\n He had heard “concerning stories” and wanted to hear opinions because he was “worried the management of the hospital is not delivering”.\n<\/p>\n
\n Whether his motive was to stir up a hornet\u2019s nest of criticisms, slating and a campaign of discontent against the hospital, or gather commendations to give the management and staff a pat on the back for the sterling work they do on the frontline of critical care day after day, we can only draw our own conclusions.\n<\/p>\n
\n One thing is for sure; health services\u2019 experiences are one thing everyone loves to share.\n<\/p>\n
\n What came back to the MP was a flood of mixed experiences and views \u2013 from the outstanding admiration of the professional staff to allegations of negligence and terrible avoidable loss.\n<\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s the thing about health care experiences, no one\u2019s is the same and everyone\u2019s expectations are different.\n<\/p>\n
\n Circumstances, human nature and how life works out, mean there will always be a lottery of the care individuals receive.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putting yourselves and your loved ones into the hands of care professionals is the ultimate mark of trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Not everything works out how we hope.\n<\/p>\n
\n We expect physicians and clinicians to be magicians and miracle makers who can make everything right.\n<\/p>\n
\n Often, they simply can\u2019t because of nature not a lack of skill.\n<\/p>\n
\n Failure affects them as much as it does the patients and their families.\n<\/p>\n
\n Yet we are very quick to blame and accuse when anything doesn\u2019t turn out how we hoped.\n<\/p>\n
\n Not everyone can be seen first and quickly; waiting, whether on site or in the virtual queue for appointments is an inconvenience, but only a cause for complaint when it falls outside the target times for individual conditions.\n<\/p>\n
\n I\u2019ve needed to use services and specialists at the James Paget Hospital for two different conditions this year.\n<\/p>\n
\n The first for a fractured hand in January, for an x-ray, A&E care and consultation and follow-up with an orthopaedic surgeon, with a self-referral for physiotherapy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Last week, I was in the oral surgery department after a wisdom tooth extraction that went wrong earlier this year elsewhere, leading to the need for hospital surgery to rectify ongoing problems.\n<\/p>\n
\n Walking through the hospital entrance always comes with trepidation taking me back 11 years to my late father\u2019s catastrophic stroke, which led to four months in the hospital.\n<\/p>\n
\n On my two visits this week, I was struck by how positive, warm and friendly every member of staff I encountered was and how purposeful and professional the place was. More than 11 years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n I found a parking space easily, and the parking app is a total boon to avoid the dreaded ticket queue.\n<\/p>\n
\n I was early and seen early, had x-rays and CT scans with minimum wait, saw highly professional practitioners, who explained exactly what they were doing and why, and treated me like I was their only patient.\n<\/p>\n
\n I was facing surgery because of a traumatic previous experience that resulted in a burned lip from a drill during a procedure on my wisdom tooth, which led to a gum that has never healed erupting in a painful abscess and infection this summer demanding courses of heavy-duty antibiotics.\n<\/p>\n
\n Acknowledging this, I was treated with the respect and caution that someone should have after such a difficult experience.\n<\/p>\n
\n But what I saw around me were grumpy, demanding and obstreperous patients to the patient courteous staff.\n<\/p>\n
\n Huffing and puffing at having to wait, believing their right was to be seen first because their needs and time were more urgent and important than anyone else.\n<\/p>\n
\n From reception staff to nurses, surgeons, consultants, and x-ray staff, every staff member scored 10 out of 10 on all accounts.\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s rare today to find such positive, uplifting service.\n<\/p>\n
\n Perhaps I was lucky, or have more realistic expectations?\n<\/p>\n
\n But I found little has changed since my cancer treatment at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in 2011.\n<\/p>\n
\n I\u2019m now awaiting surgery feeling fortunate we have a free service with the people who work in it with such grace and care considering the worst of humanity they face in their jobs every day.\n<\/p>\n
AN ESSENTIAL CHANGE<\/p>\n
\n Any parent who watches that dreadful footage of Harvey Willgoose backing off from his young killer will feel sick.\n<\/p>\n
\n Harvey feared going to school because of weapons and was persuaded to go that day, which led to his death.\n<\/p>\n
\n Metal scanners must be installed in every school because nothing is changing.\n<\/p>\n
\n A terrible state of affairs but an essential one.\n<\/p>\n
FLYING THE FLAG<\/p>\n
\n The most magnificent display of flags hangs in the reception of East Norfolk Sixth Form College.\n<\/p>\n
\n Each flag represents the nation of origin of its students \u2013 more than 70.\n<\/p>\n
\n Their message is that everyone is welcome in its community and diversity is what makes it community so special.\n<\/p>\n
\n It felt safe, open and warm \u2013 in stark contrast to the display of union flags and the George cross from a nearby bridge, which said the opposite, carrying messages of exclusion and rejection.\n<\/p>\n
\n This was so close to the James Paget Hospital where so many staff carry out outstanding care to people who fly these flags.\n<\/p>\n
\n They can learn a lot from those sixth formers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He had heard “concerning stories” and wanted to hear opinions because he was “worried the management of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-222760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}