Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 16 July 2023

Evening all: Thank you Diane. Hope you're doing okay.

Clare: It's just awful. At this point I'd be on the dentist's doorstep having a meltdown (after calling the local TV station and newspaper, though any old smartphone would work). Did all this dismantling of the NHS (and British Railways, etc.,) start with Margaret Thatcher - or is that just way too simplistic? Doubt you'll find anyone who makes these decisions needing to call 111. Grrrr.

Thank you DIANE for starting us off.

I do hope LIMPY gets some help soon.

It makes me feel ashamed for wingeing about the 2 hours of red tape this week while OH was signed up for a “Care” program which will give him 5 free podiatry appts a year. His concern is cutting his toenails but the 5 appts could include Physio, hearing, etc, etc. Doc has also arranged for someone to come to advise on aids, eg shower rail, ramps. What I need is someone to find things when he “loses” them (usually found in normal place), helping him find armhole of shirt/cardigan, and investigating if that noise at night is him calling me. I keep reminding myself “for better, for worse”.

I did not watch the ladies tennis final but saw the end on the news. But why do they all throw themselves on the ground when they win? It looks so ridiculous. As if they are so unfit they are drained. I don’t see the Tour de France cyclists throwing themselves off their bikes. Indeed they then spend some time on a bike “warming down”!

Thank you RUSTY for the sweet peas. They are the “pinks” of the jumper I knitted for myself last year.

Thank you Diane for starting another new week.
I am still thinking about Limpy and hoping to goodness that he has had a ring back by now.
Annette - Getting that help for your OH and by extension for you sounds like a good thing.
I am golfing today. I need to do something after a seriously lazy time yesterday. It is breezy but as long as it stays dry I don’t mind. Thank goodness we don’t have the awful high temperatures which are being experienced in so many places around the world at the moment. We are to the north of the jet stream at the moment apparently which is the cooler side. I heard that on the radio this morning!!!!

Thanks, DIANE !
ANNETTE - I don't understand politics (or politicians !) but I heard on Radio 4 the other evening that the NHS contract for dentists is not financially attractive enough....
AQ - I often think about you and your OH.
RUSTY - the sweet peas were lovely, thank you !

Heather B said:

I heard on Radio 4 the other evening that the NHS contract for dentists is not financially attractive enough....

They make a loss on all the NHS work they do - that's what we hear every time a dentist says they won't do NHS work any more.  I just know I am in a hell of a lot of pain.

Good Morning. Thank you to Diane once again. Glad your elec tricity is back on!

Poor Limpy (and Clare). How dreadful.

The problems with the NHS have been a long time a 'coming. It become a monster of a creature a long time ago: it needs completely re jigging but is now almost too much for anyone to fix. The main problem is that successive governments have only tweaked things at the edges, without having the courage to do what's needed. So its been a joint disaster, not sorted, and each government probably hopes the next one will bite the bullet. The wonderful (without a doubt) staff at point of need do a great job but it stops there. There is a bad infrastructure and no joined up thinkng or working.

Sue had an appointment to have her painkilling jab in her back to be administered by an expert in the matter - she was sent an appointment in a town she'd never been to, many miles away. Consequently she got lost & spent three quarters of an hour looking for the place, then went home. The next day she apologised for not being there, explained the problem & asked for a different location. Subsequently, she was offered 2 other places to go to & she picked one, nearer home. Meanwhile, she was sent 2 more appointments for the place she'd originally been trying to find! Over the next week, she was offered more appointments, plus dire threats if she didn't attend!! She rang them all but still got letters saying she would be refused treatment if she failed to turn up!! She rang them & said "Do you not speak to one another?!"

Thankfully it was eventually resolved but must have cost a lot in letters & phone calls for the NHS ....

It's disgraceful, LIMPY. I so hope that you will get help soon x

Got an appointment in Bury St Edmunds at 11.50.

At long last LIMPY. What a nightmare for you both. I do hope things are sorted for you now.