A snapshot look at NHS services in your area

The likelihood is a minor left side stroke affecting right side (only arm and hand, face just a tiny bit) and speech - slower and has some difficulty finding his words, but not I think serious. He has had his MRI scan and apart from being shattered looked a bit better tonight. Lovely nurses and doctors on the Stroke Unit too

Alea

Thinking of you and your husband.

Alea only just heard about your dh, I do hope he's ok. Thank goodness the NHS are responding so well for you both.

Oh dear, Alea, sounds as though you have acted very quickly if it is a stroke, so that is good news. Take care.

Now had to do 111 as the symptoms DH experienced yesterday seemed to be returning this morning. Receding again but he has definite weakness in the right hand, arm and leg. Awaiting admission to the Stroke Unit.

When a friend had a heart attack on a narrow boat on a canal in the middle of nowhere, the paramedics found them by satellite and drove down the towpath. Priceless service!

Brilliant Alea. Please let us know what happens. (((hugs)))

Phone call at 8.31 giving us an appointment at the TIA clinic at 2 today. Can't fault them!

What a shock for you Alea I hope you are both ok today. I have had 2 neighbours and one friend who have had TIA's two outside the home , action and follow up appts were second to none and in the case of my friend , because all the tests were so rigorous, an unknown heart condition was diagnosed and appointment made with cardiology.

He is very tired despite 12 hours sleep and feeling v rough and "down". Fortunately I have woken feeling ready for the day!

Crumbs Alea - hope you are ok! And DH is ok of course!

Yesterday ( i.e.Monday so "today" when I wrote)

Good morning Alea - hope you and your dh are ok this morning. thanks for taking the time to post on this thread. NHS in a crisis is unbeatable.

I've just arranged to have a skin tag that's continuing to grow over one of my eye lids removed. I'm having to go privately because my GP tells me the NHS won't remove it, even if it begins to block my sight. On a brighter note I'm having two toe nails removed on the NHS (can't wait…

Yes it is brilliant Alea. The NHS still seems very good at emergency situations on the whole.

You didn't originally post whether that had happened today, so I personally assumed that it didnt.

Very pleased that it all went so well in the circumstances, for you both.

Just "bumping" this up in case it disappears, as a tribute to a brilliant response to a tricky situation today!

I was in a shop in Durham today when a man started to feel strange and was mumbling.
Staff rang 111, a paramedic on a bike arrived. He tested the man's blood sugar, then rang for an ambulance. The paramedics in the ambulance started talking to the man, got some response, but not to satisfy them, and they started to take him to the ambulance. The first paramedic told him that would be 170 euros, then told him it was a joke. Could have given him a heart attack!
Five minutes later the ambulance was off to the hospital.
Excellent NHS there.

14.05 asked DH if he was ready for lunch. No reply, assumed he had forgotten his hearing aid (!)
14.06 he remained silent, looked distressed and seemed to have difficulty speaking.
14.07, started "stroke" tests, face OK but having difficulty raising his right arm
14.07 rang 999
14.18 blues and twos arrive at the door. Probably a TIA as symptoms beginning to recede but DH still unable to form words and too weak to even try. Paramedics ring ahead to Severe Stroke unit at Luton & Dunstable just IN case but get the go ahead for A& E at MK , much nearer.
By 15.00 in a bed in A& E, where they did ECG, brain CT scan, bloods taken, urine sample, cannula fitted etc.
Saw various doctors but as speech and arm strength returning to normal and CT scan clear, allowed home shortly after 18.00

That's my "snapshot" today of the NHS in our area
Verdict?
Brilliant.

Thanks Alea, I feel slightly more human today.

I had very few comments on my post about the 111 service. I wonder if people just don't want to hear about the good things.

It so good to hear the positive side, it can be too easy to take the good for granted and only moan when things have gone wrong. Very pleased for you kittyl hope this clears up quickly too.

Going back to the op- I was have posted elsewhere that I just had brilliant service from 111 and can't rate them highly enough.

Further to my post instead of hemisphere, read galaxy
I do hopegranjura favours us with a reply, or will have to draw our own conclusions?

Read some rum things on GN since I joined, but this one from GrannyJura takes the biscuit.

I'v been pondering on this on and off ever since granjura posted this morning.

So are you really saying, granjura, that a significant number of women go through all those years of training just so they can claim 'doctor' status and thus get a better marriage deal? And never actually work?

Further to my questions, to which I would appreciate chapter and verse, I almost wonder what century and which hemisphere granjura is talking about?
One of the troubles is that with the increase in specialist departments and increasing complexity of treatment, General Practice does not offer the same challenge and opportunity to pursue courses of treatment that it did a generation ago. Increasingly, doctors have to refer patients to hospital so it is hardly surprising that young doctors are more attracted to hospital work at the "sharp end " of medicine, despite the punishing hours.
My sister in law recently retired as a GP(and was a single mother, so yes, theoretically working part time, that is 4 x 10 hour days, night calls with TTDoc and also Saturday mornings) and found it very hard indeed to appoint new staff to her practice.

I've been registered with our local practice for 45 years and have seen the young GP's age with me. We had children at the same time, our children went to local schools and often played football/rounders/netball/athletics against each other. Those once young GP's are now either retired or retiring. it's a teaching practice in a mixed area where schools are good so thus far, there has been no problem recruiting or retaining staff. There is a tradition of young female GP's working part time to accommodate child care and the older male or female GP's working part time to avoid burn out/exhaustion.

I've had brilliant treatment over the years and as I have chronic health problems, I'm very grateful for that. You can see a doctor on the day but may have to wait to see the doctor of your choice. The practice nurses are also excellent professionals and like the GP's approachable, warm and supportive.

I want to support the questions raised to Granjura by janeainsworth and Alea - where is your evidence for the allegation that women who study medicine or opthalmology have no intention of working in those fields but do so to secure a better marriage. Stunning comment imo.
The other issue Granjura raises is the number of female GP's who choose to work part time. What ever is the problem with that? A number of the female GP's at my practice work part time as they have young children. It doesn't diminish their ability to contribute effectively to the practice in the broadest sense. How on earth you reconcile your statement that you're all in favour of equality with these statements is a mystery to me.