caramac

It sounds like a good idea in principle and something has to be done to provide good, long term service to the rural communities, but the AMA can’t work in isolation, they need all the other healthcare professional bodies to work in conjunction with them. It’s ok to give incentives to doctors, but no one is going to be willing or able to give a satisfactory service on their own, even if they are from the area originally. They’ll need ancillary staff too, even if that’s just an extra nurse. They’ll also need access to clinics, path labs, radiography services etc, which isn’t so much of a problem in rural towns, but almost impossible in very rural areas. There have been muttering along these lines for at least the last 19 years (when we first came to Australia and my husband worked in some rural communities), so it doesn’t sound like anything new really.

TBF, all those incentives are already available to doctors who undertake locum work for a few weeks (accommodation, travel, car, enhanced salaries) without the need to commit to a long term contract, and while their families continue to live in the major centres with good schools and infrastructure. It’s a very difficult situation to try to solve.

25 minutes ago, Keith and Linda said:

Thanks for reply caramac, it will be second hand, just wanted to start looking somewhere now whilst still in Aus to get a feel of things and monitor the sites but if one jumps out at me I could go for it.

I will check out Bristol street motors, but generally I shy away from dealers but if its a buyers market why not hey!

I’m always a bit suspicious of dealers, but I think Bristol St have a pretty good reputation. So do Arnold Clark. At least it’ll give you an idea of what’s out there - they’re both national companies, so have a huge database of cars to search!

Good luck 

Second hand or new? There are so many car supermarket type of places everywhere, you can just go in and buy one! I went into Bristol St Motors in our local town, told them what I was looking for, they showed me a few online, had a couple delivered the next day or the day after and I went to try them. I chose one, paid for it and they cleaned it, checked it over and I picked it up. You’ll be in a strong position to negotiate- there are so many cars to choose from!

it just takes a few days to get the paperwork sorted out, but the dealers usually do that for you.

I’ve read on here in the past that some universities are a little more flexible with the rules, so it may be worth getting in touch with some that she may be interested in to find out. I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much though, sadly  - your daughter will apply through UCAS and will need to give all her education, exam result and residency history and I’m pretty certain they’ll classify her as an international student. I remember my daughters having to tell them how long they’d been resident in the UK for the Student Finance application.

Have a look at these websites to see if there’s any information that might help..

https://www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/apply-and-track/filling-your-ucas-undergraduate-application

https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/About-UKCISA/What-we-do#layer-6392

Your daughter could also have a look at the Student Room forum/website to see if she any find ways around the rules from others who’ve managed it!

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

19 minutes ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

My parents met an Aussie couple on holiday in the Cotswolds...they said they came to the UK every summer to spend money and stay for a good few months in a caravan, so pretty wealthy.  The old Aussie guy had broken his leg some months before. 

He said he'd been taken to hospital and was treated extremely well, plastered up, then was under Outpatient care until they could fly home.  He told my dad they'd only asked his name and address...so he'd done that and given the address of the caravan park.  They wouldn't take his insurance even though he had it available.

When we went into Medicare this time, my daughter told them that she is just here temporarily (she is Australian) and was told that although she can’t have a Medicare card (we’d assumed she wouldn’t anyway) she would be seen by a gp or hospital under the reciprocal arrangement, even for non urgent things, so maybe it works like that both ways. I always assumed she’d have to use travel insurance if not resident except for emergencies. 

1 hour ago, ramot said:

The supermarkets with chilled counters full of ready made meals horrified me when I was in UK last year. Yes I admit to buying from M&S while I was there, but was on holiday with limited cooking facilities. but to see so many couples often with a toddler in the trolley, in the late afternoon.  buying ready made meals for the family to eat you can only assume for their evening meal. 

This was in Bristol.

I don't live near a busy city here, so don't know if it's the same, but certainly don't see that happening in my local  Woolworths.

I have nearly always bulk cooked  and frozen, it just makes sense to me.

