Urban le Grandier dropped me a line to let me know that Dr Crippen is not dead; he has been the subject of a rather cruel hoax on NHS Blog Doctor. Someone calling themselves Dr P falsely said that he had died in a road accident,and then posted on another blog saying it was all a hoax.
I'm delighted that John is alive,furious at the idiot who did this to him,and feeling slightly sheepish,because I wrote him an obituary.
But hey, you shouldn't wait until someone's dead to let them know what you think of him, so I'm just leaving it up.Hope you enjoy it John. Please post soon. And as to what I think of the person who pulled this stunt, it's just as well I have my parental filter on...
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Thursday, 13 December 2007
RIP John Crippen
It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that John Crippen aka NHS Blog Doctor, has passed away.
John made his last post in mid October. He did not post for a while and we wondered what had happened. He had already taken a break from blogging and we thought that maybe he had simply burnt out. The dreadful news came yesterday in a post put on the blog by his fellow practitioner that he had died in a traffic accident. By this time there were 128 comments on his blog asking where he was; a mark of how revered he was amongst medical bloggers.
John's blog was funny,vitriolic,bilious and insightful by turns. Above all it was fearless and it made a difference. He was the first to report on the loopholes in the MMC scandal; he wrote touching posts about mental health and he raged against the destruction of his profession which he was passionate about. He wrote the kind of posts that got thundering denunciations and standing ovations at the same time. The blogging world will be very much poorer without him. The rest of us have a class act to follow.
John, I hope where you are there are no PFI hospitals, crap IT systems, joke turds undusted and no Patricia Hewitt. We will miss you dreadfully. Put in a word with the Big Man for those of us who are still carrying on the fight. And enjoy your rest - you've had your share of hell already. RIP.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Devil in the Detail
It's mid November and not a key struck in the old blog. So what's been up? Well, firstly I've been finishing off a response to the 'Better Health, Better Care' document, which is due in tomorrow. Secondly, I've had the cold. And last but not least,my broadband is b****d at the mo.
I thought at first this was a virus. It was actually a 'you've-been-on-overdraft-for-one-nanosecond-you-dumb-stupid-peasant-so-we'll-muck-up-your-direct-debit-charge-you-£20-for-a-5p-envelope-and-the-spittle-that-the-dumb-blonde-uses-to-seal-it-and-then-we'll-pay-your-next-invoice-but-not-the-last-one-to-really-muck-things-up' virus, courtesy of Halifax.
So I phoned up Demon to put it right. The chap on the other end apologised and said that he could not fix it, because- wait for it- their computer system was down.
Demon. Broadband. Computer Engineers. Broken Computer System. Someone join the dots please?
I thought at first this was a virus. It was actually a 'you've-been-on-overdraft-for-one-nanosecond-you-dumb-stupid-peasant-so-we'll-muck-up-your-direct-debit-charge-you-£20-for-a-5p-envelope-and-the-spittle-that-the-dumb-blonde-uses-to-seal-it-and-then-we'll-pay-your-next-invoice-but-not-the-last-one-to-really-muck-things-up' virus, courtesy of Halifax.
So I phoned up Demon to put it right. The chap on the other end apologised and said that he could not fix it, because- wait for it- their computer system was down.
Demon. Broadband. Computer Engineers. Broken Computer System. Someone join the dots please?
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Better Health, Better Care - Anticipatory Care (1)
Collette Douglas Home has written a very thoughtful piece today on the introduction of vaccination for the HPV virus;a virus that can cause cervical cancer in women. This was one of the SNPs promises for health and it is in this particular chapter of 'Better Health'.So all credit to the SNP for bringing it in.
However, I wondered why another common STD was not mentioned, which in its own way can be just as devastating to a woman - chlamydia. This is one of the commonest STDs in Britain, is symptomless, and causes inflammation of the fallopian tubes, leading to infertility.One estimate that I saw was that one in ten women have it.If that is the case then we have problems. But the amazing thing about it is that outside of medical circles, very few people know about this disease. Why?
Some time ago, I had the misfortune to have the tv on when a public health advert came on. It consisted of a guy sitting in a shower crying, with flashbacks to 'the night before'. The theme of the advert was that he had given his girlfriend an STD. But the disease wasn't mentioned, the effects weren't mentioned, treatment wasn't mentioned. It was useless. And here's the odd thing. In an age where we will quite happily have 'FCUK' blazoned across a T shirt that we're wearing, talking about STDs is done in whispers. There is a taboo attached to this subject that there isn't to other areas of sexuality.
