Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, 5 C said:

This will be the same Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust that's been in special measures for nearly two years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-53764432

 

On current performance it's not hard to see why. The sooner we get Dave out of there the better. Anyone got a phone number for the Hereford mob?

 

30 minutes ago, Barry O said:

the nHS is not coordinated Nationally and if, like me it is poorly set up in your area it is no longer fit for purpose. My surgery will not accept calls unless it is very urgent (ie the Marie Celeste ) and it took 6 weeks to contact me about my diabetic tests.

I had a phone call from the Leeds General Infirmary about something seen during an MRI scan.. nothing was written down so --"you must be ok".. from the Cardiac Unit clerical team... - the phone call was from the Cardiac admissions .. not mentioned on their list of important people

 

Clinical Director - Dr Chris Pepper

Lead Clinician - Dr Andrew Hogarth and Dr Dominik Schlosshan

General Manager - Gina McGawley

Service Manager - Tracy Rennard

Business Manager - Vanessa Best

Head of Nursing - Scott Van Steen

Matrons - Helen Rowbotham / Hannah Graham

 

bit clerical heavy is that team..

 

It needs to be "stitched together better and start to communicate better across the country.

 

Baz

Would it be too cynical of me to observe that - in all probability - they get 10/10 for “diversity” “inclusivity” and all the other oh-so-important, but clinically irrelevant, “awarenesses” that take precedent over inconvenient things like treating patients..,,

[New Haven Neil]

Oh dear, the NHS. 

 

It drives me to tears, we used to try so hard to give good service to our patients, and some dick head would always *&^% it up somewhere along the line.  Time and time again, the lack of thought and/or common sense sometimes left me breathless, and I'm afraid to say it was usually the medics (sorry iD) or more precisely just ONE medic in the chain somewhere who thought they knew better/didn't care/was too arrogant to read the notes properly (* delete as appropriate ) and caused chaos.  I have been on both sides of this, as a NHS administration manager of a department doing 50,000 appointments a year, and as a patient for five bouts of surgery over the years. 

 

As a 'for instance', A hospital in England discharged me after hip surgery without wondering how I was going to get home (they had my address and they are generally used to us three-leggers being there and I was complaining loudly about the situation), ever tried getting into a plane after having bits cut off your pelvis and femur?  (Femoral acetabular impingement, iD!) I ended up back in the same hospital for a few days.  Just one example.  No wonder I left the NHS on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

 

However..... a positive, our surgery uses Patient EMS and it works well, I can see all my diabetic blood tests and other test results, and we can pick any pharmacy on the island using free type, no list to pick from.

 

Quite a rant, Neil!  Touches a nerve.... I gave 20 years to the NHS, it almost destroyed me in return.

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Would it be too cynical

Yes.

 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Sorry to here about your delay in discharge Dave, unfortunately this is a very common occurrence.

Last year I had  an operation cancelled at he very last minute, I was already gowned up. The reason why, I snore which I had already informed them about on a questionnaire. The operation was due to last three hours so 3hours of operating theatre time was wasted and I was due to stay overnight so goodness knows how much money was wasted. Not to mention the inconvenience for SWMBO and myself. If only someone had actually read the questionnaire . 

Just googled costs of NHS beds. It costs over £2000 per extra night in an accute bed. You’d  think there’d be a stewards enquiry in any other business wouldn’t you.

Anyway have a good bank holiday Monday tomorrow.

Robert

[Gwiwer]

Not in any way wishing to detract from the outstanding work the NHS troops generally do under all sorts of duress SWMBO has determined that she may be better cared for by paying for the services of a private GP.  When your local surgery cannot even take your blood pressure reliably yet knows you are there because of high BP .........    They also cannot manage to extract the red stuff for testing yet the local hospital has no difficulty with either procedure.  

 

A slightly better day today.  No friction but again no discussion of topics which may cause that.  We cannot avoid things for ever.  But we can make the most of those days when they are sufficiently out of mind that we can achieve other goals.  Such as the long-needed clear-out of the linen cupboard.  Oh so interesting ..... but needed.  

 

Best wishes to Dave Hunt.  Hopefully tomorrow will bring better news.  

 

To one and all sleep well.  To those for whom it makes a difference - turn the alarm off because it's a Ban Collar Day Moan-day.  

