[log in to unmask],Net writes:
>I am anxious that the quality of political
>debate is improved and that the public is better informed regarding
>health
>needs. Until then the person with slightly unsightly varicose veins
>who has
>been waiting 18 months for surgery will have priority over the patient
>with
>severe angina and a stenosed L mainstem coronary artery who has been
>waiting
>1 year.
But neither retraining general surgeons to do coronary bypass work, nor
leaving general surgeons standing idle until the limited number of
heart surgeons have finished all their work is altogether sensible.
And from the point of view of a patient with eg an inguinal hernia,
say, which stops him working and supporting his family an makes them a
charge on the State instead of a contributor to supporting expensive
people like cardiac surgeons and their nurses.... unlikely to be
impressed with a strict order of mdical urgency arrangement.
Even the varicose vein bit is not so simple. If the veins progress to
ulcers we may use as much as half a nursemorning per week on looking
after them, which should be translatable into cardiac surgery if it
could be avoided.
For that matter I had a patient whose varicose vein exploded, leading
to an admission, and no doubt cancellation of another pateint's
operation since th eDGH was on not a red alert but one of those dark
orange ++ warning thingies<g>
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