Surely we need more herbalists!

 

You thought it was all over? I so hope it is now! Nothing against the Monarchy – but enough is enough: today’s MSM are again united, having the official photo of King Charles on their print front pages: “Newspaper headlines: Royal Coronation thanks and King’s official portrait” (link). Only The Star steps out of line again, warning about AI and ‘fake news’. 

The online editions however present some other news. Since our politicians have been ‘celebrating’ as well and are probably deep in conversations with their PR people, it remained for the PM to come out with another ‘initiative’: he’s managed to ‘free up’ 30,000 GP appointments by permitting pharmacies to give out antibiotics an’all … : 

“On Tuesday, the Prime Minister will announce that up to seven million patients a year suffering from conditions such as sore throat, earache and shingles will be able to get prescriptions directly from pharmacies without a GP appointment.” (paywalled link)

Isn’t that nice! Instead of dragging ourselves to our GPs, we’ll now be able to trudge to the nearest pharmacy, coughing and sniffling, and never mind other customers who want to buy cosmetics or baby stuff. We’ll be ‘free’ to tell our woes to a pharmacist, for all to hear (all emphases are mine):

“Treatments for seven common conditions including earache, sore throats and urinary tract infections will be available without seeing a doctor under plans announced by Rishi Sunak. Under the reforms, which will come into effect this winter and be funded by £645 million over the next two years, pharmacists will assess patients and then write the prescriptions. The number of people able to access blood pressure checks in pharmacies will be more than doubled to 2.5 million a year. Women will also be able to obtain oral contraception without needing to speak to their nurse or a GP.” (link, paywalled)

So we won’t need to be concerned about taking too many antibiotics, something the MSM warn about punctually at the start of every winter? What happened to the warnings of not using ‘Doctor Google’ instead of seeing one’s GP? And dont’cha know it: this’ll cost! Not only will we taxpayers shell out £645m for this scheme, there’s also “a £240 million package to train receptionists to refer patients to chemists if appropriate” (paywalled link).

Yes, well, it certainly takes some schooling to tell an irate patient on the phone to go and see their pharmacist! Will the old advice, to go away and take an aspirin, now be replaced with ‘go away and get antibiotics from your pharmacist’? Why don’t we need GPs at all when receptionists can decide on the phone who is really ill or can be fobbed off with ‘see your pharmacist’?

Wait – I’m too scathing: this ‘package’ will also pay for an upgrade to GPs suregies’ telephone systems so ‘nobody gets an ‘engaged’ signal when they call their GP. That’s very nice, innit, and surely will ‘save the NHS’ even though:

“[…] figures show the number of chemists has fallen by 160 over the last two years to 11,026, the lowest number since 2015. Pharmacies have blamed rising operational costs, staff shortages and reduced government financial support. Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said a funding shortfall of £1.1 billion had left many chemists “severely struggling with cashflow problems”.” (paywalled link)

Yes, it’s never too early to present demands for ‘moar money’ and the GP’s representative also isn’t too enthusiastic, using very diplomatic language:

”Prof Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, welcomed the moves as “positive steps” but added: “None are the silver bullet that we desperately need to address the intense workload and workforce pressures GPs and their teams are working under – we need thousands more GPs to be able to use these measures effectively to provide the services patients need.” (paywalled link)

However, not one of those figureheads, not one of the MSM ‘health’ editors has – so far – addressed key questions, for example: are GPs now no longer the ‘gatekeepers’ for all things ‘health’? Has the government and NHS now transferred ‘control’ over our health back to us peasants? 

Moreover, will pharmacists now become the target of irate patients demanding their antibiotics or else? Will they get a ‘package’ training them to tell ‘customers’ to go and see their GP? What about ‘patient confidentiality’ when people have to tell their intimate symptoms to a pharmacist for the rest of the customers to hear? What happened to the terrible way patients ‘self-diagnose’, overlooking some more serious illnesses which a GP might have detected? 

Most importantly: why are we all so ill? Why do we suddenly need so many more prescriptions that GPs can no longer cope? Might the population increase caused by unstoppable migrants, a.k.a. ‘poor refugees’ possibly have something to do with this?

Might the general health of the population have gone down the drain as result of the covid years and vaccinations? Is this a question “we” are not being permitted to ask? Aren’t we already being fobbed off with ‘advice’ to self-medicate by using tons of supplements, do ‘more sport’ and ‘eat healthily’? Isn’t this an insidious way of telling us that being ill is our own fault? 

That’s all I have for today.I’m astonished that there’s no scheme of using AI  and smartphones so that patients won’t need to bother any real person. Perhaps Sunak should also ask amazon to set up a scheme to deliver pills to ill patients. You know it makes sense … Have a good day.



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