Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland – Reminder QEH Means People Care Comes First!
The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do patients no harm.– By Sharika S Nair
The A&E at QEH is beyond ridiculous and I hope that my words, at the very least, embarrass somebody. I arrived here at 12pm.with my chronically ill mother she was severely dehydrated and crying from pain in her chest. We were ushered straight in and she was placed in a hard chair to wait. After an hour I made a fuss and some nurses saw her. They did the ECG and took some blood work. Later a chest xray was done. They brought her back.and left her to.sit in a chair for 5 hours. The Edema in her legs is so bad now that you cannot tell the difference between her ankles or her calves. She is weeping in pain and her lips are now swollen and cracking due to.her dehydration. I have been begging for help to no avail. And it’s not just me. The guy next to us literally passed out and fell out of his chair and not a single.doctor or nurse assisted….. not one. The doctors have spent more time in their little room joking and laughing then looking at patients. Just had a doctor come over and when I begged her for something she snapped at me and walked on refusing to even look at her.
This is my tax dollar at work. This is my NIS At work. Yes I know money is tight but this is beyond a small budget. This is gross mismanagement. This is corruption, this is lack of regard for human life, this is a violation of basic human needs. This is disgusting.
Barbados Underground 
THIS ONE SHOULD BE FUN TOMORROW
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The AnE again…. I thought it was a given that … if you can spend 3 -4 hours at an AnE center then YOU are likely NOT an emergency case.
I hear the lady’s plea for her mum…good heaveans I myself went through that folly after suffering a supposed broken limb at school eons ago but I realized years later that the AnE was ideally not where I needed to be but back then that was basically where you went…in fact it was a severe and painful sprain or whatever …nothing broken!
Of course folks have died waiting at AnEs (not Bim specifically) or have been sent on home after gettinv some perfunctionary care and then passed on.
None of this stuff is every what it may first appear to be!
Hopefully daughter and mum are able to manage their health care carefully and can avoid these painful trips to the AnE where they are not seen in any emergency fashion.
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From a layman’s perspective there are two issues to take away for unpacking:
how does the daughter here determine the case to be eligible for AnE attention?
Even if the case is not an AnE case is the bedside manner reported here acceptable?
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Hi all this is my update. My mom went into QEH suffering from a heart attack…..
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@Jina “…chronically ill mother she was severely dehydrated…she was placed in a hard chair to wait…This is gross mismanagement. This is corruption, this is lack of regard for human life, this is a violation of basic human needs…”
I am sorry to hear that your mother is ill, and i wish her a full and speedy recovery, but I do have some questions:
Why was your mother severely dehydrated?
What care is she receiving at home or in the community?
Has she been taking her medicines as directed?
If she is unable to fully care for herself is there a paid caregiver, or an unpaid family member at home to assist her?
About the hard chair, emergency rooms see very sick patients, some of whom are bleeding, or unable to hold their urine, stool or vomit. I myself have vomited in the emergency room at the QEH, and in another place at another time all over a very kind nurse who was trying to help me. No, I am not a bad nor a dirty person, just at those two times, a very sick person. Hard chairs are much easier to clean/sanitize than upholstered chairs.
I know that the QEH like most (like all?) emergency rooms everywhere practice triage, that is the patients with the most life threatening, most serious conditions are seen first. I have been to the QEH’s emergency room with my sick self, and with sick children and sick elders. The staff was always competent and compassionate.
An emergency room is not like a bread shop where people can be dispatched in minutes.
What exactly do you see as gross mismanagement?
Where exactly is the corruption?
Where and what and how were your mother’s human needs violated?
I will look for and post wait times at emergency rooms in the big cities where many Bajans live, to show that a one hour wait is not at all unusual.
I should declare my hand. Even while I am NOT a health professional, many, many of my relatives are, at the QEH, and at hospitals in the United Kingdom, the United States and in Canada. So I do have a soft spot for health professionals.
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IM-PATIENT care is what some of those primadonna nurses at the QEH have come to offer. Let the Ghanaian and Cuban nurses set an example and ship them off to work at Dodds as guards !!
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Layman’s perspective? . . . . Your turn will come someday . . . Every “layman” AND their kin will feel the hammer of despair at QEH someday unless some common “hospitalities” are restored.
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Regardless service should be better. Are we some backward regime which doesn’t care? Ok, so drugs etc are dependent on funds, but NOT care, especially by those working in the hospital. All staff should be caring . We are not an impoverished people. Barbadians get back to who you are, and don’t let anyone or anything waterdown our identity as a decent people.
We never lacked decency and basic humaneness before.
And it is high time we improve on what was a fairly good service despite the occasional mishaps or blunders.
Move upward.
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I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE FUN AS THE MEDICAL ILLITERATES PONTIFICATE
ONLY SIMPLE HAS MADE ANY SENSE SO FAR
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE INITIAL POST
S. crying from pain in her chest………….weeping in pain
O chronically ill mother
severely dehydrated
Edema in her legs is so bad now that you cannot tell the difference between her ankles or her calves.
A????? APPARENTLY CHEST PAIN ???????CAUSE
P ECG CXR BLOOD TESTS
SEEMS TO ME THE CXR AND ECG REVEALED NORMAL FINDINGS
SEEMS TO ME MANY QUESTIONS COULD BE ASKED OF THIS WOMAN BESIDES THOSE ASKED BY SIMPLE SIMON
BY THE WAY WHY DID WE ALLOW THE ST JOSEPH HOSPITAL TO CLOSE——-THEY USED TO DO A WONDERFUL JOB LOOKING AFTER THE ELDERLY
WHY DID WE CLOSE THE DISTRICT HOSPITAL IN OISTINS EXCEPT THE CORAL STONES THAT CAME OUT OF THAT BEAUTIFUL EDIFICE WOULD BUILD A MANSION FOR SOME ONE
OK CARRY ON THE PONTIFACATION
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Even at their best, socialist health care systems for the masses are mediocre, underperforming systems. Both the British and Canadian systems are plagued with long waiting times for specialist care and an alarming rate of medical errors.
