A few people have asked what happened with my mother. The saga continued for a few days. She seemed ok but injury flared on Monday. No nurse appointments available at surgery that day or following day but got an emergency appointment for GP that evening. He was very good and prescribed the anti-biotics a nurse could have prescribed on the saturday.

Mother’s hand is now fully healed. She is more wary of Charlie who is shows no contrition now although he did seem  cowed at the time.

Here is the letter I wrote that was published in the Eastern Daily Press. Minor injuries units  are needed too.

When I was  Chair of an NHS Trust I opposed closure of community hospitals. In rural areas, it makes sense to move people on from acute care and to provide services  such as blood tests and X rays and to treat minor injuries locally. Last Saturday I spent the day trying to obtain treatment for my 91 year old mother. I tried to be responsible  and avoid  A & E. A Nurse Practitioner  could have treated her, or  a minor injuries unit . Neither was available.

Unqualified staff with good protocols can work but cannot make up for inadequate staffing levels at surgeries and hospitals.  The Coalition claims to have protected  the NHS. They have not.  The Lansley restructuring took GP time  from patient care into administration. Funding cuts to local authorities  have  reduced  social care at home. Staff who have had their pay frozen and now face their redundancy rights being reduced have low morale. All these have combined to bring about the current crisis. David Cameron’s pronouncements about 24/7 GP services are hot air without the actions needed to return our NHS to the decent level we experienced before his war of attrition on our public services. Unwillingness to spend on the NHS to the necessary level goes hand in hand with ideological opposition to state run services.

 We need to demonstrate  that we do value our NHS . The Green Party  proposes an earmarked  tax for health and  advocates  community health centres.