This year it was Steve that had to work at Christmas, so we decided to take a week off at New Year, when he had a few days off, and head north to visit my parents in the chilly Highlands.
It has, of course, been pretty cold everywhere over the last couple of months but up here there isn't as much snow as there is ice and it was the ice on which Mum came a cropper. Having awoken in the early hours, and having watched BBC Stargazing Live on Monday night, Mum went outside in the middle of the night for a cigarette and was looking up instead of where she was putting her feet. Unfortunately she found a patch of the remaining slippery-stuff and ended up flat on her back with a fractured leg.
A phone call to 999 at 3am and a short wait later and the ambulance crew was on site. George and Gail were superb. They were efficient and sensitive. The immediate care Mum received was excellent. Dad and I followed the ambulance up to Inverness. We arrived in a busy Emergency Department at Raigmore hospital and settled in for a long wait to hear anything. However, despite being clearly very busy, the nursing staff were excellent. They allowed us to join Mum very quickly and kept us informed throughout the wait. They were efficient, promptly sending Mum for an x-ray so that she could be properly assessed as soon as the doctor was available. It was a long wait but I was impressed by the emergency care that Mum received. The staff made her comfortable and they were very attentive. The second visit to the hospital to have the temporary heavy cast removed and replaced with the permanent light-weight cast was equally well handled. The doctor was lovely and the nursing staff in the plaster room were also fanstastic. I was surprised how quickly we were in and out and read rather less of my book than I expected!
This is the first time I have really appreciated the sharp end of British healthcare and I cannot fault the Ambulance Service or the various people - paramedics, doctors and nurses - that have looked after Mum during the last few days. They have all been very understanding, sensitive, attentive and have delivered the highest standard of care I could hope for. How disappointing then when Mum got a call from a GP this morning to be told "a broken leg is not a reason for a medical certificate"!
I can appreciate that there are situations in which people can continue to work with a broken leg. Although I would probably struggle to get to work with a broken leg, I would be able to work from home and, on days when I did have suitable transport, I'd also be able to work in the office: I have a desk-job and my office has disabled access, including a lift. However, Mum is an Community Care worker. Her job entails assessing clients' needs and delivering and installing equipment to help them at home. The community that she covers stretches from Dalwhinnie in the South as far as Nairn in the North. This is an area approximately 65 miles in length. She spends much of her time on the road, traveling between clients and needs to be able to carry and install, often bulky, equipment. Additionally, she is not even be able to go into her office just to sit at her desk as it is up a flight of stairs with no lift. There is simply no way that she can work with a plaster cast from her knee to her toes.
Despite explaining this to the doctor on the phone, the doctor insisted that Mum cannot have a medical certificate. It is clear to me that this is a case of a doctor who thinks they know better than the patient. I'm sure this doctor has had many cases where an otherwise fit and healthy individual, who is perfectly capable of working comes begging for a medical certificate for a broken leg, so perhaps I shouldn't be shocked or disappointed. Perhaps this doctor delivers otherwise excellent medical care and advice. I don't know as I have never met her. Worryingly, neither has my Mum! Either way, what horrifies me is not necessarily the initial judgement, it's the fact that she refused to listen to reason. She completely ignored Mum's protestations and didn't even entertain the possibility of carrying out any further investigations. I wonder if she even considered that Mum is 64 years old and it is difficult enough for her to get along at home let alone at work. to me, this represents everything that is wrong with British healthcare. What a shame that it comes on the back of an experience that represents everything that is right with it.
I truly troubles me that while hospital care seems to have maintained a relatively good standard of patient service, GP care has waned. I know of so many instances where people I know, friends and family etc., have received a poor service from a GP. The days when your GP knew you and your medical history intimately, when you trusted his or her judgment and they understood you are long gone. Huge medical practices deal with huge areas and masses of patients. It is often difficult to get an appointment and even when you do there is often an impression that they can't get you out of the door quick enough. There has been so much focus on hospital care, waiting lists and MRSA that I wonder if everyday care has been forgotten in the shuffle, leaving GPs feeling pressured and dumped-on. I believe that it is high-time that this was investigated and action taken to address these problems.
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