CV and mad panic behaviour

[Baggers]

In 2015 my oldest was rushed to the RCH as soon as he was born and spent the first 2 months of his life there.
In 2017 my youngest was rushed to the RCH the day after he was born and spent his first month of his life there and that year a further 2 months from multiple stays.

The hospital then was unbelievable, you couldn't ask for better care.

Last year my youngest spent a week there and my wife and I thought wow this place has slipped a bit, the care not as good as it once was.
Last week he was there again and the care was terrible. They have hardly any nursing staff and the ones that are there don't care.

A system under extreme pressure will bring out the worst in some (resorting to type) and the best in others. But everyone has a limit in terms of workload and expectation.

The first question I ask myself is how the hell did our health care system become so vulnerable, so below par when really needed to stand up? You probably have to go back to when Kennett tore the guts out of health care (mental health included) to satisfy the bottom line (loot). Then successive governments not being bold, caring or visionary enough to effect meaningful repairs and growth.

[Baggers]

I'd be digging a little deeper before I came to any conclusions based on anecdotes. Myself, my brother, and my wife have all been in the workforce a long time, and we've all had male and female managers (my brother works in the medical industry). Each of us can point to males and females that have been great, and also those that have been lousy.

Yep.

Reality is that health care workers (physical and mental health) are no different to motor mechanics, chefs, CEOs, builders, IT professionals, etc. They're all people and there are good and bad, regardless of how highly trained they are.

I could trot out anecdotes galore to support each side of the ledger.

I know a really experienced, highly trained clinical psychologist working at a major Melbourne hospital who I wouldn't send a cabbage to for help. I know a neurosurgeon working out of Cabrini who I wouldn't trust to operate on separating garlic cloves. Yet I know an Orthopaedic surgeon working out of Frankston Private, a Psychiatrist working out of the Albert Road Clinic, etc. who I'd recommend, easily, to my daughters. And the motor mechanic who services my chariot is a bloody ripper... and I've encountered breathtaking incompetence from some along the journey.

Shop around. Letters after someone's name are no guarantee at all.

[kruddler]

A system under extreme pressure will bring out the worst in some (resorting to type) and the best in others. But everyone has a limit in terms of workload and expectation.

The first question I ask myself is how the hell did our health care system become so vulnerable, so below par when really needed to stand up? You probably have to go back to when Kennett tore the guts out of health care (mental health included) to satisfy the bottom line (loot). Then successive governments not being bold, caring or visionary enough to effect meaningful repairs and growth.

Some people forget that the health care system is made up of people.
People have been under ever increasing amounts of stress.
People have been basically underpaid for a long time.
People have started choosing quality of life over the stresses of working within the health care system.

I know of 2 people who took early retirement.
1 who started having babies again to get themselves out of that system.
Several others who have contemplated a completely different career path.

Don't underestimate the fragilty of people in the healthcare system.

[Baggers]

Some people forget that the health care system is made up of people.
People have been under ever increasing amounts of stress.
People have been basically underpaid for a long time.
People have started choosing quality of life over the stresses of working within the health care system.

I know of 2 people who took early retirement.
1 who started having babies again to get themselves out of that system.
Several others who have contemplated a completely different career path.

Don't underestimate the fragilty of people in the healthcare system.

Well said, K.

This is a matter close to my heart. Having worked in mental health for 30 years, and still doing so, the human factor is tantamount to moi in any work situation. When people in health care work, they give... relentlessly... of themselves. To me these are about the most valuable folks on this ball in the sky. The people in health and education should be cherished and relentlessly acknowledged, valued and supported with all we have. The demands are beyond most folk's comprehension.

I've been burnt out and fckd up on a few occasions, which was one of the motivators to writing novels and screenplays... an outlet that harnesses the imagination and provides excellent escape from the incredible demands of care. Rewarding demands, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but demands that necessitate other outlets to prevent burnout and maintain life balance/enjoyment.

[cookie2]

Baggers,  isn't it true that in any large group of people you will find a range of personality types, usually in a bell curve type distribution.  I suppose a particular profession may attract particular types so bell curves may vary.

[Mav]

Interesting perspective:
‘Health system in distress’: how ambulance ramping became a major problem, The Guardian.

In short, ambulance ramping is a problem across the States and increasing the number of ambulances isn’t the silver bullet. Access bottlenecks due to shortages of hospital staff and beds and the aged care sector’s reliance on hospitals were exacerbated by Covid.

[kruddler]

Interesting perspective:
‘Health system in distress’: how ambulance ramping became a major problem, The Guardian.

In short, ambulance ramping is a problem across the States and increasing the number of ambulances isn’t the silver bullet. Access bottlenecks due to shortages of hospital staff and beds and the aged care sector’s reliance on hospitals were exacerbated by Covid.

