More NHS ...

16 February

When I wrote about mental illness yesterday I had no idea that daft Dave was going to rattle on about it too. However, that doesn’t make either of our comments less valid. Within my little list of problems didn’t included the ambulance service. Last night’s Dispatch’s on Channel 4 was an investigation into the way the ambulance services across the country are fiddling their response times for emergency calls. One particular fiddle is claiming they had met the eight-minute target if there is a defibrillator close to patient, even if it’s not needed for that patient. There are cases where patients have died because of all this, as well as a lack of much needed resources.

Think back to stories about ambulances being held up in queues at A&E because they are already full of patients. Those delays will have a knock on effect to response times. I’m not sure we can blame Daft Dave and Co totally for this, but his current cuts to funding overall cannot be doing anything to help at all. Terrible Tony was tackled over GP appointment times by a woman during one of his election rallies wasn’t he; do you remember that? I do anyway. It shows that the NHS has been in trouble for a long time, and not just in the last six years.

There is no clear solution to sorting it out either. If we as a nation want a fully funded NHS, then we need to be willing to dip our hands deeper in to our pockets to pay for it. Even with unlimited funds, there has to be the political will to actually do something about it. And that is where I point the finger firmly at Daft Dave and Co. The free at point of need is a total no-no as far as any tory is concerned. The ideal of the free at point of need idea means something for nothing, and that really gets up their noses big time, and that is why the NHS will never be 100% safe in tory hands.

Jan is off to the butterfly park in Stratford with Kile and I am left all alone, oh dear, now what can I get up to while she’s away. Right now, not much seeing as the decorators are busy in the kitchen. That leaves a new radiator to be installed and just the finishing off and tidying up to do. I got a tad angry yesterday over how the work is being going. Jan suggested I phone the site office to find out what was going on. As I explained, we were waiting for the cooker to be reconnected and the decorators to attend. ‘And what are they going to do?’ he asked. And that was when I lost it. He kept calm when he relied to my rant, which surprised me. Jan stood there saying, ‘Ron, you’re shouting, calm down.’

As for the cooker, that did go in yesterday and while he was here he said that he had asked another sparky to come and do it for us last Friday. That guy then claimed he couldn’t get in, or at least he couldn’t get an answer when he called. That was crap, Jan may have been out but me and Kile were in; neither the site agent or the electrician were happy about being lied to. Methinks someone got a bollocking sometime today. The decorators have just left, but will need to come back at some time once the new radiator has been installed, that and the pipes will need to be painted after being installed. After that it should be just the finishing off bit left to do.

I’ve got the days mixed up just lately. Lying in bed last night I kept thinking that tomorrow being Wednesday I would head into town on my scooter and get some new photos and have a look at the book stall, and in the Works at their three for fiver book offer. I like that one cos that’s where I find all the new writers I keep finding. It would be nice to get out and get some fresh air too. We’ll see how things go though.

Today’s photo …

Man at work, well, sort of, painter resting.

Today’s funny …

 Why was the dog unable to talk?
The cat got his tongue.