The health and fitness thread about random things

[mrcharly-YHT]

Start the day on a high!

Dr B delegated the task of ring the GP to Ms B the younger who is a little more feisty. She got me a F2F appointment THIS morn. I’m stunned.

 

What became of all the docs in the UK? Were they purged à la 1953 Russia or have they simply effed off to sunnier climes?

A ton of them realised that working 80+hrs per week and getting abuse from patients and the government wasn't what they signed up for.

I personally know someone who lasted 18months as a GP. Said that there as constant abuse and hassle from the senior partners, no time to actually treat patients and stream of angry patients. They run a holiday farm and make organic soap now.

[chrisbainbridge]

Start the day on a high!

Dr B delegated the task of ring the GP to Ms B the younger who is a little more feisty. She got me a F2F appointment THIS morn. I’m stunned.

 

What became of all the docs in the UK? Were they purged à la 1953 Russia or have they simply effed off to sunnier climes?

Complicated.  We never had that many homegrown docs as University places are capped.  We relied on overseas graduates and a lot of racism, hence why the "unattractive" welsh valleys, etc more often ended up with foreign GPs.

Management of most conditions has become more complex.  No longer is a 3 minute consultation enough, people want a discussion and options so throughput in clinics has decreased, sometimes by 50%.

We can investigate more which gives better answers and more rational treatment and those scientists keep finding new drugs for diseases we did not know existed, all of which needs more time.

[T42]

That sounds very rough for docs & patients.  Back in the 80's here under Mitterrand aka Dieu, the govt decided we had too many doctors and capped university places, only to find in the 90's that making doctors rare didn't please the voters. It took a few years to fill the holes, and there are still places where doctors are scarce and maternity hospitals far away, but generally I believe there's not much difficulty getting treatment.  I have a 20-minute face-to-face consultation with my doc tomorrow, booked this morning.

[barakta]

Glad

Start the day on a high!

Dr B delegated the task of ring the GP to Ms B the younger who is a little more feisty. She got me a F2F appointment THIS morn. I’m stunned.

Excellent, and rightly so. Ear infections if you are a hearing aid user are Actually Serious and need to be treated as such.

Chris is right as well, not only is it unlawful under the Equality Act to make a deaf patient do a phone consultation but it is extra unlawful under the NHS Accessible Information Standards which sets out specific issues/adjustments (most of the law is intentionally more vague) and breaching the standard is an automatic breach of the Equality Act.

Sadly despite being mandatory since 2016, most healthcare professionals that I know (including the deaf ones) have never heard of it, and a lot of healthcare orgs do not even slightly comply, even when complained into it. Not helped by the parliamentary and healthcare ombudsman (PHSO) (regulators) being a bunch of tossers who think it's somehow acceptable not to comply if they meant well, or didn't mean it, or or or.

[Beardy]

And the GP I saw was excellent. Ms B the younger accompanied me as my hearing person, the the GP directed his questions to me, facing me when talking and repeating where necessary. I save us got some time by turning to Ms B as needed because she knows me well, and I am attuned to her voice also.

The GP did all the usual stuff and also took a swab from one ear as it was atypical apparently and he wanted to sure. I like them, bu they seemed fairly young and I do wonder how long it will be before they succumb to the grind that is general practise these days.

[T42]

Spending a good chunk of the day up a ladder 10 days ago when it was > 30° and planing 32 metres of board edge with the principal force provided by the right foot has given me the mum & dad, grandsire, great-uncle and sainted aunt of a tendinitis attack up the outside of my right thigh. Damned thing gets me both going up and going down stairs. Kind of ominous for my planned 200 tomorrow. Rats.

[mrcharly-YHT]

You were planing it while up the ladder? That is a lot of work.

I'm getting a chest infection, already coughing and have that 'top third of lung full of fluid' feeling.

[Regulator]

Mr R thinks he might be coming down with something... he did a Covid LFT this morning that was negative but I'll make him take another this evening and one tomorrow morning.

Would it be unfair of me to make him sleep outside?  I don't want to catch anything - particularly Covid - before my holiday next week...

[Paul]

Asthma review. All good. Except weight: 15.5st! I knew I was heavy - heavier than ever - but 15.5st?

