MEDICAL MATTERS

[Stanley]

That's been a major problem for a long time Peter. The administrative class in this country do not believe that workers can effectively manage. The reason being that if they did it would make the present managers redundant.
They see the NHS as a milch cow not the wonderful altruistic concept that it is. Until that changes there will be no real improvement.

[Tripps]

I - and many others - are concerned that Dr (Nurse) John Campbell has not posted on Youtube since Monday 22nd July 2024. This is most unusual, and there have been calls - with as yet no response - for him to confirm that he is OK. He has over 3 million subscribers, and his last video was on a Korean study on Cognitive decline and mRNA 'vaccines'. With such a large fanbase I don't get why he cannot respond, and just make a brief post to say he is well.
I hope he is.

[Stanley]

Could he be having a summer break?

[Sue]

I have respect for all the NHS nurses, doctors, medics and front-line administrators (like my cousin who does part-time admin on the Stroke Ward of our local hospital) but my gripe is with the top management who don't seem to understand what needs to be done to make the NHS more efficient and effective.

My gripe has always been admin. They have made some serious mistakes for both my Dad and myself. On the latter occasion I wrote a very stiff letter to the head of department concerned. The apology included telling me that many admin staff are temps, and never stay long enough to get to grips with the system. That indicates to me that there are too few admin or too complex systems.

[Tizer]

I think most of the front-line administrators are trying hard but they have difficulty because of the chaotic and unreliable systems they are expected to use. My cousin has worked as part-time admin person on the Stroke Unit at the local hospital for 20 years but she's now taken up a part-time job with a private care company. She's doing both jobs, as well as running her own business at the moment, to find out if the care job is better than the NHS job. At least the care job allows her to get out and about instead of being stuck in a hospital ward!

[Stanley]

Perhaps if we had a culture that welcomed constructive criticism from the people who had to make it work instead of a system that punishes whistle blowers we might see some improvements.

[Tizer]

Today I received a letter from the hospital about my appointment on 21 August. It will not be a hospital visit to remove the skin lesion but a telephone call from a specialist nurse to get my prescription details etc. So I still don't know when the lesion will be removed! Compare this to the previous ones I've had removed at the local surgery without all the prior appointments etc. And the letter doesn't tell me whether their call will be to my smartphone or home phone (the NHS has both).

[Tripps]

Got in a tangle her so deleted and reposted.

DT.

[Stanley]

I trust her David. Do you rate her?

[Tripps]

I trust her David. Do you rate her?

Put me down as cautiously very sceptical.

I read she is just 28 years old and covers "disinformation" for the BBC. Who decides what's disinformation and what's the truth? As Morse used to say - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? She spent a year working in Russia and wrote for the Moscow Times.

I'm curious as to how she got the job, and find - "Senior news reporter for The Guardian Alexandra Topping suggested that Spring contact various BBC journalists that she admired. Emily Maitlis replied to Spring and gave her an opportunity to work on Newsnight".

So - not following a public advertisement for the post,and an interview in competition with other candidates then. Puts me in mind of the "tap on the shoulder" so beloved of the security services.

Loosely on topic -as I'm concerned about the absence of Dr John Campbell and his reappearance - speaking not of medical matters but freedom of expression.

[Stanley]

She writes very plausible reports.... I have seen her work on BBC Verify.

[Tripps]

A geezer quoted this in a radio phone in call this afternoon. I misheard it but thanks to Google I've found the correct words.

" De omnibus dubitandum"

" Be suspicious of everything / doubt everything

Attributed to the French philosopher René Descartes. It was also Karl Marx's favorite motto and a title of one of Søren Kierkegaard's works, namely, De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Good advice I'd say - and you're in distinguished company when you use it.

[Stanley]

On the whole I agree but then I looked to my right and wondered if 'everything' includes my friends....
I can't doubt these........

[Tripps]

Posted here for sake of continuity - again..
Dr Nurse John Campbell has returned after a two and a half week absence. A 15 miniute video which offered no explanation at all for his absence, and had little medical content, but a lot about The 'National Security Online Team', (set up during Covid as the 'Counter Disinformation Unit), and the Magna Carta etc.
Why does Marianna Spring leap to mind?


I note tonight that the video referred to has vanished, without explanation. He did say that a lot of what had been deemed 'disinformation' during Covid was in fact true. "They" won't like to hear that - so it's been censored.

