Archive for the 'A bit of a rant' Category

At Higher Risk* but not entirely stupid

Posted by on January 17th 2022 in A bit of a rant
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10:20 this morning... another call from a withheld number, another recorded message telling me that a Covid-19 jab appointment at the Hinckley vaccination centre has been cancelled. No name or NHS number stated, no reason given for cancellation, and no advice regarding re-booking. It was the third such call to our land-line.

It's anti-vax bullshit, of course. All four people who have lived here at any time during the last 12 months have been triple-jabbed already. I've been invited to arrange my 4th jab but so far I've not accepted that invitation, pending a discussion with my haematologist on Thursday.

We're not stupid, we recognise anti-vax disinformation when we see it, but others may well be taken in by this dangerous scam and may well die as a consequence of their info-vulnerability to these deplorable calls.

I'm reporting the call, of course, but whether anything gets done about it is anyone's guess.

- - - - - - - -

* Apparently my pigeon-hole has been given a new name. It started off as Vulnerable, then went to Extremely Vulnerable, then to Clinically Extremely Vulnerable. I learned today that it's been called At Higher Risk since 24th December 2021. Seems to be an exercise in re-branding, it hasn't made one jot of difference here, I can still catch the pestilence at the drop of a hat.

Him-sheet

Posted by on January 8th 2022 in A bit of a rant, Health, or lack thereof, Lost in translation, Name and Shame

This gem is on my SystmOnline Patient Record:

"her"? Who the fuck is "her"?

I'm not confident that a "Post-CCT Foot and Ankle Fellow" is the right person for the job, especially as it's as clear as day that ALJABI, Yasser (Mr) did not read/understand either the referral letter or my medical records - if he had done so, he would have noticed the following:

That's the NHS-standard-format label which is stuck onto hundreds of my NHS forms... LRI staff said that the "M" indicates "Male"

 

Those two info-bits are fairly obvious

 

Those three info-bits are for those skilled in the ancient art of reading sentences

 

If that one's not sufficiently gender-diagnostic, I don't know what is!

If ALJABI, Yasser (Mr) can't tell a man from a woman, it's a fair bet that he can't tell an arse from an elbow, let alone a shoulder from an ankle.

I would tell him where he can stick his response, but I'm not sure that he'd be able to work it out.

Duck or grouse?

Posted by on December 17th 2021 in A bit of a rant, Lost in translation, Name and Shame
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Just had the advisory email for tonight's Aldi Click & Corrupt drive-by raid, and as usual there are some subs for items not in stock. Usually it's not an issue - we can live with 1x6 pints of milk instead of 2x4 pints...

But Chris, being a veggie, is up-in-arms over this:

 

 

And I have to say that I agree with her - there's a reason why people order veggie food, subbing with a meaty alternative is incredibly stupid and insensitive.

Clearly their product substitution algorithm has been coded by an amoeba.

That said, I like duck, so they'll not go to waste 🙂

Go ahead, make my day

Posted by on December 11th 2021 in A bit of a rant, COVID-19, Health, or lack thereof, Shielding
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A question for all those unjustifiably-unmasked and/or unjustifiably-unvaccinated punks out there...

Those of us who care deeply for our health and for the health of those around us, but who have no Covid-resistance despite three jabs, are now having to take drastic measures way beyond having a couple of tiny needles and wearing a simple face-covering.

Two days ago my haematologist advised me to shield again, even though the powers-that-be haven't declared it to be their official policy... yet.
Feel free to whinge and whine all you like about your rights and about your jolly Christmas piss-up being "deferred" - I won't give a flying fuck, as I'll be stuck at home for the third consecutive Christmas.
If I absolutely must go anywhere where there's a risk, I have to wear an FFP3 mask. Here's mine:

 

 

To be fair it's a blessing in disguise. The good thing about this mask is that the incoming aerosol filtration is "not less than 99%" effective, so there's little chance of anyone's Covid-bugs getting in. The best thing about this mask is that it has a simple outgoing air valve with no filtration whatsoever, so if I do get infected there's a huge chance that I'll infect you if you're too close and unmasked.

