the hospital and staff have been fine to date. OK the delay from August to January seems a long time but fortunately prostrate cancer is a very slow developing one and I have had no reason to suspect I have been dealt with other than 'efficiently'. Having elected to have keyhole surgery I have delayed the operation by about 5 weeks.

I can hardly wait to come out of hospital.......................

At least the organisation responsible for the initial medical still wants to emply me at the end of all this.

Regards

Richard

[Rick O Shea]

Good luck  with your operation, I hope it all goes well.

Prostrate cancer is a real issue which has not really been given the attention that perhaps it deserves.

Best wishes

Mike   

[biff]

hi richard,
         i wish you good luck tomorrow in foresterhill.myself and everyone here on navitron will be rooting for you.
                                                              best wishes     biff

[desperate]

Richard,

I am sorry to hear of your distressing news, all will be ok in the end, my Dad had the same condition for over twenty years, initially involving some different therapies that didn't really affect him. After that it was a case of yearly checks and not much else really, he made it to 87 in the end, his prostate diagnosis was around 63 if I remember well.
Anyway good luck with whatever awaits you, we will be thinking of you.

All the best from cactusville.

Desp

[martin]

Good luck Richard - you'll soon be out and on the mend - we'll all be rooting for you!

[dhaslam]

Micro surgery is a  very good improvement over  previous methods,  it removes  tumours before they become more advanced. Only one hospital  in Ireland so far has the equipment.   

[Ivan]

Richard - make sure you eat lots of apple skins and get hold of some 'turkey tail' mushrooms and make mushroom tea with it. Both very effective against prostate cancer - and indeed, the subject of trials for new drugs.

Hospitals seem to be highly wasteful in every respect. I've often noted the huge amount of packaging that gets wasted every time a nurse rips open a sterile dressing kit (I seem to have seen a lot of those over the years, for some reason!), not to mention the number of bandages, pads etc which don't get used when a kit is opened. I guess this is 'necessary' but hospitals spend too much on food (often going for brand names rather than the cheap alternatives), too much on electricity - many lights/computers and medical equipment are left on routinely when it could be turned off and usually at sweltering temperatures even in outpatient areas (yes, there may be some patients who feel the cold, but I can't imagine many people need the temperature to be 25+C...and at high temperatures, there are negative health impacts).

[billt]

usually at sweltering temperatures even in outpatient areas (yes, there may be some patients who feel the cold, but I can't imagine many people need the temperature to be 25+C...and at high temperatures, there are negative health impacts).

Sorry, but you are looking at this from the point of view of a young, healthy active person. If you are immobile, elderly and ill, you need reasonably high ambient temperatures.

[Ivan]

I was thinking more along the lines of the potential for strokes/heart attacks induced by the high temperatures for people who are unfit/overweight. Fair enough to have the geriatric ward at higher than comfortable temperatures if required, but elsewhere (I quoted 'outpatient areas') it could actually be more harmful than beneficial. From what I've seen at local hospitals, it's more to do with primitive or non-existent thermostats than a desired effect.