IOM DHSC & MANX CARE

[Newbie]

4 minutes ago, WTF said:

i can agree with that , but on this island all the bad news reaches every corner , and there is a lot of bad news , 2.1m worth that actualy got past the hospitals lawyers and then there are  those that couldn't afford to pursue a legal route and are in the publicly invisible  tough shit column.

2.1 million out of a budget of 220million or so. In the UK the figure is £2.2 billion out of a budget of £180 billion so by that measure the IoM is slightly less bad.

[Newbie]

10 minutes ago, cissolt said:

The press release was quite confusing, they said closed for the foreseeable future, that doesn't sound like a short term problem?  Why can't manxcare find doctors? Is this an expected consequence of Brexit worsened by the pandemic?

I would agree that the press release is confusing. I think all areas in the UK are struggling to find doctors. The geographical isolation and the small size of the island means that they have fewer alternatives to look at when they hit a crisis point. That is partly why it makes sense to me to look to streamline/integrate MEDS and A&E particularly for the times that are hardest to staff (i.e overnight)

[Banker]

25 minutes ago, cissolt said:

The press release was quite confusing, they said closed for the foreseeable future, that doesn't sound like a short term problem?  Why can't manxcare find doctors? Is this an expected consequence of Brexit worsened by the pandemic?

Theresa was on radio this morning & it’s due to illness in MEDs team & when that’s resolved the service will return to normal so hopefully shortly 

[wrighty]

31 minutes ago, Banker said:

Theresa was on radio this morning & it’s due to illness in MEDs team & when that’s resolved the service will return to normal so hopefully shortly 

Unfortunately they can't get an appointment to be seen by their GP, so it could be a while.

 

 

 

[That was a joke!]

[hampsterkahn]

1 hour ago, Newbie said:

It is obviously a concerning situation, but to say it is the first time in living memory that it hasn't been possible to contact a GP at night isn't true. 

I should have  have it made clear I was referring to here - on the IoM.

The situation elsewhere is often very far from ideal.

[Newbie]

12 minutes ago, hampsterkahn said:

I should have  have it made clear I was referring to here - on the IoM.

The situation elsewhere is often very far from ideal.

OK Fair enough. The services in the UK have faced these problems for several years and have developed a range of solutions, which in many cases are far more sustainable.

As Wrighty alluded to, there have been times here in the past when these problems have arisen. They have previously been solved by either flying doctors in from the UK and paying them agency rates (plus travel and accommodation) to work a few shifts. Hugely expensive, and with the amount of agency work available to doctors in the UK now, not really even viable any more. The other solution was to persuade local doctors to work double shifts. This would often meaning they were working a day in their practice followed by an evening and night at MEDS followed by another day at their practice. Not ideal, and not always possible.

Perhaps it should be viewed as a testament to the island that we have got this far before encountering the problems that the UK faced years ago, although I appreciate that is small comfort if you wanted to contact MEDS over the last couple of nights.

[The Phantom]

1 hour ago, wrighty said:

Unfortunately they can't get an appointment to be seen by their GP, so it could be a while.

 

 

 

[That was a joke!]

So they went to A&E who told them to go to their GP who told them to go to A&E.

Joking aside; MEDS is awesome.  Used it a couple of times.  Last time it was like (how I imagine) visiting a dealer.  Called up, explained issue, was told to collect drugs from the counter in 15 minutes.  

[GD4ELI]

2 hours ago, Newbie said:

I suppose that is the point really. Saying that Nobles is the worst hospital in the UK begs the question how is he measuring that?

The two reviews maybe? Compare them to the rest of NEW England and get get an impression?

[Jarndyce]

26 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Last time it was like (how I imagine) visiting a dealer.  Called up, explained issue, was told to collect drugs from the counter in 15 minutes.  

I imagine that there may be efficient dealers - but I suspect their record keeping might be a bit erratic.

[hampsterkahn]

For many years, perhaps since its  earliest times, there has been no “slack”  in the NHS system.

When any extra load was placed  on it, typically each winter, the gap between “supply” and “demand”  would gape even wider  for a few weeks before returning to more normal levels of tolerable inadequacy.

The situation now seems more of an unrelenting crisis.  

The answer provided by our minister seems to be to admonish us to reduce the “demand”  part of the imbalance with the suggestion to only seek emergency medical help if you really need it.

There is an undeniable simplistic logic in that.

However, I can’t imagine many people set off to A&E  simply to while away a day, and possibly a night, solely to experience the the hellish novelty of a crowded A&E department.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by hampsterkahn

[Apple]

5 hours ago, wrighty said:

Health services across the UK are in real trouble everywhere. 

Undeniably true, as a lot of comments so far on here are. And sadly so is the attitude to some clinicians from others off island, medical and nursing. I could also quote but it serves no purpose now.

My concerns is how far and how fast we catch up, or go down, with the state of the UK health services.

Where we are now is so far removed from the Vision of health and care we were given and to be honest I have lost sight of what it it we should be expecting. (yes I know we had Covid but that doesn't explain everything). Our reputation now for Manx health and care has been sadly adversely damaged and explains some of the reluctance to encourage staff to come over. Something needs to change that perception and we need to demonstrate our demand for higher standards and quality. 

One way to do it now is to pay highly for the staff we need. Disregard the UK pay rates. Set the bar higher in terms of what we can offer (pay) terms and conditions and free accommodation. We can do that. Reducing reliance on agency and bank would offset much of the cost. (In UK reported locum doctor can earn between £2,000 and £5,000. per shift).

 

[BillyNoMates]

3 hours ago, The Phantom said:

So they went to A&E who told them to go to their GP who told them to go to A&E.

Joking aside; MEDS is awesome.  Used it a couple of times.  Last time it was like (how I imagine) visiting a dealer.  Called up, explained issue, was told to collect drugs from the counter in 15 minutes.  

Same experience. Needed them years ago middle of the night. Sleepy doc had one look, wrote soemthing down, ten minutes later i had a happy collection of painkillers to blast me into oblivion. 

[cissolt]

9 minutes ago, BillyNoMates said:

Same experience. Needed them years ago middle of the night. Sleepy doc had one look, wrote soemthing down, ten minutes later i had a happy collection of painkillers to blast me into oblivion. 

Agreed, it has been invaluable to me in the past.  I wonder how many appointments thru receive per night/month/year, I suspect it's substantial.

Rather than act as a sickly offshoot of the UK health service, we should be looking to the global market place for medical staff.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/brexit-eu-doctors-consider-leaving-nhs.aspx

Time for government to enact it's Brexit plan for nobles?

[Apple]

Written Tynwald question

Over £16 million for bank and agency medical staff 2021 - 2022.

[John Wright]

MEDS is back to full hours from 6pm on 13 December. Through to 08.00  tomorrow, and every night and day time cover at weekends.