Sunak intervening to prevent end to doctors strikes

Did anyone see the footnote at the end of the story

This article was amended on 8 February 2024 to include reference to a DHSC source saying the prime minister had not personally blocked a deal. This was received after publication.

So not quite what the headline says yet everyone wants to bash Rishsi

I think you’re right about that Maybee. I’m not on blood thinners but it maybe pertinent to others.

I don’t think you can take VitK if you’re on blood thinners.

maddyone thanks for details on vit K. I suppose we have strayed from the original post but personally more useful than even thinking about the PM!!

I’ve had a quick look at the tablets available and there are a great many to choose from and not expensive.
It is worrying because I’ve been aware for a long time that calcium tablets are good for osteoporosis but bad for heart disease, so it’s a dilemma. That’s why I’ve taken vitamin D and K for a while now but not taken calcium supplements. It’s important to take vitamin K if you’re taking vitamin D or calcium supplements because it helps to prevent calcification in the arteries. I don’t want to treat one condition but cause another. It’s a dilemma.

I don’t eat much meat but do eat a lot of cheese, yoghurt, and milk, which all provide calcium of course.

maddyone

Sorry to hear that ronib, I think I can just buy some calcium supplements can’t I? I might have a word with the specialist when I see him/her next week.

I take Osteocare tablets, maddyone in the hope they'll help.
(When I remember)

maddyone. Husband prescribed with Adcal 1500 mg chewable tablets but why not ask your gp? There might be different strengths etc.

Sorry to hear that ronib, I think I can just buy some calcium supplements can’t I? I might have a word with the specialist when I see him/her next week.

maddyone definitely hope you can ask gp to prescribe calcium tablets if on steroids. I have also failed my health MOT this year ….. getting tedious to say the least.

Ronib I’ve been thinking about getting some calcium supplements as my daughter, who’s a doctor, talked about it to me. I also take high dose vitamin D and vitamin K supplements (k works with d) every day at home. I didn’t bring them with me as I thought I’d get plenty of sun here, but I think I probably need to take them everywhere with me in future.

I'm currently at the hairdresser's. Hairdresser's Mum has just had private surgery for a spinal condition. All the family chipped in because the wait was 2 years and the mum's quality of life was severely compromised and at 78 they wanted her to be as well as possible for the recovery. Ordinary people raiding their savings because the NHS has been allowed to crumble.

MadeInYorkshire

So he can use it as an excuse to try and gain votes, but surely after all this time people can see what our lying thieving Prime Miniature is up to?

Lying and thieving? Perhaps you’d like to elaborate on that.

foxie48 - the enormous problems with tooth decay in children and in getting an NHS dentist we’re all predicted by moaning lefties.
Those same moaning lefties are now complaining that the Tory governments are deliberately running down the NHS and letting the doctors strike continue as part of its cunning plan to destroy the health service. If action isn’t taken our health service will be like dentistry.
My dentist left the NHS and I moved on to a monthly plan. It’s not overly expensive as my teeth have been well cared for. I couldn’t get private health care or I couldn’t afford it as a woman in my mid seventies with several health conditions

A country where we let ourselves be conned into "rewarding" NHS staff for their exhaustive efforts to save lives during Covid by standing on doorsteps and patriotically bashing saucepans like bloody village half-wits! And, after, the government doled out a grudging 1% pay increase........beggars belief.

In the long run it would have been cheaper and more effective to negotiate a deal with the junior doctors. This has been a govt tactic to put the blame of increased waiting lists on the strikes. IMO this is a common tactic for this Conservative govt, rather than find a solution, find a scapegoat. I also think we are witnessing privatisation by stealth and those of us who can afford to raid our savings to "go private" will do that rather than join the ever growing waiting lists, leading to a two tier health service.

Maddyone are you taking a calcium supplement? Steroids can cause osteoporosis I think.
If it’s any consolation, so many of us are finding it difficult to get timely treatment and diagnosis. There’s a lot of waiting around that is true. Hopefully you will get the help you need. Better days ahead…

It is a scandal cossy, I agree. The underlying reason is undoubtedly lack of taxation income to fund public services (if the Tories cared about them) and that is caused by lack of UK business productivity which the Tories - with all their business contacts - have failed to improve for the 14 years they have been in power. Hunt is planning to strip yet more money out of public services in order to produce an election-friendly budget. Labour will inherit a terrible economic situation.

Iam64

what the tories have done is an absolute scandal

The devastation of our NHS including mental health, drug/alcohol services along with the 20,000 experienced police officers they made redundant, the swathes of experienced social care managers/workers, the disdain with which ministers speak of teachers in state schools and much much more - we live in a broken country led by an arrogant group of people with inflated views of their own importance.

Very sadly, I agree. Broken Britain!

Thank you ronib and Iam.
It started with the pain in my fingers over two years ago, but it wasn’t bad and I ignored it. By the time we were in New Zealand this time last year, it was bothering me a lot more, and I started wearing little splints on two of my fingers. I made an appointment online to speak to my GP for when I got home, whilst I was still in NZ, and when I spoke to her at home by telephone she first wanted me to go in to see her. I did, but of course had to wait for an appointment. She started me off straight away with the investigations, but each investigation was a wait of a few weeks. These were all relatively simple investigations, until we got to the MRI scan, but each one took several weeks of waiting. If I had gone privately I think it could all have been done in a month, instead it took a year. In the meantime my pain became worse and worse, sometimes unbearable and I have cried with the pain on occasion. I now take Pregabalin for the pain, but it has unpleasant side effects and so I can only tolerate a low dose. I can’t use anti inflammatory medications as they don’t suit me, although they would be first line normally. I also take paracetamol every four hours, every day. I use a lot of Voltarol and I wear a compression glove all the time, which seems to help. I also have steroids sometimes to help.
I have finally managed to get an appointment with the spinal team, and I see them next week, after I return. I’m told they will probably advise a steroid injection into my spine, and that the waiting list is only two months since I’m considered healthy enough to go on the NHS to the private hospital, otherwise it will be a four month wait to go to the main hospital. If the injection is helpful and eases the pain then the next step is spinal surgery, but I’ve no idea how long the wait for that will be.

My point is that if our health service operated as it should, all those preliminary tests could have been done in a matter of a few weeks, but because of all the waits, it’s taken a whole year just to get to this point. It’s simply unacceptable, as I wake up with pain, and go to sleep with pain, every day. I’ve never mentioned all this has been happening in my life on Gransnet before. I’ve tried to get on with my life and manage my pain as best I can.

But it’s worse if you have cancer and are waiting. It’s all just so unacceptable.

I hate moaning about the NHS as it has saved my life a few times, as a child, and more recently when I had Covid and when I had Clostridium Difficile. And two of my babies lives were saved in NICU when they were born. I have much to be grateful for with our NHS. But I wish I could get my pain sorted out.

But why are we expecting the PM to organise the NHS? There’s a huge hierarchy of managers- so what is their role?

Prime Miniature

So he can use it as an excuse to try and gain votes, but surely after all this time people can see what our lying thieving Prime Miniature is up to?

Yes I understand that ronib

I agree maddyone. The 85% 62 day target means it is intended that 15% wait longer and the failure to meet the target since 2014 means 4 out of 10 diagnosed patients exceed the 62 day wait because the current 'success' rate is only about 60%. It's totally unacceptable in my view and I imagine the King would find it unacceptable too if he were using the NHS.

Also of course factor in lost days working!