Hospital Treatment

I have once again been an in patient at my hospital, some 12 days so saw a lot, well looked after by the consultants but the nursing staff on duty were pushed to the limit, one qualified nurse between 12 cardiac patients, it is impossible for her to do all the work that the ward required.
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 I had a mass of fluid on my legs meaning I needed the dressings changed twice a day, but needing to have them dressed did not mean they would be, most times I sat for up to 4 hours in a pool of fluid leaking out of my legs, not a good situation to be in when you are not well.

To make things worse food, cook chill, what a shambles that is, it should be called cooked disgusting, as many of the meals were not eatable at all, I know it is not a hotel but at least the basic food should be accepted as a secondary medicine essential to patient recovery, it is not right that  families have to bring in food for patients because the food provided is so vile.

 It is very noticeable that many staff are not British, many have a real problem making themselves understood and the patient to understand them, I had one filling in my forms who could not write in English so I had to spell each word for her, and many are agency staff, the two nurses we had on a Saturday night were both agency staff neither having worked on the ward in the past, so new faces looking after some very sick people is that an acceptable situation???. The shift is 12 and a half hours long how efficient are they at the end of shift ???.

Health

I have had a really bad 10 days, I have a lot of fluid trapped in my legs and my medication is not moving it, but then I started loosing it through scratches I received on both legs, so non stop fluid, went and saw the nurse at my GP's and had both legs bandaged under pressure, problem being that in a few days my knees and thighs were filling up as it was being blocked going down to my feet, so the compression bandages were taken off, I then had large plasters and a sponge pad put on with a  tube grip bandage, this is OK for a time but the fluid finally forces its way out of the plaster and soaks the area around you, not funny, on  Monday I was given a hand full of plasters and bits and pieces and told I should do it myself, OK till this morning, well not OK really made a real mess trying to do it properly, my cardiac nurse rang and found out I was dressing the wounds myself, she went mad and contacted my GP;s nurse and it seems many words were spoken, in the end I had to go in to have them redressed and was given heaps of kit to be able to do it myself with full instructions, so finally things have resolved them selves in a way, I have to be careful as I am diabetic and have atrial fibrillation so have to be careful, infection being the main problem, the question being am I more likely to gain an infection changing that dressings at home rather than at the surgery, we shall see!!.                                                         

 

The NHS

Now I know that the election has finished, support for the NHS seems to have vanished, staffing levels the government said that we needed more nurses and doctors, so much so that many hospitals went abroad to get staff, now it seems as many trusts are overspending (not their fault I believe) so they have been told that they can only replace staff if there is a dire need for that post to be covered, if not they have to leave it vacant, so where does that leave the patient?, as usual up the creek without a paddle, mind you that seems to have been the case for years, cancelled operations and appointments we as the patient have to bear this,  lucky for them that as they are MP's they will always get far better treatment than us, so they do not have the first idea as to what a patient goes through to be treated, I have had to sit  for hours waiting to be seen, many times because they had lost my notes,  I used to take exception to all of this but age has mellowed me a little and now I just can't be bothered, sad really.

Europe

I have been watching the news about people desperately trying to get into the UK, I see that some say that we should let them in as we have plenty of jobs! pardon me! plenty of jobs if that is so why do we have unemployment?, we have thousands illegally working in the UK being put to work for penny's, by gang masters, the employer would be rubbing their hands together the cheapest labour that has been about for years, I do not understand it all, all these people, what happens to their children? would our schools manage, health care would they cope? I have to say I think not, is it fair that these people should claim asylum here not in the country of arrival, most I have seen are young men, speaking just a little English, I have no idea as to what education they have but they do not seem to have what we would call a proper education, I don't know I would leave it up to you to decide.

Calis France

I see that we are off again, these illegal immigrants trying to break into the UK, disrupting the normal flow of traffic both ways, costing the UK a small fortune, how has this problem come about, well in the beginning people thought that the streets in the UK were paved with Gold, many had a rude awakening on arrival, now these people are arriving in Italy and Greece with no papers, they then make their way across Europe to France with no intention of claiming that they are refugees requiring asylum until of course they manage to break into the UK then they become asylum seekers, all a massive con, asylum is to be claimed in the first country of arrival not whichever one you feel like, it makes me sick that some charities are so concerned about these people waiting to enter the UK illegally that they are supporting them, just where are we are we at???, we can't keep taking more and more immigrants if they choose to put them selves at risk it is not for charities in this country to moan about the conditions they are living in France, let the French worry about this problem we are paying enough money to keep them out why do charities have to now join in?. 

SNP

I have been looking at just what the SNP are up to, I seem to remember that they said it was unlikely that there would be nether referendum on independence, it now seems that the seed to set up a new referendum in the near future, they say that if we have a referendum on our membership of Europe they would not go along with us leaving , so it seems that the SNP loves referendums but do not under any circumstances accept the vote of the UK, would it be better for us to get away from Scotland they are becoming a burden to the rest of the UK, their expectations exceed their promises that were given to keep them in the UK, was it worth it?, in my mind I think not, why should the rest of us have to put up with the bleating of the SNP, it would be fa better that they sit in Parliament and represent the Scots, not what is unacceptable to most Scots who just want to live in the UK and get on with and look to the benefit that can be had for the whole of the UK rather than tunnel view they hold at the moment.   

NHS Research

Well I just have to say to you all that I am very committed to Medical research projects, so much so that I have joined my local hospital as a Patient Research Ambassador, I am promoting research projects in the hospital with the staff and Patients working or visiting the hospital, It is my belief that research is the most important way that any patient can help with, it is just a little of your time and could possibly benefit many, many people, you might be a missing Link that  just might help in answering a research program question, that just might help thousands of people throughout the World, but basic research can help patients have a far better experience when they attending hospital, your NHS treatment costs you nothing, you get looked after so is it to much to ask you to take part in a research project, remember if you are asked to participate and the outcome just might help you as well as many other patients, you can be proud!!, you helped, you said yes, I would hope that any who are asked would say YES, it has got to be worth the effort.