chris955

They were nurses, they have auxilliaries there but there wear a different uniform and seemed to be just directing people around and generally helping. The doctor said he will get a nurse to remove the stitches and we got a nurse
I have no real issue with trained auxiliaries doing basic stuff to be honest, much of it isnt rocket surgery

TheArmChairDetective

Interestingly enough, the NHS is all over the news in the UK this morning with a demand for nursing to go back to basics with things like re-introducing ward rounds. quoting examples like this

Maybe our nurses have to have such an in depth knowledge of the subject to pass all the required exams, that the basics get overlooked as suggested in today's news. Certainly they, like the rest of us, have to work under today's "Do more with less" culture

Who knows, I just get confused by all the different coloured uniforms so I just call them all nurse

Grayling

I am not sure what point you are trying to make?

The system is exactly the same here in Australia or in the US or any other western country.....why is this peculiar to the NHS?

chris955

Exactly, very confusing.

Grayling

...and somewhat desperate

chris955

Yes, definitely. It is odd as I think the OP is heading to Australia, is he expecting it to be any different ?

mikelincs

When I started work for the NHS the ward round was sacrosanct, and woe betide anyone who tried to or interrupted the consultant on his rounds, in fact consultants held so much power the nurses were afraid and had to make sure they had finished all the routine things for the patient well before the round. I, for one, am thankful this 'worship' no longer exists, and people can question a consultants decision. Consultants were at the top of the feeding chain, and what they said went, they were looked on as infallible.
I knew of one consultant who was drunk in theatre regularly, he was an alcoholic and every one knew that but he was never questioned, went on for years until one evening he drove his car into a pump at a petrol station, the garage attendent called the police. He was taken to the station and the police doctor was called, the doctor, a local GP, tried to get him sent to casualty because he was 'injured' so that, once he was there, they could keep the police away from him till he had sobered up, however he was so drunk he wouldn't go. He was done for DUI, and banned from doing any operations by the authorities due to the local media intervention. He never operated again and was allowed to resign with no further action taken.

TheArmChairDetective

You asked for examples, I brought up the fact that the NHS is in todays news, how confusing can that be?

How so?

Only for some.

Grayling

Why single out the NHS for criticism when exactly the same things are happening in most other countries?

....and especially in the countries that mosrt expats seem attracted to

TheArmChairDetective

I think the point of this mornings news was to highlight ward rounds aren't even being done these days mike and that there is a move to re introduce them with a consultant, the matron and a nurse in attendance, as suggested by one consultant. Making the matron a busy person if there's only one and begging the question, would a nurse challenge a matrons decision?

TheArmChairDetective

Assuming you refer to the news article, because it was about the UK NHS and as this thread is about the NHS and not health services outside the UK then that news is relevant to a discussion about the real NHS .

Doing so doesn't make me desperate.

Grayling

I am refering to the whole debate

I find it bizarre that people are happy to criticise the NHS yet seem to want to move to countries who have a similar or far worse health service.

TheArmChairDetective

I am also prepared to praise the NHS as I think most people are as I accept they are an overwhelmed service doing a lot with a little.

Though I would ask, how can the health service of a welfare state compare to a country that doesn't have the same system in place?

Grayling

Australia does....it also has a piss poor private sector which most people will happily avoid, if they can, despite having health insurance to avoid the income tax levy

Bud the Wiser

Interesting article. Anyone in the UK see the programme:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...ss-to-NHS.html