#the nhs

[turquoisedata]

All my UK people: write to your MPs.

WRITE TO YOUR MPS.

Tell them you do not support what is going on.

Tell them you don't agree with disability benefits being slashed.

We have got to at least try.

[periodperiod]

Period Problems

My journey

Important playlist.

[enbycrip]

I was just viscerally reminded of the number of fucking doctors who were writing long op-eps in late 2020 and early 2021 about how shitty, inadequate and exhausting it was to deal with the NHS over treatment for Long COVID when they

a) didn’t have to deal with structural “oh this Trust doesn’t have a treatment for your disorder because the consultant who had an interest in it retired and we decided we’re just Not Treating it anymore”;

b) didn’t have to deal with their colleagues disbelieving they were actually ill, or that their illness existed because “apparently it’s trendy now”;

c) had contacts and colleagues who would go the extra mile for them in a way they wouldn’t for random patients;

drove me to nearly throwing my phone out of the window more than once.

I do genuinely hope all of them have recovered and have their lives back now because I wouldn’t wish chronic illness on anyone.

However, I can testify that they haven’t made any structural inroads with their colleagues because I spoke to my GP last week about the possibility of trying a treatment for POTS that I’ve heard good things about and was told “well the British Faculty of Cardiologists doesn’t actually recognise POTS as a disorder so I’m afraid we can’t actually refer you to a cardiologist, and you’d need them to sign off on treatment like that.”

“…but it’s a neurological disorder of the autonomic nervous system, and I *was* diagnosed with it by my former GP in the same Trust I still live in.”

“…well, yes, but it mostly *affects* the heart so that’s who we would refer you to if they accepted referrals for it…”

I was genuinely just so gobsmacked I just put the phone down then and there. I had waited three weeks for this phone appointment.

And I do absolutely know this is because the Tories are literally dismantling the NHS, but…I would honestly rather be told “we won’t refer you because this probably won’t kill you and we’re literally putting all our cash into cancer patients because they show up highlighted in our statistics than this labyrinthine Kafkaesque gaslighting I’ve been dealing with for over a decade now.

[captainfairygodmother]

Spreading awareness. Please take the time to stop and read.

The UK Press is happy to report on every little comment that J K Rowling makes, or giving media coverage to the useless homophobic, transphobic and racist people who are in the race to running the UK.

Yet when it comes to trans teenagers actively fighting for their lives, it barely makes the news. No major presses are picking the story up, with the only reports being from the likes of Pink News (a queer news platform that many people might not have heard of/actively read from). Although some figures such as Stonewall co-founder Lisa Power have spoken about the protests, many people are still unaware, and the government will turn deaf ears.

Trans kids have been protesting on the ledge on the front of the NHS Offices in England since the 28th of July. They have not moved since, but have been joined by many other protestors under the age of 18.

This protest comes following the legislation from the UK Government and the parties currently to the right of the political spectrum, trying to ban gender-affirming care for youth by banning puberty blockers, as well as the attempt to enforce a rule to make schools forcibly out children if the school is aware if the child identifies other as a gender than assigned at birth.

Additionally, further rules are trying to be passed by the likes of the Tory government which would force trans women out of women-only spaces, under the presumption that they have 'fake transitioned to make it easier for them to be predators' (which is a law that is about transphobia and prejudice, they do not care about the safety of women, but that is a post for another time).

These laws will be catastrophic for young people in the UK, and if they are passed, we will see an increase of suicide rates in young people, as well as in increase in issues such as domestic abuse and bullying. That is not a guess, that is fact- it will happen.

These kids that are protesting at the NHS Offices are so brave. They are standing up to the political parties that are trying to pull out of the ECHR, people who don't care about the rights of the country, and people who push transphobic abuse in most speeches they make. They are being used as political pawns in the culture war currently happening in the UK.

So, if you have the opportunity to spread the word about these brave kids, please do. And if you have the opportunity to support them in person or protest in other places, please do.

133-155 Wellington Road, Waterloo.

[pointless-letters]

“I went outside and clapped for 15 seconds every week, regular as clockwork, for two months but are they grateful? No!”

[themalhambird]

Okay UK peeps, couple of tips for getting a GP appointment this winter if you need it:

1)Tell them that whatever it is you're trying to book an appointment for is interfering with your ability to do your job.

If you don't have a job, it's interfering with whatever theoretical job or side hustle that you *could* have. The doctor doesn't need the details, they just need to think that a cog in the capitalism machine is trying to get oiled so it can keep on grinding away (don't use this one if telling someone like a doctor you have a job might interfere with any benefits or universal credit that you get, though. Just in case)

2) if they offer you an appointment, take it. Even if that appointment seems to far off in the future to be any use. Once you're on the appointment list, if you ring up again the next day/few days later and tell them that whatever the problem is, its gotten worse, they have to bump you up the list.

3) check what times your GP is accepting calls for appointments between. Mine will only let you make an appointment between 8.30 and 10 am. Which blows, but knowing that is less frustrating than spending an hour trying to get through at 2pm only to be told to ring again the next day.

4) The Staff at the surgery are people too, be nice to them. Most of them are more than likely overworked and underpaid. Be polite- the receptionist isn't to blame for a shortage of Doctors and Nurses, that would be more than a decade of Tory rule biting us all in the arse. And yes, some GP receptionists can be pricks- stay polite and then send a complaint in to the surgery if you need to. But an overworked, underpaid employee is going to be more inclined to go an extra step for the person who thanked them for their time than the person yelling down the phone about how they're incompetent . Also, its just kind to be nice to people and the more kindness goes around, the better place the world is.

Anyway, hopefully none of you will need this, but in case you do....

[useless-englandfacts]

Have you seen the latest bullshit about immigration measures? The NHS and care sector are perma doomed under this lot

yeah it's kind of wild how successive governments have linked the collapse of the NHS/the welfare state to immigration by implying that more immigration = a greater strain on these services but now we have direct evidence that trying to lower immigration levels is actively harming them lmao