Follow the thread here:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0503&L=acad-ae-med so yes,
there does seem to be a nationwide trend.
But it's the minor/primary care stuff that drives me mad. My consultant
colleague had a patient the other day who wanted a "letter" justifying her
absence from work the week before because of D&V. Nothing wrong with that I
hear you cry, and I often respond to such requests by simply reprinting the
original GP letter, which the patient is free to use for whatever purposes
they wish. BUT, this patient hadn't actually attended us with her D&V!!
Clearly she thought we were imbued with mystical powers.
When my consultant colleague pointed out to her that it was impossible for
us to write such a letter, and clearly unethical and in breach of GMC
guidelines, she still insisted that we do "tests" to show she had D&V the
week before. Hmm, and all this on - wait for it - a manic Friday evening in
the emergency department, as the patient obviously didn't want to take time
off work to attend her GP during office hours. Of course, the patient
thought we were being completely unreasonable when we refused her request,
which was clearly an "emergency", with the whole debacle still taking up ten
minutes of consultant time! We should be allowed to fine patients for this
sort of behaviour...
AF
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doc Holiday" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 5:47 AM
Subject: Re: The 4 hour wait
> Been away from the list for a while...
> Were there any replies to Rowley's message? Or was it "just us"?
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Rowley Cottingham <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 08:11:00 +0000
>
> Something very odd is happening in our neck of the woods (SE coast). All
> the hospitals are full. We came >< this close to having to shut on safety
> grounds from overload which I have never done in my career. All the
> neighbouring hospitals are struggling to avoid 12 hour waits in their EDs.
> All have cancelled all surgery except day cases that don't even need to
> lie
> down, PTLs and cancers. One has a constant queue of ambulances outside up
> to
> 2 hours long. Another took a desperate phone call from a large London
> teaching hospital for beds - which of course they just laughed at, as they
> were in the same position. We are told the nearest EMI nursing home is in
> the South West.
> What is going on? Is it just us?
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