In the management of any large organization (or constellation of large organizations), many mistakes are going to happen every day, and in public sector health care organizations, which can use the power and authority of the government to hide those mistakes, the result is unnecessary injury and death.
That is why so many Americans fear Medicare for All, and that is why a mix of private and public health care organizations is the best solution. In medicine, I do not expect good care from any doctors not subject to the full discipline of the profit motive. Of course, personal greed can cause its own set of problems in medicine, but there are steps that can be taken to mitigate those.
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RE Both the British and Canadian systems are plagued with long waiting times for specialist care and an alarming rate of medical errors.
CLEARLY long waiting times for specialist care WILL ALWAYS OCCUR AS LONG AS THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF SPECIALIST CARERS.
IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT IT TAKES YEARS TO PRODUCE SUCH CARERS.
RE I do not expect good care from any doctors not subject to the full discipline of the profit motive
RUBBISH! GOOD TYPICAL BU RUBBISH!
IT IS UNTRUE AND ASSININE AND BETZPAENIC TO SAY OR THINK THAT DOCTORS WORKING IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE ARE MOTIVATED BY PROFIT
RE Of course, personal greed can cause its own set of problems in medicine, but there are steps that can be taken to mitigate those.
PLEASE TELL US HOW THIS IS DONE AND IF THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN OTHER PROFESSIONS
RE “an alarming rate of medical errors” CAN NOT BE DETERMINED BY A MEDICAL ILLITERATE. EVEN SOMETIMES WHEN INVOLVED IN A CASE DEATH OCCURS DESPITE “WITH OUT ERROR”——I.E EVEN WHEN THE DR HAS DONE ALL THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE ACCORDING TO CURRENT THERAPY
I TOLD YOU THAT TODAY WOULD BE A GOOD ONE FOR BS BY MEDICAL ILLITERATES
TELL ME DID THE LADY WHO IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS BLOG RECEIVE THE CORRECT CONTEMPORARY ACCEPTED MEDICAL TREATMENT? HOW WOULD YOU HAVE IMPROVED THE MEDICAL CARE
CARRY ON THE PONTIFACATION
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Americans fear Medicare for all because they do not know any better. I had an American woman, a well educated daughter of a university profesdor she claimed, regale me from Miami to Toronto with horror stories of how bad the Canadian system is…so bad she told me that her daughter had to fly the grands from Toronto to Miami to have their immunizations done. Untrue of course. Can anybody explain to me why if the Canadian system is so bad why is Canada’s infant mortality better than America’s, and does Canada have a higher life expectancy in spite of spending much, much less that the Americans on health care.
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@Ewart “full discipline of the profit motive.”
Ya killin’me den
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Pretty well describes Wily’s last experience at QEH A&E four years ago, same old same old. Wily partially solved the issue when he got his wallet out and called on some friends in the private medical community. Wily was amazed that his receipt when leaving the hospital was available about 10 days after patient discharge, hand written in pencil. Local medical insurance did not even blink when Wily presented them with the hand written pencil reciept and promply paid. Wily queried this, insurance says this is SOP for QEH.
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The NHS in England is not perfect. But it has “SMART” performance targets. For example, all patients attending an A&E department should spend no more than 4 hours before being admitted to hospital, discharged or transferred. And NHS managers are held accountable for achieving those targets.
Any “SMART” performance targets for the QEH? I guess it doesn’t matter – if you have access to local or overseas private health care.
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SIMPLE SIMON
YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE AMERICANS THINK——-NOTICE I SAY THINK- THAT THEY HAVE THE BEST MEDICAL SERVICES IN THE WORLD.
THIS IS A FARCE.
YOU CAN GET GOOD CARE IF YOU LIVE IN BIG CITIES AND IF YOU HAVE GOOD INSURANCE
THEIR AVAILABITY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CARE IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE BRITS OR THE CANADIANS OR OURS
NOTICE I SAID AVAILABILITY. AVAILABILITY IS VERY IMPORTANT AND GOOD PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CARE GOES A VERY LONG WAY IN PREVENTING THE NEED FOR TERTIARY CARE
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RE The NHS in England is not perfect. But it has “SMART” performance targets. For example, all patients attending an A&E department should spend no more than 4 hours before being admitted to hospital, discharged or transferred. And NHS managers are held accountable for achieving those targets.
IN MY VIEW THE ABOVE IS REASONABLE AND LAUDABLE
THE USA HAS NO NHS AT ALL BUT THIS DOES NOT STOPTHEM FROM EFFLUXING BOVINE EXCREMENT ABOUT THE BRITISH NHS
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The level of intellectual discussion taking place surrounding this situation is truly amazing. Here, a concerned citizen expresses her abhorrence about the level of (in)attention her mother received at the A&E and what do the philosophers on BU do today? Post condemnation for the sake of hearing themselves talk.
Anyone, ANYONE who has ever gone to A&E as a patient seeking help or accompanying a patient, will know and experienced what is being reported. I have had cause to rush my wife there at 2:00 AM in severe pain to be finally seen at 9:45 AM after repeated appeals for attention. That attention came after the interns started doing their rounds and the senior doctor recognized me. We immediately had two doctors attend to her, had her processed and in a private room (which was unavailable up to that point) by 1:40 PM. No one seems to be in charge to whom you can go for information. The doctors at that time of day appear to be all just out of school and were more interested in their cell phones than providing assistance. Making fun, chatting and skylarking appeared to be the order of the day.
So, if you are only here for the thrill of seeing yourself in print, go find something more worthy of your esteemed time.
Without a doubt, this department needs a major overhaul and yesterday would not be soon enough.
