The NHS are changing the way you converse with your local surgery.....I don't know if this has happened down Plymouth yet ? They are doing away with the 8am chaos of first come first served....you are No10 in the queue situation. They are replacing it with a triage situation.....by you using you phone and answering multiple questions of why you are phoning.....they will then put you in a priority list.....most serious first etc.....and you will at worst get an answer within 48 hrs. I was sent a text explaining the new system....pages of info in tiny writing which you need to enlarge....and then move sideways to read each line in full.......time consuming rubbish. This new system will start on Mon 14th July........I went back to the top to read it all again and the highlighted website wouldn't respond to me tapping on it again.....so I couldn't re-read it. I can see many elderly people not getting on very well with this when it starts.........so it was good to see that if you didn't have a smart phone or computer you could still phone the surgery....I don't know how these type of people where informed of the new system.....did the receptionist actually pick up the phone and tell them manually (how distasteful to have contact with the peasants). It looks very time consuming for the patient (less work for the surgery of course).......I know how I'm going to contact the surgery.....will they complain when they realize I've got a smart phone and a computer. One horror I've just thought of.....will I have to use this system to order perscriptions.....or can I do the simple thing of texting the Prescription lady direct....which is so easy and simple at present. PS.....It will be difficult to assess patients needs.....one will ladle it on with a spoon.....whilst another quite ill understates their situation.......who gets seen first ?
Yes unfortunately it's back to the Thatcher era T.I.N.A. There Is No Alternative. We've got rabid fascists in Reform, Lib Dems who've drifted to the left of Trotsky and the rump of the Tories who started the Cult Of Personality crap with Johnson. Now they can't escape from the political death loop they unleashed upon themselves by courting White Van Man rather than their traditional supporters.
Just a few points on where we are following the abandonment of social security reforms, best estimates seem to be that the Government is about £5 billion short of where it planned to be in the recent Spending Review, on top of £1.5 billion lost by reversing the Winter Fuel benefit cut. That’s against a background of a clear need for infrastructure spending - hopefully efficiently executed - and vital increases in defence spending. It was laughable how much was made of an order for 12 American F35A fighters. I haven’t forgotten that we originally planned on about 145, of which 45 (ish) have been delivered in the form of F35B’s for the Navy. So actually, that’s a reduction of around 90 aircraft. Various taxes have been tipped to go up including a further extension to the freeze on Income Tax thresholds, which has aleady dragged 7m people into higher bands. It won’t be long before the Basic State Pension attracts tax. At the same time, pension funds are being pressurised into investing more in UK shares, which will increase the risk inherent in the schemes. This week, there’s been talk of doing the same with cash ISA’s. They’re another investment favoured by pensioners, giving risk free returns probably 3x what’s available in conventional savings accounts. To be fair, they’ll never make you rich but you won’t lose the lot either. We’re doomed.
