The last Saturday Ever!!!
Discussion
I sit here in my surgery contemplating the fact that this is the last saturday I will ever work. The NHS and government in their infinate wisdom have decided that I am no longer cost effective on a saturday.
From 1st Jan NO patient will get to see their own GP, or even a GP from their own practice on a saturday.
Instead you will either be directed to the robot that is NHS direct, or an on-call service that knows nothing about you.
The next step is that the government is going to remove that layer as well and have you all ringing NHS direct and then being directed to the nearest casualty.
Welcome to life in the twenty first century patients.
From 1st Jan NO patient will get to see their own GP, or even a GP from their own practice on a saturday.
Instead you will either be directed to the robot that is NHS direct, or an on-call service that knows nothing about you.
The next step is that the government is going to remove that layer as well and have you all ringing NHS direct and then being directed to the nearest casualty.
Welcome to life in the twenty first century patients.
The modern Holy Grail of big business (or government for that matter) is to have all services for people provided by machine - or centres where your individual relationship with the organisation is totally unknown.
It is a deeply flawed concept and will only lead to disintegration of the actual service that they intended to provide.
I'm just standing back and watching it all fall apart gradually - and in a way, I can't wait. What will be the final outcome - the return of human to human, personal service. It will take about 10 years unfortunately, so, for the next decade we will just have to put up with this nonsensical slide into chaos.
It is a deeply flawed concept and will only lead to disintegration of the actual service that they intended to provide.
I'm just standing back and watching it all fall apart gradually - and in a way, I can't wait. What will be the final outcome - the return of human to human, personal service. It will take about 10 years unfortunately, so, for the next decade we will just have to put up with this nonsensical slide into chaos.
That's sad, Julian.
I suppose the logic must be that if you are not ill enough to take time off work the see the Doc you aren't ill enough to see the Doc anyway!
Personally I'd pay for the convenience of having minor ailments looked into without disturbing the working week...given that and the fact we pay NI why shouldn't everyone want access to that service via the NHS?
Shame. Still - maybe you can offer a Private service...
I suppose the logic must be that if you are not ill enough to take time off work the see the Doc you aren't ill enough to see the Doc anyway!
Personally I'd pay for the convenience of having minor ailments looked into without disturbing the working week...given that and the fact we pay NI why shouldn't everyone want access to that service via the NHS?
Shame. Still - maybe you can offer a Private service...
Don said:
Personally I'd pay for the convenience of having minor ailments looked into without disturbing the working week...
Wasn't there a company set up recently, starting in London IIRC but expansion planned if not underway already. Pay about fifteen squid and see a doc there and then, casualty or ailment. Anyone know / remember more? In the context of this thread, useful but tragic that the NHS is on self-destruct mode.
What government target of mismanagement will this latest charade support I wonder?
>> Edited by turbobloke on Saturday 11th December 12:19
Eric Mc said:
The modern Holy Grail of big business (or government for that matter) is to have all services for people provided by machine - or centres where your individual relationship with the organisation is totally unknown.
It is a deeply flawed concept and will only lead to disintegration of the actual service that they intended to provide.
Once again, Archduke Eric of Lower Saxe-Mcberg identifies a pressing business issue of the day - this is exactly what's wrong with the whole damn shooting match these days. It's like the internet: automated orders, for example, just don't work for a majority of people - you absolutely need a decent quality, human interface.
I mean, even Bill Gates got rid of internal e-mails at Microsoft due to all the excess tennis going on.
Von Abacus of Ludditon.
Don said:
That's sad, Julian.
I suppose the logic must be that if you are not ill enough to take time off work the see the Doc you aren't ill enough to see the Doc anyway!
I know a few GP's who, under the current NHS management, are quite happy not to work Saturdays though they might well question such decisions if the way things were run was different.
What concerns me is that there is in effect no local coverage for at least 2/7ths of the week. People can be ill come Saturday a.m. and then have the dubious pleasure of trying to get to a medical 'service' miles away.
In theory that should not be a problem but in practice for many, even with a car and driver available, it is a rather onerous position to be in, given that we are told we are paying for the service.
And of course there are all sorts of non-lifethreatening things that need advice but perhaps cannot justify a day off work. Who knows what they might lead to ... and we are always being told we should get things checked out no matter how trivial they may seem.
derestrictor said:
It's like the internet: automated orders, for example, just don't work for a majority of people - you absolutely need a decent quality, human interface.
Oh I don't know. Worked for me recently.
