John’s Blog No. 142 – Pensions –NHS

This week a diversion. John’s Adventures through the Looking Glass – (apologies to Lewis Carroll) The adventure began at midnight one Sunday night when I awoke with difficulties breathing; if you want a good time to be ill, then this must be one of the best. Things got worse and I had to dial the Emergency Services. Of course I did not dial the right magical numbers and was directed to a call service. Several minutes answering general questions, left me breathless and exhausted, transferred and repeated again to a nurse, who decided on an ambulance, with the right magic numbers, I should have started with 999. They arrived promptly, had me settled, checked and monitored, with oxygen for the one hour journey to A & E. My wife, who does not drive, was invited along, but declined due to no guarantee of getting home, and rang round the family to let them know. The ambulance men missed their turning or went through the wrong looking glass, for I found myself, not in the Nasty Horrid Service portrayed by the Knaves of media and journalism, but one of TLC. No long wait on arrival or in corridors, but straight into a cubicle, with nurse attention doing checks, tests, medication and tea, although the harassed doctor was busy dealing with more urgent cases, with final transfer to a ward where the adventure continued. It was an unreal, uncertain land, divorced from reality, which should have been depressing, except that it was full of cheerful people, who’s prime concern was your welfare and spared no effort to achieve it, from consultants, doctors, nurses, orderlies, even down to the cleaners. A colour guide to uniforms would have been useful to decide who was what, light blue dark blue, green, white, you name it and sort out consultants from doctors, nurses etc. etc.; some with name badges, some without, although the big chiefs did stand out. The dictatorial Queen and her army of bureaucrats were there in the background with volumes of rules and paperwork and an atmosphere of deference associated with human rights and the blame game. “Do you mind if I listen to your chest”; of course I mind that you asked, that is what I am here for, your medical expertise. Then of course we had the mad hatter’s tea party, if you changed wards or beds, someone else got your breakfast, which you had ordered in advance and the food ranged from excellent to mediocre, but generally good, although limited to what was felt nutritious and healthy. Stay in hospital is not a pleasant experience or one to book up for, but the nice hospitable service I found was not like the reported one, not quite 5 star hotel but getting close, with much more attention. Patients are well informed of their state and treatment, possibly overly so. One querulous patient almost reduced a young nurse to tears, with his insistence that she had not given him his medicine, when the careful records and physical checks showed otherwise, she was to blame for his memory failure, a growing attitude. The Wonderland of medical care and technical advance is starting to be taken for granted; only several years ago, going into hospital was a serious event with an uncertain outcome; now one expects to come out fit to run the marathon or will complain if this is not so. The Imperial Minister and his Management army need to be very careful in their cost cutting changes, to avoid damaging a very fragile and successful service; Pay freezes and unreasonable changes to terms and conditions, particularly pensions are undermining morale at all levels. The Ambulance man had his eagerly awaited retirement plans shattered, when he was told he could not retire on full pension until 67, he paid in fully and expected age 60 and why not, anyway how was he going to lift patients at that age, when he would probably need that service himself. It is crazy bureaucracy. Plain commonsense appears to have been lost altogether and needs to return urgently in all aspects of the NHS before it descends into the nasty horrid service in the other looking glass world. (NHS pensions next week)