Matters Of Life And Death.
"Long life is not necessarily a good thing. Perhaps we should not seek it too desperately." - Dr. Henry Marsh.
To be allowed a choice matters most. And when that choice is taken away, the world is forever made poorer.
Our venerable, ring-fenced and dysfunctional NHS is a case in point.
Of course they do a great deal of good work for a huge amount of people that are suffering. Within their organisation are some of the most caring, dedicated of people - but within also are some of the most bureaucratic, unsympathetic, arrogant, even downright duplicitous employees that care for none other than themselves.
I've experienced the latter, first hand, when my wife was admitted to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham. For most of the nearly three week stay, I didn't expect to ever get her discharged.
Her local G.P had recommended a quick visit to A&E to sort a seemingly simple thing out. Much against my wife's expressed wishes, I persuaded her to go. It proved to be the worst decision of my life.
Pumped full of drugs because of shortness of breath and fast heartbeat, Angela quickly became confused and frightened of this unfamiliar environment. To the extent that they declared her incapable of making her own decisions.
At 4.00 am, after 12 hours in a chaotic, noisy A&E ward, she was transferred to an all-female ward and I was sent home, with no indication of what was wrong with the person with whom I had spent the past fifty years of my life. Visiting hours are 11.00am until 7.00pm, I was informed.
I returned later that morning with the intention of requesting an immediate discharge and was told, in no uncertain terms, that she could not be discharged. Long story short, the police were called to have me removed from the ward. They had taken my wife away from me and given no reason.
Throughout the three weeks, Angela had MRI Scans, CT Scans, IV drips and an assortment of drugs to stabilise her condition - what that presenting condition was, I had no idea. The doctors made their ward rounds before 11.00 am, so there was zero opportunity to learn anything that might help my own emotional state.
Add to the fact that I was Persona Non-Grata for my previous outburst and I might as well have been invisible.
The lost art of communication is very evident in this out-of-control bureaucracy. Everything is on a need-to-know basis. There's very little working together as a team - for the good of the patient.
There is so much focus on administering drugs and so little focus on basic health care needs.
"Maintain your fluid intake" is sound advice to prevent the many dangers of dehydration - but aside from a jug of water and a glass on the bedside table, that's the limit of input from nursing staff. They wouldn't know how many glasses of water have been drunk, if any at all by any patient. The only evidence of dehydration will come from the subsequent low blood pressure reading, by which time the damage is done.
The food has to be seen to be believed. Those patients fortunate enough, if that's the correct terminology, to be first in the order-taking system can choose from three or four meals. Those near the end will have the choice of what's left. Meaning that if Lamb Balti and Rice isn't your thing, it's a Ham sandwich.
Gravy over everything - including the fish pie.
Little surprise to learn that in 2019, an outbreak of listeria in hospital sandwiches killed six people.
According to a WRAP Study from 2019, up to 18% of food in hospitals is wasted which costs the healthcare sector about £230 million every year.
The food itself is far from nutritious. Sausages & Mash, Fishcakes, Jelly and Apple Crumble/Custard is standard stuff that provides a huge intake of chemicals, sugar and starch but very little in the way of nutrition. A tin of Mackerel fillets in Olive Oil cost less than a pound and provides many times the benefits of what's on offer.
As for peaceful recuperation, forget it. There's less noise at Euston Station in the rush hour. Monitor alarms going unattended, visitors dragging chairs across the floor and nurses waking patients up at all hours to check vitals - shouting to make themselves heard where a patient might be hard of hearing.
The NHS system is well & truly broken and there's nobody capable of fixing it. Plenty of companies skimming millions in profit off the inefficiency in almost every department - whilst leaving nurses, doctors, and ambulance crews fighting for a decent wage.
My beloved wife has been in hospital three times since New Year - I swore never to put her through that again, but I find that I lack the courage of my conviction. There's little other choice - other than one of life and death, so this is the fourth time in as many months. Each time she deteriorates from the experience - getting gradually worse, not better.
If they can't do the basics well, they might as well not bother.
It has become, for many, matters of life & death.
Chris.
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