ADs picnic in the park with Twinkle the Tortoise

[ISaySteadyOn]

Thought it was my turn to start a thread.

[quote LadyCounterblast]@ISaySteadyOn o/t slightly but I like the sound of that baron/ess game, sounds right up my strasse. I enjoy things like Civilization, The Settlers, Theme Hospital.[/quote]
It's called Pathfinder:Kingmaker and you can get it on GOG.com. Its graphics and gameplay are lovely. It's not exactly like Civilization. It's more of an RPG story but it is a lot of fun and worth playing. I am currently stuck in a puzzle myself.

Ooh thanks ISay I'll check it out

Wow. Just read about TB and how it is the most infectious respiratory virus and prior to covid caused 1.5 million deaths a year. Due to everyone taking their eye off the ball, that number is expected to rise sharply next year., with some suggestions that it could double.

I guess it’s because it’s mostly foreigners and poor people affected. Which I guess is a lot like covid except without the government fear factor?

I pointed this out to a friend last year. She didn't believe me.

Also, you know how TB spreads? By being stuck in enclosed places with people who have it.

Also, how do you all motivate your children to go outside? I am struggling.

Tried to speak to a doctor this morning, I am having great difficulty climbing the stairs. Nobody could speak to me as the computer system was down, apart from 2 terminals where they could look at E Consult requests.

I duly filled out the E Consult form and got a call from a receptionist to book a telephone appointment- for next Tuesday. When I got upset she found one for Friday.

The NHS has basically abandoned us.

Sorry to hear that, Evenstar.

I had to book my very important, vital-not-to-miss annual check with my doctor. They allowed me a telephone consultation with the pharmacist. Who was very nice, but knew less about my treatment than I did. Still, I got the prescription, which was the main thing.

Throughout all this I keep thinking of the quote from H L Mencken:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

Sorry to hear that Evenstar, that isn't good enough is it?

Our NHS surgery is a bunfight to get through to at the best of times but recently it's been appalling. (We stick with it because the doctors are great, when you finally get to see one.)

DH had to go recently. Even though he'd already explained what his symptoms were over the phone to get an appointment, and had an initial GP consultation over the phone, they still made him wait outside and explain them to the receptionist all over again -- through a bloody intercom. So there he is on the street, yelling personal medical stuff into a little box on the wall before anyone would let him into the building.

Luckily the doctor he was (finally) able to see was brilliant and sorted him out.

That’s the thing it is actually getting to see someone in the first place.

I think it is really no good providing good care if you put so many obstacles in the way of accessing it that people are excluded or give up trying.

Sorry to hear about your poor experiences too @amicissimma and @LadyCounterblast

I think it is really no good providing good care if you put so many obstacles in the way of accessing it that people are excluded or give up trying.

Absolutely! Sometimes it feels like deliberately off-putting bureaucracy and I'm sure on some occasions it is. 'I'm sorry, we can't see anyone on Thursdays, you need a pink chitty for Thursdays.'

A couple of threads back we were talking about the demise of smaller community hospitals, it's the same with GP's surgeries, isn't it?

Locally the little practices with one or two family doctors have mostly gone. Now it's just the mega-surgeries with tens of thousands of registered patients from miles around.

But the systems can't cope -- you can't phone, the online booking is like something from 1997, and there need to be three times as many receptionists as there actually are. Not to mention the doctors are a rotating cast of thousands so you never see the same one twice.

It's probably not entirely their fault. Like everyone else in the health sector they've likely had their budgets squeezed and squeezed and squeezed incrementally since Thatcher was in power.

It’s not unusual to call our doctors in the morning and be 190th in the queue. You then get thrown out of the system and finally get through to be told ‘all of today’s appointments are now gone’.

There is a lot of resentment building over what we are actually protecting. I had an interesting conversation with a bus driver yesterday and he sees a lot of it while hes out and about. He was saying it would only take one incident as the catalyst to light the touchpaper.
When people find out that they still cant get treatment from the institution they have lost everything to protect when this pandemic is over.

We have a first aid box and a home remedies book at least in part because getting in to see anyone is so difficult that we might as well try our best to treat as much as we can at home on our own. And that was pre-lockdown.

Personally, I wonder if it would be better if we reduced healthcare to witches (Nanny Ogg/Granny Weatherwax), midwives, bonesetters, and surgeons. But I don't know.

When people find out that they still cant get treatment from the institution they have lost everything to protect when this pandemic is over.
I think that's when people will start to get really angry, when the pandemic is over, and people realise just how much they have lost. It won't become apparent until some time after "Freedom day". There will be riots.

I agree

DeaconClaybourne

I haven't posted before but have been lurking around the threads since about May last year and you lot have been a really important part of maintaining my sanity. Don't think I was ever a D but certainly was very anxious to begin with (some justifiable, some not so much) Anyway, I had to delurk to ask if anyone watched the bbc programme about the 'Blitz Spirit' (I'll find a link later) I could not stop thinking of these threads all through. It was about how it was propaganda and social engineering both at the time and now historically. Eg, the keep calm and carry on poster that was never actually used during the war is now synonymous with WW2 It was v interesting in itself but also that the BBC are airing it, I thought.

Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000sm7s via @bbciplayer

"DH had to go recently. Even though he'd already explained what his symptoms were over the phone to get an appointment, and had an initial GP consultation over the phone, they still made him wait outside and explain them to the receptionist all over again -- through a bloody intercom. So there he is on the street, yelling personal medical stuff into a little box on the wall before anyone would let him into the building."

I had a similar experience when I went to get my whooping cough vaccine while pregnant. It struck me at the time that people with embarrassing ailments might just not engage with the system.

@MrsDeaconClaybourne

DeaconClaybourne

I haven't posted before but have been lurking around the threads since about May last year and you lot have been a really important part of maintaining my sanity. Don't think I was ever a D but certainly was very anxious to begin with (some justifiable, some not so much) Anyway, I had to delurk to ask if anyone watched the bbc programme about the 'Blitz Spirit' (I'll find a link later) I could not stop thinking of these threads all through. It was about how it was propaganda and social engineering both at the time and now historically. Eg, the keep calm and carry on poster that was never actually used during the war is now synonymous with WW2 It was v interesting in itself but also that the BBC are airing it, I thought.

That is interesting! And welcome, I'm glad we've helped

Evenstar sorry if there is a backstory and just ignore me if it's nosey

Why are you struggling going upstairs?

A telephone appointment doesn't sound good enough.

I ditched the BBC but I heard about the show. I bet £ it's for propaganda reasons.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9290029/Britains-coronavirus-lockdown-one-toughest-WORLD-study-claims.html

[quote MercyBooth]www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9290029/Britains-coronavirus-lockdown-one-toughest-WORLD-study-claims.html[/quote]
But, but, but we never had a PROPER lockdown! /sarc

Thanks for the suggestion @MrsDeaconClaybourne and welcome to the thread.
I may watch it as a break from Its A Sin (which I knew wasn't exactly going to be cheerful but ..)