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#91

General discussion / Re: GP's & Hospitals - What is...

Last post by bennydorano - April 23, 2024, 04:32:40 PM

My friends aunt was up from the South, needed to see a doctor, paid £75 quid to see one in a private clinic in Armagh ran by an ex Tyrones missus, the doctor she saw is the doctor I would see if I ever got an appointment!

That Doctor is in all likelihood taking those shifts because his or her practice can not give them any more shifts. Not the fault of the GP but the system.

I dont think so. Went part time (or just left) NHS to go into the private sector.

#92

General discussion / Re: Premier League 2023-2024

Last post by quit yo jibbajabba - April 23, 2024, 04:25:04 PM

F*ck me Bunker I've read some shite on this board but that's deffo up there 🤣🤣🤣🤣 sorry/glad I missed it first time round. Those last two sentences will take some beating.

When you've time on your hands write down the amount of points the likes of United Arsenal Chelsea Spurs finished behind city in the past 6,7 years then revisit your musings 🤣🤣🤣

#93

GAA Discussion / Re: Standard of Refs

Last post by HokeyPokey - April 23, 2024, 04:15:58 PM

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41379304.html

Ah the aul hindsight and replays, multiple angles and so on, people hate VAR in the PL but call for it here!

Galvin needs to throw stuff out there otherwise he'll be not getting a wee earner

The PL have made a hames of VAR though. The standard of reffing in the PL is just generally abysmal considering the standard of the players. The same refs are in charge of VAR so it's a reflection of that. They could easily automate things like the ball going out of play and semi automated offsides. They have made some absolutely terrible mistakes. There's continually changes to the way they ref, some of which is announced, sometimes it's not. So something can be deemed a penalty, one week and then not be a penalty the following week.

It generally works grand for rugby and also for international soccer tournaments as far as I can see.

That's because they have tried to implement a system which is looking at something which is ultimately opinion and interpretation based. It is not black and white and 3 different people in the VAR room watching the same footage could make three different calls on it, so it was never going to be the silver bullet for refs.
If anything I think it is had made their life more difficult instead of less.

Yes, it is subjective, but they have made numerous mistakes which were objectively wrong. How it has been implemented has been terrible. There's been numerous incidents of them forgetting to draw the lines or not communicating leading to a goal being wrongly allowed/disallowed or not being able to tell if a ball went out of play. Changing the interpretation and thresholds of contact etc. throughout the season does not help inspire confidence or consistency. When you do hear from the PL referees or former referees they don't inspire confidence either. 

VAR works much better in other tournaments in soccer and is much better. It's almost never an issue with rugby. Having clearer defined rules and better processes is possible. It's possible to speed things up by having semi automated offsides and inform the ref when the ball goes out etc.

#94

General discussion / Re: GP's & Hospitals - What is...

Last post by Applesisapples - April 23, 2024, 04:15:36 PM

My friends aunt was up from the South, needed to see a doctor, paid £75 quid to see one in a private clinic in Armagh ran by an ex Tyrones missus, the doctor she saw is the doctor I would see if I ever got an appointment!

That Doctor is in all likelihood taking those shifts because his or her practice can not give them any more shifts. Not the fault of the GP but the system.

[Before COVID you could ring the GP surgery and get an appointment the same day, Why are GP's not back to seeing patients, is everything just been sent to the A&E departments. What are they actually doing?]

#95

General discussion / Re: GP's & Hospitals - What is...

Last post by Applesisapples - April 23, 2024, 04:12:35 PM

The school rang my wife yesterday about our 12 yr old son who was saying he didnt feel well and said his chest was sore. Teacher said his heart rate was pretty fast. He hadn't been running about or anything. Long story short he was lifted from school and the wife thought she would call into the GP Surgery in our small town. She said the car park to the surgery was empty (this was around 2pm) and when she went to the reception she could see they waiting room was empty and they told her that there were no free appointments available and to ring this number.

She rang the number and explained what was going on and was told to be at Craigavon for 6pm.
Went up and got a ECG done which showed nothing out of the ordinary and said that it might be best to get a chest xray and sent her over to the A&E department.
My wife said it was crazy, the place was packed with only standing room and she just came home as she would probably be still waiting.

Before COVID you could ring the GP surgery and get an appointment the same day, Why are GP's not back to seeing patients, is everything just been sent to the A&E departments. What are they actually doing?

We are not ones who run every time to the doctors if one of us has have a sniffle and the last time I was we were at a hospital was when our last was born which was 8 years ago.

Surly this can go on like this as staff at the hospitals couldnt work under them conditions.

Sorry for the long post.
 

Few points on this.
No you generally could not see a GP the same day before COVID. Routine appointments were handed out a month in advance. Slots would be reserved for emergency stuff on the day but for the most part, you had to wait a few weeks at least.