 

 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[newbryford]

Two days of (sometimes comedic) golf. Lots of grass cutting. Some F1 watching and prepping for a day (mention it quietly) playing small trains with a couple of my operating team tomorrow.

We will be socially distanced and we can even have a controller each to prevent cross-contamination!

 

Have a good Bank Hol folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

my fall on the fall has started to reveal additional aches and pains so ..

time for a Paracetemol and ..

 

Goodnight all!

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Remiss of me. Positive thoughts to Gabe. She is Purley Oaks (Mal) widow. It would have been his birthday today. Gone but not forgotten.

 

Baz

 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. This afternoon I nodded off while doing a Sudoku but the pen slipping through my fingers woke me up. So I went to look for the pen but it was nowhere to be found, it was as if it had disappeared into thin air. So I got another pen and finished the puzzle. Later this afternoon I was looking down when I spotted the missing pen. It was standing vertical against the leg of a table alongside my chair.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

So in the midst of all this madness, I've worked out a time saving method in life.

 

I only wear black socks. It's been a habit to turn the tops together when putting them in the wash backer, then again when putting them away.

 

Why?

 

So I stopped doing it and just shove them in any old how. When getting some to wear, just grab any old two and I'm away.

 

Why I didn't think of this years ago, I'll never know! 

I've been doing that for years. I also put the newly washed and aired ones at the back of the sock drawer at take the ones from the front for use.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well it’s been lovely and sunny for most of the day, although it did get cloudy around dinner time, but thankfully it didn’t rain. Lots of progress has been made with the bathroom cabinet, I managed to sand it down and s5rip the wax of the doors. I then 

applied the first coat of primer before dinner. 

 

After dinner the doors were given there first coat of primer and the cabinet a second coat, before I packed up for the afternoon. 

 

Sheila mentioned late this afternoon that she’s had a fly following and buzzing round her nearly all day, I was very tempted to make a rude comment! But, I had a think about it and decided against it, purely on the grounds that it might have been detrimental to my own personal safety.

 

On that note I’ll wish you all goodnight, Brian 

[Gwiwer]

59 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Remiss of me. Positive thoughts to Gabe. She is Purley Oaks (Mal) widow. It would have been his birthday today. Gone but not forgotten.

 

Baz

 

With other things front and centre stage I too had overlooked this.  Best wishes to Gabe.  Our support is never far away.  

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

So in the midst of all this madness, I've worked out a time saving method in life. I only wear black socks. It's been a habit to turn the tops together when putting them in the wash backer, then again when putting them away. Why? So I stopped doing it and just shove them in any old how. When getting some to wear, just grab any old two and I'm away. Why I didn't think of this years ago, I'll never know! 

I did that many years ago when still working and now have 63 pairs of identical black socks.

 

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Would it be too cynical of me to observe that - in all probability - they get 10/10 for “diversity” “inclusivity” and all the other oh-so-important, but clinically irrelevant, “awarenesses” that take precedent over inconvenient things like treating patients..,,

Yes.

 

 

Speaking of tanks, there is a funny movie called TANK (or TANK!) about someone who owns (privately) a tank. I recommend it.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[TheQ]

Mooring awl, inner Temple Hare .

6.5 hours solid sleep so far... 

 

Hmm I have this image stuck in my brain,  of a 500ft long,  15,000ton sub,  surfing up the Severn.

 

Black socks,  I've been using them for 47 years, started when I joined the RAF,  there was a time after  I left, when I  bought additional coloured socks.  Apart from the irritating  hunt the odd sock time,  I found the socks generally  sold to the public were carp quality and didn't last long. 

So I found a source for genuine, new,    socks,  woollen,  airmans,   and have been using them ever since.  How long do they last,  well there are a couple of socks left from my time in the RAF,  only Identifiable, by the fact they  are somewhat more threadbare than the others.

The only coloured socks I have now are my kilt hose,  not worn that often,  which is just as well as they are expensive. 

 

Also stuck in my brain is the thought I may have used the wrong chemical to the "set" the bonding paste,  for one of the corner fillets. There being two large tins on the bench,  one being a soft filler,  the other being a harder bonding paste, each having their respective chemicals. Did I make a mistake?  I'm not sure but,  if it's not set hard this morning I'll scrape it all off and try again. 