Something must be done.

[Regulator]

Asthma review. All good. Except weight: 15.5st! I knew I was heavy - heavier than ever - but 15.5st?

Something must be done.

Skinny bugger!

[Beardy]

Asthma review. All good. Except weight: 15.5st! I knew I was heavy - heavier than ever - but 15.5st?

Something must be done.

Skinny bugger!

This ^

[Lightning Phil]

Asthma review. All good. Except weight: 15.5st! I knew I was heavy - heavier than ever - but 15.5st?

Something must be done.

Skinny bugger!

You do realise Paul is 3 ft 9” , short for his weight.? 

[Paul]

Asthma review. All good. Except weight: 15.5st! I knew I was heavy - heavier than ever - but 15.5st?

Something must be done.

Skinny bugger!

You do realise Paul is 3 ft 9” , short for his weight.? 

Git!

[rafletcher]

My wife has been offered her Covid booster, for a months time. Good thing is it’s in Aylesbury at one of the GP surgeries so only about 4 miles away.

Update:  Just out of interest I had a look-see on the HNS app if I could book mine. Turns out I can, and at a pharmacy only 2 miles away. Better still they have loads of appointments availaible from tomorrow. So now we're both booked in for Thursday.

[citoyen]

Good for you.

I got free jabs for the first time last year on turning 50 but now they've changed the rules, I no longer qualify, chiz. But to me it's a no-brainer to get them, even if I have to pay.

I've been out of action since Monday with flu and it's been some years since I last had it so I'd forgotten quite how nasty it can be. Temperature was up to 40.1 on Monday evening, which was worrying. Over the worst of it now but still feeling quite feeble.

[rafletcher]

Interestingly enough she went this morning, and got offered the 'flu jab too. I had a gander at the NHS app, and I see a note on mine that says "Patient specific direction to administer influenza vaccination" - so it looks like I'll be offered it too, which is good, as our local (Lloyds as was, but got sold to a local co Jardines) pharmacist doesn't have a timescale for 'flu vaccines yet. The pharmacy I'm going to (Lloyds as was, now Pyramid) didn't previously offer the Covid service.

Sometimes (mostly) the NHS works well despite the challenges.

ETA Despite it being near the end of the day my 4:20 appointment was about 4:28. Excellent.

[T42]

I keep forgetting to arrange ours.  Must do it tomorrow.

[hellymedic]

I've arranged a Covid jab for next Thursday afternoon. I'm over 65 now, so automatically eligible.
Hoping to get flu jab at same time, and both jabs for David too, as he's my carer.
Will phone pharmacy tomorrow.

[T42]

Metformin increases the expression of myostatin which in turn reduces muscle volume and increases fat deposition.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8818615/

Myostatin expression is higher in the elderly in any case. 

Maybe this is why it now takes me 5-6 days to recover from a flattish 200k using a motor for most of the climbs.

The Catch-22 is that diabetes increases sarcopenia in any case: hanged if I take the bloody stuff, hanged if I don't.

Have read that dark chocolate contains a lot of epicatechin, a myostatin antagonist. Oh goody.  Might also ask GP to prescribe something officially.

[Wowbagger]

We have had a reminder to have our flu jabs, so we are going out to our local pharmacy later this morning to have them. I've also had a reminder to have a Covid jab, in a pharmacy in Rochford. It's only about 3 miles away, but the two most direct routes are most unpleasant for cycling. I could go by train, bus or car.

[Wowbagger]

A jab in each arm - Covid to the left, flu to the right. The flu jab caused me to bleed on my lovely linen shirt.

[Keef66]

Me too, curiously.  Covid in the left which was fine, and Flu in the right which bled.  I was taped up with a ball of cotton wool so my shirt was saved...

I'm waiting to hear if I'm offered Shingles and Pneumonia jabs too, which some people we know have already had.

[Wowbagger]

I bled on the left as well, but only just noticed.

[Peter]

Odd.  I'm on blood thinners but neither jab was even visible.  They never are.  On the plus side, I tested positive for covid 36 hours later.

[Wowbagger]

Well, you wouldn't test negative on the plus side...