MEDICAL MATTERS

[Stanley]

Peter. I am pleased to hear you report an improvement in the service.
At the moment I have minimal connection with the surgery as I am on a 12 month repeat prescription. And the fact that the prescription is so long seems to have had a beneficial effect on Well Pharmacy. Their text service announcing when my meds are ready is functioning well at the moment. So I have no complaints!

[Tizer]

I've written to our local councillor asking her to get our hospital to beef up their infection control on people coming and going from the building. In my many visits this year I seem to be the only person who uses the alcohol dispensers provided at the entrances. Covid and influenza infections are rising in the UK and this is the start of the norovirus season too.

`Children may be hit harder by flu, say officials' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jrnrkdg43o]BBC
A county's health officials have warned more children and young people could become infected with a severe strain of flu than usual at this time of year. Public health bosses in Hertfordshire said hospital admissions were low at the moment but were expected to rise over the next few weeks. They advised anyone with symptoms to wear a face mask and avoid contact with other people. The county council's executive member for public health, Ajanta Hilton, has called for a national awareness campaign.

Experts in Hertfordshire and across the country were watching the situation in Australia with growing alarm. The southern hemisphere country has seen its worst flu season on record, with 1,544 cases per 100,000 people - a 10.8% increase on the 2024 record. Hertfordshire's director of public health, Sarah Perman, said: "Australia experiences its flu season a few months before we do [and] we're beginning to see with some concern that case rates are rising in this country." Cases among the under-5s in Australia accounted for almost 11% of all infections, external (more than More than 44,500 cases) and more than a third of the infections were recorded in children below the age of 15. Ms Perman said a similar trend was now being seen in the UK, but other groups were also at risk.

[Tripps]

I seem to be the only person who uses the alcohol dispensers provided at the entrances.

You do right. My understanding is that doing so won''t protect against Covid or Flu, but it's good against Norovirus. That's something you can do without. I'm not sure a local Concillor would be the best line of complaint though.

[Stanley]

I am just as wary as you Peter. It is this awareness of the presence of danger that drives my aversion to surgeries and hospitals.
Old shepherds used to say that a sheep's worst enemy was another sheep.... I feel the same my be true of humans.

[Cathy]

I still carry and use hand sanitizer when I’m out and about. And a face mask for when it’s necessary.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

You do right. My understanding is that doing so won''t protect against Covid or Flu, but it's good against Norovirus.

There are divided opinions on the effectiveness of these precautions - I've seen claims that they don't work on norovirus but it takes so little effort to clean hands it's better safe than sorry and alcohol will definitely kill bacteria. Cleaning your hands when going into a hospital is also a sign of respect for the staff, the patients and other visitors.

I'm not sure a local Councillor would be the best line of complaint though.

We're lucky in that respect, our councillors are always helpful, especially the one to whom I sent my message. Her response was: Many thanks for your email Peter, you raise valid concerns particularly at this time of year. I will forward your comments on in the hope that your message is heard both at the hospital and by our public health team.

[Stanley]

The quality of local councillors varies widely. Here in Barlick we are lucky, we have David Whipp. It sounds as though Peter has the West Country equivalent.

[Cathy]

There is a David Whipp listed in my Ancestry DNA results as a a 4th cousin or half 3rd cousin 1 x removed.
This means that we share 1% DNA. Hardly worth mentioning really.

[Stanley]

He's a good man Cathy..... Keep him in the list!

[Tripps]

I'm at the dentist next week.

I've already had an email inviting me to add a hygeinist session to the appointment. That will be £80 please.
Thanks but "no thanks"

Now today I have a 'gentle invitation' to fill in my medical history online to save me the bother of updating my record when I attend. It's an eight page questionaire and as an encouragement I am told that failure to do so may incur a £100 fine from NHS England. How 'gentle' is that? It seems to be run by a third party company, and frankly is not fit for purpose. For instance it asks if I carry a warning card - then fails to ask what it is for.

I am asked to sign it at the end - but the software to do that is not included. I gave up.

I'll blag my way through it when I go. It was never a problem previously to update it with a pen.

Hutber's law once again proves reliable - "Improvement equals deterioration".

PS In stark contrast - I've just renewed the Tax on my car online with no bother at all, in less than five minutes. Now that is useful.