So the next time you get too close and you fancy your chances, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?

Amazanalysis

Posted by on December 4th 2021 in A bit of a rant, Name and Shame
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Amazon Subscribe & Save.

In theory, Amazon Subscribe & Save is a great idea - you and Amazon know in advance what's been ordered, you and Amazon agree a schedule of delivery dates (so you can plan to be available to receive deliveries), each order should arrive as one delivery (to save planets), and there are discounts (which may or may not save you some filthy lucre).

In practice, Amazon Subscribe & Save is a steaming pile of shit.

Leaving aside issues like price fluctuations (most items seem to become magically cheaper just after they've taken payment) and the fact that most orders are split into multiple deliveries, I decided to make a rough & ready chart, plotting items delivered against relative delivery days. They say that a picture's worth a thousand words... most of my thousand are expletives.

 

Number of items up the side, relative delivery days across the top. If you can't understand that, you should go back to school on Monday.

The chart above includes all ordered S&S items for 2020 and 2021. Ordered items are supposed to be delivered on 4th March, 4th June, 4th September, or 4th December.

Of a total of 68 items ordered, 5 never arrived and only 4 arrived on the agreed selected date. To put it another way, only 5.9% of items were delivered on the agreed selected date, so it's a certainty that someone here needs to be available to receive items for at least six consecutive days every three months.

It's not as if the advisory emails are any use either - yesterday morning I received six emails informing me that all outstanding items would arrive today (Saturday), but those emails were bullshit - all of the outstanding items arrived yesterday (Friday) afternoon. Go figure.

And then there's the packaging... Amazon are trying to do their bit by reusing boxes, but for [insert your preferred deity's name here]'s sake, they could at least try to tape up the sides of the reused boxes. This was today's yesterday's first delivery (three packages):

 

Yes, this is how it was left on our yard. It's a disgrace.

Like I said, it's a steaming pile of shit.

Light blue touch-paper, retire to a safe distance.

Posted by on January 7th 2021 in A bit of a rant, Health, or lack thereof
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Time and again I've told both the GP and the haematology consultants that neither can access, or be bothered to access, the records of the other when it comes to my meds, my clinical notes, my test results or my appointments. Time and again they have refuted my assertion. Time and again I've provided proof (and there's a lot of it), but they still insist that there's no comms issue.

You may well ask: "where's he going with this?"

Well, here's the latest. I'll try to break it into bite-size chunks so that it's easy to process (yes, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust Booking Office, I'm aiming this mainly at you)...

Last year, Leicester Glenfield set me up with a cardiology follow-up clinic, I was to go in to see The Professor on Wednesday 13th January 2021 @ 11:15. A few weeks back I got a letter telling me to stay at home, they would do a phone clinic instead, time and date unchanged.

Well, that's all fine and dandy for them, but seeing as I have to attend Leicester Royal for a haematology clinic at 11:30 the same day, I won't be staying at home, I'll probably still be driving to Leicester at 11:15. I've informed both Glenfield and the Royal, but so far nothing has changed.

Clearly they can't work together as a team even though they are both parts of the same NHS Trust, and allegedly share the same appointments database, but I've become used to banging my head against hard surfaces while trying to get them to wake up and smell the coffee.

But this afternoon I lost it big-time...

The postie delivered yet another NHS-branded envelope. I was hoping that it would be an invitation to get the COVID-jab, or maybe even a rearranged appointment for the cardio clinic, but no, it's an appointment for "MRI Internal auditory meatus Both".

And yes, you've guessed it, the appointment is set for Wednesday 13th. This one is at 08:00 and it's at Hinckley & Bosworth Community Hospital.

One morning, three appointments, three hospitals, one NHS Trust with no coordination. The front-line staff are heroic, but the booking admins are appalling.

Oh, and one more thing. My records state that I don't react well to the contrast agent that they'll probably want to put into me for the MRI scan, I usually end up having rigors, oxygen and a hospital bed for the night. That'll banjax the rest of the day good and proper.

On the 13th, if anyone tries to pull me over to tell me that I'm breaking the stay-at-home laws, there might be fireworks.

 
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