GP service, lazy bastards

[scooterscot]

Did your GP interpret the MRI scan CD in the absence of a radiologist's report?

I took a copy of the CD for myself over the night! 5 minutes after the scan the 'radiologist' talked to me pointing to the screen in his broken English. The GP later interpreted the same from the imagery, well video as you could easily see the fluid move.

No paper work involved!

[Peoplesoft bloke]

This happened to myself l....

The word you're looking for is "me"

[scooterscot]

The word you're looking for is "me"

Ich bin was?

[doodab]

At the Spire, private hospital in England, the consultant picked up the phone and asked the lady in the MRI department if it was free. She said yes and we walked down there, I had coffee whilst I waited. It was nice.

That happens at St Georges (NHS) in Tooting as well. I once missed breakfast because of a scheduled scan being bought forwards a day. And when you get back to the ward the scans are waiting on the computer system for your consultant to look at as well.

Where it breaks down is when they need to deal with external referrals that come in via faxes from GPs and deal with a three week backlog that they don't have the resources to clear. Then you end up waiting weeks.

[scooterscot]

Efficiency is defined by two things, the resources you consume and what you get when you consume them.

It might be considered ineffective if you aren't getting what you would like, but you can't say it's inefficient without also looking at the resources consumed and it turns out the NHS although not the best is actually about average in terms of results achieved per pound spent.

You can't even define efficiency without multiple explanations.

Efficiency is the path of least resistance for the desired result.

[Old Greg]

I took a copy of the CD for myself over the night! 5 minutes after the scan the 'radiologist' talked to me pointing to the screen in his broken English. The GP later interpreted the same from the imagery, well video as you could easily see the fluid move.

No paper work involved!

Did you talk to a radiologist or a radiographer after the scan? P

[scooterscot]

Did you talk to a radiologist or a radiographer after the scan? P

I talked to a man in a white coat with the squeaky Bavarian accent.

When's Manchester playing Bayern München? That should be entertaining...

[VectraMan]

While I agree that it's crap I can't agree that it's "mindlessly inefficient". In fact it's because it's efficient that it's crap for the end user.

Being able to see people the next day or next week would require an excess of capacity in the system to keep appointments free. That excess capacity has been systematically eliminated to lower costs and improve "efficiency". So the "crapness" of the service is largely a result of mindless efficiency drives applied
without thought for the consequences.

I see your point, but does that really explain having to always wait 2-3 months for an appointment? If it was 2-3 weeks, they wouldn't necessarily need any more slack in the system as it's not likely the number of people wanting to see a particular specialist, or needing a particular scan is likely to suddenly fall. They can probably guarantee a steady flow of certain types of patients, and if they were a little more organised many patients would have no trouble with appointments being reorganised at short notice.

In my case I first saw a specialist 6 months ago, had to wait for a test, saw a different specialist, now have a scan next week, and another appointment for one or other specialist for the end of May. Now even optimistically assuming they then decide what's wrong with me and give me some treatment and I'm cured, that'll still be 9 months of my life where I've been ill and/or missing work (I haven't really; it's not that bad). And that's a pretty big social cost, not to mention that most illnesses would probably deteriorate in that time and require more (expensive) treatment as a result. I see no good reason why I couldn't go through the process in a month.

[Old Greg]

I talked to a man in a white cost with the squeaky Bavarian accent.

When's Manchester playing Bayern München? That should be entertaining...

I'm just interested as to whether a radiologist had a role interpreting the scan. I guess we'll never be sure.

[doodab]

You can't even define efficiency without multiple explanations.

You can't count.

Efficiency is the path of least resistance for the desired result.

It's generally the ratio of some output produced to some input consumed i.e. life expectancy vs spend per patient in healthcare, miles traveled per gallon of fuel burned in transport etc. But please feel free to redefine a commonly understood word to fit your addled perception.