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Yes, you know the one. Dylan Thomas. Old age. Rage. I’m in one of those funny moods again.
Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to give up? I spent last night with a head crammed with things to write about but couldn’t for the life of me make anything into a remotely interesting post. I have a stack of things to do, just to keep up, and the problems of the world also seem to have descended on me. Sometimes it just happens.
The anticoagulant service has messed up on my testing. It isn’t their fault. The IT in the blood testing department went down a couple of weeks ago and although my test was due the day after they restarted, it seems to have been caught up in the general mess. The nurse who tested did OK, the lab tested it, but nothing happened. That’s what happens when you get giant organisations. It’s also what happens when these organisations don’t invest in new equipment. The trouble is that the NHS can’t afford new equipment. They are being challenged on all fronts. Nurses want more money, doctors want more money, people want treatment for fertility and gender issues (neither of which is actually an illness). People want inquiries because they don’t think they are getting good service, people want expensive drugs, people want compensation when things go wrong.
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And the final result is that they don’t have robust IT systems so my blood test goes missing.
Now, before you all start complaining about my insensitivity, yes, I know that each of those problems is serious, if not actually tragic for the people who suffer. I know we all want more money. I am, however, able to access the pay scales of the NHS online and I have family who work for the NHS and I can tell you that compared to shop assistants and and care workers NHS staff don’t do too badly.
The bottom line is that the NHS, even if it took all the money in the country, would not be properly funded. The demands we make on it are just too high and, frankly, unrealistic.
And that’s before we look at the demands of education, defence, police, infrastructure and all the other things we take for granted. Or before I start to discuss my First World Problems of lawyers, moving house, health and vegetables.
I’m hoping that, having spent my morning in the company of a list and some self-discipline, I have sorted out a few of my problems. By tonight I may be back as a fully functioning human being rather than a zombie. Then I can start to sort out the problems of the world.
And here’s another version to play me out. I may have it read at my funeral, if I can find a suitable Welshman to read it. And if I have a funeral. Those cheap plans where they take you away in a van and burn the body are looking very attractive as I embrace the world of living off a pension.
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NHS has its problems, though you are lucky not to be experiencing what is happening over here in my area. This is the other side of the coin regarding privatized medicine.
https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/09/lane-county-oregon-health-care-medical-group-springfield-eugene-covallis-hospital-clinic/
That is a seriously bad position to be in. I’m happy to have an NHS. I’d love it to be better, but it is as good as it can be with all the prssures on it.
The situation over here is definitely growing worse. We live in interesting times. Even veterinary offices are getting bought up and “corporatized” along with huge price hikes.
Yes, the commercialisation of vets is a trend here too. I blame the price hikes on the availability of pet insurance. Meanwhile, the vets claim they can’t make a living despite the price rises.
Pet insurance does figure into it. And of course there are problems insuring a pet with pre-existing conditions, if they are old, no multi-cat family discounts, etc.
Remember Mars candy bars? The Mars Corporation own a number of veterinary chains, Royal Canin pet foods, Antech testing company, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars,_Incorporated_brands
As soon as you said mars I remembered they own pedigree Petfoods in melton Mowbray – home of the pork pie and a small town about 20 miles from here.
the trouble with any insurance is that they don’t cover anything they consider a bad risk, which is what old pet companions are. It’s acruel world at times.
It’s the older pets that tend to run higher bills. One can take what would have been the insurance premiums for a young healthy animal and put that aside, but the fact insurance is out there tends to drive the rates up in general. Example – a dentistry for a cat ran about $300 here not all that long ago. It has been less than 10 years since that vet retired. Recently I was quoted close to $2000.
Sorry, I seem to have had trouble with my capital “m”. Yes, costs seem to go up in the presence of insurance. They can, of course, get away with it as people would do anything for their pets. I have some very decided views on the relationships between insurance and the various professions and the way they milk the customer.
You know I am with you. A splendid performance from Michael Sheen
He is very good, and he is up against Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton when you search the internet.
I hope that that made you feel better. It made me feel a lot worse so I should have taken some of the load off your shoulders.
It’s certainly lightened my load. My apologies if it has caused you to feel burdened with my problems.
I am happy to share your problems. They always make me feel that I am getting off lightly in life.
🙂 Derrick seems to be having a few problems at the moment too. Must be living in England that does it.
Like Dylan Thomas said, do not go gentle. . . .
I would rage against all that .
It is sometimes good to do a bit of raging. 🙂
Yeah.
🙂