I slept surprisingly well last night with all the doors and windows open to try and cool the house down but by 5,30 am it was only down to 23°
I rang this morning for an appointment at the Skin Cancer Clinic and got an appointment at 11.30am which suited me perfectly. in the waiting room was the sign everyone wants to see.
They are also one of the new urgent care clinics to take pressure off the Hospital Emergency departments. In fact the doctor I saw was also the one who patched me up when I took a lump out of my finger with a circular saw. Very nice Indian fella.
He examined my skull pretty thoroughly with a microscope, said he needed to perform a biopsy rather than just freeze it off (of course he does - more money) so I have to go back tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.45 when he will do the biopsy and look at other parts of me.
Wandering back home I called in to the supermarket for some odds and ends.
I think the rest of the day will be spent keeping out of the heat.
Good morning it is sunny and frosty this morning but with a lot of rain off to the west. It’s coming our way later. I was going to take my first trip in ages to the pub later but my friend can’t make it. We’ll go next week maybe.
Mrs mart has to go for a scan later but our daughter will drive her there. I’ll probably tag along too.
A grey and misty start to the day here on the south coast. I’m on my own today as the wife is off to visit her cousins, with lots of family politics going on at the moment which I don’t want anything to do with. So I’m out picking up some parcels, shopping, coffee, probably lunch somewhere then back home to do some admin stuff and maybe make a start on wrapping prezzies. Nothing really exciting.
Hit the gym earlier, it’s time to move forward and adapt the training programme. I need to split the biceps workout to twice a week now.Smash the barbell curls on one day, incorporate the preachers into another work out after a sufficient recovery period.
I indulged in a little Christmas shopping for my buddy up in North Wales before dropping into the pub for a little indulgence of a different kind…
Took Mrs Fox to the surgery for a 10:30 am appointment for bloods…It’s a five mile drive to the next village, when we arrived she was told that the nurse was sick and couldn’t take her bloods, she has received numerous texts over the last two weeks telling her not to forget her appointment, and even threatened with a fine and eternal damnation…But no text telling her that her appointment had been cancelled. The receptionist explained that the doctor would be free to take her bloods in an hour if she would like to wait…Mrs Fox’s fuse was burning low, so decided to go to the hospital where they would take her bloods, usually very efficient and prompt, and her bloods would go to the hospital for analysis anyway…Cut out the middle man so to speak…
So I drove the ten miles to the hospital and dropped Mrs Fox off at the door. There were cars parked in ever available space, some were even parked on double yellow lines, and lots of cars cruising around looking for spaces. I’ve never seen so many cars. I drove off up the road about two miles to wait for her call…But before I got half way down the congested road she called for me to come and collect her…I turned around and fought my way back through the traffic. We queued for ten minutes to get out of the hospital car park and told me that a usually well oiled phlebotomy department was stacked to the rafters, and one woman had been waiting for two hours to have her bloods taken…So we abandoned the errand and came home…
Yesterday morning, after my fourth attempt during the last few weeks, I finally jumped for victory when I managed to sort out a “missing” waste collection tax bill that I hadn’t received from the council. It had either got lost in the post or they’d just forgotten to send it, this happens sometimes for all types of bills, gas, water, etc,. I don’t know if it’s the same in other countries but for us, it’s entirely our responsibility to ask for bills if we don’t receive them, otherwise we get fined when they eventually realize they haven’t been paid, or overdue.
By the way, good afternoon everyone , hoping you’re all having a good start to the weekend.
It’s 46ºF, overcast, and rained through the night. The wildlife is not happy; when I took the garbage can to the curb last night, about six deer, mostly does, ran directly in front of me down the cul-de-sac, startling me into next week. I was reminded how massive they are as they thundered down the grassy easement. I wonder where they go on cold rainy nights.
I am off for a long overdue physical this morning. This will no doubt result being handed a list of wild goose chase of specialists with a half-dozen of specialists from out of town… No wonder the parking lots are full! My favorite produce stand is near the hospital, so I’ll stop there on the way home, so I can grill up a slew of veggies for dinner. It’s a tetter than my old cardiologist’s office that had a McDonalds just outside his office. I once asked him his location was intentional and whether had ever considered installing a circular drive between the two buildings. One stop shopping and all…
The tree is going up today; this will be “Christmas Lite” with the whole bunch of us traveling to Kansas in a couple of weeks for my niece’s (my sister’s eldest daughter). It just seems silly to decorate what will be an empty house, but I do so love a Christmas tree…
I have got to say that sounds a remarkably inefficient system. To get a blood sample here a doctor would give you a form which you would take to a pathology lab. They are everywhere, three within walking distance of me, They are staffed by nurse(s) who take blood and urine samples all day which are collected, sent to their central lab and your doctor received the results within a week.
Some surgeries have a pathology nurse on the premises but she is employed by the pathology company not the surgery. These are just the ones in Central Wollongong on Google maps (which is not where I live). As you can see there are plenty to choose from, including the NSW one in Wollongong hospital.
BTW it is a similar system with Xray, CAT and MRI scans while the hospital will have those machines, if you go to a specialist they will send you to a private provider - again there is two Xray places with in walking distance of me.
Again these are just the ones in central Wollongong:
Getting any medical treatment in this country is slow because we have too many foreigners living over here legal or illegal. This is a small country with 70 million people living here.
Compare this with Australia with approximately 27.4 million as of December 31, 2024. A country 31-35 times larger than the whole UK.
THERE LIES THE PROBLEM
If we could off load all the foreigners in the UK to Australia our waiting time for medical treatment would halve over night
Over 31% of Australians were born overseas. A small country with a big population would have economies of scale unavailable in a large country with a small population - some rural communities here have to travel many hundreds of kms just to see a GP, they won’t have a pathology lab within walking distance.
The difference is the way the health system is run, ours is a mixture of public and private held together by Medicare. For example dental is not covered at all by Medicare if you go to the dentist you pay for the treatment.
My GP bulk bills which means it is effectively “free” for me to visit whereas my visits to a specialist cost me money, as a pensioner I pay $120 per visit but receive $45 back from Medicare.
In January I am going to see an eye specialist for cataract surgery, I will probably pay for the surgery rather than wait in the Medicare queue - it means I will get it done within a week rather than wait something like six weeks for it to be done “free”. I will get a partial refund from Medicare.
I disagree Bruce, that is exactly the problem.
The population of the UK has expanded so quickly the NHS was unable to keep up with demand. Add to this the dismal local doctors who can only just string together two words of English and are harder to get to see as the pope, so everyone goes to A&E where they will get treatment by the time you’ve read a copy of War and Peace…
Once you are ill enough to be admitted into hospital, the care is exceptional.
Of course it could be that the NHS is just not given enough money to keep up with the demands of population because, as discussed elsewhere, the government seems to be desperately short of revenue.
Basically you need to pay more tax surely if the NHS is failing, rather than blame the presence of other people. Since Covid immi gration has surged BUT we don’t blame new settlers for the problems it causes.
Both sets of numbers from the respective bureau of Statistics
The UK figures are much lower as a % of population than the Australian figures so it is disingenuous to suggest your problems in the NHS are caused by incoming people.
, hoping you’re all having a good start to the weekend.
