RUOK?

[elantra]

What's going on? 45 years of heavy manual labour combined with old white guy approach to health: ignore it and it'll fix itself As for what the actual problem is.....3 GPs, 2 Podiatrists, 3 Physio's, 2 Ortho surgeons with a foot specialty, assorted orthotics and get this....I don't know any more than I knew at the end of last year! The first Physio was shocked when I told her how much I used to ride....where's the muscle?? It's gone. Almost all of it.

Although I'm quite happy to name and shame one particular Poddy who actually made things worse. Stupid so and so.

What else can you do to help with it? Any kind of non-impact exercise?

With the foot....nada. Was doing daily physio up until two weeks ago. Then spent 3 days working at my son's. Couldn't walk morning after, two days later Ortho reckoned I won't be walking around for exercise at all for a long time, stopped the ankle exercises straight away. Maybe some light cycling by next year on a trainer, spin type stuff. We'll see. Have only got worse since then so who knows?

I refuse to sell my bike and gear tho. Gotta stay positive. Only issue is the damn orthotics require a 4E shoe size

G’day F and O, have you tried a hydrocortisone injection into the worst affected ankle area ?
They can be done with precision guidance at a medical imaging place - if your Orthopaedic Specialist advises.
Not a long term solution but does tend to work quite well for a period of time, up to a few months

More severe forms of Ankle Arthritis usually need surgery in the long term.

Here is a neat and logical website that gives a bit more details :

https://www.sportsmed.com.au/ankle-arthritis/

It’s a Sportsmed focused website but gives a fairly diverse and comprehensive overview.

[fat and old]

G’day F and O, have you tried a hydrocortisone injection into the worst affected ankle area ?
They can be done with precision guidance at a medical imaging place - if your Orthopaedic Specialist advises.
Not a long term solution but does tend to work quite well for a period of time, up to a few months

More severe forms of Ankle Arthritis usually need surgery in the long term.

Here is a neat and logical website that gives a bit more details :

https://www.sportsmed.com.au/ankle-arthritis/

It’s a Sportsmed focused website but gives a fairly diverse and comprehensive overview.

Have asked about that and had a knockback from the first Ortho.....lets wait and see how the orthotic goes. Since then with it getting worse and worse I've seen a new one (Ortho, who sent me to a second orthotics spec. as the ones I have are the FJ Holden of orthotics apparently. Go figure who to believe/trust) and plan to have that conversation when I return in 5 weeks. If I last that long. I had one years ago for a frozen shoulder, issue never came back.

My wife and I sleep in separate rooms now

We're sleeping in separate houses pretty much now

[foo on patrol]

That's a bastard of a thing too have go wrong with that area, F&O.

Foo

[fat and old]

That's a bastard of a thing too have go wrong with that area, F&O.

Foo

Nah, I don't mind it. If she's not around I don't get any chores!

[foo on patrol]

That's a bastard of a thing too have go wrong with that area, F&O.

Foo

Nah, I don't mind it. If she's not around I don't get any chores!

I'm talking about ya foot.

Foo

[Mr Purple]

Six weeks since 'broken everything' today and I think I can actually say 'I'm ok'.

Physio happy, full active movement of the shoulder back though strength a bit down. Have some heavier exercises now and barely notice the rib fractures.

He still reckons another six weeks without riding outdoors. Fortunately I have the Kickr Bike - seven virtual KOMs since the accident now and heaps more to come.

Sort of makes sense to be forbidden outdoors - I have no pain as long as I can plan things in advance. But you can't always plan things in advance outside.

[foo on patrol]

Six weeks since 'broken everything' today and I think I can actually say 'I'm ok'.

Physio happy, full active movement of the shoulder back though strength a bit down. Have some heavier exercises now and barely notice the rib fractures.

He still reckons another six weeks without riding outdoors. Fortunately I have the Kickr Bike - seven virtual KOMs since the accident now and heaps more to come.

