How Exposed are You to the NHS? Are you a Natural Born Worrier Parent?

Touch wood, I have never suffered from medical negligence, at the hands of the NHS or otherwise, but given that I have only ever stayed in hospital firstly when I had my tonsils out (at about 8 years old) and secondly, when I had a C-section, the stats are probably stacked in my favour in terms of my limited exposure to the NHS.  I keep Aaron away from hospitals too if I can help it, as all it does is expose him to more germs than normal, so we only go there when absolutely necessary, which, when it is your first born, is worryingly slightly more often than technically required.  Thankfully we have a medic in the family, so we get excellent phone advice, that has meant a few possible trips have been avoided, once we have had fears about vomiting, diarhoea or temperatures alleviated. It's natural to worry, and we have put coats and boots on a few times, before we've then taken a step back and picked up the phone instead.

Despite being a worried first time Mum, chickenpox did not see us visiting our GP.  I braved it out, and gave my little man ALL my attention and lots of cuddles.  All of the illnesses that have seen him out of action for a few days have thankfully all been since I stopped working (due to redundancy).  The most stressful thing about a sick child is the worry of taking time off work, but you know what, once that worry is taken away, it just means you worry about them more, as you have the spare brain capacity and emotional capacity to do so.  When he's sick he just wants me, and that's what he gets.  

Actually, what was a lot more stressful than chickenpox was the Norovirus.  As it is HIGHLY contagious, this neither saw us going to the GP nor to the hospital.  Worryingly the NHS website says:

As there is no specific cure, you have to let it run its course, but it should not last more than a couple of days.

This would have got me worrying, as I think Aaron was sick for more like 4-5 days, but thankfully I was in constant contact with parents on Twitter during that time, so was reassured by their experiences so actually did NOT panic.

What impressed me was that normally when one person gets it the whole house comes down with it, but we washed our hands methodically and often with Carex and washed bedlinen every time there was an incident.  Both adults, me and Daddy escaped it and I did not take it for granted - I do, whenever possible, have a healthy attitude of gratitude.  Thankfully (see there it is again) Aaron was still in nappies.  I had been beating myself up at the time that he was not yet toilet trained but I said Hallelujah a few times under my breath during those days!!!!!  Hey and that is a reason to NEVER let yourself be down to your last 1-2-or-3.... a dose of Norovirus and you could need 5-7 in one night.

It won't have escaped your notice that I am quite an alternative medicine kind of girl.  This means that Aaron has reached the age of three and a half without having had a course of antibiotics.  Don't get me wrong, he has been prescribed them on three occasions but on all three I have managed to get him better without them - I would not advise this unless you have a good knowledge of alternative medicine and people close to you who can advise.  For example, on one occasion Aaron got better from an ear and eye infection without antibiotics (as you can see from that link it was a decision I thought about thoroughly).  That is my neglected other blog by the way!  I am glad to see that more and more info is coming out about our overuse of antibiotics as a society, and I do personally believe that they put our immune system back (as much as 6 months) hence the need to consume healthy bacteria afterwards.  Taking antibiotics for viral infections can do more harm than good!  

Back to the subject at hand.  The NHS.  I wouldn't be without it, but I do feel people run to A&E far more than they need to.  The solution, in my belief, is GPs that can give people sooner appointments and out of hours appointments that fit it with work, busy schedules, and meet the urgency required of the illness at hand - no point in an appointment after recovery! 

I have never experienced medical negligence personally, but I know my Granny in Ireland's death was caused by it.  This split the family in terms of their reactions to it.  I know it is not a popular view within the family but I do strongly believe it was her time to go.  I also have my Irish best friend whose son was 100% subjected to medical negligence.  Both the case and the trauma are ongoing.  In that case it was 100% ego that caused the negligence, where a Consultant did not like having advice given to him by a Nurse with his exact words being "you do your job and I'll do mine" - he took the wrong route just to spite her, and my friend and her son live with the consequences.  The medical arena is no place for an ego - don't they have some sort of oath that should guide them in their decisions?

A survey has been conducted, and I include below the questions and answers that I found of particular interest.

