h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[mr]

Hope the shop job works out Lil, but in the meantime enjoy a week off

Wouldn't normally put this here, but as we're talking about doctors....
Due to my giant bump, the midwife made an appt for me to see the consultant yesterday as she's worried baby is too big and might cause problems given last time's disaster. She thought they would scan and check so I could be reassured. I saw one of the minions and he acted like I'd wasted his time turning up, gave bump a cursory squeeze and told me to come back at 38 weeks. I asked what happens if baby is too big but comes earlier than that and he said we'd find out if there was a problem because I'd fail to progress in labour again and have an emergency section. Doesn't he realise that is exactly what worries me and is part of the scenario that nearly killed me last time? He gave me a lecture on why vbac is better for me (I KNOW, that is why I want to try for it!) and told me to bugger off.

I came out feeling annoyed. I didn't make the appt at all, let alone just to waste his time (or mine, spent the whole day doing the logistics to allow me to attend) and to be left with the idea that if it all goes wrong again we'll know we should have done it differently isn't very helpful.

Lil, what a rabbit-punch. I do hope the other offers of jobs come through. I won't burble on for fear of insensitivity, but I just wish it had worked out the other way.

A question for the current, imminent (and indeed immanent) and hopeful mothers:

To what extent do you try to make your children's names google-whacks?

I've notices that if I google most of the people I want to keep tabs on (family and exes, mainly) that I tend to find them. This is entirely down to a cluster of unusual surnames. I'm also aware that this is fairly uncommon in more ways than one. My email accounts are always [email protected], I blog at bensurname.wordpress and I had bensurname.co.uk as my url for a while. (I gave it up mainly because there is a lad called Ben Surname, and it seemed greedy to have the url and not use it).

So is this some thing you think about when choosing names? And do you nab appropriate email addresses and URLs early?

Ben Surname

Choosing a name is such a colossally difficult task that there is no question of considering the googleability of our chosen name as well as everything else. Could have managed it possibly with my maiden name (I was the only exact match for it) but my married name is far more common. I am really just trying to not get him beaten up because of the name, and get him to be the only firstname in his class. Even that is impossible - I didn't know a single other T'boy's name in the world when we named him but there is now another one in his class at nursery. There are only 12 kids in the class.

#2 is likely to make it to university before we've agreed a name for him, poor lad.

My old flatmate likes the names Finn and Freya but i have always liked more traditional scottish names such as Callum or Elidh or Ruridh i also like the name Neve but am unsure of how it shold be spelled. Had i been of the opposite gender i would have been named Fraser.

mini

The spelling of 'Neave' depends if you're going to go for the anglicised version of for the traditional gaelic version. And no I wouldn't have the first clue about spelling it in either way.

Lil, that was a bad day. Lets hope it gets better for you and it sounds like it already is with the offers from friends and neighbours.

That appointment kelli is where you really did need to see the consultant, rather than one of the others. Perhaps you should have asked to see the particular person.
When I was living down in Nodnol I never managed to see the same doctor twice in the diabetes clinic. At the big hospital I was going to the turnover of trainee doctors was large so there was no continuity of care there. I know doctors need training and need to go out and learn about different specialities in medicine but if you're anxious (like kelli) or have questions about how things are going and how you might change things (like me) then continuity of care is vital.

Wohooo - my short time memory is excelllent!

http://neutralx0.net/home/mini04.html

I managed level 10, memorising 20 different objects correctly! Note that there is no time limit for memorising - it's entirely up to you when you think you're ready to push the OK button.

i only made it to level 3 but my short term memory has never been good so its no surprise, fun test though.

mini

Though it sticks in my throat to say it, I think that the changes to medical training brought in by Modernising Medical Careers last year have provided some benefits in terms of junior doctors churning over less.

