MAD! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
And I am a diabetic.
Yes, I am a Type 2 (or, as I prefer to describe it, Grade 2 listed) diabetic and have been taking daily tablets for more years than I care to remember. Since I am increasingly too old, weak-willed and lazy to lose a couple of stone (28 pounds) in weight (look it up), for the rest of my life I shall probably be a who-knows-how-many-times-a-year regular at whatever local NHS establishment has the time and staff to deal with me.
They become harder and harder to find.
We still have a surgery in this village, but it is the branch surgery of a Newport practice currently beset by staffing problems.
For my next pre checkup blood test I have to go to the main surgery in Newport (a parking nightmare) or to St. Mary's Hospital on the other side of Newport (a bastion of self-importance over competence). That's the choice.
There is also a walk-in clinic in Ryde where you can chance your arm.
I opted for the main surgery and the earliest appointment I could get there - which is at the end of this month. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Shangri-la and I do appreciate that others are faced with far greater problems, but for years I just walked down the road to obtain the scant services I required.
Not now. Too many patients: too few staff.
Now it is bureaucracy gone mad.
No doubt about it, politicos are slowly killing off the NHS. If, diabetes notwithstanding, I survive another ten years, I doubt there will be a free service left. Who trusts an NHS Trust?
I was employed in family practitioner administration for thirty two years and believed in what it stood for. It's gone now. Successive governments have buggered everything up.
Not completely yet.
But watch 'em!
And I am a diabetic.
Yes, I am a Type 2 (or, as I prefer to describe it, Grade 2 listed) diabetic and have been taking daily tablets for more years than I care to remember. Since I am increasingly too old, weak-willed and lazy to lose a couple of stone (28 pounds) in weight (look it up), for the rest of my life I shall probably be a who-knows-how-many-times-a-year regular at whatever local NHS establishment has the time and staff to deal with me.
They become harder and harder to find.
We still have a surgery in this village, but it is the branch surgery of a Newport practice currently beset by staffing problems.
For my next pre checkup blood test I have to go to the main surgery in Newport (a parking nightmare) or to St. Mary's Hospital on the other side of Newport (a bastion of self-importance over competence). That's the choice.
There is also a walk-in clinic in Ryde where you can chance your arm.
I opted for the main surgery and the earliest appointment I could get there - which is at the end of this month. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Shangri-la and I do appreciate that others are faced with far greater problems, but for years I just walked down the road to obtain the scant services I required.
Not now. Too many patients: too few staff.
Now it is bureaucracy gone mad.
No doubt about it, politicos are slowly killing off the NHS. If, diabetes notwithstanding, I survive another ten years, I doubt there will be a free service left. Who trusts an NHS Trust?
I was employed in family practitioner administration for thirty two years and believed in what it stood for. It's gone now. Successive governments have buggered everything up.
Not completely yet.
But watch 'em!
No comments:
Post a Comment