About 20 years ago I served on the Equality Committee at NGH. Fine words, fine action plans, but nothing really changed. After a year or so the committee was abolished. So not really surprised by this report.
On the question of waiting lists may be someone should look into how consultants operated a system which appears to encourage longer NHS waiting list and supports their private work. An investigation into whether some consultants are fully carrying out their work contracted with the hospital or spending most of their time treating private patients who have been "referred" to them by the NHS due to the long waiting lists which they have (may be?) deliberately created. I have heard it said that the same consultant has told a patient that the waiting list for NHS treatment at the hospital is 6 weeks, but they can be seen immediately via an NHS referral (paid for by the NHS) to a private hospital where the same consultant will undertake the same procedure. This cannot be right.
Another important and very relevant interview. As a punter I find it very worrying that hospitals, like schools under the academy system, are being grouped together in bigger and bigger entities. Presumably this brings economies of scale [like supermarket chains] but must surely result in a corporate mindset at management level? I think nursing staff should be more involved in the management of hospitals - they're the ones who have patients' issues in their minds. Matrons and senior sisters make decisions that are more likely to please the public than accountants and consultants with their eyes on private work.
This may seem a less important contribution, but I would like to know what others think. I consider myself very lucky that, at 68 years of age, I have only ever been admitted to NGH once and spent 2 nights there. The care I received was excellent, and the staff first class. I wont comment on the food, but to be honest I really wasn’t hungry, just anxious and wanted to go home.
One thing I did find strange was the tremendous number of different uniforms staff wore. I spent around 12 hours in A&E before going to a ward and saw people in all different sorts of garb. I assume the idea is to make them more easily identifiable as to their role in the hospital, but it confused the hell out of me.
The other thing I noticed was that there was hardly a square inch of wall that didn’t have either a notice or a “post it note” stuck to it. I’m talking staff side not patient side here, In 2023, as it was then, I found it very odd and low tech. These days the ambulance service is almost totally digital as are the police, I’m sure a bit of technology would not go amiss in certain sections of hospitals.
Regarding A&E. It is common for persons to bypass the GP surgery for a number of reasons and go to A&E for a diagnosis.
Why is this.? In my experience the GP practises are staffed , in the main, by qualified medics who do not like the idea of touching and poking at humans, as they would have to if they were employed in an hospital. My family have experienced this phenomenen in the resulting poor diagnosis, which has only been rectified by going to A&E and finding that a bone is broken, or using a dermatolgy referral to have a cancer that was being treated by anti-fungals for a couple of years, to be cured by a 10 second application of cryosurgery, and two sisters who have died resulting from mis-diagnosis/arrogance in detecting cancer. I could go on, even bringing up the issue of imported GPs working with fake GMC numbers.
One solution that seems appropriate for urban areas that appears to be rolling out in Corby is the setting up of proper Health Centres as they've had in Spain for years where adequate facilities and staff are concentrated to enable proper primary care, diagnosis and initial treatment to be performed, without the dilution and cost of dispersed GP "surgerys" ". Surgery "? That's a joke.
About 20 years ago I served on the Equality Committee at NGH. Fine words, fine action plans, but nothing really changed. After a year or so the committee was abolished. So not really surprised by this report.
On the question of waiting lists may be someone should look into how consultants operated a system which appears to encourage longer NHS waiting list and supports their private work. An investigation into whether some consultants are fully carrying out their work contracted with the hospital or spending most of their time treating private patients who have been "referred" to them by the NHS due to the long waiting lists which they have (may be?) deliberately created. I have heard it said that the same consultant has told a patient that the waiting list for NHS treatment at the hospital is 6 weeks, but they can be seen immediately via an NHS referral (paid for by the NHS) to a private hospital where the same consultant will undertake the same procedure. This cannot be right.
Another important and very relevant interview. As a punter I find it very worrying that hospitals, like schools under the academy system, are being grouped together in bigger and bigger entities. Presumably this brings economies of scale [like supermarket chains] but must surely result in a corporate mindset at management level? I think nursing staff should be more involved in the management of hospitals - they're the ones who have patients' issues in their minds. Matrons and senior sisters make decisions that are more likely to please the public than accountants and consultants with their eyes on private work.
This may seem a less important contribution, but I would like to know what others think. I consider myself very lucky that, at 68 years of age, I have only ever been admitted to NGH once and spent 2 nights there. The care I received was excellent, and the staff first class. I wont comment on the food, but to be honest I really wasn’t hungry, just anxious and wanted to go home.
One thing I did find strange was the tremendous number of different uniforms staff wore. I spent around 12 hours in A&E before going to a ward and saw people in all different sorts of garb. I assume the idea is to make them more easily identifiable as to their role in the hospital, but it confused the hell out of me.
The other thing I noticed was that there was hardly a square inch of wall that didn’t have either a notice or a “post it note” stuck to it. I’m talking staff side not patient side here, In 2023, as it was then, I found it very odd and low tech. These days the ambulance service is almost totally digital as are the police, I’m sure a bit of technology would not go amiss in certain sections of hospitals.
Regarding A&E. It is common for persons to bypass the GP surgery for a number of reasons and go to A&E for a diagnosis.
Why is this.? In my experience the GP practises are staffed , in the main, by qualified medics who do not like the idea of touching and poking at humans, as they would have to if they were employed in an hospital. My family have experienced this phenomenen in the resulting poor diagnosis, which has only been rectified by going to A&E and finding that a bone is broken, or using a dermatolgy referral to have a cancer that was being treated by anti-fungals for a couple of years, to be cured by a 10 second application of cryosurgery, and two sisters who have died resulting from mis-diagnosis/arrogance in detecting cancer. I could go on, even bringing up the issue of imported GPs working with fake GMC numbers.
One solution that seems appropriate for urban areas that appears to be rolling out in Corby is the setting up of proper Health Centres as they've had in Spain for years where adequate facilities and staff are concentrated to enable proper primary care, diagnosis and initial treatment to be performed, without the dilution and cost of dispersed GP "surgerys" ". Surgery "? That's a joke.
Clearly there is a lack of targets that will evidence whether these fine words have been turned into actions or not.