There are a number of options for combating chlamydia. One would be to include a swab for the disease along with the cervical smear test at Wellwoman clinics.As chlamydia is symptomless (until it's too late)I would say this is essential. Chlamydia can be treated, and caught early enough,it will not cause infertility. The other thing that the government should seriously consider, is liasing with some of the programme makers for the likes of Eastenders and River City and asking them to run some story lines on chlamydia. It would get the message across in a way that a thirty second advert that's preaching to you, doesn't.
One in four couples in this country now have problems with their fertility. For the sake of our future, we must do something to change this.
However, I wondered why another common STD was not mentioned, which in its own way can be just as devastating to a woman - chlamydia. This is one of the commonest STDs in Britain, is symptomless, and causes inflammation of the fallopian tubes, leading to infertility.One estimate that I saw was that one in ten women have it.If that is the case then we have problems. But the amazing thing about it is that outside of medical circles, very few people know about this disease. Why?
Some time ago, I had the misfortune to have the tv on when a public health advert came on. It consisted of a guy sitting in a shower crying, with flashbacks to 'the night before'. The theme of the advert was that he had given his girlfriend an STD. But the disease wasn't mentioned, the effects weren't mentioned, treatment wasn't mentioned. It was useless. And here's the odd thing. In an age where we will quite happily have 'FCUK' blazoned across a T shirt that we're wearing, talking about STDs is done in whispers. There is a taboo attached to this subject that there isn't to other areas of sexuality.
There are a number of options for combating chlamydia. One would be to include a swab for the disease along with the cervical smear test at Wellwoman clinics.As chlamydia is symptomless (until it's too late)I would say this is essential. Chlamydia can be treated, and caught early enough,it will not cause infertility. The other thing that the government should seriously consider, is liasing with some of the programme makers for the likes of Eastenders and River City and asking them to run some story lines on chlamydia. It would get the message across in a way that a thirty second advert that's preaching to you, doesn't.
One in four couples in this country now have problems with their fertility. For the sake of our future, we must do something to change this.
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Better Health, Better Care- Taking Responsibility (2)
So much for drink. Now onto exercise and sport.
This report concentrates mainly on sport; providing sporting facilities in schools, having two hours of PE every week and so on. But providing sport in schools isn't just about providing facilities; it's also about providing the backing in which sport can flourish.
Back in the '70s, there was lots of school football clubs. On Saturday mornings, when there was matches between them, every official on the pitch got paid for attending. Everyone that is, except the PE teacher. They did not get paid, either in their wage, or on the day, for attending that match. It was a petty economy that proved to be very costly. When the teacher's strike happened in 1985, the teachers went to a 'work-to-rule'. Many of these clubs went to the wall, and Saturday activities in general. The ship was lost for a ha'penny worth of tar.
Again, the rise of child legislation and the associated red tape has led to a drop off in volunteers, especially in sport. It is a high contact activity and unfortunately there are so called 'children' who are very savvy about complaining of abuse if a teacher simply annoys them. A friend of mine was at the receiving end of a complaint like this. His name was dragged through the paper, while the little darling who had complained was not named, becuase they were too young. When the procurater fiscal threw it out, nothing was done about the complainer. If a complaint is patently malicious, then it should be pursued, otherwise we are going to lose all our volunteers. There are few teachers now who will take schoolchildren on a day out or abroad. It's a shame, becuase it means the decent kids are losing out. If we are serious about sport, we have to provide protection for those run the clubs. Adults should be vetted, but it should be made plain to children that if they raise a false complaint, that they will be censured.
One thing missing from this section is exercise. Not all of us do sport, and not everyone is welcome at a gym. But lots of us walk and one area that should be considered in this, is the provision of parks.
Think of a young mum looking after her child. She can't go to the gym, because the child won't be allowed in, and it's probably too expensive anyway. But she can put the child in a buggy and go down to the park. She can meet other mums there.