 

The alternative problem  used to happen in Saudi, building the boat,  only one chemical and resin used there,  I had to mix in filler powder if that's what I needed.  But occasionally in periods of extreme humidity,  the mix would not set properly and you'd get  a non sticking rubbery goo, which would require scraping off and a new mix making.. 

 

Ben the snoring Collie is still asleep,  I think I might join him.. 

 

[5 C]

9 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

So in the midst of all this madness, I've worked out a time saving method in life.

 

I only wear black socks. It's been a habit to turn the tops together when putting them in the wash backer, then again when putting them away.

 

Why?

 

So I stopped doing it and just shove them in any old how. When getting some to wear, just grab any old two and I'm away.

 

Why I didn't think of this years ago, I'll never know! 

 

I've been doing this since I started policing and never looked back. I buy a single batch of 20 at a time from M&S (one of the few things I get from there these days) and attempt to rotate them through my sock drawer so they wear at a roughly even rate. When they have worn to an unacceptable state, I recycle the whole lot, get in a fresh batch and start the process again. I've just started on a fresh batch in the last couple of weeks.

 

Since this recent bout of working from home, I have been wearing distinctive patterned socks at the weekend as one of the small ways of trying to differentiate between home and work life.

 

Time is too precious to waste it finding matching socks.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

Well, I have been caught bang to rights, and no mistake!

Being “too cynical” is, alas, ingrained in me. Like many (most?) who have worked at length in the Police or Medical services, I have come to the conclusion that one should always “expect the very worst and hope for the best”: in other words cynicism tempered with a very tiny bit of optimism (for me the difference between pessimism and cynicism, is that pessimism assumes that things will go wrong just because things just go wrong, whereas cynicism assumes that things will go wrong because of selfishness, incompetence, ignorance and greed).

NHN, no “sorry” needed. Just because someone is a physician doesn’t mean that he/she can’t also be a 100%, gold-plated, bona-fide, dyed-in-the-wool, turbo-charged p1llock. I’ve met my fair share of them (although in my business they tend to end up as a recipient of a “short, sharp shock” pretty toot-sweet) 

 

On to more cheerful matters. Last week saw the arrival of a few bits and bobs to complete my “hopes to vaguely sound like David Gilmour” rig: a Planet Waves No-solder pedal board patch cable kit, an overdrive and a compressor. The 2 pedals will “top and tail” the Keeley Electronics Dark Side pedal (Pink Floyd in a box) which will allow me to dial up that amazing DG tone. As for the playing , the less said the better; some things are passably adequate and possibly recognisable as DG inspired, whilst others still only have a nodding acquaintance with the original.

Sadly, I have to announce that my severe case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) is worsening and now no longer confined just to guitars. I also have terrible GAS regarding model railway stuff and kitchen equipment. In many ways, it is perhaps just as well that I am not a multimillionaire. Otherwise I would be perusing, on a regular basis, “Which Helicopter“, “Which Canalboat“ and “Which Aircraft” (amongst others) for the latest accessories, add-ons, upgrades and potential new models.
 

And on that note, I will leave you with the ancient philosophical truism: “the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys“

Enjoy your bank holiday Monday

iD

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've been doing that for years. I also put the newly washed and aired ones at the back of the sock drawer at take the ones from the front for use.

My eldest gave up trying to pair up socks and has worn odd socks for years. 

 

Good moaning to all and sundry,  i hope to hear that the escape tunnel has been completed in Shrewsbury today and that there are no more goons standing at the exit.  I also hope that there are no reports of a collision between an Astute and a Challenger 2 in that area. I also hope that you've not damaged anything Baz.

 

Here it's a day of medical appointments for both of us. GP this morning then this afternoon Beth is off to the pain clinic in Niort. No if's not a torture centre.  I am required to chauffeur her there then pick her up. It's a terrible coincidence  but the Hospital is very close to the railway station. 1 guess as to where I will be waiting till I'm summoned.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited August 31, 2020 by jamie92208

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all, with good luck to Dave for his escape and fond thoughts to Gabe in memory of Mal.

 

The day has not started well.  I nodded off just as I was preparing to crawl out of bed.  I suppose it is better than lying awake waiting for the alarm, not that I set the alarm very often these days.  Shortly I shall run a bath and look forward to a therapeutic wallow.