Do you personally know anyone who has experienced poor treatment at the hands of NHS staff? ONLY 29.40% said yes! Lower than the media would have you believe.  This statistic shocked me more though: a total of £22.7 billion - nearly one fifth of the health service’s annual budget - has had to be set aside to pay compensation to thousands of people harmed by poor care - would you consider suing if you felt you had received inadequate treatment? Only 45.20% (226 people) said yes!  No: 17.40% (87).  Not sure: 37.40% (187)... I KNOW that is nearly half, but if my nearest and dearest was harmed by negligence or poor care, I would be suing someone's ass! But perhaps it is the legislative HR Manager in me.  You can get the girl out of HR (employment law) but you can't get law out of the girl!!!!

If you are unsure as to the extent medical negligence can go to, or have no personal experience of it (that's a good thing) then read this: "Fatal Flaws" and you may understand (1) why people feel the need to sue and (2) why the NHS feels the need to put £22.7 billion to one-side.  That article is exhaustive and chronicles a 15 year campaign by a passionate bereaved father, so only read it when you have time on your side.

This question was of interest - I had BUPA throughout my 6 years as a Senior Manager (never once having used it): If you could afford to pay for private healthcare, instead of using the NHS, would you consider doing so? Yes 54.00% (270).  No 22.60% (113).  Not sure 23.40% (117)

I love this Guardian article where Cameron Hunt, London, makes the point that: "an increase in private healthcare ultimately damages the NHS due to the migration of personnel and resources".  Source: The Implications of Going Private!

So, I guess, my opinion is that the NHS is a God send, even though I avoid it wherever possible BUT the people within it need to be treated correctly (both staff and patients) and I personally feel that too much is wasted on (1) Senior Managers with no medical experience (2) Extensive/expensive IT projects that are subsequently abandoned (3) procurement that is done without due process to get the cheapest option and (4) payouts for compensation that could be avoided.  As stated above it now constitutes nearly one fifth of their annual budget - dear God!

What do you think?

This blog post is a PR collaboration, however all words and all opinions are my own.

NHS Hospitals, Babies and Paediatrics

Hi

Well the next time a Doctor says, go to hospital to be on the safe side, I won't necessarily be saying yes please.

Yesterday was a horrid horrid experience which I am in no hurry to repeat.

What was wrong ...?
Well it was an ordinary day.  Needed some Cow & Gate so decided to walk to town. After buying it, I realised I hadn't had lunch yet and was starving, so ordered a beautiful salad in a cafe, just before they closed, at 4:55 p.m.  Half way through my salad Aaron got grumpy in his push chair so I passed him an Organix Rice Cracker (he's had them everyday since January) and he devoured it, and then half of a second one.  Few mins later got grumpy again so I took him out so he could stand and hold my lap.  Finished lunch, he was okay. Paid he was okay.  Walked to a mobile phone accessory stand.  While there he started to SCREAM like nothing he has ever done in a year.  I took him over to a seat in the shopping centre and gave him calpol in case it was teeth.  He was touching his jaw bone etc... Then as it was dinner time gave him 2 spoons of solids (Hipp Organic) - he had 2 spoons and rejected the rest.  Carried on screaming.  Picked him up and consoled him.  Put him in a £1 toy machine that you sit in and he went mental.

Then walked along holding him and pushing buggy, he was inconsolable, and really distressed screaming.  I kept repeating Aaron I will take you to the Doctor. At one point his lips looked tinged blue and he was coughing trying to clear his throat and screaming. Couldn't carry him any longer so put him in in pushchair and started running for the Doctor which is a 15 min walk away.

Aaron kept screaming and holding his jaw/face but the calpol wasn't kicking in and he was acting like there was something in his throat, even though I knew he hadn't put anything odd in his mouth, so the only thing I could think was that it was an allergic reaction.  He lay back into the buggy and screamed all the way to the Doctor's, which is very very very unlike him.  He cried so much he made all of the area around his eyes all red and puffy which has never happened - he is not a baby that has tantrums.

When we got there he screamed so loud reception couldn't even hear me, and the Dr had to see him immediately, which still took 10 mins as he was with a patient, who was undressed on his couch.