It’s definitely happening here in Australia too now. I’ve been a bit saddened by how much convenience food and ready meals are available in the supermarkets here now.

Given that Coles and Woolworths are run by ex uk managers it’s hardly surprising. The shops themselves are so much better than they were 20 years ago, but the availability of c*** is a bit sad. 

There are far more full time two parent working families now than ever before, so I can see the appeal of a ‘quick fix’ dinner, it’s just a shame they’re made of rubbish.

Theres also the issue (certainly in the uk) of cookery being taken off the curriculum - today’s parents never really learned to cook, so can’t pass skills on to their children. It’s a huge time bomb really, just as smoking was in the past.

One thing I have noticed as a positive is that this generation of young people seem much less interested in alcohol than mine was/is, so perhaps it’s not all bad news..

3 hours ago, BacktoDemocracy said:

The problems are well known but the govt will not have the hard conversations with the public about limitations on provision nor will they mount a proper public health campaign about self treatment and diagnosis,  

They would much rather fragment the service,  starve it of funds, not take any responsibility for public health, maintain the illusion that you can have a first class medical service on 3rd world ratios and then palm the whole thing off to the private sector and let them do the dirty work of imposing budget lead rationing and prioitising, nothing to do with us gov', if your insurance doesn't cover it you can't have it, so bugger off.

And you only have to look at who will benefit from it being put into private hands to know why they’re doing it. 

It utterly sickens me. We have one of the most cost effective health systems in the world and it is affordable in one of the richest countries in the world, but the will isn’t there because those in power aren’t trousering any profit. We’ve seen it in social care, education and housing (more expensive and less quality, accountability and service) and it’s only the pubic’s love of the nhs which means the govt are being careful (sneaky) about how they’re privatising it. 

I think many people are waking up to what’s going, which does give me some hope....

38 minutes ago, calNgary said:

In that article it says 

'' He said hospitals were short of 10,000 to 15,000 beds and it was time for the government to decide how to fund the NHS in the long term.''

But what do they really expect when they keep closing hospitals and units down ? I really feel for the Dr's and nurses who are on the front line doing their best and yet taking all the crap from those who are kept waiting. I see no other option than to start charging for misuse of service to those who do missuse it and to clamp down on those who just go to the UK for NHS treatment. 

Cal x

I completely agree re closing beds etc. Walk in centres have been closed, the 111service isn’t fit for purpose (too many unnecessary ambulance calls which diverts crews from more urgent cases), social care cuts which means moving vulnerable people out of acute care into social care is much more difficult, etc etc etc...

I can see the point of charging people who misuse services, but there’s a problem with where the cut off point would be. Do you charge the drunks, the drug takers, the ‘attention seeking ‘suicidal’’, the constant ‘worries well’ who take up an inordinate amount of a gps time. Or do you take it as far as the obese who get type 2 diabetes and the smokers who get copd or lung cancer?

Health tourism is an issue, but it’s difficult to quantify and the admin costs of possibly recouping the 0.3% of the budget it costs is more than it’s thought the overall cost to the health service.

i think this explains the problem quite well - it’s not easy.

https://fullfact.org/health/health-tourists-how-much-do-they-cost-and-who-pays/

If you can afford it, give it a go. We moved to Perth when our girls were nearly 5, 3 and 13 months, then back to the uk when they were 9,7 and 5. My husband was offered a job in Sydney, so we returned when they were 14, 12 and 10, but only for a year (girls hated their school and it was a crucial stage, so I took them back while oh stayed here until he got a job in the uk). All of them have now finished school and two are through, or almost through undergrad degrees and we’re (some of us) now back for another stint, in Melbourne this time. We may stay, we may go back again. Who knows...

All three say they’ve enjoyed moving and can’t imagine being in one place all their lives. Their teachers always used to comment on how they had a different perspective on things because of their experiences, so don’t think that you’ll be doing your kids a disservice even if you decide to come back sometime in the future. Your children are still so little, it’ll be lovely for them to connect with relatives, but it’s still possible to have a relationship with people even on the other side of the world.