 

My two penn'orth on the NHS.  It is a very long time since I was summoned to a diabetes clinic.  I used to have them about every six months.  No doubt if something were seriously amiss it would show up in the blood test that I have six-monthly as part of my cancer treatment.  The $64k dollar question is whether I would ever be told.  As for my cancer treatment, the main component is a hormone injection every 12 weeks.  Arranging the appointment has turned into a pantomime, for Checkpoint Charlene will no longer let me book it six weeks in advance.  A week from today will be crunch day, being the date on which I was told to ring and ask the question.  Heaven help somebody if I cannot be seen on the designated date.  At least the on-line system for ordering prescriptions appears to work.  Touch wood ...

 

That ruddy virus has been a constant source of annoyance ever since it reared its multiplicity of heads.  Almost without exception we are looking over our shoulders and under our beds for nasty things, perceiving danger where it is unlikely to exist.  Yesterday we had the union representing college lecturers piping up and claiming that it will not be safe for up to a million students to travel to their universities at the imminent start of term.  FFS!  Their job, surely, is to enable those young people to receive the education for which they pay handsomely or, as the case may be, through the nose.  Nothing can ever be perfectly safe.  If the college authorities have done all they can to attain the desired standard of safety for the students in their care, it seems that they will have done so without help from the teaching staff.  It gets more and more difficult to be a young person and this really does not help them.

 

Finally for today, a trivia question on pop music.  What is the connection between "Dancing in the streets" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and "Amazing Grace" by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[5 C]

43 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Being “too cynical” is, alas, ingrained in me. Like many (most?) who have worked at length in the Police or Medical services, I have come to the conclusion that one should always “expect the very worst and hope for the best”: in other words cynicism tempered with a very tiny bit of optimism (for me the difference between pessimism and cynicism, is that pessimism assumes that things will go wrong just because things just go wrong, whereas cynicism assumes that things will go wrong because of selfishness, incompetence, ignorance and greed).

 

I'm not a cynic. I'm a realist with experience.

[Joseph_Pestell]

50 minutes ago, chrisf said:

Greetings one and all, with good luck to Dave for his escape and fond thoughts to Gabe in memory of Mal.

 

The day has not started well.  I nodded off just as I was preparing to crawl out of bed.  I suppose it is better than lying awake waiting for the alarm, not that I set the alarm very often these days.  Shortly I shall run a bath and look forward to a therapeutic wallow.

 

My two penn'orth on the NHS.  It is a very long time since I was summoned to a diabetes clinic.  I used to have them about every six months.  No doubt if something were seriously amiss it would show up in the blood test that I have six-monthly as part of my cancer treatment.  The $64k dollar question is whether I would ever be told.  As for my cancer treatment, the main component is a hormone injection every 12 weeks.  Arranging the appointment has turned into a pantomime, for Checkpoint Charlene will no longer let me book it six weeks in advance.  A week from today will be crunch day, being the date on which I was told to ring and ask the question.  Heaven help somebody if I cannot be seen on the designated date.  At least the on-line system for ordering prescriptions appears to work.  Touch wood ...

 

That ruddy virus has been a constant source of annoyance ever since it reared its multiplicity of heads.  Almost without exception we are looking over our shoulders and under our beds for nasty things, perceiving danger where it is unlikely to exist.  Yesterday we had the union representing college lecturers piping up and claiming that it will not be safe for up to a million students to travel to their universities at the imminent start of term.  FFS!  Their job, surely, is to enable those young people to receive the education for which they pay handsomely or, as the case may be, through the nose.  Nothing can ever be perfectly safe.  If the college authorities have done all they can to attain the desired standard of safety for the students in their care, it seems that they will have done so without help from the teaching staff.  It gets more and more difficult to be a young person and this really does not help them.

 

Finally for today, a trivia question on pop music.  What is the connection between "Dancing in the streets" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and "Amazing Grace" by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

Very strange that you are not getting diabetes appointments if you used to have reviews every 6 months. Without knowing all the circumstances, I would still advise that you ask your GP about it.

 

Certainly, you can't rely on them picking up anything from your cancer blood tests. They will only be looking for cancer symptoms.

 

I was almost certainly a diabetic for 30+ years before being officially diagnosed (and that only after self-diagnosis) but I had had other medical incidents in the meantime without medics spotting the diabetes. In light of how serious the side effects of diabetes can be, I believe that there should be routine screening for it of the whole population.