Sort of makes sense to be forbidden outdoors - I have no pain as long as I can plan things in advance. But you can't always plan things in advance outside.

Well it's a step in the right direction for ya.

Foo

[jasonc]

Good news Mr Purple

[warthog1]

Yes good to hear Mr P.
I hope it wasn't too much of a pita with your work.

[blizzard]

Great news.

[Mr Purple]

Yes good to hear Mr P.
I hope it wasn't too much of a pita with your work.

The trauma clinic had a five week follow-up - basically consisting of a few questions including 'are you back at work?'.

I'm a doctor, I had a week off!

A couple of colleagues have suggested I speak to a lawyer giving the whole adventure probably cost something like $10-15k in lost earnings, physio and bike damage however I think I'll just give Focus a chance to warranty it first. I'm not sure they actually did anything wrong, it just broke.

Another six weeks on the trainer is going to drive me mad, but I'll probably actually end up fitter at this rate!

[elantra]

Yes good to hear Mr P.
I hope it wasn't too much of a pita with your work.

The trauma clinic had a five week follow-up - basically consisting of a few questions including 'are you back at work?'.

I'm a doctor, I had a week off!

A couple of colleagues have suggested I speak to a lawyer giving the whole adventure probably cost something like $10-15k in lost earnings, physio and bike damage however I think I'll just give Focus a chance to warranty it first. I'm not sure they actually did anything wrong, it just broke.

Another six weeks on the trainer is going to drive me mad, but I'll probably actually end up fitter at this rate!

I got a free ambulance ride back in 2022 after I went A over T on a concrete path at a friends place - in the rain.

The whole experience was surreal as I worked out very quickly that I had a fractured NOF (neck of Femur)

It turned into a week in hospital, with an operation and a metallic device in my leg, of course. And a significant period of disability for several weeks afterwards.
Just one person mentioned that I should talk to a Lawyer but it was never seriously on my radar, for various reasons.

Of course it occurred in very heavy rain.
And I was running to get out of the rain.
Barefoot
There was a type of slippery slime on the concrete but in reality I was the victim of perhaps the wettest 6 months in recorded history, in this part of the world.
That slime was everywhere in northern NSW and Southern Qld at that time, and facilitated by heat, rain, humidity and relative lack of direct sunlight.
Last I heard you cannot sue anyone because the weather is bad, and had been bad for most of the preceding 6 months.

I have largely recovered from that experience in a physical sense.
There are only slight lingering “mental” effects.
First and foremost, I am now a bit more careful when I am on the bicycle. I don’t go as “fast” as I used to.
Because some friends (from the medical profession) have told me that if I have a bike crash with one of these things in my hip is a recipe for disaster. But I am aware of that anyway.

If I have any bitterness about the whole experience it is only about the way that I was treated by the hospital system.
First stuff-up was at a Private Emergency department. They got their knickers in a knot trying to work out if I was covered by my Private Health Insurance.
Hopeless. Thankfully the Ambulance officers could see that it was a farcical situation and waited until a decision was made to flick me off to the Public Hospital
The Public Hospital Emergency department was very efficient and got me into the ward quickly.
Unfortunately that’s where things went downhill.
The staff were more concerned with their computerised record logging onto their cumbersome mobile workstations than giving me any information or reassurance.
It was a very nasty 48 hours (felt like an eternity) before I got up to the Operating theatre and had the fracture treated.
As soon as that was done I could start to recover and it was a happy day when I got out of the hospital

[Mr Purple]

If I have any bitterness about the whole experience it is only about the way that I was treated by the hospital system.
First stuff-up was at a Private Emergency department. They got their knickers in a knot trying to work out if I was covered by my Private Health Insurance.
Hopeless. Thankfully the Ambulance officers could see that it was a farcical situation and waited until a decision was made to flick me off to the Public Hospital
The Public Hospital Emergency department was very efficient and got me into the ward quickly.
Unfortunately that’s where things went downhill.
The staff were more concerned with their computerised record logging onto their cumbersome mobile workstations than giving me any information or reassurance.
It was a very nasty 48 hours (felt like an eternity) before I got up to the Operating theatre and had the fracture treated.
As soon as that was done I could start to recover and it was a happy day when I got out of the hospital

You have my sympathy.