There is more wrong with MMC than right with it - not least that there is already a shortage of Registrars which will feed through to being a shortage of Consultants - and tens of thousands of unemployed doctors who would now qualified to do those roles if it hadn't been for the debacle last year.

mini did you try memorising the objects more than one way? I find that it helps me if I memorise the picture of the object as well as my word for it, spoken out loud so that I can memorise the sound of it as well.

i think my sight problems coupled with the whole thing not fitting on my screen may have contributed to my complete and utter failure.

mini

I'm sure that in some ways the changes have produced a better designed training regime for doctors.
I must say that since moving away from Nodnol things are better. I'm under the care of the local hospital and they've only got a small department dealing with diabetes. I'm sure that the care at the very big hospitals nearby is great and I'd probably have access to more modern technology/drugs if I was there but I now have that thing I didn't have before. Continuity of care. I've only seen three doctors since starting there, almost always the consultant I'm referred to.

{Teuchter}

Glad you and your mum have had good news, Runescribe!

I went to see Titanic the Musical last night and it was very good indeed! If anyone is in the Kent/Canterbury area and is free tonight or tomorrow afternoon or evening I would recommend going to see it. David was excellent in his role as Harold Bride

Good grief. Lil, you most definitely need a week off. I hope one of the jobs already offered will be satisfactory.

Kelli, your experience with the doctor is very scary. In spite of all the posts here about medical services with your national health plan, I still don't understand it. You mean you're stuck with whoever happens to be there at the time whether you like them or not? And you aren't even assured of having someone who is qualified? You have a legitimate concern. To be just blown off like that is unacceptable.

David!

Hmm, yes, Lil, I think you definitely need a week off. That all sounds very stressful.

Hyp, it depends on what you mean by "qualified". There are layers and layers of qualifications for all the healthcare professionals. Who you get depends on a variety of things, some of them random acts of butterfly wings.

The NHS is scruffy and the buildings are spectacularly tatty. There has always been too much to do and too few people and too little time to do it in, which means that you get awful situations where very ill or very vulnerable people are waiting around for a long time in semi-public places like waiting rooms or even corridors. The Obs/Gyne situation is ... not good because some mothers sail through with no problems and other people are there in the direst of circumstances. But they share the same facilities, which is not a way to address the pain of those dealing with miscarriage or infertility.

But...

... and it's a big but...

... because the health industry IS the NHS, the NHS isn't a second-rate service from a medical and surgical point of view. In fact, if you decide to "go private" and there are complications *you will be referred to an NHS facility* - the private hospitals are prettier and, well, more private, but they don't have the ability to deal with emergencies or post operative complications. The real cutting edge stuff is done by the NHS.

The problem for years was that the introduction of the European Working Time Directive meant that junior doctors couldn't work 100 hours per week (a good thing) which meant that theere simply weren't enough doctors to fill the rotas (a bad thing) so they invited large numbers of International Medical Graduates in from overseas (both a good thing and a bad thing) and filled the rotas that way and increased the number of medical students. Then when the bow wave of med students became doctors (a good thing) they turned round to the IMG and said "thanks for saving our skins, now foxtrot oscar" (a completely dispicable thing).

So last year we had the situation where there were hugely more doctors than jobs (a stupid and unfair thing) and the system they introduced last year is so incredibly rigid (a stupid thing) that they now cannot fill the rotas (a dangerous thing).

It's a right royal -up, to be honest.

So the level of service you get from the NHS is patchy, and once you find a good team you stick to them like glue.

But on balance - it's free - when it's good it's superb - and when it's bad it's usually bad for administrative or logistical reasons or because of insensitivity or bad manners rather than being bad for clinical reasons.



B

Is that fair? It's a rant, but is it a fair one?

Without the trainees we wouldn't be able to see the same volume of patinets in clinic and you'd be waiting ages for an appointment. When we say trainees we usually say people who have already spent 6 + years training. The more junior you are in that speciality the more you go and ask for help from the consultant who is in the next room.

The overall responsiblity of care is still with the consultant - not the trainee and the continutity of information is still the same as well. My consultant knows exactly whats going on with all the patients I see in clinic - even if I he doesn't see them himself.

Each consultant willl have a different way of supervising each trainee - ranging from seeing the patients

As an outsider, Ben, it seems fair to me.