BUSY DAY

Busy day today yet I do not feel I have achieved much. My web design class this morning and a Doctors appointment this afternoon. I wonder why I bother making an appointment to see the Doctor.My surgery operates a system whereby if you phone before 9am you can see the Doctor that morning but you may have to sit and wait for an hour or two so I try the best I can to make an afternoon appointment and what happens? The appointment takes 9 days to get( and yes my toes could have dropped off with gangrene in the meantime ............imaginary example!) and what happens? I sit and wait for almost an hour so the Doctor can fit in EXTRA appointments to be seen for less than 5 minutes to be told that yes my arm is really painful but the Doctor doesn't know why and do I want stronger tablets( remember I need to drive and take care of a very active 6 year old) and get a prescription for antibiotics for a not quite toe infection caused by bumping my toe repeatedly.They allocate 10 minutes per patient but I aim to be in and out in 5 but my Doctor assures me that many patients come more for the chat than the medical advice. The government wants to cap GP's wages, poor sods deserve every penny they get as I know I couldn't do what they do.

GP pay 'should have been capped'
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News

The government should have capped the money GPs can make out of their new contract, the health secretary says.The proportion of profits GPs take out of their practices has increased since the new contract started in 2004, pushing average pay above £100,000.In an interview with the BBC News website, Patricia Hewitt said in hindsight ministers would have wanted to ensure doctors did not take so much.Doctors criticised Ms Hewitt, saying she was "denigrating" GPs.

Being a nurse I have seen what they have to do and it is not always that pleasant and the smell would be an issue for me. I have very little sense of smell but today I noticed that two other patients next to me were smelling badly and if I could smell them it must have been pretty bad. I think that my lack of smell has come from years working in nursing homes, I can usually be directly over something and not smell it. Recently there was a celebrity Salon program on TV and the woman who usually did pedicures couldn't do one punter because her feet smelt so badly. I love doing feet, being the matron I used to do medications, dressings and paperwork and if I had time over I would do patients feet. I would soak them, wash them,put cream on and cut toe nails because whenever I saw a patients feet they were almost always dirty between the toes and none of the carers seemed to want to do them. Everyone whitters on about HOLISTIC care but in theory most(not all) carers that I have come across are more interested in doing as little as possible. Doctors have to deal with patients from all walks of life, from the streets to the very wealthy so they are put at risk daily from physical and verbal abuse and at risk of catching some pretty hideous infections and diseases. The constant stream of physical, social and mental problems with no end must be soul destroying. I have a friend who trained at the same time that I trained as a nurse and he is now a consultant, he deals with children with heart problems and I so could not do that. It takes a special person to do that kind of work.
However, I also think it takes special people to clean toilets, deal with waste, clean and service drains, do basic rate jobs and be proud of what you do. I have been happy to work as a cleaner, cloakroom attendant, cook, and many other basic rate jobs to ensure my children were fed and clothed and warm. I feel that the government fails to to value work when it tries to push further education on people who may not be able to cope with it,I know there are certain things I could not do because I mentally could not keep up with the work. I was brilliant at exams thet had essay type answers but cold facts...........sorry I'm just not up to it. I could never have been a doctor because I could just not remember things in that way, I would have failed all my exams as I do not have a rote type memory. I have constanly told my girls that yes I am glad that they went to university, are going and will be going but I would have been just as happy if the had decided to be a nanny, a carpenter, a bricklayer, a plumber, a plasterer...........they all sound good to me.

BIG BROTHER FINAL
I have to comment but YES I am so glad it is over. I am glad that Shilpa won but I also feel that Jermaine deserved to win as he was such a class act. Danielle was wrong with what she did but she did go along way to redeeming herself by saying sorry whereas Jo says she stands by what she has said and would say it all again, NICE GIRL! Ian was also brilliant and should have come ahead of Dirk because I think that Dirk blotted his copy book by not standing up for Shilpa when he was meant to like her.This years show was such a revelation on how people really think and how life is a big act.Whereas life in my house is more a pantomime!