Zak O'Brien

[Jim Crawfurd 💙 🇺🇦 @jim_crawfurd]

Nailed it.
Focusing on the 2% of attendances (according to BBC) that could be managed elsewhere will do absolutely NOTHING to reduce corridor care and will do virtually nothing for the A&E waiting times either.

[𝗗𝗿 𝗔𝗷𝗮𝘆 V𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮 @UKGastroDr]

I can explain the divide. Since Doctors trained & became Consultants or GPs in the 20th century - the “deal” has progressively got worse.

• Medical students stopped getting maintenance grants.

• Then they had to pay tuition fees - which have risen sharply over 20 years.

• Debt from studying a medical degree was unusual last century, now it is the norm for many to have > £80k.

• 1st year Doctors stopped getting free hospital accommodation.

• The pension offering has deteriorated.

• Guaranteed employment has gone, we now unbelievably have unemployed Doctors.

• Artificially created bottlenecks means many Resident Doctors can’t get training posts to progress their careers.

• Pay has been eroded markedly by pay freeze / sub-inflationary rises over 15 years.

• The public’s respect for Doctors has diminished - driven by the media & politicians.

• The population health needs have increased - funding has not kept apace, hence the NHS is busier than ever.

Is it a surprise Resident Doctors are angry?

[BBC Breakfast @BBCBreakfast]

'I stand with my former colleagues'

Author and comedian Adam Kay, who qualified as a doctor, told #BBCBreakfast he supports resident doctors who have voted in favour of strike action, in the latest chapter in a long-running pay dispute

https://t.co/0CchH3R0SD

[On a clear day @ICanSeeForever1]

This moment when the penny drops that trying to implement bathroom bans is an impossibility for the former Tory Chief Secretary Simon Clarke is delicious.

[Zak O'Brien @ZakOBrien]

@gmcuk I think it’s very disingenuous to frame this as doctors choosing LE roles. Not so much a choice, but a necessity when there are such awful bottlenecks in training.

[Neena Jha @DrNeenaJha]

Sadly we see this often..

I recall a patient who’d had a heart attack who left A&E before being seen by a doctor due to the huge wait times.

Another patient who’d left after having a stroke! He felt physically unable to sit any longer on a plastic chair after waiting 8 hours

Both had seen me the next day in GP & I had to refer them back urgently to the hospital (direct to specialty not via A&E)

It’s NOT the fault of patients

It’s NOT the fault of A&E staff who are working flat out

It’s NOT the fault of GP practices where demand is outstripping capacity

This is the result of political decisions to starve the NHS & social care of the funds & investment it truly needs.

It’s a political choice!

[Ryan Hamilton @TheRyanHamilton]

