Modern Times, Chapter 97

We sat for some hours yesterday in the Emergency Department of the main hospital of a nearby unitary authority, though not as long as the customer of their services had had to.  It took 13 hours to complete assessment and admission (with, thank goodness, a relatively minor issue that will nevertheless need some days’ monitoring).  As always, the care received, however slow, was thorough and competent, mostly at the hands of immigrant staff.  As with my experience over the past couple of years, we got to meet a lot of lovely caring people.  But.  (1)  The Brit medics with ambition bugger off to the Gulf or Australia where they are paid appropriately for their skills.  (2)  The South Asian, African, Pilipino and other immigrant medical and caring staff are attracted by higher salaries than they would earn at home, thus depriving their concitoyens of their skills.  (3)  Meanwhile, the remaining junior hospital doctors are about to go on strike again.  Get the picture?  WTF?

As for the hospital, unlike ours it has grown and sprawled over the decades, and is plainly struggling to meet demands.  The ED (of which more anon…) waiting room was full to bursting, and we three sat for hours on hard chairs in the corridor, having constantly to dodge passing beds, trolleys and wheelchairs.

Nomenclature.  What we used to know as ‘Casualty’ came for a time to be known as Accident and Emergency (A&E).  Perhaps to discourage people with cut fingers (j’y fus!) from cluttering the place up, it has been re-named Emergency Department (ED).  A visitor might wonder for a moment why such huge resources were being devoted to erectile dysfunction.

Back at the ranch, I’m allowed to drive again, which takes a bit of the load off Martyn.  It’s nice to have the independence again, though I was reminded yesterday why I try to avoid driving at night.  Fortunately, the roads were dry.  I used to dread returning from a tiring day at the hobby after dark along busy, winding wet roads, dazzled by oncoming traffic.

The leaves have been falling for a while now, so - to put a positive slant on matters - we are starting to enjoy the coloured bark of the cornus shrubs.  The magnolia stellata is budding up nicely, and the little cyclamens are flowering fit to bust.  Our rather confused cistus pulverulens bloomed yesterday, and we have quite a lot of antirrhinum flowers - all self-sown.  It’s almost time to chop down the sedums and hellebores.  We still have a lot of pansies and bulbs to plant in the pots on the terrace, so are hoping for fine weather tomorrow.