I have top level private cover and was rejected outright by the private emergency department because it was too significant a trauma.

Public was exactly as I remember it. First night sharing a two bed bay in ED with a psychotic guy who was taken down at about 3AM. Next two nights sharing a four bed bay with a guy with Parkinsons who had delirium every time it got dark (poor bugger), a psychopath who was plotting revenge on his sharehouse mates who perforated his bowel with ill-advised CPR and a guy who was basically unconscious except when he woke up to swear loudly.

Care was good but not thorough, the nurses though were excellent. And the whole thing cost me $10 for discharge medications. The food was spectacularly bad, though! As in 'giving everyone malnutrition' bad.

[Andy01]

My experience in 2021 at the PA (Brisbane) sounds similar to Elantra's.

Friday morning around 7:45am SUV took me out (head first into driver's windscreen pillar), driver useless (still in PJs, no phone), local resident good, called ambos & gave me a wad of paper towel to try to stem th bleeding (the blood pool on road was about 40cm diameter - I went back the week later to take photos of the scene). Ambos took about 20 minutes to arrive from about 15km away, which I though was pretty good (lights & sirens), taken to PA with 15cm by 3cm wide (open) head wound (above hairline down past left eye) & suspected other injuries, went straight into Trauma 1. Full exam, full body CT scan, Xrays etc. Found the obvious wound (bleeding profusely), a mild T2 spine fracture, and various other smaller injuries. Have a couple of "incidents" in trauma with heart rate dropping to 40bpm (normally around 56bpm), and blood pressure dropping to 50 over 40, normally 120/80. So far so so good - at least I didn't have to wait on a gurney in the corridor like many others.

Doctors wanted a spinal Xray while standing. They asked me to stand (unaided) for xray, which was fine. Then some genius thought it would be a good idea to get me to turn sideways, and raise both arms above my head - I had another "episode", blacked out and went backwards onto the concrete like a ton of bricks - now had a contusion and massive lump on the back of my head (almost matched the one up front) - that got their attention - I woke up with about a dozen people around me. Back in the trauma short stay area, I was told that my syncopies (they were called something like that) were fairly normal for the level of trauma and blood loss I had experienced

They called in a doctor from "Medics" department to evaluate my heart - he promptly announced that I have a heart murmur (news to me after 57 years) and cancelled any attempt at Plastics stitching my head up. Nurses were puzzled. Then there was a $hit-fight for hours about which ward to send me to because they didn't know where I "fitted" best. On Saturday late morning a senior doctor (specialist ?) came in and checked me out. Was told that I was on a motorbike - corrected her (bicycle). She asked if I cycled regularly and if I measured heart rate etc. When I told her yes, and max heart rate usually over 160 on daily ride, she laughed and said that the Medics doctor was wrong, and that there was nothing wrong with my heart, and put me back on the emergency surgery waiting list (now obviously severely curtailed due to weekend). I was put on fasting in case of surgery.

A couple of hours later a completely unknown doctor came in, didn't introduce herself (which is unusual there) and listened to my heart, and announced that she could also hear the murmur. I called the nurses and told them - they didn't know anything and discovered that she worked in the same team as the Friday night Medics doctor, and that there was a pi$$ing contest between the doctors as to who was right, hence the "second opinion".

No-one knew anything. I was told to shower and prepare for possible surgery on Sunday, so fasting etc (again). Never happened, moved to the Plastics ward. Then told my plastic surgery was scheduled for Monday morning. Fabulous - spent the whole weekend bandaged up like something from a WW 2 movie, with blood intermittently leaking down my face and into my eye & ear. Managed to get dinner on Sunday (for what it was worth), so didn't have much experience with the food because I hardly got any all weekend.

