Lock Down?

[Billhook]

1 hour ago, maybelateron said:

Very difficult to know where to begin. I will throw a few random comments in as they enter my head:

 

1) Appraisal system is useless aka "not fit for purpose". The majority of decent doctors spend too long worrying about and preparing for it, while the few bad apples are slick at selling themselves on paper. One year I had to tick a box to confirm that I am honest! WTF?

 

2) A major problem is ever moving goalposts - targets to meet being changed every few months, guidelines changing far too quickly. The culture of "constant change".

 

3) As a partner in general practice, ie the old fashioned way, rather than a salaried assistant, employed by other gp's, I have always been paid adequately for my work, and in some years very well indeed. I don't think pay is an issue.

 

4) Not enough time per patient appointment to sort things out properly.

 

5) Increasing amounts of work that were hospital based (secondary care) being moved over to GP (primary care), but without the funding following the extra workload. By this I do mean funding, no pay. For example, a practice can do a lot more if it has the funding to take on an extra nurse/nurse practitioner/practice based physio etc.

 

6) The reluctance of so many in society to be realistic in their expectations of what can be achieved, particularly with the frail elderly. 

 

7) The lack of continuity of care. When I was a young new GP it was not uncommon to give your home number to the family of a terminally ill patient in the community during the last few weeks of the illness. That just doesn't happen now due to workload and burnout sadly.

 

? Chronic underfunding of the NHS. I use to think this was not the case, until my wife (also a GP) learnt that for years the UK had spent a smaller proportion of GDP on the NHS than most other European countries.

 

9) The need, perceived need, to practice defensive medicine - overinvestigation of many patients to rule out any possible litigation. 

 

Etcetera...

One of the three doctors is ten years older than you.  He said that he thought one of the problems was medical colleges trying to be gender equal. In his day there were only a handful of women in the college with him,  but now they are forced to have equal numbers.  He says it is an unfair but true statistic that a large proportion of the women being trained now will leave the profession for several years to have families and maybe not return. This is a large waste of education and leads to a general shortage of doctors. Maybe a hard fact of life.

 Now your wife is a doctor, so I would be interested to know her thoughts on this

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, Billhook said:

One of the three doctors is ten years older than you.  He said that he thought one of the problems was medical colleges trying to be gender equal. In his day there were only a handful of women in the college with him,  but now they are forced to have equal numbers.  He says it is an unfair but true statistic that a large proportion of the women being trained now will leave the profession for several years to have families and maybe not return. This is a large waste of education and leads to a general shortage of doctors. Maybe a hard fact of life.

 Now your wife is a doctor, so I would be interested to know her thoughts on this

Equality of opportunity has been trumped by equality of outcome. Its gonna end very badly before the people making these calls change their tune. 

[Ratman]

You fu&&er have you been stockpiling shit roll up there?the 046 is waiting for ya but its worth more than a lorry load of crap paper i reckon[emoji106]?

Well...... i’m normally brand loyal [emoji6] so my usual tipple is 24 rolls of cushelle! (£9.50)
But.... as times are changing, we’re feeling the pinch and no chuffer has any on the shelfs etc... i’ve had to move across to andrex, 24 rolls for £10.50 (robbing sods!!!) i’ll gladly share if ya need!
Saw wise though... i’ll always be brand loyal, stihl all the way for me ?

[gary112]

1 minute ago, Ratman said:

Well...... i’m normally brand loyal so my usual tipple is 24 rolls of cushelle! (£9.50)
But.... as times are changing, we’re feeling the pinch and no chuffer has any on the shelfs etc... i’ve had to move across to andrex, 24 rolls for £10.50 (robbing sods!!!) i’ll gladly share if ya need!
Saw wise though... i’ll always be brand loyal, stihl all the way for me ?

I reckon when things get back to normal a bit,we better agree a deal on this saw and you better have a day trip and come get it?

[difflock]

I can reasonably comment that since  examinations were largely replaced by continuious assessment in order to favour the female disposition, (per Andys  "equal outcome" type situation) girls have done much better results wise, hence more girls get the grades to study medicine.

