Tuesday - January 27, 2009

Ivory tower MOONBAT Bull S.  Lets see how this might work in real life.

ok,
You call your doctor and say doc it hurts when I do this and he/she says, “so don’t do that.”

Right. All in the name of carbon something. The doc is gonna be able to take your blood pressure over the phone. He will be able to listen to your heart and lungs over the phone.

They still haven’t worked out the issue of mixed wards in hospitals but they’re gonna work out how to cut carbon emissions on doctor visits. Who-Ha. Such a deal.

Most doctors, it’s been my experience, will want to see you especially if you’re requesting medication.  They do not want to risk legal problems or law suits if someone gets sick because they weren’t seen by a doctor first.  In other cases sure, where the problem might be minor and the doc can answer a question on the phone, they might do so.  Really?  On what planet?  These ppl are generally so busy (our experience here) that even with an office visit you’re given 10 minutes with the doctor. How long will a phone wait be?  Are there really enough doctors to go around (who speak ENGLISH WELL)?

Screw environmental impact nonsense.  If a doc will give me sleeping pills or Vicodine (not available here in UK. probably because one person had a bad reaction to or abused the drug) without me having to be seen, that’s alright with me. I just get fed up with all the things the bureaucrats dream up in the name of .. GWEEN.

GPs should treat patients by phone to cut NHS carbon footprint, report says
Patients will be encouraged to stay at home and consult their doctor by phone instead of travelling to GPs’ surgeries under plans for a “greener” NHS.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:53AM GMT 27 Jan 2009

More telephone consultations and other “telemedicine” techniques are part of a package of proposals to cut the carbon emissions associated with the health service to be published on Tuesday.

The plans have been drawn up by the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, a team of doctors and managers charged with reducing the environmental impact of healthcare in England.

With more than 1 million employees, the NHS accounts for a quarter of all public sector emissions in England and 3.2 per cent of all carbon emissions.

According to the Carbon Reduction Strategy, the NHS accounts for 5 per cent of all road traffic in England and nearly a fifth of the service’s total “carbon footprint” is caused by the transport used by its staff and patients.

Wherever possible, the NHS should aim to ensure that people travel less, the strategy says.

“Every organisation should routinely and systematically review the need for staff, patients and visitors to travel; consistently monitor business mileage; provide incentives for low carbon transport; and promote care closer to home, telemedicine, and home working opportunities,” it says.

Telemedicine, the delivery of health services via systems including telephones and the internet, is a growing part of NHS work.

Telephone consultations were first proposed by the NHS Modernisation Agency in 2002 to cut the number of visitors to GPs’ surgeries, and have become a significant part of the health service’s work.

Many practices now offer only telephone services outside normal office hours. Some Primary Care Trusts, which are responsible for out-of-hours care, have contracted the service to commercial firms who only offer telephone coverage.

NHS Direct, set up in 1998, also offers a 24 hour a day medical advice line which at weekends and bank holidays often receives more than 30,000 calls a day.

Michael Summers, vice chairman of the Patients’ Association, raised concerns about the prospect of GPs conducting more consultations by phone.

“Telemedicine plays a part in modern medicine, but it also carries risks,” he said.

“It can be very difficult for doctors to make the right diagnosis on the phone and we know there have already been many mistakes, sometimes leading to serious consequences and even deaths, when doctors have misdiagnosed symptoms on the telephone during out-of-hours services.”

Stephen O’Brien, the Tory shadow health spokesman, said: “It is right that such technology should be available to patients and professionals, but it is typical of Labour’s nannystatism that they should even be considering forcing this on patients.”

The carbon strategy also suggests that some clinical equipment should be sterilised and reused instead of being discarded after a single use. Every NHS organisation should be “reviewing whether an item can be reused or recycled prior to ordering new items,” the document says.

Another long-term change would see surgeons and other consultants travelling to local GP surgeries to see patients there, removing the need for them to travel to central outpatient facilities.

The Department of Health said: “The clinical evidence and the wishes of patients both show that more people want care closer to home, reducing the need to travel to big acute hospitals. The strategy endorses this approach as clinically effective, as producing a better patient experience, and having the added benefit of reducing travel; reducing energy needs for hospitals and generally being more sustainable, it is a win-win situation.”

There is “no suggestion” that outpatient wards or any other part of the NHS will be closed purely because of sustainability issues, the department said.

Dr David Pencheon, director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, said it was right that the service changes its working practices to limit its environmental impact.

He said: “Carbon reduction is something that needs to extend to every part of the organisation. Everyone who works for the NHS should be thinking about reducing their carbon footprint as part of their day job.”

Dr Pencheon rejected a report that the strategy will mean hospitals removing meat from patients’ menus to cut down on “food miles.”

He said: “In line with best practice in sustainable sourcing, the Strategy calls for more use of seasonal food, more local food, and more use of sustainable and nutritionally valuable produce such as fish. Doing this, will of course, reduce the reliance on meat and other products but will not remove them from the menu.”

THE NHS

Posted by peiper     on 01/27/2009 at 12:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Environment • UK •  
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