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Word is Getting round!!!

cugila said:
Hi valt.

Glad to hear the Port went down well ? Trust me. :D

Now listen, I know Cornwall is a bit remote from the rest of us but don't you have Tesco and the likes ? Or are you in a little village ? I lived in Bodmin for a while and worked in a town called Lostwithiel for a short time. another world. 8)

Ken.
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I lived in Lanlivery, just outside Lostwithiel for about 3 months in 1987 :D 8) Fabulous!
 
It's interesting that certain elements in the NHS think this forum is anti... surely it just provides a voice for the community?
 
You will be happy to know that my diabetes nurse recommended this forum when I was first diagnosed in April.
 
Administrator said:
It's interesting that certain elements in the NHS think this forum is anti... surely it just provides a voice for the community?
Click to expand...
I've often wondered when recounting your experiences with any large concern became taking an "anti" stance. Seems that you may only talk about having a good experience !This forum seems to cover good and bad, but unfortunately the bad experiences are more memorable and perhaps rightly so.
 
I can't comment one way or the other on the NHS view of this forum, as I joined to increase my personal knowledge with things.

I work for a PCT, and my personal opinion is that the forum is very useful; although I've not had much time to get on here to really get into the swing of things.

I hope I'm welcome here, even though I've not got diabetes and work for a PCT! :mrgreen:
 
Hi Iain.
Welcome to the forum. Have a good look around and ask any questions you wish.

As for your employers, we aren't really bothered about that. PCT or not, makes no difference. It's your input and opinions that may get people to take notice. We don't mind challenging the 'party line' whenever we see an opportunity. :twisted:

Enjoy the forum and prepare to be amazed at the stories you read here. :D

Ken.
 
Welcome Iain, you're a credit to your profession for taking such an interest in the patient's perspectives. :D
I guess the consensus here might be that the NHS is a wonderful thing for which we are all extremely grateful. At the same time there are definitely areas where a bit more open mindedness and a bit less rigid dogma could make it better still!

fergus
 
An interesting example of Jeckyll & Hyde :evil: :D
Jekyll and Hyde

Someone or something having a split personality that alternates between
good and evil.

[After the title character in the 1886 novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).]

"Nutritionists say carbohydrates are a classic Jekyll and Hyde -- they have
two faces."
Janice Tai; Let's Hear it for the Carbs; The Straits Times (Singapore);
Jul 16, 2009.
Click to expand...
 
As an IDD for 39 years & working in the NHS for 26 years, although not working within a diabetes setting, I agree totally with fergus’s comments on the inflexibility & dogma within the organisation.

If you wish to bash any organisation its has to be the government for setting ludicrous targets within health and also in these days, working in the NHS an employee who can generate income and keep costs down is more prized than a clinician.
Clinical posts are decided not by clinical need but through a filter of general management, cost implications and risk assessment. Even when risk assessment deems services & health professional posts necessary Trusts choose to live with that risk rather than invest.

To survive working in the NHS you have to put away ‘patient first’ concerns and replace them with ‘organisation first’ instead. Clinical staff that understood and had ownership of the health service have been eroded by general management with little or no understanding of the needs of patients.

I have and will continue to raise my head above the parapet and be prepared to take the flack on behalf of my patients & I will continue to advocate best practice within the NHS for all care.

In addition I will continue to promote this forum and the IDDT.

Sorry I have got off my soapbox now! :roll:

Best wishes

Txx
 
As for PCTs,
Ours has 2 Diabetes Educators. I've never found out who they educate, except it's not patients. I was however told I'm the bane of their lives. ODD that
I've never met either of them.
I don't think they'd put up one of our fliers.
 
Thanks kewgirl,

You have very eloquently put into words what many of us suspect.
Here, and elsewhere, we have a significant number of highly motivated diabetics who have found the current dietary advice we receive is quite wrong.
Every day we find diabetics who have worked very hard for many years to control their condition by following that advice, and failed. They read what's posted here, give those ideas a fair go, and almost overnight find huge improvements in their conditions. Yet they're strongly advised not to continue with those ideas.
Time to listen to the patients!

fergus
 
kewgirl said:
If you wish to bash any organisation its has to be the government for setting ludicrous targets within health and also in these days, working in the NHS an employee who can generate income and keep costs down is more prized than a clinician.
Clinical posts are decided not by clinical need but through a filter of general management, cost implications and risk assessment. Even when risk assessment deems services & health professional posts necessary Trusts choose to live with that risk rather than invest.

To survive working in the NHS you have to put away ‘patient first’ concerns and replace them with ‘organisation first’ instead. Clinical staff that understood and had ownership of the health service have been eroded by general management with little or no understanding of the needs of patients.
Click to expand...

Hi Kewgirl,

Whilst I agree that some of the targets within the NHS are some way off the mark, I don't agree with the 'organisation first' mentality that you believe NHS organisations have. Certainly the PCT I work in doesn't act this way; however I can see how you may have developed this perception of 'general management'.

I firmly believe that we act wholly upon the behalf of patients, and this is always of utmost importance; however it does also have to be recognised that the NHS has finite financial allocation, and with many pressures (including an ageing population), we need to change the traditional NHS model to one which is more effective - this doesn't neccessarily mean introducing more staff to the organisation in every situation.

I also can't agree that clinicians are being eroded by managers. They are, and will continue to be, included in developments of any aspect of the NHS, because as you have so rightly said, they are the ones with the clinical knowledge.

Although the concept of having Project Managers et al within the NHS is a relatively new concept, it's certainly not alien to most private organisations who have thrived due to effective project management within their organisation. For the NHS to succeed, a huge change has to happen. If it doesn't, it will find itself in the position of being able to offer even less care to the UK, as the finances within the NHS are finite.

Iain
 
I read an interesting book a while ago about the psychology of military incompetence; it dealt with all of those terrible decisions made in the heat of battle from the charge of the Light Brigade to the Somme all the way through to Korea and Vietnam.

It was essentially trying to figure out why people who are trained to make good decisions based on the facts end up making terrible decisions without regard to the facts.

One of the reasons given was the the professional soldier is trained to follow orders and to do things in a prescribed way, when the environment changes around him (and of course it is usually a 'him') the easiest thing to do is to disregard the changes and stick to the orders; which ends up with you charging up a valley on horseback into cannon fire and the like. Sound familiar?

Any organisation is resistant to change and most large organisations are dependent on hierarchy and top down discipline which means that unless the change comes from above people are very reluctant to go along with it; it is perhaps asking a bit too much of our dieticians and our practice nurses to go against all that they have been taught; we can see those cannons pointing at us but they have been ordered to charge the high ground and, by god, a lot of them are going to do it...

I don't really mention carbohydrates any more when I attend diabetic check ups; I just collect my results and see what's what myself.
 
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