Nothing would sidetrack Aaron from screaming and I was 100% positive something serious was wrong.

The Doctor took his temperature via his ears which upset Aaron more. Listened to his chest. Looked at his throat. Put this electronic thing on finger to measure oxygen. And could see he was still distressed so decided to call an ambulance in case Aaron had consumed a foreign body and needed an x ray.

We waited about 30 minutes for the ambulance during such time that Aaron stopped crying, started putting weight on his legs on my knee and started touching things, looking at things, talking baby language and smiling... I said to the Dr shall we cancel the ambulance. He said no.  He wouldn't even let us leave the room so he could see other patients, as he wanted to "keep Aaron under observation".

The paramedics arrived and were lovely and put us and all our stuff in the back of the ambulance.  As they were doing all of that, hubby arrived as I'd called him too and he'd walked out on a night shift (oh dear).  I told him to go home and get resources (more mile, more bottles, more nappies etc...) as I'd only popped out and as a result did not have much with me.

The paramedics said they hadn't taken a long time due to being with someone else. They had just started their shift and we were their first customers.

Hubby then met us at the hospital after popping home.

I had the whole journey to chat to the paramedic while the other one drove.  She could tell that everything was okay now, and said she has 3 children of her own.

She got us to sit down and she booked us in at the hospital. At this time it was about 7:20 which is crazy... where had 2 hours already gone....?

Then 2 things happened (1) she must have said it wasn't an emergency and (2) she had a letter from the Doctor.  He had addressed it, "To Whom it May Concern" which apparently is the reason we ended up being there for HOURS.  When we eventually saw the Triage nurse about an hour later, she said we would have been seen much sooner if it was addressed to Paediatrics.  She criticised every sentence of his letter, and the things he had said to me.

Although she examined him, she said we would need to be seen by a Doctor.  Like the GP had measured his oxygen with an electronic device on Aaron's finger, she did the same, but via his big toe. She also took his temperature and listened to his chest.

She said she would move his card to the emergency section.... it didn't turn out to make a difference.

At 8:30 p.m. we were told we only had 2 people in front of us.. I still put Aaron to sleep in his buggy as I knew it might still be a while and he was grizzly - thank God I did.  At 9:35 we were told we had 1 person in front.... I then saw that lady and her little boy leave very soon after (with his arm in a sling) yet over half an hour later I went into the emergency section and they said our file was no longer there, which is why we weren't called "next".  It took 10 further minutes to pin down the file (which had been moved to another department without the nurse on duty being informed - she was as cross about it as me) and we got seen at ........( a couple of my tweets are missing so I am now not sure what time... my battery was low so they must not have posted).

Asleep in hospital at 8:45 p.m.

Anyway when we did get seen by a Dr I had to wake Aaron up, but he woke up talking before opening his guys and was really excited when he saw his surroundings.  The Dr examined him and then insisted on his seeing a Paediatrician so we would have to wait - again.  They let us stay in our curtained cubicle so I heard his phone call to her.  He explained everything and said he didn't have enough experience with children to feel comfortable discharging us.  It was the FIRST time that Paeds had been told of our case.  While we waited Aaron insisted on walking up and down up and down the corridor... and everyone who saw him loved him but I first took the opportunity to change his nappy:

By the time the Paediatrician came he was then exhausted and again getting a little bit grizzly.  But he did cheerfully allow her to examine him.

She fully examined him and he was happy but when she wanted to look in his ears he went mad and I struggled to hold him down.  I then couldn't hold him down enough for her to look in his throat so I went out to the corridor to get Dad so he could help.

She decided he did not need an xray (which was the whole reason we were there).  She was absolutely lovely, but did say we had grounds for a complaint in how it'd all been handled.

She gave us permission to go at 11:42, but by the time we drove out of the carpark it was exactly midnight.  In the carpark we met a lady and her little girl, who had both been there just as long as us.

Crazy crazy crazy and I would not be in a hurry to go through it again.

In the carpark at midnight... poor baby

The lit up window in the distance is the room I was in after Aaron was born (can be seen from the carpark) *nostalgic*

Liska xxx