In the end it’s only money (if you can afford it, or lucky enough to have expenses paid) and life’s an adventure!

2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I wonder the same thing.  In fact, I made a deal with my OH in the October, that if he could find a place in Bristol or Bournemouth before July, then we'd stay.  Otherwise I was going back to Australia with or without him.  I don't think he believed me because he did bugger-all about it, so that was that.  He can't say I didn't give him a chance!  

So yes, I might've been OK in another city. However, I feel SO at home in Melbourne, I'm not convinced I would've ever felt quite the same there.

I’m in Melbourne now too and feel so comfortable here - I know what you mean about feeling at home here (and I’ve only been here since the end of Nov, although have had long stays here before). I never expected to feel so comfortable here, but it has everything I like - nice, but not too hot weather so I can walk, friendly people, plenty of cultural things going on, good public transport (although I don’t have to travel at peak times...), close to hills, countryside, wineries, calm beaches (I don’t do surf)... The traffic is bonkers and there are too many traffic lights, but those are minor annoyances really.

Im lucky because I feel at home in parts of the UK too, which is just as well because I’m going backwards and forwards for the foreseeable future! I’d agree with Toots though - I think you may well find it easier to settle in another part too. I’ve only ever visited Southampton and would never in a million years agree to live there (apologies to those who like it there). It was crowded, dirty, difficult to get around and took hours to leave! There are some truly lovely parts of the UK if you REALLY have to try again for your OH and It might be worth exploring a bit more.  I have to say though, watching Escape to the Country is about as realistic as Wanted Down Under, so your OH may well be living in a fantasy world in terms of the lifestyle he could have there, but I do understand his need to watch them for his ‘fix’.

I feel for you - it’s so difficult when one half of a couple doesn’t feel settled and life feels like one long compromise. 

1 hour ago, Toots said:

The downside of Tassie at the moment is busy roads - lots of tourists and lack of rain so things are looking a bit on the golden brown side.  The farmers are using large irrigation sprinklers on the pastures and crops.

 

Looks like Norfolk! I’m driving around Melbourne at the moment... That’s traffic!! I guess you’ll notice it more though.

1 minute ago, Toots said:

A bit like the north coast of Tassie.  We get huge winds here and the air is so fresh too.  Today there is no wind at all which is quite unusual. 

I’m going to be there next week to do a bit of exploring on our way down to visit my husband in Hobart. Can’t wait to see it!

We were in Hobart last week - that’s stunningly beautiful (and windy!), so looking forward to seeing more of your lovely island.

20 minutes ago, Toots said:

My great granny lived in Whitley Bay and Mum spent a lot of time there as a child.  She had asthma and it was thought the sea air was good for her at the time.  She had such lovely memories of the whole area that she took us there many times on holiday.  I go back there whenever I'm back in the UK.

The air probably was good there - it blows so hard sometimes it’d fill your lungs without any effort to breathe! It’s such a pretty coastline up there - totally unspoilt, huge sandy beaches. Our dog loved it. He’d run for miles! I hope he likes Melbourne beaches as much when he comes back.

4 minutes ago, Toots said:

Northumberland and County Durham  ..............  two of my favourite parts of the UK.  Got friends in Romaldkirk a lovely village in County Durham.

It’s such a beautiful part of the world. I feel lucky to have been able to live there for a while.

My daughter was in Bristol for uni and loved the city. She’s just told me that national Geographic has voted Bristol coolest city in the uk and one of the 20 coolest in the world, so depending on how cool you are, you’ll fit right in! 

We’re in Melbourne now and my daughter has said there are lots of things that remind her of Bristol- some of the architecture, lots of cultural things going on, a good city centre (although Bristol is obviously much smaller, it’s still well served), access to countryside and nice beaches, good food...

