I had cause, as many others have, to attend Causeway Hospital A&E. The waiting time for an assessed by a doctor is currently 6 hours plus unless you are reporting with a coronary or other life threatening illness. That is as it should be regarding the latter. The general waiting time is another matter. It has gone up from the 40 minute target of recent times to ... Whenever, or if ever, we get round to you. Why is that? What happened to those targets the government love so much? When I was in A&E people who were clearly unwell were becoming more ill sitting in the waiting room so they elected to go home to bed. That’s terribly sad. I dread to think that someone who was so uncomfortable and anxious by the long wait went home with a potentially life threatening problem. I don’t blame the staff. They are doing a great job under extreme constraints.
The “powers that be” have made it painfully clear that they want to close Causeway A&E and move services to Antrim Area Hospital. Causeway is earmarked to be a Cottage Hospital. Call me a cynic but I suspect the A&E department is being deliberately run down so that patients will not fight to keep it open. I could be wrong. If I am right, SHAME on those who are manipulating sick people to push through a financial proposal that will leave the Causeway Area without adequate A&E response.
We have a large urban and rural population. There are students in term time and an influx of holidaymakers and golfers et al the rest of the year. Is it wise to close the unit? I for one would like to see the statistics regarding attendance at Causeway A&E. Not those taken recently when people are walking out wounded but the figures for the last 10 years.
Is there going to be a cardiac response team on-call if Causeway A&E is closed? I would not want to have a heart attack in one of the Ports for example and rely on getting to Antrim alive. That’s just me.
Wards are being closed. Operations are cancelled. It’s a shambles. The bottom line is, the government want to privatise services. They would rather pay a private profit making company to provide healthcare than do it “in-house”. And it’s our Nation Insurance contributions they are using.
What about the cost of fuel? OMG! Drivers have long been an easy target for the tax man. We pay car tax, vehicle excise duty and excise duty on fuel, toll charges, and excessive parking charges. Then there is the cost of insuring the wheels. I’m sure I’ve missed something. Hauliers must be in despair. If they can’t afford to haul goods then we don’t get them. That’s sure going to help get the economy going again … NOT!
My next rant is wages and bonuses. The standard rate tax payer is the back bone of this nation. They are losing their jobs and if they can’t pay their mortgage they lose their homes. Repossessions are on the rise at an astounding rate. Many workers are taking pay cuts. I think I have disappeared down the rabbit hole as I’m sure most peeps do. How in blazes can bankers award themselves bonuses when they are trading at a loss? And how dare those banks that are partly owned by the tax payer even think about bonuses? Where are the government? Oh, that would be selling us out. No change there then.
Taking Advantage of the Disadvantaged
The companies that have jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of peeps desperate for money should be taken to task and banned from loan sharking. That’s what it is. 200% interest is extortion. Anyone that is driven to these leeches will end up in more debt than they started with. If they can’t repay the loan, the bailiff’s come around and take the TV, furniture and whatever else they can sell to cover the debt, even though it’s probably been repaid tenfold. Something has to be done to stop these people advertising on TV. A law should be passed to cap the percentage interest rate a lender can charge. Who is going to do that? Wish I knew.
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