Plastic surgery on Monday. They said that one nerve (sensation to forehead & scalp) was destroyed, and another (that controlled movement to eyebrow etc) was repaired (nerve graft). Allegedly something like 300-400 stitches (internal & external). Had to buzz for nurses during night when I saw the old bloke opposite me suddenly try to get up, rip out all of his "attachments" and try to stand - he had full blown dementia and was recovering from a bad fall and wasn't supposed to walk. They had to restrain him.

On Tuesday morning I had a doctor (who I had never met) and a gang of "rookies" visit, didn't examine me and walk off and a few minutes later a nurse told me to shower because they needed the bed in 30 minutes, so I was being discharged.

I had asked repeatedly about my thumb, wrist, elbow & shoulder being painful, and was essentially ignored. They said that my thumb had been x-rayed in trauma and nothing was broken.

The whole thing was a bit of a cluster really. I discovered later why no-one was interested in anything on my arm - apparently "Plastics" stops at the hand, so anything above that wasn't their area of responsibility I think the big problem with the PA was the completely compartmentalised nature of the various departments - far more interested in their own area of responsibility than what was good for the patient, and in-fighting between departments was rife. The only "good" thing was that it didn't cost me anything (for my weekend sojourn in the PA hospital).

After another 6 months of out-patients etc and still no interest in my ongoing "arm" issues, I asked my GP for a private referral. MRI showed multiple partially torn ligaments in my wrist & shoulder, and impact-induced bursitis in shoulder, and another 12 months of specialised hand & physio therapy, and things got more or less back to normal.

The nerves never recovered so I have minimal movement in my left eyebrow and minimal sensation on that side of forehead & scalp - probably an inexperienced resident doing the surgery ?

The police were useless, arrived after ambos, and after SUV had been moved to give ambos better access to me, hardly spoke to me, so based their entire report on the driver's account and closed the case before I got out of hospital (and refused to give me a copy - said it was mostly my fault). I went to a lawyer and eventually after 2 years got a few grand out of the CTP insurers, but because it was "he said, she said" nothing substantial - just some "go away" money. That is why I now ride with front and rear cameras.

[elantra]

^^^

“The whole thing was a bit of a cluster really”

A bit of an understatement !

Analogous to some of the legendary military campaign flops caused by poor upper management decisions, improper use of resources, and rivalry or poor communication between the ground forces and air forces.
Of course history records military stuff-ups because it makes news and affects thousands of people.

History does not tend to record substandard medical management because it usually only affects one person, who often gets better despite the multiple incompetencies.
And perhaps it happens a lot so is less newsworthy.

Based on the experiences of a few people on these forums you could probably write a book on how not to run a hospital.
But the health bureaucrats and politicians wouldn’t care.
The health economists would care but they rarely get taken seriously because Australia is a “Wealthy” country which can afford to throw a lot of health dollars down the drain as long as the voters think that our system is better than what is available in the “Poorer” countries.

The “issues” with my health care in 2022 (At Gold Coast Hospital) are less serious than Mr Purple’s and much less serious than yours Andy.
At least I did eventually get to have the life-saving operation even if it was somewhat delayed.

To provide some context, the Senior Doc in the Public Hospital ED assessed me and told me at about 9 pm that night not to worry because everything would be sorted with an operation the next day.
Next morning in the Ward I was fasted for Surgery which I was told would happen that afternoon.
The afternoon turned into night and no one bothered to tell me until about 7pm that I was not going to be operated on that day.
Which didn’t worry me too much because I did get some sandwiches and was told that I would be operated on “in the morning”
So next morning came and I was told nothing further but by about 10 am it became clear to me that I was not going to be operated on that morning.
So with my little phone I did a quick google search and confirmed what I probably already knew - that first-world standard was that NOF fractures should get operated on NOT LONGER THAN 24 hours after the time of trauma. I was now at 40 hours !
Anyway I then made a few phone calls and about an hour later one of the doctors came to tell me that I would definitely be getting operated later that afternoon.
And thankfully the operation was technically successful

[Mr Purple]

My experience in 2021 at the PA (Brisbane) sounds similar to Elantra's.

