Hospital experience in France

I had an unusual experience in a hospital in France today.

I really fucked up cutting some leaks and sliced into my thumb.

I was in and out of the equivalent of a&e in under an hour. I was treated by a young beautiful nurse and a Vietnamese doctor (who spoke decent English). Both were very pleasant and we were all cracking jokes despite my obvious pain and discomfort.

Local anaesthetic was applied and I felt absolutely nothing as the doc sewed up my thumb.

Of course I had to pay for my treatment but, at 90 Euros, it seems well worth it.

What made it even more unusual was I was treated in the same room as my son was two weeks back!

Next time I need to go to A&E, I'm going to France.  Even with a four hour drive to Dover and an hour on the ferry to Calais, we'd still be seen quicker than in our local hospital.

Seriously.  Tameside's A&E is shite.

Last time I went there was with my missus, she was in a whole heap of pain after having an operation, so much so she was in tears - and she's rock hard, normally.  After three hours waiting about in triage, they wheeled her into the cubicle, gave her some morphine, and then wheeled her out into the corridor for another two hours while they tried to locate a bed on a ward.  I counted six people come in and go out on gurneys while we were there and all six were on the ward she eventually ended up in.  And while she was in the corridor, I went to find a nurse four times to find out what was going on, there were SIX of them stood around gossiping and every time they all said, "Oh, the nurse looking after your wife isn't around at the moment."  What the actual fuck??  I was livid.

Turned out the hospital had fucked up her op and she had a massive infection, she was in for twelve days.  And sent to seven different wards, so nobody knew what she was in for, what treatment she'd had or what she needed.

It's all bollocks Leo. I remember a friend of the family in there - she was going to die in the next day or two but the staff were laughing and joking on her ward (some ICU ward). They showed respect to no-one. When they found out my brother was a doctor, the nurses changed their tune.

There was a report released not long ago about the top ten worst hospitals in the country and the only surprise was that there was one that was worse than Tameside.

If you can avoid hospitals (anywhere) at weekends, then do so.

My mother was in Crumpsall Hospital, North Manchester
for a heart operation for a stuck valve. There was an old lady in the bed opposite that was desperate for a pee but was too frail to get out of bed un-asissted and kept pressing the button for the nurse for about 45 minutes. Eventually, a nurse arrived and was really abrupt and rude to the old lady and told her that she was far too busy and to just do it in the bed and she would change it later. I was furious when i heard this, what an undignified and heartless way to treat an old lady. I made a written complaint that was sumarily dismissed with the usual bullshit response.

Sadly, most hospital workers are not in it to care for sick people.

Too true dawg, not just hospitals either it's sad when nursing homes for the elderly are now having to resort to putting hidden cameras in the rooms of patients to catch staff abusing the old folk.

As part of my business, one of the disciplines we train other than aviation, are healthcare professionals, nurses, doctors, surgeons and anesthetists.

If I told that last year 2012 - there were 850,000 reported near misses of mis-administration of medication in the UK healthcare system...would that scare you? That was 'reported' figures....

If there were 850,000 near misses in aviation - the UK CAA would close our airspace!

Bluey, I've worked in the NHS and now it is full of too many managers and management consultants (as it was when I worked in it 20 years ago).

Money is being drained out of it by changing systems and poorly managed staffing. When you hear stories of an agency charging £200/hr for a specialist nurse a hospital was desperate for, then you know something is badly wrong.

Can't say I'm at all surprised to hear about near misses and overcharging, guys.  The NHS is yet another example of how the private funding initiatives kick-started by Maggie Thatcher have completely screwed over a system which was working.  In her idealised mind, competition is a good thing as it leads to better services at lower costs.  However, her experience was based purely on the retail sector, which is fine and dandy when the only complaint is customers being convinced the crisp packets are less full than they used to be, but a bit more of an issue when there's the chance of death or permanent injury.

Plus, of course, it doesn't work.  The private companies providing the services are all in a cartel and they fix it so they make a shitload of money from an open coffer from a service that can no longer survive without them.  As long as the shareholders are happy with the profit levels, they don't give a shit who dies on their watch.

The sooner the NHS is handed to a body who are accountable to the taxpayers and not the shareholders, the better.  But that of course would mean the government would have to actually do something, which seems to be utterly beyond their abilities...

I'm with you guys....however, my area of expertise is not so much about the running of a 'business' per se, it's why mistakes happen and how to avoid them on the wards, in surgery etc...

I could run things better in probably most hospitals because I put the patients first. Some of the initiative I wanted to put in place 6 or 7 years ago have come into place in the last few years at significantly higher cost.

Yes I wanted to make money as well, but I believed that if you did a great job, the money would follow. All, and I mean all, these private companies put profits first. The patients are just an afterthought. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

Management, maybe....my experience is 99% of staff agree with you...but many, many healthcare staff see their role as patient-based and what's best for them....and face the same problems at the coal-face.

Topdawg wrote:Yes I wanted to make money as well, but I believed that if you did a great job, the money would follow. All, and I mean all, these private companies put profits first. The patients are just an afterthought. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

Absolutely.  It's because it's all contract based, they get paid to provide a service regardless of how it's done and it's down to who does it cheapest every time.  Unfortunately, that's how corners get cut.

leopold wrote:

Topdawg wrote:Yes I wanted to make money as well, but I believed that if you did a great job, the money would follow. All, and I mean all, these private companies put profits first. The patients are just an afterthought. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

Absolutely.  It's because it's all contract based, they get paid to provide a service regardless of how it's done and it's down to who does it cheapest every time.  Unfortunately, that's how corners get cut.

Don't I know it...that's exactly what my company try to train them not to do...

blueboy wrote:Don't I know it...that's exactly what my company try to train them not to do...

Well, I hope for the sake of everyone who has to use any government-divested health facility that your training works then.

Sadly Leo....we're humans and we err...

Mistakes will always happen.

If you are remotely interested in what we do... watch the following videos....the first is somebody I have lectured alongside: Martin Bromley...his wife Elaine lost her life through simple human error.....the second video is fascinating, Dr Kevin Fong who has looked at we do in aviation and asks if Healthcare can learn the same lessons we have in aviation - brilliant:

A routine operation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzlvgtPIof4


How to avoid mistakes in surgery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fp5y1yB66I

Many many years ago, I walked into the operating theater section of a busy hospital. All I did was don some doctors clothing I got from inside the department and put a face mask on. Nurses thought I was a doctor. I could have done anything I wanted.

It was so simple. So re many other things in hospitals.

Topdawg wrote:Many many years ago, I walked into the operating theater section of a busy hospital. All I did was don some doctors clothing I got from inside the department and put a face mask on. Nurses thought I was a doctor. I could have done anything I wanted.

It was so simple. So re many other things in hospitals.

Not their fault Dawg...the system and processes are to blame....and that's where we try to help.

Aye bluey. I used to be an internal auditor in several hospitals. the stories I could tell....

Topdawg wrote:Aye bluey. I used to be an internal auditor in several hospitals. the stories I could tell....

I'm sure you could...don't doubt it for a minute....I've learnt some frightening things over the years.....but it's about giving the staff the tools to deal with issues when all around them, others are contributing to making them fail...just like aviation...other safety critical industries.

Hardly any person goes to work with the intention of doing a bad job...circumstances transpire against them...which increases the chances for human error...

If you are in the healthcare system, the 2 videos I posted will be of interest.