"Experts stress this is still our best defence against the virus."'Aussie' flu. Should we be worried?
The Conservative Government have been winging the NHS ever since Andrew Lansley embarked on restructuring the NHS and furthered entrenched by succeeding Conservative PMs and respective health and now Social Care secretary.
The Tory Government will obfuscate and complicate their position between bad year of the flu andvarious American Health company backed research into their wondrous NHS that ‘we’ are supposedly lucky to receive from them.
However, this wont distract from the warnings for several years now from our very own health professionals and various opposition leaders that they are leading the NHS into a dark abyss and they have routinely ignored these warnings, the chickens are home to roost, fortunately for the Tory government unnecessary dead people don’t vote, however, fortunately for the rest of us their loved ones will.
Andthe Flu Vaccine? you can't wriggle out of that one so easily with your own obfuscations...
Old people vote Tory according to another thread, why would they be seeing off their own voters?
Apparently I'm an old person (68) and over this Christmas period diagnosed with myofibroblastic skin tumours on my chest (between the man boobs). They were duly removed (excision) last week and I'm now left with a 4 inch stitched up scar which is healing nicely.
This was done quickly under an 'URGENT' flag in red on my medical file because the tumours were low-level malignant according to the biopsy.
The reason why I'm posting this personal information is because, despite the NHS being short staffed and suffering the onslaught of cuts to front-line staff, I was treated with professional and efficient care by NHS staff. OK, there were long delays sometimes while the staff had to suddenly deal with more urgent cases. But whenever I could I chatted with the nurses, doctors and surgeons and gained a clear understanding of the pressures and time restrains the NHS staff were working under - not that they mentioned it but I could read between the lines and body language. They were working under stress.
So, thank you staff of Northampton hospital. This is one very grateful customer and I voted Labour.
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Sounds like your recovery is going well, all the best with that Alan.
I'm also a grateful and happy NHS customer. Had a very smooth experience with hip replacement surgery at Mount Vernon Hospital (of Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) just over 6 years ago. From GP to consultant to surgery was only about 3 months iirc, would have been sooner if there had not been a referral to the wrong type of orthopaedic consultant. Following their proven "Rapid Recovery Programme" (pre-op training and post-op physio at their "joint school") I was off crutches within a fortnight and the pain I'd had for years had vanished. Occasionally (rarely) return for check-up/physio as and when required.
The care and treatment was first rate, and extremely efficient!
The post-op checkup by the skin specialist is due shortly. Hopefully all the nasty bits have been removed and I'm in the clear.
Apparently I heal like a young dog (no - not heel data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7).
Even at 40-60% effective, I still get the flu jab if I can overcome my needle phobia for 2 minutes. Which I managed in November. I only get the flu jab on the NHS as I'm Asthmatic and when I don't get it the Asthma Nurse is not pleased with me (she's strict in a good way).
I had an eye test in December, Optician discovered fluid in my right eye. So I was given an urgent referral to the Eye Hospital at the John Radcliffe. Usually it takes two weeks to get an appointment but cos of Christmas I had my appointment yesterday. Other than the wait times in between tests and seeing the consultant it was a very positive experience. They can't work out why I had fluid in my right eye, nor could they explain why my vision is not as good as it should be, given both eyes are in relatively good shape. Have to go back in 3-4 months to see if the problem has resolved itself but in the mean time I have to get a few other checks done via the GP's. Also if I get the same symptoms again (squiggly lines) then they said I can go straight to the emergency part of the eye hospital, though they said the wait times would be longer. Overall that part of the NHS seemed to be working well (ram packed with people). Appointment at 8:40am, finished by 11:30am. Glad your treatment went well and hope everything comes back clear.
Aussie flu has hit as expected,but as noted the jab isn't 100% effective.Japanese flu has also hit, that isn't covered by the flu jab but usually only effects young people, the ones that get the nasal spray that does protect (caveat, not 100%).
Come on @Enki, man up and defend your criticisms..
There seem to be several different flu bugs doing the rounds this year, that the experts probably didn't expect to be as virulent as they have been. It's always a best guess at what strains of flu are going to hit the hardest for each flu season. Governments generally follow the scientific advice when it comes to vaccines, something I guess Enki has missed. And tbh even the NHS in tip top condition (which it isn't at the moment) probably wouldn't be able to cope with a flu pandemic.
The NHS doesn't generally follow the scientific advice. They always follow the advice of the world health organisation. As does every country in the northern hemisphere.
It's only @Enki who believes that the government deliberately ignored the advice of experts and overruled the WHO to use an ineffective vaccine.