This is not an attack on the QEH and its critical care staff, the last Government or the current Administration so if you are only able to see through political spectacles, buzz off. What we want are solutions, not excuses, criticism for criticism sake, or intellectual discourse just to massage personal egos. Should you feel the need to comment on any and everything (like some regulars on the call-in shows), show some restraint and leave this one alone unless your purpose is to help correct the problem.
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Georgie Porgie
In North America, the federal governments of both the United States and Canada have sponsored organizations of medical experts (e.g., the Canadian Patient Safety Institute) that publish regular reports on the prevalence of medical errors.
Read their reports before spouting off.
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Fear Play
You seem to be unable to grasp the points being made.
All socialist health care systems report the problems being described. All of them, without exception. The problem is SYSTEMIC. GET IT? You cannot fix the problem without fixing the system.
In medicine, HUMAN NATURE + SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION = INEFFICIENT SUBSTANDARD CARE.
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@FearPlay
Wondered the same. We seem to be devoid of empathy.
There should be a process at the AnE where a basic triaging is conducted to determine critical and the patient advised to set expectations.
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RE In North America, the federal governments of both the United States and Canada have sponsored organizations of medical experts (e.g., the Canadian Patient Safety Institute) that publish regular reports on the prevalence of medical errors.
I DONT GIVE TWO HOOTS ABOUT WHAT MEDICAL EXPERTS IN THE USA SAY OR THINK
THE MEDICAL SITUATION IN THE USA IS EXTREMELY POOR ESPECIALLY IN FLY OVER LAND
ALSO HUNDREDS OF HOSPITALS HAVE RECENTLY CLOSED AND ARE CLOSING IN THESE AREAS
I DONT MAKE MY MEDICAL OPINIONS ON DEAD REPORTS FROM THE USA
I HAVE RAN AND LED AN EMERGENCY ROOM AND SEVERAL HEALTH CLINICS
I ONCE READ A PAPER IN WHICH THE FOLK IN VA SEEMED TO BE BOASTING ABOUT THE NUMBER OF UNDERSERVED
FOLK THEY HAVE
THE USA NOW HARPING ABOUT COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. LENNOX PRESCOD ADDRESSED THAT SINCE 1980
AND WE HAVE OUR DRUG FORMULARY
WE INTRODUCED “MEDICARE FOR ALL” SINCE 1985 SECONDARY TO PROPOSALS I MADE THEN
FEARPLAY
HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE THE CARE GIVEN TO THE WOMAN ABOUT WHICH THIS POST REVOLVES
I LOVE TO HEAR YOU GUYS GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST ABOUT YOUR EMOTIONS WHEN YOU HAVE A RELATIVE WITH A PROBLEM
IN SUCH CASES YOU KNOW ALL.
KEEP UP THE PONTIFICATION
I AM HAVING A BALL
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RE There should be a process at the AnE where a basic triaging is conducted to determine critical and the patient advised to set expectations.
SOMEBODY HERE WANTS TO REINVENT THE WHEEL
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE INITIAL POST OF A WOMAN PRESENTING WITH CHEST PAIN
S. crying from pain in her chest………….weeping in pain
O chronically ill mother
severely dehydrated
Edema in her legs is so bad now that you cannot tell the difference between her ankles or her calves.
A????? APPARENTLY CHEST PAIN ???????CAUSE
P ECG CXR BLOOD TESTS
SEEMS TO ME THE CXR AND ECG AND CARDIAC ENZYMES REVEALED NORMAL FINDINGS
WILL SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ABOVE
CAN SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT MORE THE DOCTORS IN A & E COULD HAVE DONE
WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR ADMISSION?
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Have a read of the submission:
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But David. There IS triage at the QEH. Triage nurses interview EVERY patient soon after arrival, and routes them appropriately. This patient wanted her mother seen and treated immediately, fair enough. We understand that she loves her mother. But what about “other people’s mothers” who were sicker? And who were attended to during the period that her mother waited? Aren’t other people’s very sick mothers important too? I am not at all unsympathetic. If I was a hard hearted person would I have gone to the same QEH many dozens of times over decades to donate blood to complete strangers?
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Dear David: Have you considered that by raising her voice this woman intimidated the staff and pushed her mother to the head of the line perhaps ahead of sicker people or people who had been waiting longer???
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SIMPLE
I LOVE IT WHEN MEDICAL ILLITERATES CHALLENGE ME
READ IT AGAIN
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE INITIAL POST OF A WOMAN PRESENTING WITH CHEST PAIN
S. crying from pain in her chest………….weeping in pain
O chronically ill mother
severely dehydrated
Edema in her legs is so bad now that you cannot tell the difference between her ankles or her calves.
A????? APPARENTLY CHEST PAIN ???????CAUSE
P ECG CXR BLOOD TESTS
SEEMS TO ME THE CXR AND ECG AND CARDIAC ENZYMES REVEALED NORMAL FINDINGS
WILL SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ABOVE
CAN SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT MORE THE DOCTORS IN A & E COULD HAVE DONE
WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR ADMISSION?
RE the issue raised her is the patient delivery in the context of customer service. ALL patients should be made to feel comfortable during the process, this is not to query the competence of the medical people. Patients deserve a Florence Nightingale approach every time.
THIS IS THEORY AND THE IDEAL BUT IS IT PRACTICAL?
HOW CAN THE A& E TEAM AFFECT OR CONTROL; THE NEXT STEP
ARE THERE DOCTORS AVAILABLE?
IF AVAILABLE ARE THEY OCCUPIED ELSEWHERE?
WERE THEY TOLD OF THE RESULTS ABOVE
OR WERE THEY WRITING EMOTIONAL SHITE ON BU ONLY
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There should be a process at the AnE where a basic triaging is conducted to determine critical and the patient advised to set expectations.
