Pill Popping Popularity

Posted on December 3, 2017 by john graham

Ever since I started this blog in 2010, I seem to have been writing about pills.  It is often a daily topic of conversation amongst elderly people, just like the weather.  ( You can see all the posts on this subject by clicking on “Pills” in the Tag Cloud )

My first post on the subject was entitled “A Pill for Everything” and underlined the expectation that many older people have, that every time they visit the doctor they come away with another pill.

Now a recent study by the Cambridge Institute of Public Health has confirmed the dramatic increase in pill consumption that has taken place since then.    Half of all pensioners are taking at least five drugs a day.  A number that has quadrupled in the last two decades.   Only 7% take no drugs at all.

This is partly explained by the ageing of the population and partly it is due to the introduction of new drugs.   But one other factor may have made a difference and that was the bonus system that the Government used to incentivise  GP’s to prescribe more pills!

Little wonder therefore that GP medication reviews, which are supposed to cut back on unnecessary drugs, don’t seem to happen as frequently as they should.

Posted in HEALTH | Tagged | 3 Comments

BREXIT Negotiations Stalled

Posted on November 28, 2017 by john graham

The Last Laugh Looney Party recently helped with the Brexit discussions with Mr. Junket and successfully negotiated some of the more important issues for older people namely :- small print, packaging and gadgets.   (You can see all my earlier posts on this subject by clicking on “LLLP” in th Tag Cloud.)

Then it stepped back and left Mrs T. Dismay and her cabinet to make progress on smaller issues like trade and exit costs.    Unfortunately they seem to have got stuck on the ever thorny issue of Ireland.

So the LLLP has been asked to come up with some options to break the deadlock.  We don’t really understand what the problem is because we came up with the following ideas after a few drinks at O,Neil’s, in no time at all :-

  • a Berlin style wall on the border with Northern Ireland, with only one crossing —— Checkpoint Paddy.     No passports needed, you just have to talk your way through with the gift of the gab,  or prove you can drink 12 pints of Guinness and still walk in a straight line.
  • Rename Northern Ireland —— “ENGLAND”   Simple as that !
  • Sell Northern Ireland to the European Union for £40billion and let them deal with the United Ireland question.
  • A big punch up in Yate’s wine bar on a Friday night.   Probably won’t resolve anything, but to be sure, they can always  come back the following Friday.

 

Tagged | 1 Comment

Rambling 😩Injury

Posted on November 26, 2017 by john graham

I have only been rambling for a few days and already I am struggling to reach peak fitness. Perhaps I have overdone it walking to the pub.  Now I have got a pain in my leg.   Somebody suggested it might be a shin splint.

I didn’t know what that was, so I thought I would try the latest NHS diagnostic technique.  I Googled it and Google led me to a world renowned medical authority— the Mayo Clinic.   No delays, no waiting for hours on trolleys, no catching other patients’ infections while you wait.    I didn’t even need to speak to a doctor.   Just a tap on the iPad and up pops the answer.   Google thinks I have got Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome.

I am in good company because it affects runners, dancers and military recruits.   Mind you I am a bit too old to join the army, unless they would give me a desk job firing missiles or spying on enemy positions using drones.    Nor have I caught up with Mo Farah when I have been out walking, of course he is a little bit faster than me.    So I can only conclude I must have injured myself while I was watching Strictly Come Dancing on the tele.  Maybe I could sue the BBC for consequential damage.  I will have to speak to my – “No Win, No Fee” lawyer about it.

The website did offer two bits of useful advice.   Firstly, consider buying new walking shoes every 350 to 500 miles —- so I should need a new pair by about 2027.    Secondly, get plenty of bed rest—- so I have told my wife Mo, I will only get out of bed every other day for a few months.

Finally, if, I really still want to see a doctor, the website offered me an appointment.     Sadly, Arizona, Minnesota and Florida all seemed a bit too far away, especially with my poorly leg.

Still, virtual-do-it -yourself health services may take a lot of pressure off the NHS and thanks to Google there is one less hospital bed taken up by an older person.   I could have been in there for days with MTSS.

Posted in SMILES | Tagged | 3 Comments

Clutter, Time, Space.

Posted on November 23, 2017 by john graham

The link between clutter and time and space

is endlessly interesting.

At least it is if it’s raining

and you’ve got nothing better to do.

Clutter only accumulates over time.

If you have more space you have room for more clutter.

Clutter is in the way if you are in a hurry.

If you take more time, clutter is not so much of a problem.

With no time you need everything in its place.

So that you can find things quickly.

With pleanty of time.

You can take time to find things.

The third dimension is space.

If you have all the space in the world,

then you have no clutter.

Just a lot of walking about to do.

That’s the link between

Clutter

Time

and                        Space.

Posted in ELDERLY MARKET | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Trawling the deep

Posted on November 21, 2017 by john graham

Trawling the depths of my Internet mind.

Digging around in the years far behind.

Unlocking the lost,

Expanding the new.

Remembering what I once knew.

