01.28.06
Its all a bit hazy!
That is because I drank a little more red wine last night than a) is good for me and b) I intended and I blame the sudden call from my brother and his family to ask if they could come over and the invitation that I offered to them to ’stay for dinner’. This is despite having a near empty fridge and even emptier cupboards, but what the heck! I have been leading a pretty frugal life in terms of food and alcohol, mainly due to the 2 stone in weight I would like to lose (7lb down actually). I guess this accounts for my throbbing head this morning! The news has slightly depressed me further, as apparently the Health Secretary has decreed today that everyone will receive 5 health checks throughout their lives, this will please the NHS Blog doctor no end and further endear him to Mrs Hewitt! I will pre empt what he might have to say this morning by wondering how exactly your average GP will see quite so many well people as well as the sick? I am also slightly depressed that I have bypassed the first 4 checks and only have the 50 year check to look forward to - yipee. I suppose it is too much to think that all people who could do with being told they are at risk from diabetes or heart disease, or who smoke will go for such a health check? Still bless Mrs Hewitt for taking the suggestions of the public and putting them into practice, I wonder what other ideas she has!
Work has been ever so slightly depressing, as several colleagues from a neighbouring trust were given redundancy notices earlier in the week. Although this could be a good think for us (there is likely to be some ‘joining together’ as part of the changes to PCTs and providers), I find it quite a wake up call about the safety of jobs in the NHS. I have always thought that if this management lark didn’t work out, there was always nursing to return to. At the moment though you would need to do a bit of spot the job to find a place in nursing, not sure I can afford to be a staff nurse again, and not sure I wouldn’t be just a little challenging of authority!
So it is the weekend and fortified by wholemeal toast and 2 cups of coffee not to mention writing this blog, I am off to face the weekend shoppers in my local Sainsbury’s to replenish my cupboards, wonder if they need any check out operators?
Dr John Crippen said,
January 28, 2006 at 10:27 am
Oh dear, am I getting as predictable as that?
This is more spin-doctoring isn’t it, more have some “apple-pie” and “motherhood”…and it is diffiuclt to challenge things like that.
Several points:-
The people who most need health checks do not come for them. This will result in droves of middle class executives and their lycra-clad wives popping in to their doctor for a “health check” on the way back from the gym.
Doing “fit physicals” as the Americans call them, are of dubious benefit. BUPA makes big money flogging this sort of nonesense to business men, who have their annual “medical” and regard it as a license to booze for another year.
There are some things worth doing: BP checks, blood sugars, smears, and so on. But these are broadly already done, though there is the problem that those whose need is greatest attend least.
The money going into this might be better targeted at for example the diet of our children and their exercise levels : six bags of cheese and onion crisps washed down with a vat of coke sitting in front of the television every day for 10 years cannot be undone by medical checks in middle age
Finally, and the point you have been waiting for, particularly given that these checks are of dubious benefit, who, I wonder, is going to be asked to do them? I think we all know the answer to that.
John
Julie said,
January 28, 2006 at 8:49 pm
I agree for once, as you knew I would and also know that those who require screening will not attend. I would think that the work will be shared between the GPs and nurse practitioners working in general practice. I am wondering whether I shouldn’t become a practice nurse myself if Sainsbury’s doesn’t work out!
christine said,
January 29, 2006 at 9:50 am
and at nearly 55 I’ve missed them all. No hope for me. I just hope my kids haven’t booked my ticket for switzerland yet