Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Eddie Hitler]

19 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

Gp practice as a career has not been popular for a long time.  At times it is awful, it has been for several years and it's become quite simply dreadful over last 18 months.

A lot have chucked it to do locum work in other areas as running a practice as a partner is also a business and a stressful one at that.

There was also a ridiculous situation that saw Gp's in particular having to retire due to levels accrued in their pensions otherwise they would take a massive financial hit.  So you have lost a lot of experience in the last few years with not a lot coming through.

Add in being stuck in a small office from 8-6, never seeing anyone other than patients, rarely speaking to colleagues as everyone is busy,  its not the most sociable job.

Chuck in increasing demands and unrealistic expectations from punters, abusive punters, an avalanche of paperwork everyday, its not much fun.

When I started as Anp I would in the summer maybe have a couple of free slots left some days which was great.  I've literally not had a free slot now for 18 months.   These little slots would allow you to do referrals and check results.  I have gp colleagues and on occasions myself who regularly have to stay back for an hour or so to do our referrals and try to catch up with paperwork.  It's not sustainable but there is a lack of staff so what can you do?   It's not like you can say f**k it as its important things you are dealing with.

Anyway not many people want to work as a Gp these days.  It's soul destroying, thankless, mentally exhausting work and funnily enough the rate of burn out is extremely high.

Where I work we should have 5gps everyday,  instead we have 2 most days, occasionally one with 2Anp's.  It's not sustainable.

Furthermore Anp's are not Gp's yes they are highly qualified but are not doctors despite practices using them to plug gaps.  Its not great.

Also there is a new role called a physicians assistant who is basically someone who has per se a biology degree who can then do a course over two years to become qualified as a PA.  That will be the next gimmick to fill the lack of go's. Again not actually a doctor.

So in essence working as a Gp these days is about as attractive as option to a qualified doctor as running through a field of cacti naked.

 

Insightful.

Thank you.

[Dawson Park Boy]

36 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

One of the receptionists in our surgery is genuinely horrible, especially to patients who don't have English as a first language.  The one I spoke to today was perfectly fine though.

But why is there a shortage of GPs?  Do new doctors not want to work in that area, what are the reasons for that? 

Regarding demand, I found this blog from a couple of years ago - https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/why-does-it-take-so-long-see-gp

I doubt Covid will improve any of this.

Regarding shortage, I read recently that a majority of GP’s  (mainly women) only want to work part time. 

[BlueBear]

3 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Exactly this. 

Sturgeon can get to absolute f**k if she attempts to delay things even further. 

This is far bigger than the SNP ffs.

If one looks at how things played out last year, Boris will again roll back on all that he said. I'll give it until September. 

If it were only about Covid. There is a much bigger picture at play here. 

[Dawson Park Boy]

29 minutes ago, Snafu said:

Thing is we are miles ahead in many areas of the country with the vaccine rollout than in England not through anything more than having less people. However having hospitals crippled by lack of staffing because of a now not fit for purpose track and trace is unacceptable and we need to get hospitals back up and dealing with what could be a real problem if delays continue while being distracted by COVID 19 and its variants.

I trust nothing that the UK government are doing, it might seem like the best thing in the world Freedom Day but like everything in that clusterf**k of a country it will backfire on them and they will be forced into a U-turn just like Israel and Holland. Meanwhile in Scotland our cases will plummet, the pressure on the hospitals will relax, the fear will subside and we will all be enjoying the rest of the summer looking forward to everyone back to watch the football in August, and no masks nor social distancing, drinking our pints indoors.

Imagine if the SG are actually calling it right, how upsetting would that be for the critics despite everyone having more freedoms back than most of Europe?

Are you living in some imaginary world?

Oh, sorry, of course you are.

[Turkmenbashi]

13 hours ago, Honest Saints Fan said:

I'm suffering with one of the worst colds I've had in years. 3 negative LFTs so I can see why people are getting tested at the moment as this bug is rife at my wee ones nursery. 

My flatmate and his girlfriend both tested negative twice LFTs while both having they thought was a horrendous cold and were insisting to me that it was not covid. Only after both eventually taking a PCR it turns they were positive.

Somehow I have managed to avoid getting it though

[Billy Jean King]

FTFY

If we don't test identified contacts and don't isolate them what is the alternative especially in certain professions. Really cant see an issue with testing to avoid isolation at least in the short term. You simply cannot have staff identified as close contacts in say a hospital going untested if you want to stop isolating given the incubation period of the virus. That would literally leave health boards wide open to litigation attempts no matter how hard it would be to try and prove. You would have those staff coming into contact with the vulnerable day in day out. Simply not going to happen.

[Billy Jean King]

Exactly this. 
Sturgeon can get to absolute f**k if she attempts to delay things even further. 

Surely the sensible thing to do is get everyone into L0 as planned on 19th and see how things are rather than making hints that 9 August is "too soon". I assume she does mean 9 August and is not hinting 19 July can't happen, that would be nonsense given the state if the levels farce right now.

[No_Problemo]

15 minutes ago, BlueBear said:

This is far bigger than the SNP ffs.

If one looks at how things played out last year, Boris will again roll back on all that he said. I'll give it until September. 

If it were only about Covid. There is a much bigger picture at play here. 

Difference being, if he does England will have had normality for a couple of months - we will have continued our ongoing lockdown as we have the entire time. 

[Detournement]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

I'm waiting a callback from a GP about a non-Covid related issue.  I realise that the alias fantasist obviously made up all his stories about his GP but I'm consistently amazed by how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor.  Has it always been like this?  A few years ago my wife asked for a GP appointment and was told it was a three day wait for an emergency appointment - some emergency! 

