Mother Uber update (for anybody interested)…
It was a heart attack - described by a doctor as “quite a big one” - and not anything brought to bear by her covid booster. Not treatable by a stent as she has a long line of fur rather than a single identifiable blockage, unfortunately. So, we’re into the realms of drug cocktails: aspirin, statins, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and others. Hospital chucked her out on Monday without any advice, doctor available to chat to her son etc. Had to get a bit arsey and eventually got a call from one of the cardiac nurses that cared for her - he was actually very helpful.
Eye-opener #1:
I’ve heard talk about the NHS hiding behind a wall of electronic call-waiting and impenetrable wires, claiming it’s worked off it’s feet. I can only speak about my own experience (so this is no criticism of the great work people like Stainsey do). My mother had to wait 3 days for a bed to become available at Basingstoke CCU - when she arrived and during her stay there were 3-4 beds empty. Presumably, this is all about staffing shortages? On my three visits to the ward - where you can only wave through a glass door - there’s nothing going on: nobody manning reception, nobody in the corridors, staff milling about.
It was pretty soon clear that having got the Old Dutch home that she couldn’t be left on her own. She was breathless, unsteady on her feet, the drugs upset her stomach and she was knackered - hospitals are not the place for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, you’re discharged from these places and left to your own devices. Hospitals and home care services are not remotely joined up.
I called her GP to get her ‘into the system’ and see if they now had her hospital notes and what happens next. After a 40 minute hold, during which I was repeatedly told how important my call was, I got through to a receptionist. After being more pushy than I thought I needed to be, I was told a doctor would call me back “in the afternoon”.
I got the call 7-hours later. The GP would see my mother, but I’d have to bring her down now. I was at work in Basingstoke, she was in bed at her home, a half hour away, being cared for by her brother. I had to drop everything and got her there within an hour.
Eye-opener #2;
There was nobody there. The waiting room was empty. Two women having a natter behind the reception desk. Just one doctor and one triage nurse on duty to serve a town of around 8,000 people. Where the bloody **** are these people? Are they still getting paid? For what exactly?
We now have to wait for another doctor to follow up next week as (surprise, surprise) the one we saw is on leave. We also have to wait for a call from the Care Brigade. You just know that these calls will never happen and you’ll have to chase, chase, chase… then get shouty, giving them the excuse that they’ve been the victim of abuse (which they go to pains to tell you they won’t tolerate) and cut you off.
This is just my experience. Others will no doubt tell me how marvellous things are. Great, I’m pleased for them. But I despair at how **** things have become. When I grew up in that town, GPs (like elsewhere) made regular, often unannounced, home visits. You had their home numbers because you saw them at gatherings, fetes etc. All this has gone.
).