Friday morning around 7:45am SUV took me out (head first into driver's windscreen pillar), driver useless (still in PJs, no phone), local resident good, called ambos & gave me a wad of paper towel to try to stem th bleeding (the blood pool on road was about 40cm diameter - I went back the week later to take photos of the scene). Ambos took about 20 minutes to arrive from about 15km away, which I though was pretty good (lights & sirens), taken to PA with 15cm by 3cm wide (open) head wound (above hairline down past left eye) & suspected other injuries, went straight into Trauma 1. Full exam, full body CT scan, Xrays etc. Found the obvious wound (bleeding profusely), a mild T2 spine fracture, and various other smaller injuries. Have a couple of "incidents" in trauma with heart rate dropping to 40bpm (normally around 56bpm), and blood pressure dropping to 50 over 40, normally 120/80. So far so so good - at least I didn't have to wait on a gurney in the corridor like many others.

From a medical viewpoint (and I worked in emergency for six years) that unfortunately sounds like the normal sort of debacle these days. But is in no way acceptable in any way, shape, or form.

I was also in PA, and I can give you a rundown on what specifically they got wrong.
- Category 2 via ambulance multitrauma (to be seen within 10 minutes), in a corridor for 60 minutes.
- There was no primary survey - they should check you over for all injuries and this didn't happen until the next day.
- The pain relief (patient controlled anagesia) was up quickly with a bag of normal saline but because of the normal saline shortage I didn't actually get any fluids for over 12 hours. I'd been on a 30km training ride and was pretty dehydrated, plus nauseated from the head injury.
- Tertiary survey (full going over to be done within 24 hours of admission) was completed just before discharge on day 3.
- I saw a physio for roughly two minutes just prior to discharge and knew more about how to treat my injury than he did.
- No-one ever once told me to get up and move, which is the major way to prevent complications with my injuries.

The impression I got was that they are just completely under-resourced for what they're meant to do. It was bad enough when I worked with Queensland Health, now the whole system seems on the verge of falling apart.

However what I would say if that you require life saving treatment quickly then the public system will be the best place for it at no cost to yourself. And the nursing staff were absolutely excellent, can't say a bad word about them. So rest assured, you mess it up properly like I did and the system will save your life. It just won't be particularly enjoyable.

[Andy01]

Yes, it is quite sad really when the best thing we can say about the care is that we didn't die (or be permanently impaired) and it was free. It should be better than that in Australia.

[warthog1]

Emergency departments are still getting smacked with huge patient load. It just hasn't recovered post Covid.
A fair proportion of the presentations are not emergencies but there, a- is no charge and b- people have trouble getting in to see a GP it appears.

[brumby33]

Emergency departments are still getting smacked with huge patient load. It just hasn't recovered post Covid.
A fair proportion of the presentations are not emergencies but there, a- is no charge and b- people have trouble getting in to see a GP it appears.

Same here in Albury and Wodonga Warty, the ED is getting smashed because now most doctors are charging up to and over $90 per visit and many GPs you've got to book up to 3 to 4 weeks in advance. GPs don't stay long, just to full fill their contracts then head to a capitol City. Many of the good doctors here aren't taking in any new patients.
I've been here now for almost 2 years and still hasn't found a good GP. Still using our Sydney GP for most things and go up to see him a couple of time per year.......I think we might eventually move back to Sydney I reckon......Since moving here, my wife has developed a serious heart disease that's rare here and will possibly need to be fitted with an ICD (defibrillator) and there's no surgeons here that can do it. The cardiologist she did have here was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike....he was hopeless and not taking my wife's condition seriously so we sacked him. Oh well...Country life was good while it lasted I guess.

[warthog1]

Emergency departments are still getting smacked with huge patient load. It just hasn't recovered post Covid.
A fair proportion of the presentations are not emergencies but there, a- is no charge and b- people have trouble getting in to see a GP it appears.