SO IF THIS DID NOT EXIST HOW THEN WAS THIS WOMAN ACCESSED SO THAT SHE GOT A CXR AN ECG AND MOST LIKELY CARDIAC ENZYMES DONE?
i THOUGHT THAT Florence Nightingale WAS A NURSE
THE RUM SHOP TOO SWEET THOUGH
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@Tony TrotmanDecember 11, 2019 12:51 PM
The NHS in England is not perfect. But it has “SMART” performance targets. For example, all patients attending an A&E department should spend no more than 4 hours before being admitted to hospital, discharged or transferred. And NHS managers are held accountable for achieving those targets.
Are you talking about the same NHS all the opposition parties are talking about in lead up to tomorrow’s election?
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@Ewart ArcherDecember 11, 2019 11:39 AM
That is why so many Americans fear Medicare for All, and that is why a mix of private and public health care organizations is the best solution.
Why are you trying to give the impression the majority of the people in the USA are opposed to Medicare for All?
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RE Are you talking about the same NHS all the opposition parties are talking about in lead up to tomorrow’s election?
THE BRITISH NHS AT ITS VERY WORSE IS BETTER THAN THE NONE EXISTENT SYSTEM IN THE USA
Medicare for All IS BOVINE EXCREMENT TOO ESPECIALLY WITH SO MANY HOSPITALS IN FLY OVER COUNTRY CLOSING DOWN
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@Simple Simon
Should it matter in a professional outfit?
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WHEN I SERVED, I USUALLY WORKED THROUGH LUNCH AND CONTINUED UNTIL THE CLINIC WAS CLEARED
IF ANY ONE RAISED THEIR VOICE AT ME I WOULD SIMPLY SMILE PROFESSIONALLY AND GO TO LUNCH
NO PATIENT OR RELATIVE SHOULD BE SHOUTING AT MEDICAL OR NURSING STAFF
TOO MUCH EMOTION AND IGNORANCE HERE
ALL THIS COULD BE ELIMINATED IF PEOPLE WOULD ADAPT PROPER POLICY ALREADY GIVEN BY A YOUNG DR MANY YEARS AGO–ONE WHO WAS USED ABUSED AND DUMPED
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@Bajan in NY
Please note that I said “The NHS in England is not perfect.”
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Bajan in NY
I did not say the majority of Americans were opposed to Medicare for All (MfA)
However, despite the fact that MfA promises lower health care costs for individuals, it is OPPOSED by about three-quarters of Republicans and approximately half of Independents, according to national tracking polls published every month. Only among Democrats is there a solid majority in favour of MfA.
You are black and a Democrat, no?
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TONY TROTMAN
RE “The NHS in England is not perfect.”
BUT IT IS DAMN GOOD! I SAW IT AT WORK!
AND THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT ANYWHERE IN THE USA
BUT YOU SHOULD HERE THE AMERICAN MORONS IN THE BIG CITIES WITH GOOD INSURANCE KNOCK IT
I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED SOME BAD MEDICINE IN NY
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Last year a UK study estimated that there are about 237 million medication errors in the National Health Service EACH AND EVERY YEAR that contribute to the deaths of about 22,300 patients.
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In Canada, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute says that about 28,000 Canadians are killed each year because of medical errors.
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RE Last year a UK study estimated that there are about 237 million medication errors in the National Health Service EACH AND EVERY YEAR that contribute to the deaths of about 22,300 patients.
DEFINE medication errors
DID THIS INVOLVE PHARMACODYNAMICS OR PHARMACOKINETICS OR POOR PRESCRIPTION WRITING
WHY IS THIS?
IS THIS WORSE THAN ALL THOSE PARTS OF THE USA WHERE FOLK DONT EVEN HAVE THE CHANCE TO GET A PRESCRIPTION AT ALL
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It seems to me that we are having two separate discussions here. One is about the incident at QEH and the other is an ideological debate about how health care can best be provided to citizens in the 21st century.
With regard to the QEH, a number of valid points and questions have been raised, especialy by those with experience in providing health care. But I can say that from my experiences at QEH, I quite understand the frustration and anger of the writer. If the staff on duty that night were doing all they could for her mother and as quickly as they could, maybe explaining the situation to her would have helped to put her at ease. Communication and reassurance is an important part of medical care in these situations as people are worried and anxious about the well being of their loved ones. Just explaining what is going on and why things seem to be taking so long can be a great help. This shouldn’t be beyond us. I speak from personal experience, having spent, on one occasion from 7am to 9pm at QEH with my 99 year old aunt.
With regard to the ideological discussion and as someone who has extensive experience of Britain’s NHS, I can say with all its imperfections it’s a million miles better than any ‘profit driven’ health care that I’ve experienced. For a start, in the latter, you can never trust the doctor’s decisions because you don’t know if these are aimed at maximising their income or based on clinical need. I’ve had plenty of experiences like this. Secondly, citing errors in the NHS which led to deaths doesn’t tell us anything. Does anyone really believe that the same errors don’t take place in ‘for profit’ medical care? And what about the people who die in the latter system because they can’t afford treatment or the health insurance. Again I’ve seen plenty of that too.
Finally, whatever people who have no experience of the NHS might say, people in Britain value it dearly because they know what health care in that country was like before the NHS was created. That’s one of the reasons why it’s such a hot topic in the current election and no political party in Britain dare openly declare that it wants to scrap it.
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We are not having two separate discussions about health care.
We are saying that the distress experienced by this woman who brought her mother to the QEH emergency room, and felt ignored, is the TYPICAL experience reported by many ordinary people (defined as people who are not socialists — like Tee White and the blogmaster) when they seek medical treatment in clinics and hospitals.
The carelessness, callousness, recklessness, and laziness of medical staff in the socialized European and Canadian health care systems (and in US public medicine) have been documented in a vast academic and professional literature, and in thousands of newspaper and magazine articles. Private health care has its problems, but it is preferred by nearly everyone who can afford it.