Bristol airport seems to have a good service for domestic and international flights (daughter used to fly home with easyJet to the NE very regularly and it’s only cost £50ish, depending on time and how far in advance you book), so I’m sure you’ll be able to get to NI fairly easily.

I cant help with specific schools, but have heard from various sources that they can be a bit hit and miss - some excellent, some which people try to avoid. Guess that’s the same anywhere though.

It does seem to get more rain than other parts of the UK, but I think that’s true of most of the west of England- it’s wetter than the east, but it’s always a few degrees warmer than the north of England, so that’s a plus!

From what you’ve written, and because you love Melbourne, I think Bristol would suit you better than Oxford or Cambridge, but it’s worth going to look at both those too. I love Cambridge, and it is probably drier than Bristol, but it doesn’t have the same vibe. It’s a little more sedate and I don’t think anyone would describe it as ‘funky’. There’s plenty going on and there are good schools, but it’s further from the coast and the countryside is much flatter- great if you’re into cycling, and the skies are huge and beautiful, but you’ll be disappointed if you like hill walking! You’ll also have to travel further for airports to get you to NI. You could probably get to Dorset in a couple of hours, but I hate driving across the country (I had/have to do Norfolk to Cheshire fairly frequently and it’s a bit of a slog). I don’t know Oxford at all, but I do know it’s expensive to buy houses and live there. Very lovely though.

2 minutes ago, newjez said:

Or more likely it is this they are prescribing

http://www.colgateprofessional.co.uk/products/colgate-duraphat-5000ppm-fluoride-toothpaste/overview

And the daily mail just stuck in any old picture of Colgate toothpaste.

 

I did think it could be - my husband is prescribed that, but it did state Colgate total in the article. It’s not the cheap stuff, but one that contains triclosan which apparently helps combat gum disease.

It’s an old story though. Looking back it’s regurgitated from 2015. Still, it diverts attention from the real causes of a shortfall in funding...

2 minutes ago, newjez said:

Could the toothpaste may also be prescribed to patients in hospital who forget it?

Possibly. It’s a long time since I worked on the wards, but when I did we had a supply of basics like toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc, which came out of the ward budget, rather than being prescribed. It’s probably changed now, but it wouldn’t be gps prescribing for hospital patients though.

1 hour ago, starlight7 said:

All this is interesting as I have a family member who has just retired quite early from being a successful and well liked GP in Britain.Considering all the many years of training, leaving in your late 50s seems rather premature.  Here they don't seem to retire early at all, just cut their days down and work part time - I would have assumed it was the same over there but it seems not. Why is that?

My husband retired from his consultant post at 55. He had what was called mental health officer status which meant he could leave then.  He would have gone on longer, but the cuts meant he was no longer able to provide the service he set up. The government also started talking about changing the way pensions are paid, so he decided to bank his before anything else changed. He then went back part time, but there are limits on how much work you can do there before they start cutting your pension (you can earn, between your pension and income, up to what you were earning before retirement). He wasn’t ready to retire really, as you say, it’s very young, so we decided to come back to Australia for a few years, at least. He’s setting up a new youth mental health service here.

We have friends who are gps and they’ve all had enough. Those who can go, are going. Those who can’t are going part time. Other, younger drs are choosing different career paths. What is your relative’s reason for leaving?

If it’s the case that gps are prescribing these things for anyone, then I’d agree, but I’d be extremely surprised if that’s the case. Having worked in gp surgeries, I know what lengths they go to to reduce their prescription costs, so I would presume there will be good reasons for prescribing these things. The Colgate toothpaste pictured looks like it’s been provento reduce gingivitis, but it’s expensive. Without doing any research, I’d guess that it’s prescribed to those on low incomes in an attempt to reduce the cost to the nhs of treating gum disease and the other complications which arise from that. There’s an increased risk of heart disease from having gum disease, for example.

