Help! Its Swine Flu!!!

Nothing annoys me more than bad journalism, especially when it is in relation to the NHS. Maybe I have a one sided view?.... Yes there is some very bad practice. Yes, there are many faults and improvements that need to be made but why is it that you never hear anything good? We work so bloody hard! Why is it that you never get any thanks?

So today when I read this article "Swine Flu Kills 'Fit and Healthy' Woman" in my local paper it got my blood boiling and I wrote My first official complaint letter!......

(Interestingly this picture was removed from the Internet article!)

The picture in your article of the Coroners report is quite clear in the information that it gives in relation to this ladies death. Sad as it was, it is clearly documented as pulmonary embolus complicated by swine flu, not swine flu itself.

As stated on the NHS website regarding swine flu “For most people, the illness is mild and self-limiting. The virus has caused severe illness in a minority of people, most of whom had an existing serious condition.” Therefore your Headline "Swine flu kills 'fit and healthy ' woman" is incorrect.

As a medical professional I would like to point out that if you had effectively researched Pulmonary Embolism prior to publication of your article you would have easily discovered that Pulmonary Embolus can cause sudden death in previously healthy individuals of all ages. Also individuals who have been on long haul flights and take the contraceptive pill (as this lady possibly did) are at a higher risk of developing this condition. However, the article published in today’s paper does not at any point reflect this.

I feel that it is journalist’s responsibility to present an accurate and objective account of the situation. However, this articles miss information is the reason numerous anxious individuals with the common cold will undoubtedly present in our local Accident & Emergency department causing a back log on already stretched service.

I feel as a Newspaper that distributed throughout the city that the Manchester Evening News has been irresponsible in its publication of this article and has therefore unhelpfully contributed to public panic in relation to swine flu. Yes the death of such a young lady was sad, but surely it would have been more helpful to advise people with pre-existing medical conditions to seek medical advice, not anyone with flu like symptoms.

Finally let me ask you this....How would you feel if you or a sick relative were made to wait hours to see a doctor who was already tied up dealing with a hundred people with the incurable common cold?

Rant over.

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Goodbye dear brain cells......

"I want to be a Nurse" Be warned from someone who knows....Are you sure about that? Nursing has many, many, many trials and tribulations, one of the biggest has to be the dreaded night shift.....The 3am nausea, the endless small talk with work collages you don't really like, the ability of someone somewhere to spill a urine bottle requiring you to mop it up at 5am while trying to avoid standing in it in the dark, the expert ability of at least one patient to manage to pull the emergency bell (Clearly marked in big red letters "Emergency Bell") Sending you and everyone around you into a state of panic at 4am and waking up the whole ward......

The only saving grace when you are clock watching and praying for sunlight to appear through the window is the cheap girlie magazine.

Yes I have lost valuable brain cells this way, they died in the pages of Cosmo, Hello, Bella, Take a Break and Reveal. Before you judge and in my defence, I don't buy them myself they have been left over my patients but they pass the time between 3.30am and 3.40am...... So over the past few night shifts I have kept a mental note of the articles I have read to document were it was I lost my intelligence.....Goodbye brain cells thank you, we had fun xx

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It always amuses me what I see at the entrance to work, most people see the same people doing the same thing every day, they might even say “Morning”…......No not me…...This is the NHS after all……

Monday: Random dude asleep in his wheelchair……Can of “Stella” spilling on his pants....

Tuesday: Woman sat on the floor at the entrance confusing the electric doors, big “no smoking area” signs painted on the floor in big red letters, cigarette in hand, legs strategically covering the “No”…..Genius....

Wednesday: Random crazy, sat in the smoking shelter talking to himself very loudly…. Mental health care worker sat beside him..... on her mobile phone.

Thursday: Prostitute kicking her pimp’s car calling him a “F**king ugly c**t”…..So naturally he tries to run her over....

Friday: Three dudes sitting in a line smoking, all in wheelchairs.... “No smoking area” clearly marked. One guy with one leg, one guy with no legs & one guy with one arm.....