Thursday 2 June 2011

Intertwined...

I can't get enough of the NHS.

I've been a patient in 11 hospitals (that I can remember), with an appointment for my 12th next week. This is what a sickly and depressed youth will do for a person. I've also been registered at 4 GP surgeries.

Since I started following the medical path, I've been on placement in 10 hospitals and 7 GP surgeries. I may have just about maxed out the local ones, but there's an 11th hospital around the corner for my elective, and 1 that could potentially be thrown into the mix next year.

Some days one fix just isn't enough. I go from placement to GP appointment and back again, I spend a morning reading practice CXRs with my girlfriend while I'm waiting for my cardiologist to get around to me in clinic, I sneak in an early battering from my physio before a 9 o'clock ward round. My nightmare favourite is when my rheumy is there handing out timetables at the start of a block.

Yeah, I totally can't get enough of the NHS.

But right now I could really use a holiday. Even if as a mere student I couldn't possibly know what tiredness really feels like*. It's been 5 months since we had a holiday longer than a bank holiday weekend, and there's 2 months left to go. That's hard enough for the non-bendy folk.

Considering that all NHS employees have or will at some point be NHS patients, you'd think they'd spend some time trying to persuade us into healthy working practices. Oh no wait... That's a degree in public health and Bambi-esque naivete** talking.


*Spoken by an FY1 coming off 10 days on call. 'I wish' seemed too churlish a response, so I gave her chocolate instead.

** If you don't get this reference, you are in serious need of West Wing. Now.

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