PPS Then I recalled that NHS England was to be abolished. . .
The Prime Minister cited NHS England as an example of over-regulation and duplication of bureaucracy, before announcing it would be abolished, and spoke of it being "brought back into democratic control" within the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). He stressed that he was not criticising civil servants themselves, but rather the system which has evolved to work in an overly bureaucratic way. Later in the morning, the Secretary of State made a statement to the House of Commons on the changes, confirming that the expectation would be for the abolition (requiring primary legislation) to be completed within two years.

[Big Kev]

I've never filled one in online for the dentist. Receptionist just asks if anything has changed since my previous visit.

[Stanley]

I've been having a rough passage with dislocated sleep patterns. I'm happy to report they are slowly coming back to normal For two successive nights I have slept right through the night. At present they are out of sync in that I am running early. I can adjust that slowly as soon as I am sure I am stabilised.
I don't know what caused this but suspect there might be a connection with having both flu jabs on the same day. Trouble is of course I have no proof.

[Tizer]

Having PFAS (per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances) in our bodies is now normal no matter where we live or how we live...
`I have high levels of forever chemicals in my blood - what can I do about it?' LINK

[Whyperion]

Dec 1st In News
The UK and the US have agreed a deal to keep tariffs on UK pharmaceutical shipments into America at zero.

Under the agreement the UK will pay more for medicines through the NHS in return for a guarantee that US import taxes on pharmaceuticals made in the UK will remain at zero for three years.
Hmm , UK rolled over or the benefits worth the cost ?Does Rachels extra wriggle room fund the NHS for more spending on Drugs (is that per head of population - do we really need a pill or injection for every ailment ? )

[Stanley]

When you think about it Peter, it's a sad commentary on our stewardship of the planet that we fail on so many levels. Question I ask myself is "Were we programmed to fail?"

[Tizer]

Question I ask myself is "Were we programmed to fail?"

No, I don't think so. We're in the Great Universe Game Show and have a chance to win but we're blundering along at the moment and failing to impress anyone out there who may be watching. Tripps could probably tell us the odds!

[Tripps]

I don't bet very much at all, but take an interest in such things.

“I long ago came to the conclusion that all life is 6 to 5 against.” -- Damon Runyon

I don't like decimal odds much - I'd say nearer to six to four. or 'half arm' as they say in the business.

[Stanley]

Now there's a bit of esoteric knowledge for you....
I eventually got my consultation with the practice nurse about my meds but she was an hour late,. When I queried the time she told me she had been in a meeting and couldn't let me know she was going to be late. I think she realised what a lame excuse this was. The subject of the call was a total non-event, it was only to inform me that one of my pills is to be replaced by an improvement to the genre that does exactly the same thing. Main thing is that the prescription is in place until next July.....

[Whyperion]

Apparently an increase in a rather stronger than expected type of flu is about. sending more people into hospital earlier in the year.
Who are these people that get out and about so much to pick viruses up so quickly

[Stanley]

See THIS warning from NHS....
The number of flu patients in hospital has hit a record high in England for this time of year with NHS leaders warning the country is facing an unprecedented flu season. NHS figures show there were an average of 1,700 patients in hospital with flu last week - that is more than 50% higher than the same time last year - and early indications from this week are that hospitalisations have continued climbing sharply since. It comes as the flu season hit a month earlier than normal this year, with experts warning there appears to be a more severe strain of the virus circulating. England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has warned the NHS must take diseases like pneumonia and flu in older people much more seriously to save lives.

[Tizer]

Remember my warning to our local main hospital via my friendly councillor about inadequate hand cleansing facilities at the entrances? As well as the worst influenza strain for many years it's also the norovirus season. A local school here had to close recently due to a norovirus outbreak.

[Stanley]

Yes Peter I do and I hope the people who sanctioned the cuts that led to neglect of the sanitary precautions are also reminded!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the flu epidemic hitting our hospitals.
An average of 2,660 patients per day were in hospital with flu in England last week – the highest ever for this time of year and up 55% on the week before. "This unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year," the NHS national medical director says. With no peak in sight, NHS England says there are now enough flu patients to fill more than three whole hospital trusts - here's the data. Meanwhile, flu cases are also rising in Scotland - but at a slower rate - and in Wales. This will almost certainly end up the worst flu season for many years, while hospitals are facing multiple challenges, writes our health correspondent

[Tripps]

Remember Dr Chris Smith the Cambridge virologist from the Covid days? I do, especially since his wife is a GP at my local practice. I thought he spoke a lot of sense then, and still does now. This is worth watching to restore a bit of reality to the situation. It's not "an unprecedented wave of super flu" as the BBC describe it - it's just a different variant of Flu.