The same goes for the elderly. They may not fancy going on a treadmill or weightlifting, but they can always go for a walk in the park. They can buy a dog and join the doggy fraternity. I was totally unaware of this, until my mum got a dog and I went for walks in our local park. There is a whole community down there and there's all kinds of spin offs; coffee mornings, sponsored walks, dog training etc. Also,if someone is missing, it's noticed; people in this group look out for each other.
It's not just mums and elderly; our park is popular with runners, because it's a mile square.
Parks are a real asset, but unfortunately, some are getting houses built on them; others are getting sporting facilities that only a small section of the population are going to have access to. We need to revise this.
Also, it's time to bring back park wardens, to ensure that parks are used properly and not as a place to drink or shoot up. Just a small amount of low level supervision in public places would cut out a lot of vandalism, drinking and suchlike and simultaneously free up places that we could exercise and smell the flowers. There you are. The solution to public drinking and lack of exercise in one. How about it, Nicola?
This report concentrates mainly on sport; providing sporting facilities in schools, having two hours of PE every week and so on. But providing sport in schools isn't just about providing facilities; it's also about providing the backing in which sport can flourish.
Back in the '70s, there was lots of school football clubs. On Saturday mornings, when there was matches between them, every official on the pitch got paid for attending. Everyone that is, except the PE teacher. They did not get paid, either in their wage, or on the day, for attending that match. It was a petty economy that proved to be very costly. When the teacher's strike happened in 1985, the teachers went to a 'work-to-rule'. Many of these clubs went to the wall, and Saturday activities in general. The ship was lost for a ha'penny worth of tar.
Again, the rise of child legislation and the associated red tape has led to a drop off in volunteers, especially in sport. It is a high contact activity and unfortunately there are so called 'children' who are very savvy about complaining of abuse if a teacher simply annoys them. A friend of mine was at the receiving end of a complaint like this. His name was dragged through the paper, while the little darling who had complained was not named, becuase they were too young. When the procurater fiscal threw it out, nothing was done about the complainer. If a complaint is patently malicious, then it should be pursued, otherwise we are going to lose all our volunteers. There are few teachers now who will take schoolchildren on a day out or abroad. It's a shame, becuase it means the decent kids are losing out. If we are serious about sport, we have to provide protection for those run the clubs. Adults should be vetted, but it should be made plain to children that if they raise a false complaint, that they will be censured.
One thing missing from this section is exercise. Not all of us do sport, and not everyone is welcome at a gym. But lots of us walk and one area that should be considered in this, is the provision of parks.
Think of a young mum looking after her child. She can't go to the gym, because the child won't be allowed in, and it's probably too expensive anyway. But she can put the child in a buggy and go down to the park. She can meet other mums there.
The same goes for the elderly. They may not fancy going on a treadmill or weightlifting, but they can always go for a walk in the park. They can buy a dog and join the doggy fraternity. I was totally unaware of this, until my mum got a dog and I went for walks in our local park. There is a whole community down there and there's all kinds of spin offs; coffee mornings, sponsored walks, dog training etc. Also,if someone is missing, it's noticed; people in this group look out for each other.
It's not just mums and elderly; our park is popular with runners, because it's a mile square.
Parks are a real asset, but unfortunately, some are getting houses built on them; others are getting sporting facilities that only a small section of the population are going to have access to. We need to revise this.
Also, it's time to bring back park wardens, to ensure that parks are used properly and not as a place to drink or shoot up. Just a small amount of low level supervision in public places would cut out a lot of vandalism, drinking and suchlike and simultaneously free up places that we could exercise and smell the flowers. There you are. The solution to public drinking and lack of exercise in one. How about it, Nicola?
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Better Health, Better Care- Drink!
Ok, as the French say, 'nous revenons a nos moutons' or let us return to our mutts. I was going through this document before I was so rudely interrupted by NHS Lanarkshire and a wee trip to Malaysia,(not connected) but now that I'm bright eyed, bushy tailed (and sober) I will tackle the third section of this document which is called ' Taking Responsibility'.
This section of the document deals with what you would call public health issues. Smoking, alcohol, exercise and so on, are dealt with in this section. The title of this chapter begs the question; who is responsible here? The answer ain't simple and this section needs a couple of posts to itself. So I'm going to start with drink.