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public hospitals and clinics
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@Ewart Archer
Having strong opinions is one thing. Facts are quite another.
Public attitude surveys to Britain’s NHS find that a majority of those polled are satisfied with it. In fact a recent survey found that Conservative party supporters were more satisfied with it than Labour party supporters but both groups were over 50%. That would suggest to me that their typical experience is not similar to the one at QEH.
“We are saying that the distress experienced by this woman who brought her mother to the QEH emergency room, and felt ignored, is the TYPICAL experience reported by many ordinary people”
###################################################################################################################################################################
Do you have any evidence to support that statement or is that just your personal belief?
“Private health care has its problems, but it is preferred by nearly everyone who can afford it”.
######################################################################################################
Here’s the rub. The vast majority of people in the world can’t afford it and that’s not going to change anytime soon. It’s like saying travelling in your own personal jet is the most comfortable way to get around but that is a privilege for the rich. Private health care works for the rich, just like private education, gated communities and all the rest of the paraphanelia of being rich, but most ordinary people (defined as those on an average income) can’t afford these things regardless of whether they like socialism or capitalism.
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@ David December 11, 2019 3:07 PM “@Simple Simon. Should it matter in a professional outfit?”
Raising your voice at the staff?
Not good.
But was the woman or her mother punished because the daughter raised her voice?
It seems not.
And “no” they should NOT be punished.
But there should not have been any raising of the voice either.
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The blasted QEH is a gallows bait
Wuh Sutherland muh backside she cant. turn that outdated horspital into nothing genuine
All Mia has done is taken taxpayers money and hand it over a a big loser
Between she and her husband them two are costing the taxpayers plenty and neither one of them can or will deliver nothing
Sutherland better go to school somewhere in Africa and learn these people language and get an understanding how to communicate with them
I know some who cant differentiate between feeling and filling to them both words mean the same
Interesting times ahead at the QEH
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@Ewart Archer December 11, 2019 1:16 PM “In medicine, HUMAN NATURE + SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION = INEFFICIENT SUBSTANDARD CARE.”
Can you explain to me then, why Canada has a higher life expectancy, why a canadian infant is more likely to survive, live longer healthier lives since by your reckoning Canadians are exposed to inefficient, substandard care?
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@Ewart Archer at 4:13 p.m. “Last year a UK study estimated that there are about 237 million medication errors in the National Health Service EACH AND EVERY YEAR that contribute to the deaths of about 22,300 patients.”
A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000.”
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Sir Simple Simon
Blacks and other minorities in the US live relatively short lives, depressing the American average life expectancy. The reasons for this are complex, but include dreadful eating habits and reckless lifestyles.
Tee White
We can all agree that medical care has to be rationed in poor Third World countries. But public systems do not merely ration care. They lead to the creation of large health care monopolies that are exceptionally difficult to manage. These socialist organizations are not disciplined by competitive forces, are always burdened by political factors, and seldom have the tight performance controls that are commonplace in the private sector.
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According the the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the top 20 countries in the world for long life expectancy does NOT include the United States. Maybe the CIA is socialist anti-American organization?
Noway, canada, France, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Luxemborg, South Korea, israel, Switzerland, Guernsey, Andorra, Hong Kong, Iceland, San Marino, Macau, Singapore, Japan, Monaco.
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@Ewart Archer December 11, 2019 6:47 PM “These socialist organizations are not disciplined by competitive forces, are always burdened by political factors, and seldom have the tight performance controls that are commonplace in the private sector.”
By political factors do you mea that these systems are answerable to the people and their elected representatives?
Since such ” tight performance controls” are in place can you explain why these “tight performance controls” still lead to such poor patient outcomes and such runaway costs?
Even Cuba, a country where 37% of the people are black or of mixed race has better infant survival rates than the United States. Why is this?
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Sir Simple Simon
Large parts of the US health care system are run by the government. The US system is already nearly as weighed down by socialism as the Canadian system.
But there are many other factors at work. For example, most doctors are white or Asian, and provide a lower level of care to black and Hispanic patients than they provide to patients of their own race. There are numerous studies showing the perverse effects of racial discrimination on patient outcomes. That is just one of many (other) factors in the equation.
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Life expectancy depends on many factors. Not just the quality and coverage of the health care systems.
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FMH, Sandy Crest 2X, Coverly Medical Centre … anymore?
They cost but not excessive.
My first experience with QEH was in 2001.
My mother collapsed a Saturday morning and we took her to FMH.
Dr. Watson attended and diagnosed the problem, did the X-Rays and other tests.
Sent us to QEH with instructions to have her admitted to a Public Ward because there would always be nurses present and she needed close attention.
He called ahead and sent his results.
It took a while before she was in a bed in the Public Ward but it was not excessive.
She lingered for a week before major surgery was done by Dr. Walcott and then she bounced right back.
Nearly went mad in the week waiting for the doctors to decide what to do!!
She lived for another 16 years in good health.
I have heard horror stories about QEH and Accident and Emergency but my experience in that instance was good but harrowing.
Never understood why Dr. Walcott would waste his time and talents becoming a politician.
I believe it was her Dr. told us to take her to FMH first.
Eleven years later I went to FMH first after an armed assault with a CSF leak.
I was then sent to QEH.
Had to wait a while for a CAT scan before I was sent back home.
Learnt a lot through those two experiences.
If you can get emergency medical attention before getting to QEH, get it first.
It relieves pressure on overworked staff at QEH and assists in the decision making process.
Old time saying, “The hardest thing is knowing what to do”!!
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@Tony TrotmanDecember 11, 2019 3:50 PM
@Bajan in NY
Please note that I said “The NHS in England is not perfect.”