In fact, more people are seen "on the day" than ever before. The move to a day to day triage service has ensured that calls can be triaged and redirected to the appropriate person (GP, pharmacist, a&e, etc).
There are more consultations per day now than before COVID, and that's with less staff. To the point where safety concerns have very raised by the BMA.

There are a few reasons why surgeries are ridiculously busy at the minute. A shortage of doctors like I said, but as well as that the amount of people on waiting lists for secondary care is growing, leaving these people essentially going to their GP to treat symptoms whilst they wait for expert assessment. An aging population and increased rates of obesity, T2DM etc also contribute.

This is correct, ad to that the amount of money GP practices receive to provide services has not increased in a long time meaning that all staff wage increases and the normal cost of living increases have been taken out of the GP's pocket so it is becoming harder to retain GP's.

#96

General discussion / Re: Premier League 2023-2024

Last post by HokeyPokey - April 23, 2024, 04:06:13 PM

Must be a parade or two for those glorious points tally's?

That's the tough sh1t of sport. You can be the best team in a below average league and you can be a really top team in a  in a competitive league.

City are going for their 6th league title in 7 years. They'd be going for 7 in a row if Liverpool did not break their run. They are going for an unprecedented 4 in a row this year. People can say money is the factor, but money will only buy you a very strong squad. You still need hunger and organisation. I hear all this talk of the 115 charges against City, if they held any substance then City would be deducted points like Forest and Everton. There is no way the League would treat one club different to the rest. Klopps record of being competitive in the League here and there and being competitive in the Champions League is over blown. Any other club other than City could do what Klopp has done at liverpool the last 5 to 6 years. It's mad that he lasted so long at the club.

Cities are much more complicated. Not sure why it should take so long. There's loads of dodgy stuff like receiving millions of sponsorship money from companies that didn't exist.

Money can only get you so far (see Yanited). But it can get you the best manager in the world, the best players and scouts etc. Pep hardly went to Man City for the mediocre history, did he? It's not as if he took a bunch of lads from the academy either. It's an impressive sporting feat what they have achieved, but it's pretty clear that they did so outside the financial rules etc., which are lax as it is. 

[and has got big performances from Rashford in the past]

#97

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

Last post by Dunsilly King - April 23, 2024, 04:03:10 PM

Get Southgate locked in for next season 

Is he really that bad an appointment compared to ETH? The number of shots that United concede is absolutely shocking and this mainly due to the gaps between defence, midfield and up front so easy to play through. Southgate would  have them a more stable outfit and has got big performances from Rashford in the past.  Could be possibly get a tune out of Sancho?

so has Ten Hag, so what!

#98

General discussion / Re: GP's & Hospitals - What is...

Last post by Tones - April 23, 2024, 03:59:33 PM

I had similar issue about a year later and made up symptoms to see a GP as if I had of mentioned chest pain they wouldn't have seen me, how ridiculous is that.

#99

General discussion / Re: GP's & Hospitals - What is...

Last post by Tones - April 23, 2024, 03:57:21 PM

My surgery will NOT see you unless you have an appointment (ring 79 times from 8.30 to be told all slots filled or get a call back from a Doctor who will do everything they can NOT to physically see you ) they will also NOT see you if you mention chest pain - they tell you to go to A&E - it's a complete joke.

Would you want to be stuck around your local GP surgery if you were having a heart attack? Or be in a hospital?

Most chest pain isn't heart related, a qualified medical professional could tell you that, I went to A&E at 2pm and was seen around 11pm, guess what nothing to fo with my heart, its just easier to pass the buck.

#100

GAA Discussion / Re: Murder of a GAA Chairman

Last post by ShutterinbyDayGAAbyNight - April 23, 2024, 03:56:05 PM

I remember at the time it sent chills through the whole  nationalist community. Just listening to Talkback and Trevor Birney talking about and how attacking someone like Sean Brown was a deliberate ploy as he was decent and could not be associated with any paramilitary organisation. It was purely to put fear and Terror through a whole community by striking at its centre.

We had just won the AI and had beaten Bellaghy in the Ulster final before Christmas 1996. There was a crew of us living in Belfast and we had close relationships on and off the field with a lot of the Bellaghy lads. It struck hard. I remember travelling home at the time and we regularly changed out pick up spots etc. Going to matches in Lurgan and that was always a concern as well. How the f**k was that normal? 

Unfortunately we normalised it at the time and adopted

My dad handed me the book The Shankill butchers when it came out

Made me read it before I headed out that weekend, needless to say that put the willies up me for that period of heading out! 

Remember getting stopped in Armagh late on a Friday night on the way to a game. 4 of us in the car. Pulled to the side of the road. Brit starting getting mouthy.  Starting looking to do strip searches on the side of the road. Shoes off, belts off, open trousers....go f**k yourself. An hour later still there. You often wonder....

Yep. Used to stop my school bus near enough everyday going home. Would make us get off and walk miles home while hurling insults, Shouting thru our letterbox on Christmas mornings and the early morning house searches. What was it all about. We were just kids.