I had the pleasure to spend a few hours in A&E on Thursday. This was a great opportunity to gain a little insight into the current state of our National Health System.
I think, deep breath, that the NHS staff are doing OK. In fact, I’d go as far as to say very well with the conditions they are forced to work under and I believe we should all stop moaning and appreciate that they are doing the best they can.
I heard yaps, moans and blue air from people who had been there for ‘hours’. Yes, well, YOU try looking after 76 (on average the night I was there) people with limited resources.
Have some compassion, people! The waiting is not the fault of ANY staff working in the hospital. So ‘catch yourselves on’ and give them a break.
I know I could never be suited to being staff of any sort in NHS hospitals, I’m too fiery. I’d take so much then crack up with some fella who has a sore ass from waiting too long. At least that’s probably why he’d say it was sore. And why on earth wouldn’t I believe it? Those seats are hard. As hard as a dead ferret.
So, I got admitted. I am currently sitting with my laptop open, writing this to pass the time as I’m in hospital as a precaution, due to my brain aneurysm, for observation & tests.
I’ve had a sore head for six days. I believe it’s caused by anxiety but, as a retired singer, performer and tutor, and all the medical expertise that has given me, no one takes my diagnosis seriously (I’m trained by Dr. Google).
Anyway, here’s the biz. After Mother’s Day, I had a sore head. I don’t drink so I put it down to stress as I know I go a bit ‘weird’ round dates I would have been with my mum when she was alive.
So, by Thursday, I thought my subconscious (who generally is the bringer of the sneaky wee black dog who I foster in my head for a day or two) was taking the mick and trying to move in permanently.
If you get a sore head before a thunder storm, that’s the sort of pain I had for 5 days before I realised it wasn’t my subconscious playing games with me. I’m in a ward with 4 other women, we had one man, but he’s just been carted off.
One of the women was in Marks & Spencer doing her shopping on Wednesday with a cough, and the next think she was in here with pneumonia. I know because I heard her have a full conversation on speaker phone with a family member.
What is it about hospitals that people seem not to mind if the entire room hear their business? I could write a book about the people in here and I’ve only been in two days! Did I mention her poor temperature? It has been up quite a bit – 38.7 at the moment, (its then that she has various wonderful and varied sound effects that I’m sure are not of this planet or indeed any other planet in the solar system).
But this sickly person seems a very run of the mill wee lady and genuinely ill. She is doing her best to work with the nurses.
Now, there have been some times when she’s been left a while when the staff is stretched thin. She calls out, but seems to know they won’t be long and has some patience.
However, I’m not sure I should relate what I have witnessed regarding the lady opposite. I believe she is ‘taking the proverbial piss’. I know she has a daughter who takes no nonsense from her.
Again, a full loud and personal convo on the phone gave me more info than Sherlock Holmes would need to solve cold crimes of the 1800’s.
The lady is very softly spoken, gentle, unassuming, but believe me, she is an unwell wolf in sheep’s clothing. The sly aul’ fox.
I’m not disputing this lady is sick, by no means is she well. But let’s say she is a bit of a puzzle to me. She is the opposite me, so obviously, I can’t miss that she can devour a McDonalds brought in by a family member (it did cross my mind if he was in her will and was hoping to get his hands on the money soon as).
She can also play online games at some speed, but when it comes to eating she makes the nurses cut her food. She also asks for dessert to be fed to her, yet she can eat grapes at a rate of knots herself. She single-handedly has insured more attention from the nurses that everyone in this ward.
I do wonder if anyone else has noticed the inconsistencies. Well, apart from me and her daughter. I do hope she’s visiting later.
We may bemoan the state of the NHS and how it affects us, but our anger is misplaced. It is not the nurses and other dedicated staff members who are responsible for funding cuts and a lack of resources, it’s those in power above them. It would help us to remember this the next time we have to take a trip to A&E.