From the wife who taught Physics.

[trigger_andy]

I can reasonably comment that since  examinations were largely replaced by continuious assessment in order to favour the female disposition, (per Andys  "equal outcome" type situation) girls have done much better results wise, hence more girls get the grades to study medicine.
From the wife who taught Physics.

Interesting. My daughter is in 5th year and doing 5 highers. Not sure what the equivalent is in NI and England? They study hard, have some mock exams to track their progress and official prelims just before Christmas that don’t count toward anything unless they need to be referenced if the kid does badly in the official exam, or can’t attend the official exam. There is no continual assessment for her. Thankfully she got straight A’s in her prelims so she should get an official straight A pass as the tests are cancelled this year due to The Rona.

My wife is doing her degree in Maths and Quantum Physics. They do have continual assessment though. Different projects that go toward their final score. I think the final year exam is worth about 45%, so you still have to study and cram hard leading up to that. I’ve no idea what they plan on doing for her grade.

[maybelateron]

41 minutes ago, Billhook said:

One of the three doctors is ten years older than you.  He said that he thought one of the problems was medical colleges trying to be gender equal. In his day there were only a handful of women in the college with him,  but now they are forced to have equal numbers.  He says it is an unfair but true statistic that a large proportion of the women being trained now will leave the profession for several years to have families and maybe not return. This is a large waste of education and leads to a general shortage of doctors. Maybe a hard fact of life.

 Now your wife is a doctor, so I would be interested to know her thoughts on this

That is a very fair point to make. Sadly, political correctness might disagree, but I don't, and my wife doesn't. She felt that having had her degree education funded by the state, in the 70's/early 80's, she had something of a debt to society. Our children were born in 87 89 and 93.  She did some part time work during these years, and never returned to full time work after, but did work half time from 98 - 2016 as a GP. She/we always made sure there was backup for child care if one of our children was mildly unwell, ie not in hospital. This ensured she could continue to work as a professional should. One of our GP partners (younger than my wife) thought it was fine to ring in at 8am and say her son had conjunctivitis, couldn't go to nursery, so she couldn't come to work. We both felt this was not really what we expected of a well paid professional. In summary my wife (and I) identify with what you have alluded to.

[Billhook]

2 minutes ago, maybelateron said:

That is a very fair point to make. Sadly, political correctness might disagree, but I don't, and my wife doesn't. She felt that having had her degree education funded by the state, in the 70's/early 80's, she had something of a debt to society. Our children were born in 87 89 and 93.  She did some part time work during these years, and never returned to full time work after, but did work half time from 98 - 2016 as a GP. She/we always made sure there was backup for child care if one of our children was mildly unwell, ie not in hospital. This ensured she could continue to work as a professional should. One of our GP partners (younger than my wife) thought it was fine to ring in at 8am and say her son had conjunctivitis, couldn't go to nursery, so she couldn't come to work. We both felt this was not really what we expected of a well paid professional. In summary my wife (and I) identify with what you have alluded to.

I have often thought of the wealth of knowledge and experience that you and the doctors I know have had.  One spent time in South Africa and saw many diseases that you would never see here.

I was wondering if there was a doctors site like arbtalk where you could ask a question if you were a young doctor and needed some help.  Somehow the retired doctor would need to be rewarded for his advice that found the right outcome.

Need Steve Bullman's brains to work that one out!

[Ratman]

I reckon when things get back to normal a bit,we better agree a deal on this saw and you better have a day trip and come get it[emoji106]

Sounds like a plan! [emoji6] i’ll wear my hoodie, keep the rumours to a minimum! [emoji106]

[patrickosborne]

Asked about the issue at the briefing, Mr Hancock said people whose jobs has not already been shut down by the government measures to date should continue to work but should only be travelling to a workplace "where that work can't be done at home".
He said construction workers - many of whom work outdoors - could and should continue to go to work as long as they are able to remain two metres apart at all times.


What do you all think of this latest statement from the Home Secretary ?