Why has this become standard?  Are there too few GPs or an increase in demand?

It's a manufactured shortage. The government now have plans to expand medical places but it was delayed for almost a decade under the cover of austerity with the support of the BMA who were worried about oversupply of labour.

 

[Todd_is_God]

13 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

38 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

FTFY

If we don't test identified contacts and don't isolate them what is the alternative especially in certain professions. Really cant see an issue with testing to avoid isolation at least in the short term. You simply cannot have staff identified as close contacts in say a hospital going untested if you want to stop isolating given the incubation period of the virus. That would literally leave health boards wide open to litigation attempts no matter how hard it would be to try and prove. You would have those staff coming into contact with the vulnerable day in day out. Simply not going to happen.

Fair point. Perhaps some sort of hybrid environment where those working in hospitals etc can take tests if they are close contacts, but the majority don't. But it needs to stop in the not too distant future.

If we are going to be "living with covid" then we can't be testing like mad and treating it like it's special.

I can't stress this enough. This isn't March 2020 (or even January 2021). The vaccines have completely changed the playing field, meaning the tactics must also change.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Eddie Hitler]

12 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

38 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

FTFY

If we don't test identified contacts and don't isolate them what is the alternative especially in certain professions. Really cant see an issue with testing to avoid isolation at least in the short term. You simply cannot have staff identified as close contacts in say a hospital going untested if you want to stop isolating given the incubation period of the virus. That would literally leave health boards wide open to litigation attempts no matter how hard it would be to try and prove. You would have those staff coming into contact with the vulnerable day in day out. Simply not going to happen.

Yes, but if you just want to pretend it isn't happening in order to make sure you get your own way, you don't think like that.

[Michael W]

It's the goalpost shifting that really gets to me. It's time honoured. 

"We can unlock after all of the vulnerable groups are vaccinated" 

*vaccinates the priority groups

"Variants!" 

*Vaccines still work on varianys and are protective against serious illness and death"

"Ah, but children and the non-vaccinated younger age groups  are still getting it!"

*These groups are low risk from covid and whilst hospital cases and deaths have risen, the vaccine has clearly broken the link*

"YOU ARE USING CHILDREN AS A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!" LONG COVID! <lies from Deepti Gurdasani about the number of long covid cases>

*Government eventually u-turns*

What will be the excuse this time when Johnson does the inevitable? The children are the most recent blocker, so vaccinating all adults won't cut it for them. Vaccinate kids and then what? Waning immunity/need for boosters, more variants which result in super long Covid? 

They have 11 days left. I predict a u-turn on the 17th.

[Michael W]

10 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

27 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Exactly this. 
Sturgeon can get to absolute f**k if she attempts to delay things even further. 

Surely the sensible thing to do is get everyone into L0 as planned on 19th and see how things are rather than making hints that 9 August is "too soon". I assume she does mean 9 August and is not hinting 19 July can't happen, that would be nonsense given the state if the levels farce right now.

This is dependent on cases, though. If there are concerns at the moment cases are too high, then they're not going to get any better in level 0. In fact, they'll increase. 

I had thought Sturgeon was looking beyond this, but the mood music seems to be dampening. 

[effeffsee_the2nd]

3 minutes ago, Michael W said:

This is dependent on cases, though. If there are concerns at the moment cases are too high, then they're not going to get any better in level 0. In fact, they'll increase. 

I had thought Sturgeon was looking beyond this, but the mood music seems to be dampening. 

i think thats just a few media sources which has sent P&B into a doom spiral, wait and see

[BlueBear]

The madness is, how does an Englander freedom day work on July 19, when up here there isn't?! 

Do they mask up as they cross the border on the train?!! Far less all the other differences. 

Gloves are off and they all want to kill us now and give us our freedom as in UK no more and scrounging off them no more. 

The PM of the UK gives England freedom, but is powerless to apply it all over the UK that he IS ultimately responsible for. 

He is both a tit and a coward and playing every c**t for the fools we have become, to try to ensure he can't be blamed for f**k all. 

The key to his abdication lies in the Covid emergency powers where he carved up the UK where he becomes the PM of England, but retains control of funding and borders. 

To be effective on this small island, it should have been a united approach with him at the helm. I can't remember a virus that does borders! 

The guy is a c**t and it's no wonder why so many are driven to the SNP. 

[betting competition]

Its a concern that 4 hospitals are now at full capacity with 3 in the Highlands and Grampian. Aberdeen Royal Informary at full capacity is a major surprise giving the size of the place. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57756384

Edited July 8, 2021 by betting competition

[Todd_is_God]

Just now, betting competition said:

Its a concern that 4 hospitals are now at full capacity in the Highlands and Grampian. Aberdeen Royal Informary at full capacity is a major surprise giving the size of the place. 

They aren't though, are they? They are "full" because of the number of staff who aren't sick that are barred from coming to work because one of their friends or family members has been to school or is feeling shite.

[No_Problemo]

11 minutes ago, Michael W said:

This is dependent on cases, though. If there are concerns at the moment cases are too high, then they're not going to get any better in level 0. In fact, they'll increase. 

I had thought Sturgeon was looking beyond this, but the mood music seems to be dampening. 

Yeah - I don’t see how and when that changes in terms of cases. 

[Rugster]

Sturgeon speaking at 12.15. It's usually a Friday, think this is unscheduled. 

[PedroMoutinho]

Just now, Rugster said:

Sturgeon speaking at 12.15. It's usually a Friday, think this is unscheduled. 

Looks like both dates could well be pulled