Joining the dots of today,

To the clutter of yesterday’s

Tagged | 1 Comment

Rambling Research Start

Posted on November 19, 2017 by john graham

I am going in search of something.  I am not sure what?   But it will be fun and I will report on it here as it happens.

I am  looking for something to do and it has to do with older people, because that is what I know most about.    Surfing is a key to finding information and rambling around aimlessly is sure to get me somewhere.

Today I Googled “activities for older people’s groups” and stumbled into lots of card games, singing choirs, knitters and natterers, painters, poets  and craft activities.     Familiar territory, good things to do.  But nothing grabbed my attention.

Then I landed on “SARCOPENIA”.   It is a terrible disease that I had never heard of but I could easily get.   It affects lots of older people and is estimated to cost the NHS a massive £11.9 billion !    It leads to increased hospitalisation,  greater nursing home admissions and higher home care expenditure.   It is loss of muscle strength through sitting around all day.

I found out about it in an excellent report produced by the Royal Voluntary Service entitled ” Move it or lose it”.  You can find the full report by clicking on the link below.

https://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/Uploads/Documents/Our%20impact/Improving_physical_function_in_older_people.pdf

It is a study of how resistance exercise with a small group of older people, whose average age was 81, improved their strength and balance; helped them look after themselves more independently; lifted their sense of well being and reduced their visits to GP’s and A&E.

It was first published in 2016 and deserves much more exposure.

I WONDER IF THE GRUMBLESMILES TRUST COULD DO SOMETHING TO GIVE THIS EXCELLENT INITIATIVE GREATER IMPACT ???????

 

Posted in SMILES | 1 Comment

Where am I going 2 ?

Posted on November 16, 2017 by john graham

A day’s gone by and I still don’t know

where I am going.

Time relentlessly driving me forward

to an unknown destination.

BUT IT WAS ALWAYS THUS.

 

The day I was born,

I couldn’t know.

In my teens,

I thought I knew.

By my early working years,

I was sure I knew.

 

BUT I DIDN’T

 

Now in my later years,

I know I don’t know.

I can only navigate

with the history of my life.

 

 

Posted in SMILES | Tagged | 2 Comments

Where am I going?

Posted on November 14, 2017 by john graham

I have lost my focus,

so I am rambling.

All over they place,

at fast and slow pace.

 

But I am still rambling,

which maybe was always my way.

I didn’t know where I would end up  then

and I don’t know now.

I just knew I was born to go on this journey.

Posted in SMILES | Tagged | 1 Comment

Cateracts

Posted on November 12, 2017 by john graham

When is a cateract not a cateract ?    The answer is when it is in the NHS.

Cateract surgery is the most common procedure carried out in the NHS.   The operation is not hugely expensive and can be life changing for many patients, most of whom are elderly.    300,000 operations are done each year, so it should be a good news storey all round.     Sadly that is not the case for many people.   Budget constraints mean that you have to be almost blind before you qualify for the operation.

A recent study showed that the condition which can severely impair a person’s vision, preventing people from carrying out daily tasks such as driving or going to the shops.   It can also lead to more falls which costs the NHS a lot more money to repair broken bones.    Not to mention the fact that if you have cateracts you are 40% more likely to die early if you don’t have the surgery.

If prevention is better than cure, you might think the NHS would be racing to do more operations.    After it would enable older people to remain independent for longer;  it would save money on falls treatment.    It would be a vote winner amongst older people.

But NHS think differently, they start from the fact that there is no money.  Even if there was more money they might want to spend it on something else.    And anyway there are not enough ophthalmic surgeons.    And keeping older people alive for longer may cost the NHS more money still.    And those who can afford it can always get it done privately.  Just cough up  £3,000 per eye but look out for the buy one get one free offers first.

With can’t do attitudes like this, it is no wonder that old people are at the back of the NHS queue.

Posted in HEALTH, N.H.S. | 1 Comment

Elderly A and E ?

Posted on November 9, 2017 by john graham

In anticipation of the usual winter crisis and shortage of beds, ideas for new ways of working are coming out of the NHS thick and fast.   Here are two pilots that could have real advantages for older people.

The first is a proposal in Norfolk, where there is a higher than average proportion of older people.   They are opening a separate emergency unit specifically for people over the age of 80.   An octogenarian speedy boarding kind of A & E, except the idea is you don’t board.   The hope is that they can assess and treat you quickly and get you straight back home.   If it works, it is a good idea, because many older people seem to get worse when they are admitted to hospital.  Apparently  14% of  Norfolks A&E admissions are over  80.

The second new approach being tried out in London is to use video phone consultations between patients and a call service to a doctor, which would give you access to a GP within 2 hours  — a sort of  now you see him now you don’t  virtual type of consultation.    That could certainly work for young people who don’t like getting out of bed.

Now if we tweak all that a bit.    Extend the age range for speedy non-boarding to include all people over 60.    Encourage/ require everyone else to use their mobiles rather than going to hospitals.   There would be very few people left who needed to go to A&E.

Another idea would be to send the doctors to visit the elderly in their own homes and maybe call them GP’s.

 

Posted in N.H.S. | 1 Comment