Went back to same NH to see another pt today who needed a routine post-op HB, 
according to the home. Says I cheekily "as she is an NH graded pt, could one 
of your sisters not do it matron?" "no, they are able to take blood, but we 
don't do that here, so you'll have to do it and please bring the kit with you, 
we don't stock it. Come at 3pm as her daughter is taking her to lunch". 
Request refused and asked matron if daughter could bring her to surgery for 
our PNs to take the blood. Complaint in post from matron to HA apparently. 
What now?

----------
From: 	[log in to unmask] on behalf of Declan Fox
Sent: 	15 February 1998 23:18
To: 	INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
Subject: 	Re: FW: Nursing homes

<< What a sad reflection on a caring profession>>  Quite.   It might be
worth pondering how we got here.  When the sort of workaholic dedicated
doctor who tends to inhabit lists like this is driven to make that sort o=
f
comment then the man in the street ( or even, the Martian on rue
Schiaparelli) might wonder just what has happened in the system.  I am no=
t
the only one here  convinced that the system failed us,  we certainly did=

not fail the system.   And if we have to stick by the letter of the law t=
o
delay for a little longer the collapse of our GP system, then so be it.  =
I
don't see the typical nursing home resident doing very well under an
American-style HMO, do you? Yet that is the way we are headed unless Tony=

Blair et al take a rush of blood to the head one day soon and actually tr=
y
it OUR way for a few years. =

<< Many people are "remotely ambulant", but that does not mean that they
can be moved safely, without pain or mental trauma>> =

  So what? Does that mean that we have to suffer loss of our sanity becau=
se
of that? =

 Remember that nothing limits medical services to a nursing home quite =

like absence of a doctor willing to take on the patients. We (the
collective we) in general bend over backwards for old folks, be they at
home or in homes;  when some obstreporous functionary puts that at risk b=
y
acting like a dictator then it is rather obvious that in the long run the=

only hope of maintaining good services to those patients in that home und=
er
that functionary is to take action against him/her.  If part of that acti=
on
involves a bit less bending over backwards, going eight yards instead of
nine, pulling back a little from previous geriatric ward SHO-type care, =

then what of it? We are hanging in there and trying to make it better for=

all the people who matter. =


Wants versus needs----and it is not always the patient who cannot
distinguish the two.  Mick Jagger put it all down over 30 years ago.
"Well I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand...."     Now, someone else take it up and we
can all join in on the chorus!!!

Declan
(Aging hippie)





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