The Joy Of Sox
I always read Melanie Reid in the Saturday Times.
Today she talked about her awful socks and proposed a satirical book called The Joy of Sox.
I sympathise with her.
I do my own washing and find sorting it difficult after the stroke, as it is an action that needs two good hands and I’ve only got about 1.6. But until recently, I found putting them on difficult and spent a great deal of time finding ones that were easier than others.
But in the last couple of weeks, my hands seem to have cracked the problem and now they go on like they used to before I had the stroke.
Here’s wishing Melanie the same sort of progress.
Danny Baker Returns
Danny Baker is back on Radio 5 Live this morning after his treatment for cancer.
I wish him well.
Let’s hope he’s on as good form as ever. I shal be listening.
Noticing the Little Things
I’ve just put my washing away. I am now noticing that simple actions like matching pairs of socks are so much easier, as my hands are getting better.
I know it will all take time to get fully better. But, hey! I can wait!
Does the NHS Computer Records Fiasco Create an Opportunity?
I am certainly convinced and there are many others out there of the need to have a wordwide on-line database with the important details of my health records.
In my case, I think it should contain such things as.
- GP and specialist contact details.
- A health summary. Most people could write that themselves.
- Repeat prescriptions.
- Test results for things like INR, B12 etc.
- Eye and hearing tests.
- X-ray and other images. It is getting commonplace for specialist to give you these, but all we need is for them to be in a standard image form.
- E-mails from health professionals.
You would be responsible for the uploading of the data. In many cases it would just be ticking a box or writing a simple sentence.
Suppose someone was to provide such a service, then I would use it a shot. Someone might already have created such a database, but I’ve not heard of it.
People will worry about privacy, but then look at the average Facebook page. A lot of much more confidential information is often published there.
So go for it! There is a lot of money to be made!
And money to be saved by health consumers.
Imagine on a simple level you lose your glasses on holiday. If you’ve uploaded your prescription, you could probably walk into any optician and get new glasses quickly. Whether they’d want to supply without giving you an expensive eye test, would be up to the optician, but in most cases you’d be fixed up without trouble.
The NHS Computer Records Fiasco
Fiasco is not too strong a word for it, as this report shows.
Isn’t the whole NHS records missing project something here?
If I deal with my bank, solicitor, utility and phone companies, or many shops, I can go on-line to see what is there and communicate directly by e-mail, telephone or post as I require.
Where is that objective in the specification?
After all we can’t let patients see what’s wrong with them as it would be a breach of their confidentiality!
But my body and mind are generally under my control, so why shouldn’t I have the right of access? In some ways, it’s going that way, as my previous GP let me read my past records without any cost or hindrance. Also nearly everything about me from Addenbrooke’s has either been copied to me directly by post and in some cases e-mail.
Interestingly, when the practice nurse and I went through my records a few years ago, we could see the pattern of coeliac disease , which no-one had picked up. I know this was with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and nothing really serious was missed, but is the reason doctors don’t like patients seeing their records, is that they might get sued? Doctors have told me my atrial fibrillation is fairly obvious, so perhaps I should have been referred to a cardiologist before I had the first stroke?
But what is the past is best forgotten!
I should say one thing though. In Hong Kong when I had the stroke, they wanted to know my cholesterol levels, to check them against. As I put them on this blog, they were able to read them. So now, I put things like that up here, so that if I need them at any time, they are there.
Surely, this illustrates the power of an on-line database, where we all have a simple ID/Password system so that we can access the data.
If I could access my bank records from any Internet connection and a browser, why can’t I do the same with my health records?
Ups and Downs
I had a good morning in that I put some more IKEA furniture together and then took the bus up to Upper Street for the physio. I then had a quick lunch in Carluccio’s whilst I did the Suduko in my copy of The Times. I finished off the Fiendish one and then I did the Killer one that was supposed to take 65 minutes in about 30. After Waitrose for my weekend shopping, I came home and slept for three hours.
I felt good after the mental work, but now I’m tired again. Sometimes, I almost feel like I did before I was diagnosed as a coeliac, when I used to sleep a lot.
At least though my face seems a bit better as I write!