There are those who will always drink, no matter what you do. There are those who will never touch a drink. But if you want to know if there is a problem with drink you look at the middle section of drinkers; the moderate drinkers. These are the folk who will maybe have a beer or a glass of wine after work, will have the odd blow out of a weekend, but will get a taxi home and back to the grind come Monday morning. Are they in trouble? The short answer is yes, they are. Alcohol related disease is up especially amongst women; so is obesity, which is linked. What's gone wrong?
Here's a challenge for you. Go down to your local supermarket. Imagine for a minute that you have a drink problem. See how long it takes you to find a drink. Was there a display at the front door? Probably. Now, go along to the section where you buy pizza or cheese. I'll bet you a cheeky Chardonnay that there are bottles of white wine to go with them. Now go to the drinks section proper. Try to find a bottle of wine that is under 13% strength. I can guarantee that you will be looking for a very long time. Now try to find a non alcoholic brand. Yep, down at the bottom stuck at the back of the shelf and it tastes like mouthwash. That is one of the main reasons that we are having such problems with alcohol just now.
There is a deafening silence about the role of the drinks industry and the supermarkets in this problem. Just why has table wine gone up in strength from 10%, which was the average a few years ago, to 13%? It certainly doesn't add anything to the taste, unless you like having your tongue scorched with raw ethanol. It is particularly dangerous for women; it means that after only one drink of a very average sized glass of wine, they are over their limit. The whole point of having a legalised drug is that it can be controlled, but it patently is not at the moment.
A number of table wines have gone to 14% and I saw one at 14.5%. That's just 0.5% off a fortified wine. Some very hard questions have to be asked of the drinks industry about this.
And what about the supermarkets? Why are they setting up their stores in a 'C'mon, take a drink' fashion? Cut price boxes of Budweiser at the door, displays scattered at various points through the store so that you couldn't avoid it even if you wanted to and that wee salve to their conscience, 'If you look under 21 you may be asked for ID.' Whoopee. We all know that it's only people under 21 that have drink problems.
Now, I am aware this is turning into a bit of a rant. Perhaps you are chuckling to yourself as you read this. So let's sober you up. Is there anyone out there reading this, that does not have a friend, a relative or a neighbour with a drink problem?
We all know someone. And it's not funny. Something's got to be done about it.
Here's some suggestions.
1. Ban supermarkets from having front door displays. There's no excuse for this. Limit them to having only one place in the supermarket from where drink is sold, so that it's not an obstacle course for people with a drink problem.
2. Get the drinks industry to print the number of calories contained in a drink, on the side of the bottle. This will discourage women from drinking too much, and might even make an inroads into discouraging teenage drinking of alcopops from fashion conscious girls.
3. Don't just charge on broad bands in taxing drink. This means that an 11% wine gets charged the same as a 14% wine. Have some flexibility within the band, so that a wine with a higher percentage, gets charged more tax.
4. Look at local licensing. In Canada, drink only gets sold at a liquor store; nowhere else. That means that teenagers have no excuse to be in the shop, people with a drink problem can more easily avoid their addiction, and their relatives and friends can work out sooner that they have a problem, because they can't shop round to conceal it.
Right, I think I'll go and have a drink..of tea. Cheers!
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Knowledge is Power
Am just back from holiday, and have come back to the glad news that NHS Lothian has been forced to disclose the running costs of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. This is very significant; up until now, anything that had 'Commercial confidentiality' slapped on it did not come under the Freedom of Information act, even if it involved the spending of copious amounts of public money. At last we might be able to trace just exactly where all our money is going, and how much is going into the shareholders' pockets.
It wasn't mentioned in the report, but the fact that the 'Save St John's hospital' campaign now has a councillor on the health board, meant that the game was a bogey for NHS Lothian anyway. He would have access to that information, even if it didn't make it into the general public domain. I'm sure that this lead in no small part to the decision to make this information public. So three cheers for The St John's' councillors; this could be a real turning point for scrutiny of expensive and wasteful PPI projects. Prepare to be shocked by the real cost when it comes out.
It wasn't mentioned in the report, but the fact that the 'Save St John's hospital' campaign now has a councillor on the health board, meant that the game was a bogey for NHS Lothian anyway. He would have access to that information, even if it didn't make it into the general public domain. I'm sure that this lead in no small part to the decision to make this information public. So three cheers for The St John's' councillors; this could be a real turning point for scrutiny of expensive and wasteful PPI projects. Prepare to be shocked by the real cost when it comes out.
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