I’ve just had an appointment with a physiotherapist.
‘So what?’ you might be excused for asking. So what, indeed.
Well, to be honest, I had forgotten that my Parkinson’s consultant had referred me to the physio department.
As is the case with most specialities the queue of patients waiting to be seen is getting longer every month.
Just have a sight on the public car parking areas up at Noble’s Hospital. Full!
Take a trip round the island and count all the health centres that you find. Check out the car parks. Full!
I think I once heard someone say that our health service was the island’s biggest employer.
When you take into account all the departments, all the specialities, and all the clinics and surgeries, it seems half the population work in ‘health’ and the other half is waiting in the queue for an appointment to see them.
I was born in 1940 so I can safely say that I am older than the National Health Service.
I can also safely say the health service has grown at such a rate and to such an extent that even the farsighted folk that started it all off would be amazed at what they helped to create.
This is not going to be one of those ‘I remember the days’ stories. I think even the most critical of users of the modern day health service would agree that we’re all better off than folk used to be.
This is where I stand back and wait for all the cries of ‘shame’ and ‘traitor’ to die down.
‘I’ve paid in all my life’ is another regular rant, closely followed by,well you know what I mean, there’s no need for me to recite all the same old grumbles and moans.
The plain fact is that waiting lists are getting longer, and as far as I can see, the future holds more of the same.
And do you know why these lists can only get longer and longer? It’s not because we have a rubbish health service.
It’s because we have an excellent health service. It’s so good that it keeps all us oldies alive and breathing for longer than we deserve, when you take account of the way that some of us criticise the system that preserves us.
Take joint replacements. That department alone must cost a fortune to run. And as time goes on, and new treatments come on stream, we all queue up to be kept alive to collect our pensions for longer than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Simplistically, there are only two ways to reduce waiting lists. Solution one is to throw more money in the direction of the DHSS, and we all know there’s not much chance of that happening.
Solution two is to limit medical services to folk under a certain age. Thankfully, I don’t think there is much chance of that happening either.
So how about this for an idea? Why don’t they just employ more physiotherapists? I have no idea how much it costs to keep a physiotherapist on the road, and even less idea of the price of a hip or a knee, but I’ll bet that if more of us oldies did more supervised exercise not only could it avoid the need for so much surgery it would also have a knock-on benefit for our general health which would in turn save even more money.
I was talking to someone the other day about the same sort of thing and he said if the hospital car park was moved to Union Mills, it would make us all have to walk a bit further. I think that he was joking, but you never know.
Anyway, as I was saying I’ve just had an appointment with a physiotherapist. And I can honestly say that for the first time since my diagnosis, I have been given a glimmer of hope for the future.
No I didn’t mention the word miracle, there’s still no cure. But there is a positive chance of personal function improvement. The snag is, the whole thing is built round more and more exercise, which is what I’ve been preaching for years.
Maybe the car park idea isn’t as daft as it sounds.