Article from today's Telegraph

[MaryF]

telegraph.co.uk/health/heal...

Mary F x

[MaryF Administrator]

I agree, and still 15.7 billion leaks in spiraling litigation due to patient complaint and bullying of medical whistleblowers: change.org/en-GB/petitions/...

The formal complaint service for patients usually results in nothing and is very expensive! The paper attached to the petition was handed to The Health Select Committee on a plate after 'Staffordshire'....not read it yet! However the public are now circulating the paper and signing the petition.

Imagine that money injected into patient care, staff, clinics etc etc. Mary F x

[InSpain in reply to MaryF]

I wholeheartedly agree with both of you. For me, it also raises the question why Doctor's take "X" number of years to qualify in their field of expertise only to have their experience sidelined for a paramedic who can become qualifed in just 18 months. Something doesn't quite add up there does it, unless we're talking financially of course and not talking about saving lives!

[sbncmo in reply to MaryF]

I read this article a dozen times to make sure I understood what was being said before I said anything. At first I was very upset about it, but then I calmed down. If I'm missing something in this article, please tell what it is. I want to fully understand it.

As I understand it, they want paramedics to administer clot busting drugs to people who have had heart attacks & then take them directly to a heart facility for full treatment where they have a good recovery rate. This is, in fact, already being done according to the article & I think that is good. It is simple enough to diagnose a heart attack when they run the EKG & the other tests that they carry with them in the ambulance & they can request approval from the doctor to administer the clot busting drug.

Now, it became confusing regarding strokes because at the beginning of the article it said, “Increasingly we have seen ambulances treating people in their own home, delivering clot-busting drugs in the ambulance, treating heart attacks and delivering the early stages of stroke treatment,” yet a little later in the article, it said, "Stroke patients are not given anti-clotting treatment by ambulance staff, as without a CT scan of the patient, doctors cannot know whether they are suffering from a clot-induced stroke or a bleed." Either they administer the drug or they don't - it can't be both ways. Or are they talking about other early stage treatment for strokes that does not include clot busting drugs? I totally agree that people who have had a stroke should be admitted into a stroke unit to receive full treatment, not getting the clot busting drug in the ambulance.

There seemed to be a lot of concern over how many people are going to the ER's now, how long people are waiting. If this is the real concern, why not develop "Urgent Care Centers" for people who need help but don't have an emergency? That is what has been developed in our area to reduce the number of people using the ER's & leaving the ER's for honest emergencies & people don't have to wait for hours to be treated. Or, why not treat the minor things at home? There are ways to reduce the load on the ER's yet give the proper care to all.

We just can't allow carelessness to take over treatment of our health or the health of our loved ones.

[MaryF Administrator in reply to sbncmo]

A lot of these articles are generated by government spin... as they pretend to do something with a service that needs more staff and more funds. The next article will probably say the opposite.. I only put these current ones on for debate xxx Mary F x

[sbncmo in reply to MaryF]

A debate is a good idea, Mary. It's difficult to see exactly what is going on in a report sometimes, especially when they do something like they did in that report - saying they do & they don't. A smokescreen, is that what it's called?

My home aide & I were talking yesterday. She said the she was frustrated by how the government wants more money for things while they are paying $35 for a cup of coffee. That's probably an exaggeration, but everything is out of balance. The medical field is certainly short-handed, both in staff & places to be treated. There are a lot of hospitals being built or enlarged in the US now & a big push for medical training.

There is a new process that has been started in the large metropolis closest to us. When someone is in need of the ER, they call a number & it tells them which hospital has the shortest wait & would be able to get them into treatment quickest if they are having someone driving them in. It is also what the ambulances use now, not being restricted to a specific hospital. I think that's a good idea.