All people with coeliac disease are entitled to prescriptions for gluten free products, but the ones available on prescription are pretty unpalatable apparently, so those who can afford better quality products buy their own. It’s the poorer people who have to use the prescription products and they probably couldn’t afford to buy them themselves as they’re so much more expensive than gluten containing products. 

Given that there’s going to be a trial on giving prescriptions for ‘normal’ food in London soon, it’s not going to get better, sadly.

12 hours ago, newjez said:

This probably raises other questions about whether people should receive specific food stamps or a food package as part of their benefits, especially if they have children.

Sunscreen is an important part of many chemotherapy regimes. It is often a specific and very expensive sunscreen. We're not talking holidays. Equally, there is an extremely expensive mouth wash that is used in many chemotherapy regimes to prevent mouth ulcers. The nature of the treatment dictates this.

Likewise, there are extreme dandruff conditions which requires special treatment.

There is a grain of truth in the article. The NHS used to prescribe gym memberships. I would question that, as there is plenty of free exercise available. But unfortunately the article takes things out of context and doesn't present a balanced view.

I was going to post something similar. There are dandruff treatments, toothpastes etc which are only available on prescription for good reasons, such as possible drug interactions, comorbidities, high dosage of  ‘drug’ such as ketoconazole or fluoride, but that’s not Daily Fail ‘newsworthy’, so they take a grain of truth and mangle it to fit their own agenda.

There are plenty of drugs now available ‘over the counter’ which used to be prescription only (ranitidine, omeprazole, mebeverine, morning after pill as four off the top of my head, as well as ones newjez has pointed out, and viagra will be available from early 2018 in the UK). It’s constantly changing as research and knowledge of drugs develops. For this reason codeine containing drugs are becoming prescription only in Australia next year because it’s been found to be potentially addictive even in small doses.

There’s also the issue of only being able to buy small quantities of a drug over counter, so people who require high doses, or large quantities of painkillers etc need to have a prescription to allow them to have the amount they need. 

5 hours ago, LKC said:

We looked at that area when we were starting to make plans to move back to the UK.  It was one of the main contenders, to be honest.  My aunt and uncle have just moved up there from Hereford and love it.  My cousin isn't very happy though, because he's at uni in Cardiff and can't just pop home for the weekend to get his washing done!

My daughter was at Bristol uni and her boyfriend was at Cardiff. They used to fly up all the time from Bristol - it’s only £30-60, so much cheaper and quicker than the train. Home on a Friday evening and back on Sunday night or early Monday morning. Good old easyJet.

Newcastle and the whole NE area is a fabulous place. We’ve just left after living up there for six years. It has everything - beautiful beaches, countryside, amazing history, loads of cultural venues/events, lovely people, easy access to the rest of the country (apart from the A1) via decent transport links. It’s also underpopulated which is a huge plus!

The only thing I couldn’t live with long term is the weather - if you don’t mind that then it’s the best place anywhere and I’m glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves!

8 hours ago, Sandgroper said:

My Doctor here is from England, of Indian descent but born and raised In England. He loves GP work but said what was expected of him in the UK was ridiculous 60-70 hr weeks with the prospect of every other weekend as the practice he worked at was being forced to open at weekends. 

He's loving it in Australia he can work set hours at a busy practice which he enjoys and acknowledges the better lifestyle available is beneficial for him and his young family.

It's sad that professionals that are passionate about there work are having that passion stifled by ridiculous working conditions and cuts to budgets, the NHS will end up staffed by migrants (not knocking them) and all privatization will achieve is a lowering of standards. We have two family members who work in aged care (NHS) one has over 30 years service, in the last couple of years all the NHS aged care homes in our area have been privatized and staff forced to TUPE over to a company called Care UK the way they have been treated is shocking they have been forced to take up new T&C's, lost current pensions, had pay cut considerably it really is sad to hear them talk about it.