I think we are on the same page since I am a supporter of the NHS unlike Ewart Archer, who seems to think if you don’t have employer provided insurance or don’t have the money to buy medical insurance you should be left to die when you become ill.
@Ewart Archer, I am black and registered as an independent. Additionally, I have good insurance coverage, but that does not mean a thing if I become seriously illness as medically bills are the major cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA.
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…medical bills*…
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Most people don’t know what to do in a medical emergency.
Very few people do.
I saw the difference between those who know and those who don’t know twice, once on Dover Beach (1987) and the other on a beach in Barcelona (1979).
In each case a person was rescued from the sea and brought to the beach.
A crowd of onlookers not knowing what to do assembled.
One person acts immediately and tries CPR.
… and doesn’t stop until ambulance personnel arrive and take over.
I saw the girl on Dover Beach fight like a dog to save the guy.
In both cases the person died, just too late, but I remember thinking I had been taught CPR at University (1975) but it took someone who actually could recognize a medical emergency and act.
… and they are not always successful.
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John might like the article in the Nation of December 12, 2019, page 12 “Quakers ‘pushed against slavery'”
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@Ewart Archer December 11, 2019 6:47 PM “The reasons for this are complex.”
The reasons are not complex at all.
The reasons are the hundreds of years of enslavement of black people in the United States, and subsequently the more than 100 years (and continuing in the present and into the future) of poisonous racism in the United States.
Complex what!!!
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https://www.syracuse.com/health/2016/10/longest_shortest_emergency_room_waits_in_central_new_york.html
How long patients wait at New York emergency rooms.
Patients wait anywhere from nine minutes to 69 minutes before they are seen by a health care professional at hospital emergency rooms in the Central New York area. Wait times tend to be longer at ERs that attract large number of patients.
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/488211/average-minutes-waiting-in-accident-and-emergency-nhs-united-kingdom/
Number of minutes waiting for treatment in the emergency room in the United Kingdom (UK) from May 2011 to March 2018
In March 2018, a patient in Accident and Emergency in the United Kingdom would spend an average of 64 minutes waiting before treatment would begin.
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https://www.hqontario.ca/System-Performance/Time-spent-in-emergency-departments
On average Ontario patients waited 1.6 Hours before their first assessment by a doctor.
The low emergency patients, not admitted spent an average of 2.6 hours in the emergency room.
On average high urgency patients, not admitted spent an average of 4 hours in the emergency room.
93% of patients were seen, admitted or discharged within the target time of 8 hours. Which means that 7% were still waiting for admission, discharge or transfer more than 8 hours later.
Again i say hospital emergency rooms are not bread shops where customers can be dispatched in minutes.
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Some people will heap scorn on this comparison, but s hospital is a service organization that faces many of the same problems a hotel faces in delivering consistently high-quality services to its customers.
Why do Barbados hotels operate with so much greater success than its main hospital? Because many of the private sector performance controls used in hotels (even if they are government-owned) are not in place at the QEH.
Socialism rules! Hospital managers are clueless.
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SirSimple SimonPresidentForLifeDecember 12, 2019 12:27 PM
Those numbers are bogus. Severely skewed, by a lack of options in some areas, where people use the Emergency procedure, in place of a standard GP visit. On those occasions when I have attended a true “emergency” situation, the response has been pronto. And if we could get these numerous random acts of violence down, the hospitals may work better. Only a small portion of the daily gun/knife incidents make it to the media. Thank goodness, or our newscasts would be an hour long show of violent acts, and vehicular collisions; but the medical system gets the full truth.
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@ Ewart
Hospital do not have customers; they are called patients and the customer service is called patient care.
@Tee White,
@ Tee White
NHS is the great British treasure.
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question
have any of you certified bu bullshitters ever been in the place of an ER doctor?
have any of you certified bu bullshitters ever walked for one moment in the shoes of an ER doctor?
have any of you certified bu bullshitters ever faced the challenge of the differential diagnosis of “headache”
simple simon
keep on talking sense amidst the concentrated emotional bull shit here pervaded
these jokers are all afflicted with proctalgia fugax
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Sadly, Hal Austin does not have much of what is called an analytic mind.
It pays to go to a good university as a teenager.
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@ Ewart
What is a university? Do you play dominoes there? What is an analytic mind.
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@Ewart Archer December 12, 2019 12:36 PM “Some people will heap scorn on this comparison, but s hospital is a service organization that faces many of the same problems a hotel faces in delivering consistently high-quality services to its customers. Why do Barbados hotels operate with so much greater success than its main hospital?”
Because the people who show up at a hotel want to be there. They have money and leisure time.
How can you compare a hotel guest on their honeymoon, with a 3 and 4 year old who have just pulled a full pot of hot soup down on themselves?
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The point is that the performance controls and dashboard metrics for a hospital should be not unlike those for other service organizations like a hotel.
But many hospital managers don’t seem to recognize this.
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i have to teach this to my medical students
MED STUDENTS LISTEN UP HERE NOW. AFTER 40 YEARS AS A DOCTOR I AM LEARNING THAT WE MUST
ALWAYS REMEMBER A HOSPITAL IS LIKE A HOTEL OK the performance controls and dashboard metrics for a hospital should be not unlike those for other service organizations like a hotel.
I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THIS
STUDENTS WILL ANSWER
DOC THAT IS A LOAD OF BULLSHIT DO YOU HAVE EARLY ALZS?
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This is the problem with doctors.
They are narrowly trained and dont know a thing about client-service relationships.
BOJO WINS SMASHING VICTORY IN UK ELECTIONS!
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RE This is the problem with doctors.
