Over a month ago

That was the last time I posted, that's very bad isn't it? Well I guess not a lot has been happening, patients keep being admitted, transferred and discharged, some readmitted and some go to the lovely Rose Cottage (euphemism for the morgue). Meanwhile the doctors keep going around stressed, in a world of their own and contemplating their futures. The days of me reacquainting myself with A&E in a liaison capacity are well and truly over although there is the possibility that come the end of November there will be scope for me to go back on the odd day to meet with the consultants there for advice over the registrar exams. The trouble is the MAAU apparently needs me, I'm sure it should be wonderful to be wanted but at present I want to be somewhere else. The problem with being a medic though, or indeed any healthcare provider, is that you have to take everyone else's wants into account but nobody acknowledges your wants or needs.

I went back to see the locum GP, lovely lass, and as a joint decision I am not being referred to any form of psychological therapy (much to my fiancé's disgust) and am not taking sleepers anymore either, which is helpful because I can be enough of a zombie on a night shift, I need no encouragement. Did I just say lass a few lines ago? God, I really am turning northern, I'll be calling everyone love, pet and chuck soon. Definitely time to move back south me thinks.

So today, lovely readers, I thought I'd tell you about the NHS trust I work for. It is a teaching hospitals trust encompassing 6 medical hospitals and a dental hospital. It also has no stars according to the NHS star rating performance indicators. Now from the outside it is very difficult to see why this trust has no stars, after all it has a good nationwide image but working on the inside you begin to see why. Anyway, I'm not going to bitch about the star rating of it because it doesn't matter to my job really, the only thing it affects is patient services. The fewer stars = less funding from the Department of Health. According to the trust website it employs around 15,000 people and trets 125,000 inpatients, 65,000 day cases and 700,000 outpatients annually, making it one of the largest trusts in the UK. I'd probably agree with that. However, on another page it claims to be 'the largest NHS trust in the country'. You see what I mean, when there is conflicting opinions on the website, what hope is there for the patients and staff within the hospitals environment?

I think that concludes all I had to say today and I promise to be updating more frequently.