Life seems to be a series of ups and downs.
Limp Handshakes, Sincerity and Hank Wangford
They are talking about handshakes on BBC Breakfast this morning, after it had been reported that Ed Milliband has rather a weak one.
C and I always used to describe the United States as the Land of the Limp Handshake, as most of the people we seemed to meet on our travels there, performed it that way and also seemed to be quite insincere.
Sincerity brings me to possibly the funniest moment on BBC Breakfast. Some years ago, the incomparable Hank Wangford spoke about a product called Sincerity. There was also an American on the program, who happened to be selling something that most notably wasn’t. C didn’t watch breakfast television after that episode, as she laughed so much, she nearly did herself some serious damage.
I’d thought that Hank had retired but apparently he’s still singing and practicing his own unique brand of medicine according to his web site.
Be Nice To Nanny and You’ll Get Your Warfarin!
As I’ve said before Warfarin testing in this country and I suspect most of the world is complicated and it may be prone to error. Two respected doctors have told me that.
Today, I took a prescription to Boots to get some more Warfarin tablets. They wanted to see my yellow book, which I hadn’t got with me. So I got the third degree! I wasn’t rude, but as a scientist who understands the way Warfarin works well, I resent being treated like an idiot. It’s not the pharmacist’s fault, but the person, who made up the new rules.
Now, my INR has been spot on for months and the dosage has only changed marginally since December last year. That change was when I changed surgeries and the new one now does the tests themselves on a small monitor, whereas the previous surgery did it by blood tests that were analysed by the hospital. The change is that previously, I was on 5 mg. a day and 4 mg. at weekends, and now it’s 5 mg. a day and 4 mg. on Saturdays and Mondays. Or as the computer printout says, one 3 mg. and one 1 mg. on Saturdays and Mondays. I don’t like the inference that I can’t work out how I can give myself a 4 mg. dose, with 3 mg. and 1 mg. tablets.
Thev pharmacist indicated that next time if I didn’t bring the book, I wouldn’t get the Warfarin.
I actually think the next time I go, I might not take it, as I prefer to keep it safe at home. After all suppose I dropped it, I would then have to go back to the doctor for another book. But I would take a photocopy of my last INR test result. To me that is much more important as it carries the date of my next test.
One thing that is worth noting is that testing method one using blood tests and analysis at the local hospital, said I should be on 4.8 mg. per day. On the other hand testing method two using an electronic monitor in the surgery, said the dose should 4.8 mg per day.
In other words, both methods carried out in a correct professional manner gave exactly the same result.
Danny Baker Is Coming Back
Christian O”Connell said on his radio show this morning, that Danny Baker will be returning next week for his Radio 5 show. He has done one show on radio since he started his battle against cancer and there is a report here.
I shall be listening.
Repeat Prescriptions
I have several drugs on repeat prescriptions from my doctor.
Having once been caught out, on Wednesday, I took the form in to get some more. I wanted to pick the actual prescription up at lunchtime today, but it looks like I won’t be able to get it, without a special trip today, until Monday. The surgery is shut on Saturday.
At my previous surgery, I just e-mailed the dispensary and 48 hours later I just went in and picked up the drugs. I could even do that on a Saturday.
It’s not important and I’m not complaining, as I have enough until the end of next week anyway, but it makes me wonder if some of the problems in the NHS are caused by simple procedural problems.
If we had a central drugs database, then on production of suitable identification, I should just be able to walk into any pharmacy and pick up the drugs I need. Obviously, the system would make sure, I wasn’t taking out more drugs than I was entitled too or needed!
One point that should be said, is that I’ve had some drugs on visits to private hospitals. Where the drugs only cost a few pence, they often give you three months supply, rather than the 28 days that seems to be normal in the NHS.
Another is that the repeat prescription form doesn’t say what the drugs are for, so in one case I ticked the wrong box and got the wrong ones.
It strikes me that we could have a much more customer-friendly system, that improved the efficiency of the NHS.
But then I’m not a doctor or a pharmacist, so what do I know about healthcare?
I’m only a patient and our needs are at the bottom of the NHS’s priorities.
The Anonymous Widower 