 |
 |
Here we go Scary stuff I read on the BBC Either Monklands or Hairmyres to lose there Emergency Departments I have brother in law working in each of these hospital ( one a physician and one a cardiologist) The irony is that both of these hospitals are bigger than (and serve larger populations than) the hospital I work in here in NZ We have just achieved 7 specialists here a couple of months ago and I must say my working life has finally reached a certain predictability. It was pretty hard covering 16/7 with 5 specialists. We supervise 9 registrars and 7 SHOs (about half from the UK most of whom will go back home) Our ED is busy as anything some days but it all seems to tick over, especially with two specialist working on the floor Mon-Fri now I suppose shutting/amalgamating EDs will pay dividends in producing multi specialist Departments and achieving on the floor specialist cover in those that remain But I find it hard to believe that the EDs in Monklands and Hairmyers (and the patients who attend them ) do not merit staffing by specialists working in each supervising a team of junior doctors and nurses. I am sure the populations require hospitals, surgeons , physicians, cleaners and am amazed that anyone can consider that that a sizeable general hospitals could function without a properly staffed ED. I think this is the result of at least lack of vision by medical workforce planners and the A&E establishment during the late 80s and early 90s. At worst it is the end result of deliberate restrictions of training and practice by some key individuals wary of actually having to do the frontline work especially out of hours and at week ends. Ironically we have employed excellent Emergency registrars from Scotland in the past few years who returned home to be told they had no chance of getting an SpR job !! It took me 12 years to get from 1 specialist and 0 trainees to 7 specialists and 10 career trainees (all with the potential to become specialists if they pass the fairly hard exams) in a small/medium Department. I should add that our health system is no where near as well funded as the NHS. Nurse staffed minor injury units at the door of sizeable hospitals indeed... perhaps the porters can decide whether patients are medical or surgical just like in the old Glasgow Royal and cut out most of Emergency Medicine altogether JohnC PS my brothers in law do not have a real clue what Emergency Medicine is all about nor do they particularly support it and perhaps that is half the problem ###################################################################### Attention: This e-mail is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author. ######################################################################