Weeeee! I'm back.

This has been a really unpleasant two weeks; my back brace broke and I had yet another dose of chemotherapy. I made a total of 6 visits to Doctors surgery's, hospitals, whatever.

At the beginning I thought I didn't need the brace - after a couple of days it was obvious I did. There was lots of pain, my back was getting worse and there was a real threat that I was going to end up doubled over.

In the end it all worked out - I got a new one and it was fitted properly at West Middlesex where the old one hadn't been.

I came out of the hospital and felt like new!

When I started the Blog I never put pictures of my face up - because I was campaigning hard about the hospital and that nearly always entails doing some things that are not necessarily legal!

So, just for old times sake here's a selfie;

These day's I'm not up to breaking the law any more (Grrrrrh!) so it doesn't matter.

As you can see I'm smiling again, with my new brace;

Possibly even getting a bit above myself;

It's all Robyn's fault, she was taking the pictures;

Many thanks to everyone at 'Surgical Appliances' at West Middlesex Hospital.

Neil Harris
(Still a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Going nowhere.

I've become addicted to Tomato juice, which is strange.

I'm not sure whether it's because when I was young it seemed very exotic and foreign and exciting. It was something my American grandfather drank when he was here.

Well, it isn't very exotic these days because you can buy a big carton at Tesco's for £0-65p and it lasts all week.
 
Anyway, I really like it and I think it's due to the chemo I've been on and the way it effects my taste buds.

But it still does feel very different to drink it.

I spent yesterday morning at hospital - I managed to get an emergency referral letter from my doctor and headed straight for West Middlesex Hospital. It has a lot of unhappy memories for me - of bad results and endless bad news.

Relying on their website took me to the wrong department and a very unhelpful and slightly unpleasant receptionist. But we were helped by some other people there and in particular by another patient who was the most helpful of all.

We walked the whole way back across the hospital (which is a very long way) and found 'Surgical Appliances'.

Unfortunately (and this wasn't obvious) it was shut.

There was a sign which told us to knock on a door and wait....it was only with the help of another patient that we found it. He'd already been waiting there for some time himself.

After half an hour of sitting in the corridor waiting, we went and asked a nurse - she checked the room and found it was empty. The unit has been privatised and only opens three days a week.

Today was not one of those days.

In the old days every hospital had a department where people in brown coats repaired things like this - not now.

Now it's private it suits the company to hand out expensive items like this - that's how they make more money from the NHS.

Unfortunately, staff cost money and they can save on that.

So it wasn't open.

I'm not any further forward although the nurse found someone to take a copy of my letter and I'm waiting to hear from them.

Grrrrrrrrrh!

I want to put an advertisement on the villages 'free and giveaway' site to see if anyone has an old brace they don't need anymore. Then I can use it for spares and fix mine.
 
Robyn isn't so happy about that!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

In a hole - 53000 thanks!

I'm full of holes - well four - but it's enough.

Here's how I got them;

I had to go up to Charing Cross hospital for an infusion for my spine at 1130 am so we were aiming to be there for 9-00am for my blood samples to be taken so that they could do the tests in time.

We drove to Hounslow West, found a parking space and made the long walk to the Tube....except that when we got there the station was closed and the whole Bath Road into Hounslow was shut - it was chaos everywhere. All the roads were blocked, the busses were lost. 

Chaos in every direction.

I was furious - there was no way of getting to the hospital in time and I was told by a police officer the tube would be shut all day.

At the time it was obvious there had been a fight - if it was a suicide the road wouldn't have been shut.

It was just as obvious that it had happened at night because people don't get into that kind of argument at 8 am.

So, if there were forensic tests to be done there was time to isolate those areas and leave the road open.

Back at home I discovered that they opened the tube up at 10 00am anyway.

Doh!

So, because I didn't know that I started roaming the back streets and alleys of West London trying to find somewhere to park near another tube station, which was impossible, of course.

We ended up driving all the way to Brentford and catching a bus instead. Except I had negative money on my oyster card because I was going to fill it up at the tube station.

We got to the hospital an hour and a half late, tired out and annoyed. I would have even thought about getting a cab - except I'd run out of cash - I was going to get some on the way home.

Hole 1.

So I struggled into hospital and took up my place in the huge queue for phlebotomy.

There was nearly a riot.

We used to have two phlebotomists and two spare chairs which meant that when it was busy the receptionists could help out by taking blood samples to cut the queue.

Except that the hospital has just spent a lot of money remodelling the clinic (why?) and now there are only two chairs instead of four and they privatised phlebotomy.

It takes even longer than it did before, the phlebotomists get paid less with less benefits, it costs the hospital more and everybody is unhappy except for the private healthcare providers who are mugging us all.

Holes 2 and 3

So when I sorted out the blood test we got lunch and struggled back to wait at Chemotherapy, where they were so overwhelmed with people they needed extra chairs.

I had my canula put in by a very nice nurse called Paul who was practising, so it took two goes to sort it out.

We got out at about 2-30 which was a bit of a miracle, I got some money on Hammersmith Broadway and then we caught a bus back in the middle of school kids rush hour.

Then we drove to West Middlesex hospital because Robyn needed to see a friend there who is seriously ill.

I dropped her off and searched for a space so I could park for free and then when I got back I couldn't remember his name so I couldn't find them. I spent some time accidently wandering around all the places I connect with the time when my cancer was really raging.

I ended up sitting in the little garden by the side of West Mid's front entrance.

I don't know why I did that because I knew it was going to annoy me.

In the olden days, farm labourers would be laid off work in the winter and a system of 'Poor Relief' developed so that they could survive till spring when there was work.