Same here in Albury and Wodonga Warty, the ED is getting smashed because now most doctors are charging up to and over $90 per visit and many GPs you've got to book up to 3 to 4 weeks in advance. GPs don't stay long, just to full fill their contracts then head to a capitol City. Many of the good doctors here aren't taking in any new patients.
I've been here now for almost 2 years and still hasn't found a good GP. Still using our Sydney GP for most things and go up to see him a couple of time per year.......I think we might eventually move back to Sydney I reckon......Since moving here, my wife has developed a serious heart disease that's rare here and will possibly need to be fitted with an ICD (defibrillator) and there's no surgeons here that can do it. The cardiologist she did have here was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike....he was hopeless and not taking my wife's condition seriously so we sacked him. Oh well...Country life was good while it lasted I guess.

That isn't good Brumby. See your cardiologist in Sydney and get the facts before you look to move back there.
That will be a huge hit, both for the finances and quality of life.

[brumby33]

Emergency departments are still getting smacked with huge patient load. It just hasn't recovered post Covid.
A fair proportion of the presentations are not emergencies but there, a- is no charge and b- people have trouble getting in to see a GP it appears.

Same here in Albury and Wodonga Warty, the ED is getting smashed because now most doctors are charging up to and over $90 per visit and many GPs you've got to book up to 3 to 4 weeks in advance. GPs don't stay long, just to full fill their contracts then head to a capitol City. Many of the good doctors here aren't taking in any new patients.
I've been here now for almost 2 years and still hasn't found a good GP. Still using our Sydney GP for most things and go up to see him a couple of time per year.......I think we might eventually move back to Sydney I reckon......Since moving here, my wife has developed a serious heart disease that's rare here and will possibly need to be fitted with an ICD (defibrillator) and there's no surgeons here that can do it. The cardiologist she did have here was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike....he was hopeless and not taking my wife's condition seriously so we sacked him. Oh well...Country life was good while it lasted I guess.

That isn't good Brumby. See your cardiologist in Sydney and get the facts before you look to move back there.
That will be a huge hit, both for the finances and quality of life.

Yeah Warty, it's not for me mostly although I do have some Cardiac issues that may be likely to hit me later but my wife's condition is rare especially in Australia (Yamaguchi Syndrome) and is mostly more common in Japanese People and my wife being Japanese has inherited it from her Dad. Unfortunately, her Father didn't know he had it and wasn't so lucky. At least now we know what she has, it can be treated but it is a part of a Heart failure.

As for Sydney, if we move back, I have enough to buy a decent modern apartment but not a house or even a townhouse, this house we have is too big for us and I've decided i don't want to look after yards anymore but that won't happen probably till sometime next year.
I'll be 65 in January and so i want to find a place where i'm close to shopping, public transport and good cycling infrastructure and i'll be happy. There will be sacrifices made from my current hobbies and lifestyle, i'll have to sell off all my charcoal BBQ gear and probably my motorcycle I only bought last year.....it'll be the last to go but if i do sell it, it might be replaced by a new E-Cargobike....watch this space. I'll be downgrading my driver licence next year back to a car license as I don't think i'll be driving buses or trucks again....so huge lifestyle changes on the way if i want any quality of life. It won't happen overnight but by this time next year, it should all be done.

I quite like Sydney life although it does get somewhat overwhelming at times and I don't think we'd settle in Melbourne, been there a few times now, great place to visit but don't think i'd live there, it's a hugely different culture between the two i feel and after living in Sydney for over 35 years, you do get used to it.

brumby33
Dave

[jasonc]

Emergency departments are still getting smacked with huge patient load. It just hasn't recovered post Covid.
A fair proportion of the presentations are not emergencies but there, a- is no charge and b- people have trouble getting in to see a GP it appears.