They are narrowly trained and dont know a thing about client-service relationships.
the PROBLEM WITH MEDICAL ILLITERATES IS THAT THEY KNOW NO MEDICINE, NOTHING ABOUT WHAT MEDICS KNOW OR THINK OR FEEL………….. THEY DONT KNOW VERT MANY DOCTORS
the PROBLEM WITH MEDICAL ILLITERATES IS THAT THEY THINK THEY KNOW
AND I LOVE TO MOCK WUNNAH WHEN WUNNAH STRAY OUTA WUNNAH LAYNE
YOU HAVE NOT TOLD ME ABOUT THE ERRONEOUS MEDICAL ERRORS THAT YOU WERE SPOUTING ABOUT
PHARMACOGENETICS PHARMACODYNAMICS PHARMACOKINETICS PHARMACOIDIOT WHO DONT KNOW WUH HE TALKING BOUT
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@ Ewart
Are you black? Do you know anything about Boris? Boris is to the right of Atilla the Hun. His PR people had to keep him away from the press for fear he would say the wrong things.
He thinks black people are worse that Ms Ram’s rats. He is a liar, a cheat and a con man. Boris does not even believe anything Boris says. But it takes a special kind of Bajan buffoon to sings the praises of Boris.
But black history is full of this nauseating betrayal. Don’t forget that Marcus Garvey cozied up to the KKK and W.E.B. DuBois sang the praises of Stalin. It is not funny.
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In the United States, once the physicists and engineers deliver completed nuclear weapons to the military, they are instructed to fade into the background, so the political and military leadership can take over management, control and utilization of the weapons that have been produced. Expertise is compartmentalized.
In a hospital, the role of the doctors is to make their specialized expertise available to patients, but it is up to hospital management to organize the deployment of this expertise in an efficient and effective way. In other words, like physicists and engineers, doctors have to “know their place” in the overall healing process. They are not in charge of everything.
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Hal,
Why don’t you give your little speech to all the African immigrants in the UK who support the Conservatives?
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@ Ewart
What you have said is interesting. A lot of Africans, many of them just arrived in the country, supported the Brexit party. The president has been to Morocco, Ghana and now Kenya. Wait until Africans turn up in large numbers in Barbados. Remember Rwanda and the last elections in Kenya and Boko Harem.
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December 12, 2019 11:53 AM
John might like the article in the Nation of December 12, 2019, page 12 “Quakers ‘pushed against slavery’”
++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks, but rarely read any papers.
Will try to take a look.
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re doctors have to “know their place” in the overall healing process. They are not in charge of everything.
THAT IS WHY HOSPITAL MEDICINE IS SCREWED UP TODAY DUMMY
RE it is up to hospital management to organize the deployment of this expertise in an efficient and effective way.
THAT IS WHY LOTS OF HOSPITALS IN THE USA ARE CLOSING DOWN
HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT CANT SEE PATIENTS
HOSPITALS DONT WORK BECAUSE OF HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT THEY WORK BECAUSE DOCTORS COME AND SEE THE PATIENTS
QEH USED TO WORK MUCH BETTER WHEN THERE WAS LESS HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT uh lie
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SirSimple SimonPresidentForLife
December 12, 2019 11:59 AM
@Ewart Archer December 11, 2019 6:47 PM “The reasons for this are complex.”
The reasons are not complex at all.
The reasons are the hundreds of years of enslavement of black people in the United States, and subsequently the more than 100 years (and continuing in the present and into the future) of poisonous racism in the United States.
Complex what!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States.”
Check it out!!
Google and see.
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@Ewart Archer “it is up to hospital management to organize the deployment of this expertise in an efficient and effective way. In other words, like physicists and engineers, doctors have to “know their place” in the overall healing process. They are not in charge of everything.”
If I ever need to go to a hospital again, I want my doctors and nurses to be in charge of my overall healing process. The accountants can take care of our Ewart.
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Another major health policy announcement, not by the responsible minister, but by a president addicted to chap publicity. Why do these ministers hang around to be constantly humiliated by an obsessed president? Is it because they do not realise they are being treated like children, or because they want the jobs?
Trumpism rules, OK?
Barbados’ health care system has to be brought fully into the 21st century and it must be “allowed to cater to the needs of ordinary Barbadians “who may not have the money to go to private clinics, but have been paying taxes and fees “for a long time”.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made that assertion yesterday during the Estimates Debate.
“We are aware that for the most part that a lot of the equipment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) had been aged [and] has not been replaced for a long time,” she said.
The QEH’s executive chairman Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland reported that two new autoclaves and a water treatment plant, vital to performing surgeries, had been purchased.
Mottley said in spite of being in an economic adjustment programme, Government had determined it would make “a sum of money” available to the Ministry of Health to purchase equipment. (Quote)
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@Hal Austin March 7, 2020 6:00 AM “Why do these ministers hang around to be constantly humiliated.”
Maybe the Ministers are not egomaniacs. Maybe they are confident men and women, who do not see or experience humiliation in every little thing.
it is my tax money, a a citizen voter and elder, truly i don’t care who makes the announcement, as long as people who go to the QEH and the polyclinics receive excellent care when they go there. My parents, me and my children have always received excellent care when we have gone to the polyclinics and to the QEH. Not that we have been heavy users of any health care system anywhere because we have excellent genes and we take excellent care of ourselves, do not engage in heavy rum drinking, smoking (anything) and we choose to spend a lot of time in healthy outdoor activities.
Ahh!!! the sun has risen 2 minutes ago, let me head outside.
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Hal to answer your question these are not adults they are children whose minds are not fully developed to adult way of think
Having a big head and being put in a place of authority does not mean that your self esteem has reached a level of intelligence to decipher when one is being mistreated or deemed irrelevant.
Also the millions of dollars Mia is using to build a park in run down rat infested bridgetown could have been used wisely to upgrade the QEH
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@ Mariposa
Right again. That is money that could have been used to build modern homes for the poorest people.
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@ Silly Woman March 7, 2020 6:15 AM
“Ahh!!! the sun has risen 2 minutes ago, let me head outside.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ahh!! Then look up and see if you can ‘see’ that “Lucky Old Sun [having] nothing to do but roll around heaven all day”.
