Hey - don't go there - come over here instead!
4 day working week...Mediterranean climate...5 bedroom houses for STG150
000...advertising shortly for consultants and staff grades...
Our summer is better than their summer, too.
Fiona.
Dr Fiona Wallace MB BS MA
Director ED
Mersey Community Hospital
Latrobe
Tasmania
Australia
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-----Original Message-----
From: Accident and Emergency Academic List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Derek Sage
Sent: Wednesday, 22 October 2008 11:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 3hr stretch target v 4hr target
Treating a backlog in the emergency department by having a time target only
replaces one problem with another and destroys the specialty of emergency
medicine.
A patient's temperature is a marker of something being wrong and we accept
that treating a figure (temperature/fever or time) is not the same as fixing
the underlying problem. In fact it can be dangerous to assume that fixing
the target is a 'healthy outcome'. It is an indicator and politicians and
some clinicians have lost sight of this fact. If the temperature is raised
or the time in ED is excessive look for the cause and fix it/them and do not
assume fixing the time equates to fixing the cause.
Yes it has given the ED more resources and 'power' but at what cost. The
dumping of 'out of hours' work by GPs and the 4 hour target will suck the UK
tax payers money up for no real health gains- only political ones. And now
that the UK taxes are bailing out banks, the UK can ill afford it!
In New Zealand we are not neurotic and it is so much better a place to live
and work. All you guys in the UK should try it. Being from the UK and having
'jumped ships' I can say as a matter of fact.
If you are interested in coming to NZ I will be happy to assist (anywhere
here is better than damp, grey, overcrowded, violent, drunken Britain)
Enjoy your winter in the UK (-Our winter was better than your summer)
-Derek Sage
'Specialist' in Emergency Medicine
Tauranga Hospital
Tauranga, Bay of Plenty
NZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Kerner" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: 3hr stretch target v 4hr target
I am so pleased I do not have to deal with all this political [small p]
stuff any
more! I can now sort patients out; investigate and manage appropriately
without worring about a clock!!
I'm in New Zealand [3/12] and the care is pretty good. Yes, targets have
been great to focus on what is done, but what has become of the Emergency
Care doctor? You have become sign posts and sold out to a little 'p'.
Best wishes from down under....enjoying the warmth and cosy life
style....feel
the air......
Adrian Kerner
'Specialist' in Emergency Medicine
North Shore Hospital
Auckland
NZ
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