I know someone who works in a hospital who liases with ambulance services as part of their job to decide what types of patients they must take at any given time and which patients they must ship off to other hospitals.
So....heart attacks might be high risk, but falls or concussions etc might go somewhere else.
These decisions are ever changing depending on how each hospital is coping at any given time.

Hospitals get overwhelmed with ambulances dropping off patients. The thing is an ambulance cannot simply drop a patient at the door and leave for the next one. They have to wait until the patient gets signed over. If there is 1 (or 2) people whose job that is to take a patient, assess them and send them where they need to be and then get back down to the next ambulance, that takes some time.
If there are 17 ambulances out the front, that takes a lot of time to get through.
That time is people waiting for an ambulance elsewhere.

You can have 3000 ambulances out there, but if they are stuck at hospitals waiting to drop off patients, it doesn't help the system.

You need to eliminate the bottle neck first....and the bottle neck is at hospitals.

Its been the problem all along, Covid is overwhelming the hospitals.....and everyone else is suffering as a result.

[shawny]

So Brett Sutton has just announced in his own words ‘despite 2, 3 or 4 booster shots of covid vaccine the vaccine has now shown that it does not assist in preventing covid’

Who would have thought!!

So in other words we are all responsible for our own protection of covid and whether the guy beside you is vaccinated or not your risk of contracting covid does not change.

With that in mind why were unvaccinated forced to leave their positions as nurses, policemen construction, emergency works - oh except those in law (they were exempt) wonder why that was…….but that’s another story.  And unfairly blokes like Jones or Djokovic that decided they don’t want the vaccine were treated by the majority as outcasts and scumbags who only care about themself.

Our healthcare and emergency services are undermanned and under enormous pressure and how much I’m of that is due to not allowing the unvaccinated to keep their position, a position we need them more then ever now.

The pollies are a disgrace they lie stretch the truth deceive then when they are found out they are never dealt with they way the general public would have been and find a way to just continue on. They chop  and change the rules as it suits them and then demand we take their ‘health advice’ as though it’s gospel. Nothing can be further from the truth. I was conned into having the first double dose and still struggle with some of the side effects and have covid twice and as well as covid I’ve had the flu twice!  My last ‘cold’ I reckon was at least 3 years ago and don’t even remember when I had the flu last.
Got the vaccine and had them both twice in the last 18 months!! Really makes you wonder…..

Absolutely disgraceful how this pandemic has been handled and how those who stood their ground were treated. Time to admit they got it wrong and give the unvaccinated their jobs back.

[kruddler]

So Brett Sutton has just announced in his own words ‘despite 2, 3 or 4 booster shots of covid vaccine the vaccine has now shown that it does not assist in preventing covid’

Who would have thought!!

So in other words we are all responsible for our own protection of covid and whether the guy beside you is vaccinated or not your risk of contracting covid does not change.

With that in mind why were unvaccinated forced to leave their positions as nurses, policemen construction, emergency works - oh except those in law (they were exempt) wonder why that was…….but that’s another story.  And unfairly blokes like Jones or Djokovic that decided they don’t want the vaccine were treated by the majority as outcasts and scumbags who only care about themself.

Our healthcare and emergency services are undermanned and under enormous pressure and how much I’m of that is due to not allowing the unvaccinated to keep their position, a position we need them more then ever now.

The pollies are a disgrace they lie stretch the truth deceive then when they are found out they are never dealt with they way the general public would have been and find a way to just continue on. They chop  and change the rules as it suits them and then demand we take their ‘health advice’ as though it’s gospel. Nothing can be further from the truth. I was conned into having the first double dose and still struggle with some of the side effects and have covid twice and as well as covid I’ve had the flu twice!  My last ‘cold’ I reckon was at least 3 years ago and don’t even remember when I had the flu last.
Got the vaccine and had them both twice in the last 18 months!! Really makes you wonder…..

Absolutely disgraceful how this pandemic has been handled and how those who stood their ground were treated. Time to admit they got it wrong and give the unvaccinated their jobs back.

This has been going on for the better part of 2.5 years now, but some people are still missing the basics.

No, it doesn't prevent Covid. Nobody said it did. You may be prevented from getting it, but at a minimum...
It limits the intensity,
which limits the amount of people who end up in ICU
which limits the amount of people we need to find a bed for
which limits the amount of people who miss out on a bed
which limits the amount of people who die.

Which in turn eases the strain on the health care system so people who have 'regular issues' like heart attacks can actually get an ambulance when they need one, which again, limits the people who die.

But sure....its all BS.

[PaulP]

Shawny, is there a link available where I can read this quote from Brett Sutton (the one in your first paragraph) ?

I had a quick look, but found nothing. It's a pretty strange thing to say for someone in his position.