Booked some travel for the following day. No confirmation arrived. Called and was given a booking number. Wrong number type. No tickets. Was advised to travel anyway and sort it out at the other end, so I tried that. Got to the other end but people there could not sort the problem except by paying again. Not keen. So returned and completed the journey without difficulty, staff being very understanding. Most heard comment of the day - "It happens all the time, all the ticketing organisations are useless".
On return, email found saying there had been a problem. Replied with terse message. Subsequently realised that card charge had not been processed (due to cock up be (still) non-communicative card company). Contacted travel vendor by phone but got through to places that could not help.
Sent email to the complaints department (thought that might wake someone up) explaining and asking them to contact me. Nothing - for 6 weeks. Phone call a few days ago. Explained what had happened. Oh, says the other party, we have all sorts of trouble with these people, desparately trying to negotiate some better quality into them, trouble is they all go into multi-layer subcontracts ( ... and no-one has any real direct responsibility ...). "If I were you I would forget about it and sorry you had so much trouble ..."
What can one say? I would have been quite happy to pay for the service provided. Strange times.
derestrictor said:
I mean, even Bill Gates got rid of internal e-mails at Microsoft due to all the excess tennis going on.
I thought that was more to do with not having too much evidence of cartels and stuff floating around waiting to be subpoenaed for various court cases ....
The human race evolved over 1 million years to communicate and interact with other human beings. It's what we do - all the time. Trying to interact with non-responsive, non-understanding inhuman piece of software is literally alien to us - and infuriating when the transaction doesn't work the way it should.
Julian64 said:
From 1st Jan NO patient will get to see their own GP, or even a GP from their own practice on a saturday.(
It's already happened with our local surgery - changed last March. It's NHS Direct or Casualty for their patients.
Prior to that, they were already on a 1 in 6 rota with other surgeries.
It's a pain (no pun intended) to take time out of work during the week, but the surgery has improved in terms of appointment times. Can now get to see requested Doc within 48 hours - mass improvement on 4/5 working days.
Julian64 - enjoy the extra time off.
Julian64 said:
I sit here in my surgery contemplating the fact that this is the last saturday I will ever work. The NHS and government in their infinate wisdom have decided that I am no longer cost effective on a saturday.(
And what would the NHS and the government know about what is cost effective? If either one were a business they would have gone skint years ago. They do however know plenty about cutting corners in the wrong places and pi55ing money away. Having recently had the misfortune to have to rely(?) on the NHS I have really started to appreciate how badly run it is.
The consultant I was under was so pi55ed off with the NHS putting in yet another layer of admin between him and his patients that he decided to take early retirement. That is where most of the money is going, not on treating patients.
Another Labour success story.
>> Edited by Ribol on Saturday 11th December 16:33
Stop this drivel now all of you.....!!!!!!!!
Tony said the other day that we are all better off under new labour - the NHS is better, transport is better and education is the best it has ever been and i for one believe every word he says, so please stop spreading all these lies about poor NHS service, and reduction in numbers of doctors and dentists, and having to travel 30 miles plus. it's all just lies an drivel i for one love our country and PREMIER Blair
Tony said the other day that we are all better off under new labour - the NHS is better, transport is better and education is the best it has ever been and i for one believe every word he says, so please stop spreading all these lies about poor NHS service, and reduction in numbers of doctors and dentists, and having to travel 30 miles plus. it's all just lies an drivel i for one love our country and PREMIER Blair
My doctor's surgery has been closed at weekends ever since I've been with them - I thought it was the general case. Doesn't seem very sensible to me unless we can genetically alter the causative organisms of all known diseases so that they take the weekend off as well. Of course doctors need time off, but it seems distinctly suboptimal for them all to take the time off simultaneously.
If everyone was self employed, then there would be little need for GPs.
I run a small firm of solicitors. In the 4 years since we set up, not one of the three partners has had a single day off work with illness.
If we don't work, we don't get paid. Simple.
I think I am right in saying that some civil servants get extra holiday entitlement if they are ill during pre booked holidays.
What the Hell is that all about?
I run a small firm of solicitors. In the 4 years since we set up, not one of the three partners has had a single day off work with illness.
If we don't work, we don't get paid. Simple.
I think I am right in saying that some civil servants get extra holiday entitlement if they are ill during pre booked holidays.
What the Hell is that all about?
PatHeald said:
I think I am right in saying that some civil servants get extra holiday entitlement if they are ill during pre booked holidays.
What the Hell is that all about?
Alot of private companies give holiday back if you are ill during that time. Mine included. The problem is with those who are not genuinely ill giving a bad name to those who are. Still, I've proved a few and waved them bye-bye from the company
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