Do you remember when you were a kid and you used to say "you can't stop me - it's free country" ?

If it ever was true - it isn't now. We thought The Beiderbecke Tapes was fiction. Not so - just a long way ahead of its time. Taking my lead from Jill Swinburne (please Miss) and anticipating this might happen - I made a copy and it is now "in a safe place"

I anticipate a visit from Mr Peterson (the man with no name,who breaks bones) presently.

Worth another look I'd say - In a safe place Fast forward to about 1:03.

[Stanley]

You're losing me David.... Does it Matter?
I look to my right and the engines sit there reassuringly solid.
On purely medical matters I got a text the other day telling me that well were booking flu jabs..... I decided this was dodgy as it was too early and deleted it. It was a funny web address....

[Tripps]

You're losing me David.... Does it Matter?

Yes -it matters a lot.

[Tizer]

I got a text the other day telling me that well were booking flu jabs..... I decided this was dodgy as it was too early and deleted it. It was a funny web address....

It's genuine, not dodgy. I too got a text from Well offering me a free appointment. The `funny web address' is the organisation that deals with NHS digital information, appointments etc. (Years ago I was complaining to organisations such as banks that were having emails sent out showing unrecognisable email and web addresses. It was one of the reasons scammers found it so easy to fool people. And now they all do it, the NHS included.) The appointment would have been at my local Well pharmacy but I chose to ignore it because our local surgery is offering appointments and I've always had my flu jab from them.

You might get another text offering you an RSV vaccination. I've had my text from the surgery and booked myself in. It's against respiratory syncytial virus which is a respiratory disease usually affecting babies and over-75s and can cause pneumonia.

After several months of waiting I've finally got an appointment for checking my hearing and servicing my hearing aids. I was very pleased - but then noticed it was not for my usual audiology unit to which I can walk in 10 minutes but for one in another town!

[Big Kev]

I suppose this is potentially a medical matter. Airedale Hospital has now got collection points for old equipment. I had a pair of crutches in the cupboard for months as no one would take them back.
https://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/aired ... 4k3xRzmiLg

[Stanley]

Peter, having an audiology point you can walk to is so passée. Join the club! I am not very mobile and haven;t got a car so most of the medical services here are beyond my reach. Even simple ones like retinoscopy are out of town. I suppose they have found out, surprise surprise, that if you make a service more difficult to access it is less well attended and therefore cheaper to run. The day will come when they will apply the principle to GPs as well.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on a wo0rrying development in Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the mpox outbreak in parts of Africa a public health emergency of international concern. The highly contagious disease - formerly known as monkeypox - has killed at least 450 people during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has now spread across parts of central and east Africa, and scientists are concerned about how fast a new variant of the disease is spreading and its high fatality rate. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond "is very worrying". "A co-ordinated international response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives," he said. Mpox is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person. It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with four in 100 cases leading to death.
Do we need to worry about this?

[Stanley]

You were right Kev, Well are booking for winter flu and I was able to book in the pharmacy this morning. 15:30 on September 9th. Job done! So much easier when you can do it like that in store!

[Tizer]

There has been an mpox case detected in Sweden, somebody who had been to an African mpox area.

[Stanley]

I heard the report. They are taking it very seriously..... Memories are still strong about the origin of HIV.

[Tripps]

They are taking it very seriously....

Something's afoot. Yesterday a Mail headline said words to the effect "see distribution map of Mpox in UK".
It soon emerged that - far from distribution - there was not a single case of the disease in the whole UK. They have managed to find one in Sweden now - someone recently returned from the DRC. Today's article is better and more balanced. Mpox

A more light hearted. and perhaps a little cynical, view is available from Katie Hopkins

Simon Webb will give you more Mpox information which has the "ring" about it, but that you are most unlikely to find on the BBC News site.

Overall I am not at all worried for my personal well being.

PS - Some wag has suggested that Smallpox be renamed Spox, in order not to cause offence to little people.

PPS - BBC Busness News headlines say that "shares in Mpox vaccine manufacturer have 'surged'. Well I never. . . .

[Tripps]

Back to Marianna Spring of the BBC - for the last time - I promise.

Sonia Poulton is the "Capstan Full Strength " of analysts, and is not my automatic point of reference, but it's pleasing that she reached the same conclusion as I did.

For all those who use the BBC as a comfort blanket, this is worth a read. Marianna Spring