My heart is broken💔: As friends & family know, my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child, & about to begin her 2nd trimester. A few days ago she had severe pains, & bleeding, and had to go to the emergency room. There, it was discovered that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Devastated doesn't come close to what that feels like.
Unfortunately for people like us, because of the current laws in the state of Texas, that was only the beginning of this nightmare. Jess (my wife) had an "incomplete miscarriage", and what needed to happen, what was best for HER, and her health, was to terminate the pregnancy, and get the baby out.
The doctor gave her a medication that would move this process along, and sent her home. Where, apparently we would be handling it ourselves. We were told it might take a couple of attempts before it worked.
I'll let you decide how you feel about that.
After a long, painful night of the equivalent of early labor, the baby was still with her. So, we went back to the Emergency Center to get the 2nd dose. A new doctor was on call. He was an older man. You could hear him in the hallway as he said, "I'm not giving her a pill so she can go home and have an ab*rtion!". Being well aware that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Then, he came into the room to say, and I quote: "Considering the current stance. I'm not going to prescribe you this pill". Then, just sent us on our way.
The "CURRENT STANCE"?! Did he really just say that?!
No one should ever have to hear their wife say: "Get this dead baby out of me!".
Can you even imagine how that must feel?
The pain, and the bleeding continued. So, we decided to go to another hospital, about an hour away. There was a female doctor on call there, and we thought we might have better luck.
I should probably mention, the procedure to get the baby out is called a D & C. It's scary, & traumatizing, but sometimes necessary in situations like ours. Especially in emergency circumstances.
So we get to the next hospital. They take Jess in, ask her a bunch of questions, do a new scan... confirm that the baby is still there, with no heartbeat, and then disappear... for hours. Only to come back in and keep asking the same questions over and over. It's becoming clear that they're primary concern is NOT my wife's health. Instead, they seem to be worried about the legalities involved.
So, they decide it is not "enough of an emergency" to perform the D & C.
They do, however, prescribe another, stronger, final dose of the medication for us to try again... at home.
So, we go home to try again. Another long day/night of early labor pains. Only to discover my wife UNCONSCIOUS in the bathroom. Having to pick my wife's cold, limp body off of that bathroom floor, not sure if I was about to lose her, is something I will NEVER forget.
She had to be rushed to the hospital.
By this point she had lost so much blood, and bodily fluid, her body gave out.
They were able to stabilize her, give her the fluids she needed, and we came back home yesterday afternoon. We were also able to confirm that our baby was no longer with her.
Now, not only do we have to live with the loss of our baby... we have to live with the nightmare of what we just experienced because of political and religious beliefs. MY WIFE'S HEALTH SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST. PERIOD!
God knows what mental and emotional damage this has done.
If you consider yourself a staunch "pro-lifer" ... 1) You've never been through what we just went through, and 2) You should take a long, hard look in the mirror and reevaluate your reasons for supporting such a cold, barbaric, ignorant point of view.
It's not that black & white, and it's never going to be.
If you think your "Pray To End Ab*rtion" sign in your yard is "Christian", I suggest you revisit the teachings of Jesus and try again. If you support these laws that make ab*rtion illegal, and result in people being put through what we just were, you should be ashamed of yourself. I've never been so angry, or heartbroken... and the devastation I'm feeling must pale in comparison to what my poor wife is feeling.

[Adam Kay @amateuradam]

As a former NHS doctor, I'm surprised to see a Conservative MP - whose party has blood on its hands as a direct consequence of its treatment of the NHS - using the words "unethical" and "unforgivable" so freely.

[Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙 @DawnButlerBrent]

Heartbreaking. Just Heartbreaking. Listening to this Father's love for his trans Daughter Brianna is powerful.

This cruel government has created so much hate towards the trans community they should be ashamed.

[Dr Robert Laurenson @RobLaurensonD4P]

Extraordinary response with Secretary of State for Health:

The NHS workforce can not be safely expanded by this group of associates with only 2 years of training

“it comes to standing up to the unions”

It’s now nakedly not about patient safety- it’s about breaking unions

[Hassan Ali Beg @NotoriousB_E_G]

Dr Anna Warrington's response here is just *chef's kiss*

[Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas]

So Sunak finally admits that #NHS waiting lists *are* going up. But let's be clear, junior doctors & nurses striking for fair & decent pay isn't the cause of our NHS in crisis - it's the symptom of 13 years of Tory Govt underfunding, understaffing & undervaluing it. #PMQs

[Adam Kay @amateuradam]

Oh, I didn’t realise it worked like this! @grantshapps can I invoice you for the extra cost of my mortgage, energy bills and food which your party incontrovertibly caused?

[The BMA @TheBMA]

Rishi Sunak said today at #PMQs that rising NHS waiting lists is down to industrial action.

Well how about the last 13 years of rising waiting lists?

[Zak O'Brien @ZakOBrien]

Also not gonna tweet about this 6% shit because it’s not worth the time…

[Zak O'Brien @ZakOBrien]

I wonder if @TheSun will be reporting the stories about Dan Wootton as much as they did the last few days?! That probably wouldn’t serve their interests as well…

[Adam Kay @amateuradam]

"This government will have integrity, professionalism, and accountability at every level" - Rishi Sunak

[Zack Ferguson @zackferguson]

Yeah imagine being asked to do a job for the taxpayer but then throwing a tantrum and quitting because you didn’t get exactly what you want. What sort of feckless toddler would do something like that?

[Zak O'Brien @ZakOBrien]

🙄🙄🙄

[Adam Bienkov @AdamBienkov]

Rishi Sunak tells an IKEA worker, whose family is struggling to get treatment on the NHS, that he has a "really, really good plan" to solve the problem, which involves "being a bit clever about how we do things."