It’s the same story you hear again and again re care workers. It’s shocking (or it should be, but everyone seems so resigned to poor working conditions now it’s accepted and everyone else is busy telling the carers they should be grateful to have a job at all, so stop whinging). There are some good companies to work for (my parent’s neighbours had a fabulous company, but that was completely funded by the client), but most abuse their workforce knowing that many people have no choice but to put up with it. Not being paid for overtime, penalised for taking too long with a client, not paid for travel time etc.. The bottom line is about profit and if the clients are funded by the council/government via the company then the funding has been cut, therefore so has the profit, so the workers work longer for less.

The trust my husband worked for went over to India to recruit drs from there, which is fine, except that those drs aren’t used to the way the nhs works, so can end up costing a lot more in terms of admissions etc. They were off again to somewhere else to try to recruit just after my husband left, all at the expense of the nhs.

Another trust he worked for a few years ago has gone into ‘special measures’. Lack of staff and funding are the main reasons. When my husband was there, he and colleague set up a new service which was so successful in keeping people well, in school or work and out of hospital. Those who were admitted had shorter stays and were supported well at home once they were discharged. It was so successful they were awarded more money to roll the service out further. That was until we got the coalition government and since then the service (and my husband and colleague) has disappeared, to the detriment of the people who benefitted from it. It’s so shortsighted - keeping people well and functioning, productive members of society is economically beneficial, even if you aren’t interested in the personal benefits to the individual.

Last week there were apparently no mental health care beds anywhere in England. Not one. When there are some available, patients often have to travel miles away from their families and support networks for treatment. That situation does nothing to aid recovery, nor does it help the families who then have to take time off work to visit their relatives (again an economic drain), who are often young and vulnerable. It’s disgraceful.

The public (some of them anyway) is duped into believing it’s all the fault of immigrants, health tourists, the patients and the nhs themselves, not the ‘austerity’ being forced upon the service. The nhs is affordable - we spend less in gdp terms than most other countries and it’s generally a very efficient service despite the constant and very expensive reforms imposed on it, but it’s being driven down ready for cheap privatisation. Almost every person who works within the service knows this is the case.

It was apparently 32 in Hobart today, but 24 an hour and a half away in Premaydena. Very lovely

9 hours ago, Sandgroper said:

The NHS can't stop making the papers http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-jobs-posts-labour-warning-empty-winter-jonathan-ash-worth-a8116771.html

You can understand why nurses move half way around the world to work in better conditions.

And doctors, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists and other ancillary staff.... 

We’ve just returned to Australia for my husband to start two new jobs in Victoria. He’s currently covering as a locum in Tasmania where he’s met up with two old colleagues from the UK (both drs too). He has several members from his team in the UK waiting for their paperwork to be completed before they come over too. There were seven consultant vacancies (and numerous nursing ones) in the region before he left and no one wants to fill them. People are leaving to work in shops, emigrate, or taking early retirement. As of today, for the first time there are 100,000 vacancies in the NHS, including 10,000 drs and 40,000 nurses.

The pay and conditions here are way better than they are currently in the UK - my husband has an office and everything! (In the UK, for the past six years, as head of service, his office was his car and his admin support was his BlackBerry. It was utterly ridiculous.

Of course there are issues here too, it would be ridiculous to think otherwise, but very sadly, the NHS is not a good place to work at the moment, and it’s a very deliberate ploy by Hunt to drive it into the ground - he’s doing his master’s bidding very effectively.

Anyone who thinks the NHS isn’t being set up for privatisation needs to give their head a wobble. It’s already happening - http://www.patients4nhs.org.uk/private-companies-involvement-in-the-nhs/.  Richard Branson just sued the NHS for £2m because Virgin lost a contract, but they’ve been awarded a £104m contract to run children’s services in Lancashire. Given how well ( ) privatisation of social care, housing, schools (academies) is working, it’s sure to be rip roaring success and save the taxpayer millions..... or not.....