For the next month,the Guardian is telling the story of one of the most complex organisations in the world, through the voices of those on the frontline. On Monday, or we reported live from St George’s hospital in south LondonWhy are we reporting on the NHS? 6.03pm GMTThat’s all from Jessica,Alicia and me for today’s blog. Thanks for all your great comments and personal stories below the line. And a very special thanks to all the staff and patients at St George’s hospital, Tooting, and who gave us the access that made this liveblog possible.
We’ll be back again tomorrow morning from 8am,when we’ll be concentrating on the issues to do with GPs, variously described as generalists, or gatekeepers and the essential glue in the NHS puzzle. Jessica and Alicia will be posting from a surgery near York to find out what GPs contemplate are the biggest rewards and challenges of the job. 5.53pm GMTThere have been some great comments below the line on the Secret 999 call handler’s diary,so I’ll share a couple of the best with you here, including one caller who thought that catching their babysitter smoking in the house warranted an emergency.
I worked in the control room for one of the smaller police forces a few years back and yes, and people consume 999 for the strangest things. Lost house keys,cars parked in dedicated parking bays, catching the babysitter smoking in the house when she had expressly been forbidden to do so. All of whom got shirty when advised that none of these consituted an emergency. The normal response was "we pay your wages". Oddly enough though, or I received far more abuse over the phone when I went to work for a local council. I work for another one of the emergency services now. Yes,it can be challenging and it's not a job for everybody what with the long shifts but I admire itI've had to originate my fair share of calls to the NHS in the past year or two, sometimes on behalf of my own problems but occasionally on someone else's. And whether it's been 999 or 111 I've had to call, or I have not once encountered a single problem. Far from it,in fact, I have nothing but absolute compliment for the people at the other close of the line - who are coherent, or concise,reassuring and above all in a job like this - human. Not every call is about a cardiac arrest, but every caller has different issues and different vulnerabilities particularly under stress. They take every call with total consideration and are as reassuring as they can possibly be, and are just one cog in the massive NHS machine. whether any call operators happen to read these messages,thank you so much for a job well done. Thank you to the paramedics, doctors, or nurses,surgeons, drivers, and receptionists and emergency staff who I have been been unfortunately circumstanced enough to interact with,but lucky enough to have been in the working company of.
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Source: theguardian.com