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magnificentpolarbear

Listed below are comments made by magnificentpolarbear between Wednesday, 16th September 2009 and Friday, 4th December 2009.

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Tea with the Mayor 08:01am on 04 Dec 2009 For beijing I was a tv and internet watcher/user of the BBCs output. No mobile use as I didn't have that type of phone but to be honest would not have used it.

Why? simply because I got what I needed from the telly and the web. Was not away from either for very long and soon caught up. Also the time difference had something to to with it too.

Also I really cant be bothered to look at things on a very small screen. Ok for texts etc but not for trying to watch any sporting (or other) action.
US report on 'harm' of testing for cancer too young 12:58pm on 21 Nov 2009 In the UK there is a difference between the screening programme (which activly sends letters to the appropriate patients) and people asking for the relavent tests.

As a practice manager we operated several programmes and encouraged women in the relevent age ranges to have the tests (mammograms and cervical smears). Women outside of the screening age ranges could have the tests at their request, they were just not included within the formal recall programme.

There is no 'ban' on women outside the age ranges having the tests either. It is just that there may be more risks of having the test than not having it e.g. more false positive results leading to further unnecessary tests and treatment.

#117 - no you don't get your money back for buying private insurance. It's a choice people make to have it.

Don't believe every story you hear about how 'bad' the NHS is, it is not a perfect system and is much malagined - mainly by people who have no detailed knowledge of it or a particular political point of view.
Website problems 11:41pm on 11 Nov 2009 Can I just echo #17

The way HYS comments are actually published is farcical, I posted one at about 1.30 AM yet my comment was still 'awaiting moderstion' well into this afternoon yet other later posts were appearing in the HYS stream.

This is an ongoing issue and has happened to me several times. If you request comments please deal with them in the order they are submitted by users. At present it seams like the moderators just grab a load of comments off the top of the pile and deal with them without any thought to when they were submitted.
There may be trouble ahead... 4:28pm on 11 Nov 2009 Mark

Sir Ian will be the Chair of IPSA not the Chief Executive (am amazed that you made such a basic error on your piece)

Having worked for the Healthcare Commission which Sir Ian chaired before it was abolished earlier this year I can say that Sir Ian is certainly his own man and no ones stooge.

If he is not sure something will work properly or it is not backed up with proper evidence to justify then he will simply not accept it.

Sir Ian is a jolly chap but behind the bonhomie is a fine forensic mind.
General gimmick? 9:58pm on 07 Oct 2009 So Labour 'outsiders' e.g. Lord Darzi and Lord Maloch Brown are bad but Tory ones - LORD Dannant (because he will be made a lord) ones are good?

Smacks of usual Tory hypocracy to me especially as Cameron has complained about giving peerages like this (even though he has some in his own shadow team)
Competition hots up in Copenhagen 3:45pm on 02 Oct 2009 Chicago is not 'windy' in the sense of a blustery wind. It got the nick name because of polictical hot air !

But can we get away from the 'its x turn' and the 'y deserves' the games.

The IOC does not do 'turns' or who 'deserves' their Games.

The approx 100 voting members will vote for all sorts of reasons.

Some won't mind two European hosts in sucession but others will.

Some will vote on what they think is best for their particular sports (15 members ar from the international sporting federations rather than countries) interest and not the general good.

Others will vote on the non sporting aspects from legacy, finance to the best culture and shopping.

Whatever we mere mortals think will not bother any of the IOC members. It is their games and they will award them to the place they want to have them.
Weekly briefing: Cases rising 11:30am on 19 Sep 2009 As a former GP Practice Manager I can answer the prioritisation question based on seasonal flu.

We look at the list of priority groups from the Chief Medical Officer and then did computer searches to identify those who met the requirements - Age, Asthma, Diabetes etc etc

We then printed invite letters and sent them out. This was after we set aside times for special flu clinics involving all the GPs and Practice Nurses this was so we could list the clilnic times in the letters. Reception Staff covered the admin by making the appointments etc and organising patients on the day (300 patients in 3 hours is hard work !).

We encouraged as many people to attend these special clinics (which we ran at different times and 2 - 3 times a week) rather than make a routine appointment.

Some patients would have been offered the vaccine opportunistically.

With swine flu I would follow a similar system but would look at the numbers involved. So would search for the priority list first and invite thse from the the top 2 - 3 priorities one week, then work down the list.

We would take a pretty strong line with those trying to jump the queue.

Others have suggested that mass vaccination stations be used but that would cause more work as if the vaccination is done at your GPs we would have access to your medical records to be able to double check your priority.

Managing the seasonal flu campaign is hard work but works year in and year out. My practice invested in sending out reminder letters etc and got good uptake results because of this.

BUT I need to remind people that it is a full team effort involving ALL staff in the practice - not just the clincial staff. Without the reception and admin staff it would not work.
Money talks in heated 2012 venues squabble 10:43am on 19 Sep 2009 Is this new thrifty Boris the same one that demanded that the roof on the Olympic Stadium be extended so that it covered all spectators at no specified cpost (but I bet more than £ 20m).

The same Boris that wants the stadium to keep the 80,000 seats - again at no specificed cost but probbably a lot more than £ 20m for possible use is England win 2018 world cup bid? The same Boris who says the buildings are alreay too expensive to run afterwards?

In the past, one of the reasons why the Games have bneen so expensive is because of continual changes to specifications of buildings (usually demanded by politicians and not thw IOC of the sports federations) etc which are always more expensive than if in the original designs. London apparently have spent more time on getting the designs right first time and keeping control of the costs.

Boris can make his point but acting like a 5 year old and screaming at the meeting (as reported) is no way for a suppsed serious politician to act.

Also, when did Boris suddenly become an expert in international sporting requirements?
Treating the most seriously ill 6:40pm on 16 Sep 2009 happyneet

It is not the machine that is particularly expensive but the specially trained medical and nursing staff required to run it. They need very specialised training and that is why it is only done in a very few places even in the UK. I for one would not want the ECMO treatment to be given to me unless the staff were specifically trained to do it on a regular basis.

You can't just plug a patient into the machine and leave it running. The patient needs constant monitoring and can't be left unattended at all. It really is 24/7 1:1 nursing.

THe NHS is often offered 'free' equipment by charities who feel they have done a good job in rsising the money. But ask them to fund annual maintenance costs or consumables or staffing and in somecases a specially constructed building (as needed for MRI and CT scanners)they are not intereted.

Virus Watcher

£ 250 a machine sounds cheap but given how many rooms are there in the average GP surgery or school then the cost multiplies so it soon becomes very expensive. How much do they cost to run? Do they need annual maintenance or regular top-ups of consumables?

These are what makes even 'cheap' items of equipment very expensive to run.
Treating the most seriously ill 3:40pm on 16 Sep 2009 It is not so much the cost of the machines (which charities seam happy to fund) but the cost of the nursing staff (1:1 nursing 24/7), consumables for the machine (tubes, filters, fluids), drugs, medical staff, technicians etc etc

To keep a SINGLE specialised intensive care bed in operation for a year you are looking at a figure of something like £ 400,000 - £ 500,000 per annum.

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