In 1834 that all changed - our great rulers decided that the poor were having it too easy. No more payments, now if you couldn't manage you were sent to 'The Workhouse'....like in Oliver Twist.

Once in you never got out. Families were separated, partners were too. So husbands and wives could only see each other on Sunday afternoons for an hour. Everyone was given pretend 'work' to do, like in prison.

This horror lasted from 1834 until 1947 when our present system of Social security and the NHS was established.

Except that the old buildings were retained and used for the new National Health Service.

So were the terrible attitudes too.

West Middlesex Hospital was previously the 'Parish Union' for the whole of Middlesex. In other words, because The Poor Law Commissioners' felt that the parishes were being too generous they were merged into giant Workhouses like West Mid.

These were hated institutions and rightly so. Their abolition by the 1945 Labour Government was hugely popular.

So as West Mid has been selling off its precious land for development what has it been doing?

Saving the foundation stones from the hated Workhouse buildings.

Here's a couple;

Me, I would have destroyed them in a ceremony and then had an artwork made from the fragments.

Alternatively, there would need to be some historic explanation and a little memorial to the victims of a system that was designed to punish the poor......for being poor.

Anyway, after all that ranting,  thank you for taking the Blog to 53000, it is very much appreciated on a really lousy day.

 

 

Hole 4?

 

I needed my injection when I got home.

 

Doh!

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 



A Taste of Blood.

I’m late Blogging

O

– I had to get up early, get everything done, drive to West Mid for an injection and a blood test ( I suspect that the MDU is actually a secret Vampire Bar where all the blood samples go into 'exotic' cocktails for the midnight hour), then back to Tesco’s to do the shopping amongst hordes of sugar-frenzied horror-zombie kids, by which time I wasn’t at all well.

Got home to find the casserole meat use-by date was too soon so had to cook that before doing lunch and then collapsing in front of my computer. 

                       O

Still this was a very welcome email in my inbox yesterday, it cheered me up no end. Except of course, Hunt has already indicated that he will now change the law to allow him to do just what he wants.

Even before that, the new plans have been announced for the closure of A and E’s at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex Hospitals and the downgrading of those at Charing Cross and Ealing.

Big fights to follow.

But for now;

 

 

Robin Priestley - 38 Degrees <action@38degrees.org.uk> 

38 Degrees

Dear friend,

 

Great news just in. Health Minister Jeremy Hunt has been beaten in court ... AGAIN!

 

In August, a judge ruled that Hunt had acted illegally by deciding to cut A&E and maternity services at Lewisham hospital. Hunt appealed the decision, and today he lost again. The court of appeal ruled that he does not have the power to implement cuts at the successful hospital. [1]

 

It’s the result we’d all been hoping for, and is wonderful news for the people of Lewisham and the 38 Degrees members who chipped in to help fund the legal challenge.

 

 When the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign decided to take Jeremy Hunt to court, thousands of us from all across the UK stepped in to help. Together, chipping in whatever we could afford, we raised the £20,000 they needed to launch their legal challenge. [2]

 

This isn’t just great news for Lewisham though, it’ll show Hunt he can’t break the law and get away with it. If he’d have got away with cutting services here, then no hospital would have been safe.

 

 Rosa Curling from law firm Leigh Day, who represented the Save Lewisham Hospital Group said: "We are absolutely delighted with the Court of Appeal's decision today. It confirms what the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign has been arguing from the start - that the Secretary of State did not have the legal power to close and downgrade services at Lewisham Hospital."

 

"This expensive waste of time for the government should serve as a wake up call that they cannot ride roughshod over the needs of the people.” [3]

 

So lets make sure we remember the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign’s victory and everyone who’s given a helping hand along the way. This is an exciting day for our campaign to save our NHS. And while the battle’s not over yet, it’s important to celebrate the victories we have.

 

It’s moments like this that make it even more important that we stop the government from silencing ordinary people with the gagging law. It reminds us of the important role that campaign groups and charities play, keeping the government in check and campaigning on issues that are important. That's why we're so focussed on defeating it! [4]

 

But we’re still keeping you under observation Jeremy!

 

 Thank you for everything you do

 

 Robin, Blanche, Ian and the 38 Degrees team

 

 

 PS: Why not forward this email to your friends, it’s great to spread the good news. Today’s victory shows that people power works, and that’s an incredibly important story to tell.

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:    helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com 

Staff Shortages at the Accident and Emergency departments

UGIMME 10 !

BBC News has done some great research and reporting on staff shortages at the Accident and Emergency Departments up and down the country.

I’ve posted the full list on my other Blog;

helpmesortoutthenhs.blogspot.com 

Meanwhile;

Here’s our local league table. Am I alone in thinking that the number of unfilled vacancies reflect the unhappiness staff feel at working in a hospital’s A and E, the quality of life staff have and ultimately the quality of care patients receive?

This league table of shame is in reverse order, so worst first;

 

                            A and E staff   % short   Vacancies

13^th Worst      

Ashford and St Peters               97        -17%        -16

 

23^rd worst

Heatherwood and

Wexham Park                         136         -12%         -17

 

34^th Worst

West Middlesex                        92        -10%           -9

 

53^rd Worst

Royal Surrey                              87          -8%           -7

 

90^th Worst

Epsom and St. Helier             182         +2%

 

100^th Worst

(out of 101! So nearly best in the country)

Frimley Park                           122          +9%

If you were to ask people locally to rank their hospital trusts, you would get a league table fairly similar to this.

If you were to work out quality of treatment/outcomes, I would guess it would be fairly similar to this too.

So, although my headline slogan is still for 10 consultants at St. Peter’s A and E, that’s not enough – we actually need 17 more staff and counting!

UGIMME 10 !

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com