Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Fridays Bad For Surgery

The capacity for our fellow men to be blind to the obvious never ceases to amaze. Tonight we hear on the news that " Latest reports show patients who have surgery on a Friday are more likely to die or suffer complications. " And people are surprised by this.
Nobody who has ever been to one of our hospitals will be. Consultants clock off at 5pm, and don't work weekends. That's a fact in most of our hospitals. It was certainly true where I live. Turn up at a Bank Holiday or find yourself bed-bound over Christmas and you can expect to wait days to see the guy in charge. My lad had to take  strong steroids for three unnecessary extra days because no one could give the order to stop.
Not all hospitals are the same. Some, like St Marks in London, are centres of excellence where the skill and compassion exceeds anything you will fine anywhere. We have cause to be very grateful to the dedicated staff there.
We were lucky. Plenty are not and that does not surprise me one bit.
PS If you like what I write please buy Devil Deal by Liz Freeman, £1.53 on Amazon UK, $2.99 on Amazon.com. It's a thriller that rockets along but more than that, half the proceeds will go to Crohn's and Colitis UK.  Many thanks.

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