Same here in Albury and Wodonga Warty, the ED is getting smashed because now most doctors are charging up to and over $90 per visit and many GPs you've got to book up to 3 to 4 weeks in advance. GPs don't stay long, just to full fill their contracts then head to a capitol City. Many of the good doctors here aren't taking in any new patients.
I've been here now for almost 2 years and still hasn't found a good GP. Still using our Sydney GP for most things and go up to see him a couple of time per year.......I think we might eventually move back to Sydney I reckon......Since moving here, my wife has developed a serious heart disease that's rare here and will possibly need to be fitted with an ICD (defibrillator) and there's no surgeons here that can do it. The cardiologist she did have here was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike....he was hopeless and not taking my wife's condition seriously so we sacked him. Oh well...Country life was good while it lasted I guess.

sadly it's a federal v state issue. GPs are federal government assisted (medicare rebate) whereas hospitals are state funded (sort of). they are both blaming each other. no one is fixing it

[Mr Purple]

I'm a GP so this does sort of deserve to go in the RUOK thread but decades of neglect of general practice is killing.

Medical inflation is about twice general inflation, and the medicare rebate increases at half inflation. There's pretty much no way to continue bulk billing with those numbers and it gets harder every year. Rural GPs get paid pretty much the same as urban GPs, so there's no incentive to work rurally.

Where 45% of medical graduates became GPs 20 years ago now it's about 10%. And a third of the GP workforce is retiring in the next few years. I wonder why?

[CmdrBiggles]

As an extreme long-term renal transplant recipient (March 1977, still going ), of the emergencies I have had (x 2 sepsis episodes — bacterial sepsis of the tricuspic in 2002, then extended-spectrum ß-lactamase escherichia coli urosepsis in 2021 — cured in 2023 with non-prophylactic treatment), I have been attended to very promptly and efficiently when triaged at several hospitals The Avenue, Epworth, St Vincent's Private, largely because of being an equally long-term private patient.

I can only wonder the miracle that could be brought to fruition is the Victorian government stopped splashing billions and billions of dollars on rail and road projects and injected those funds into the broken and strife-prone public hospital system (and those at the front line — the ambulance service). Sadly, getting their priorities screwed is nothing new for this government, no better than those before it and doubtless the ones to follow.

On a personal needs level, it is not a problem seeing a GP where I am in Geelong (or Melbourne), however very few bulk bill now, and this is causing more and more problems. It is harming the most vulnerable who need care and compassion: with little spare money to spare to pay a GP in a cost of living crisis, they beeline to the hospital ED, sometimes for the most mundane things that a GP could easily look at and Rx. In holiday periods, absolutely catastrophic ED overloads frequently make the front page of local papers.

[elantra]

<snip>……..
- The pain relief (patient controlled anagesia) was up quickly with a bag of normal saline but because of the normal saline shortage I didn't actually get any fluids for over 12 hours. I'd been on a 30km training ride and was pretty dehydrated, plus nauseated from the head injury.
<snip>…….
However what I would say if that you require life saving treatment quickly then the public system will be the best place for it at no cost to yourself. And the nursing staff were absolutely excellent, can't say a bad word about them. So rest assured, you mess it up properly like I did and the system will save your life. It just won't be particularly enjoyable.

An Australia-wide shortage of IV fluids !!!
I have seen plenty of reports of this and it just staggers me - how in 2024 can this be considered acceptable and what on earth is wrong with public administration in this country that has lead to this ?

For those who are not familiar with hospitals it needs to be pointed out that IV fluids are the greatest tool since sliced bread and have saved countless lives since first became widely used almost 100 years ago (or thereabouts)

It’s hard to rationalise that for all the technology and training in operation within a hospital environment that this situation can be present.

Perhaps it just proves what some experts are saying that despite all the information we have access to the human race is actually getting dumber.

Could it be that the same bureaucrats who allowed this IV supply problem to happen are the ones who can see nothing wrong with letting unlimited numbers of oversize Yank Tank SUV’s go on the urban roads, or who can see nothing wrong with state government rebates for crazy e-devices