The best doctor lives in the sky. Yes, the same One which has given your ‘beautifully-coloured’ skin which you (black people) despise with your bleaching creams and all; while the pale skin people spend millions just to be a little ‘brown’ in the same Sun.
You ought to visit [Him] a bit more often rather than that pit of evil called the white man church.
BTW, before you take a turn into the demented miller and deny your vast and varied experience in caring for every member of your family and community under the Sun, what do you think about a lottery to help fund the QEH and other public-run health care institutions?
How about national health lottery?
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A few years ago they imposed a levy on home owners where they collected $30 million supposedly for sanitation, Where did that go? Why do you think a national lottery for health care will go toward the hospital or similar health care institutions?
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Hello Silly Woman, Im always amazed at you singing the praises of the hospital and clinic staff. I have seen your type around Barbados. I guess I can conclude also that since I wasn’t jerked around by white cops in NY, ” Black life matter” is a joke. I know I went to the hospital once and it cost me an airline ticket to NY, May I use your family’s name when next I have to go the hospital?
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What national lottery i can see that money divy up between big business who would start crying about how hard things are when having plans to fire employees
Then minister of tourism would be asking govt to act fast
In a matter of minutes that money would be gone like hot pancakes
After all QEH is for the poor and most vulnerable having nothing to where help is of importance to the tourism industry in their time of financial need
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Spot on!
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@ whiteHill March 7, 2020 9:15 AM
But my man “whiteHill”- the key player in the struggle to save the male species form being turned into just a few bulls on a dairy farm- the health lottery will not be just another statutory imposition by slow-thinking politicians.
It will be just another game of chance designed to pull at the heart strings of those who are addicted to a flutter or altruistic enough to see the need for the QEH et al to have access to another source of funding; just like those agencies involved in sporting and other cultural activities.
As it stands the ‘net proceeds’ of the lottery go towards the so-called development of the young nation.
Isn’t the health of the same young and old nation a magnanimously equivalent goal to work towards?
If not the ‘Health Lottery’ or its Christianized equivalent to gambling in Bim, what then there is to help save the QEH and its associates from serious financial emaciation and put it on the road to emancipation from the game of being a political football?
How about a Fat Tax on all fast food establishments which within a religious context is nothing else but another Sin Tax imposed on the gluttony of people just like drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco?
Aren’t the very principals involved in the country’s health care services blaming the same ‘Fat’ crisis for the burden currently placed on the same QEH and the future wealth of the nation aka the health of its diminishing working-age population?
Mister, the ‘traveled’ man from “whiteHill”, both you and the mil(l)er know full well that an ounce of ‘unnecessary ‘fat’ prevention (especially when living in the tropics) is worth more than an ‘unaffordable’ pound of cure.
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Interesting to hear that the LOO brought up the issue of scheduling of Operations and noted that Doctors and Consultants are creating fiefdoms and causing scheduling chaos “by their attitudes “. When I raised this issue earlier I was accused of being a “medical illiterate” as if one has to be a Doctor to know when treatment options depends on ones ability to pay.
As usual the Minister gave a “fly in the soup” form response to the issue.
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the LOO CANT DO HIS JOB AS LOO
HE IS A VERY POOR PREACHER MAN
AND HE CERTAINLY IS A MEDICAL ILLITERATE
JUST LIKE THE LAST POSTER IS A MEDICAL ILLITERATE WHO CONTINUES TO BULLSHIT ABOUT WHAT HE DOES NOT KNOW
THERE IS NOTHING THAT THE LOO OR ANY ONE OF YOU CAN DO ABOUT “Doctors and Consultants creating fiefdoms and causing scheduling chaos “by their attitudes “.
THE MORON SHOULD STICK TO HIS CALLING SINCE HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT
WHEREAS one DOES NOT HAVE to be a Doctor to know when treatment options depends on ones ability to pay, MEDICAL ILLITERATES SHOULD KNOW THEIR PLACE AND STAY IN THEIR LANE CAUSE THERE IS NO WAY IN THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT THAT WUNNAH CAN CHANGE ANYTHING OR DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT
treatment options depends on ones ability to pay HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD
MEDICAL ILLITERATES CAN WHINE AND WHINE AND WHINE BUT THEY CANT CHANGE THE HEARTS OF MEN,
WUNNAH CAN CUSS ME NOW
THAT WILL BE FUN
BUT IT WOULD BE BETTER IF THE MEDICAL ILLITERATES HERE COULD WORK OUT A BETTER SYSTEM THAT EXISTS HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE, AND TELL US SINCE WUNNAH KNOW IT ALL
THE BU RUM SHOP TOO SWEET THOUGH
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THE SYSTEM THAT EXISTS IS MUCH BETTER THAN HAVING NO SYSTEM AT ALL
THE SYSTEM THAT EXISTS IS MUCH BETTER THAN ANY THAT BU MEDICAL ILLITERATES CAN CONCEIVE OR ACHIEVE
“treatment options” OF PLUMBERS CARPENTERS MASONS ALSO depends on ones ability to pay …….IS THAT NOT SO?
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@Miller, look here, until we black bajans get off her ass and do for ourselves, demonstrate to the powers that be we are not dumb stupid children no windfall of cash is gonna do the hospital nor any other institution any good. Did i not mentioned previously the $30 million collected a few years ago for sanitation, where did that money go? You and the others can’t see it or want to believe, but we have to stop playing the Victim’s role; we are not a nations of can cutters anymore. Even back then those 7th standard people seem to have bigger balls than these knuckle heads with their free college education. So you recognized I’ve been trying to save the male species from their existential doom, leh muh tell yuh , a whole lot of bajan men don;t want to be save, Even as a kid in WhiteHill I didn’t see so many Ram sheep in one place.
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