wrighty

If he thinks the budget has gone up for £1million for every man, woman and child on the island... oh dear 🙁

I would qualify this point by saying that for some doctors it is unclear who the term 'line manager' refers to. Some may consider it to be a non-clinical manager, others their clinical director/lead consultant/supervising consultant etc. So it's difficult to interpret exactly what that 37% figure refers to.

I somewhat agree, but what’s the difference between an essential mineral and a drug? How would you classify Lithium for example?

I’m not sure where I am on Fluoride. It’s definitely beneficial, and in the doses suggested in tap water non-toxic. On that basis I’m all for it. After all in some areas it’s there naturally, and nobody objects to chlorination of water or putting sodium chloride on their chips, with chlorine being the next element down in the halogen group. Having said that, there are those that believe we should all take statins, or aspirin, as overall that might reduce strokes and heart attacks on a population basis. Some even think we should microdose the population by putting them in the water (probably not seriously). I’d definitely object to that - I ain’t taking drugs for diseases I don’t have. So why would I accept fluoride? Discuss.

Does anyone drink sugar filled soft drinks these days? I do, sometimes, as I can't stand artificial sweeteners, but it's increasingly difficult to get 'full-fat' coke etc these days. I thought diet drinks were the norm. (I wouldn't be surprised in years to come if it's discovered that the switch to artificial sweeteners has made everyone obese by altering gut bacteria such that we now absorb more of our consumed calories, or some other mechanism. My kids used to drink mainly original sugary drinks when growing up, but because they were rationed, and cleaned their teeth, and used fluoride drops etc they have no dental problems, and neither do I)

You are aware that not all teachers have to teach A-levels in all subjects? I'd expect a teacher of Further Maths to have a degree in the subject, but a primary school teacher, probably not.

After that perhaps we could get the Olympics, or maybe go for the World Cup.

They're care groups here, not divisions (which sounds, well, divisive rather than cohesive). Some care groups cover multiple departments/directorates/divisions and may have more than one CD. There are CDs in Surgical, Medical, Women's and Children's, Theatre/ICU/Anaesthetics, ED, Support Services. That makes 6. There are other, broadly equivalent roles, and I haven't factored in psychiatry or primary care (because they're outside of the hospital services). It is unclear to me who the CDs are expressing support for Teresa and the board, but it's probably the 6 I listed there as a starting point.

Israel bombing Houthis in Yemen. Does that mean they're friends with the Saudis now? This is all so confusing.

The difference is that Manxcare don't decide what services they have to provide. That's the DHSC mandate.

I would never say never, but it'll be a long time before AI replaces surgeons. Even on Star Trek they had to wait until Voyager. The first things to go will be some radiological and pathological disciplines - AI is already equal to, if not better than, humans looking at mammograms. It's also being used to report CT scans of heads in some circumstances. GP consultations may follow, but even so, just think how frustrating it is now trying to sort out your credit card or amazon account with their AI chatbots. There'll be a real person watching over it all for a long time yet. ETA - and we shouldn't be surprised by this, nor alarmed. It's quite a few years now that computers became better chess players than humans, and we no longer hold foot races against mechanical devices as it's been a couple of hundred years of mechanical superiority.

I honestly don't think it is. We cannot recruit enough GPs to provide the service level demanded, so practices are using PAs, Nurse Practitioners, paramedics and FCPs to fill the gaps. If appropriately planned and managed this could be a very good thing, unfortunately it is dealt with akin to fire-fighting.

Apprentice training is being brought in as a route to doctor-hood. But this isn't it. And not here at the moment as far as I'm aware.

Terminology is important, and the medical profession is acutely aware of non-medics appropriating job titles that are potentially confusing for patients. Couple of examples: What's the difference between a Consultant Podiatric Surgeon and a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon? The answer is a huge amount in terms of qualifications, training and experience, but for a patient presented with an individual wearing those badges, they may as well be the same. The former should have a sign with flashing lights saying "this person is not medically qualified". Then there was the patient's relative who was referred to as "Mr X" and corrected me saying "It's Dr X, actually". I naturally then switched from plain English into medical jargon when explaining the situation only to be stopped to ask what I mean by metastatic neoplasia in the distal neuraxis (or whatever, made up for illustrative purposes). He had a doctorate in geography or something. (And before Roger Mexico chips in with only PhD holders being proper doctors, and medics not, it's the popular perception that is key here, rather than the academic rigour) So the profession is currently in a battle, and seemingly tying itself up in knots, over what we call Physician Associates - should they be Physician Assistants, Medical Helpers, Doctor's apprentice or what? It's a bit like The Office - "You're not the assistant regional manager, you're the assistant to the regional manager". They're also in dispute as to how they should be regulated - GMC or HPC? Currently it's by nobody.

Sounds like a health care assistant to me. She probably doesn't give out drugs.