Bag's Rants

Cash Crisis hits Patient Care.

That was the headlines from this weeks local rag. Got to read this I thought as I sat down for a quick cuppa between conference calls. It seems to be how I'm spending my life at the moment.

Anyway as I pick up the paper I see an advert on Sky One for a NHS quit smoking advice line and thought that must have cost them a pretty penny. How much is a few minutes on Sky One anyway? I think by now either people have the message that smoking is bad for you or they are able to really successfully tune it out whether they have tried to give up, are succeeding or have never smoked.

Then out from the paper comes a bunch of the usual fast food leaflets as well as one from our local NHS PCT (Primary Care Trust) telling me where the local surgeries are and the phone numbers plus what they do.

So I'm looking at a leaflet which is the NHS equivalent of the yellow pages where it tells me about places I don't want to go to because they are closed because money is being spent, not on health care, but on shiny new leaflets advertising the PCT and TV adverts for people who, if they are interested, can also get the numbers from the yellow pages.

Jeez, I think I know why they are running out of money and some of our wards are closing.

People don't need any of these things. They dial 999 or go to A&E if it is an emergency. They go to their doctors when they feel ill but don't think it is an emergency and these places then sort them out.

If you need to find out where to go for non emergency care or where to give up smoking you look in the Yellow pages or the Thomson Guide.

What you do expect though is when you are diagnosed with something that you can get it fixed and not be told they are out of money till next year in what should be their primary roll treating patients whilst at the same time watching the reason they have no money on the TV.

posted by Bag @ 8:16 pm