Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Prince Charles has said this about Doctors - he's so right!

'Doctors must learn care and compassion': Prince Charles claims modern medicine is putting the 'human touch' at risk | Mail Online

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Doctors have always had compassion...

So long as you can afford it.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I worked with Doctors over many years.......some of them could empathise with their patients,others couldn't....and I doubt very much that compassion can be taught...care can be taught, but not compassion - but, that is just my opinion.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

having been admitted to hospital myself this week and having seen quite a few doctors i would say yes, the majority of them do have compassion and seem to care

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Since mum's stroke, I have had a lot of dealings with the NHS over the last four years. Mum has been shown compassion by all who treat her, especially the team at the Anti-coagulant Unit at RBH. The poll is a no-brainer. Who is going to vote No?

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Glad your Mum is getting care, but it's only one of his no brainer polls anyway, who's gonna vote?
:D

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Agree with you Margaret going on my experience of the NHS over the past year. Compassion is either in your nature or not - shouldn't stop someone being a good doctor though.

Can't fault any of the care I have received and for me that is enough. I'm not over fond of too much touchy feely stuff if compassion comes into that category. Prefer straight talking myself with a little bit of empathy thrown in where appropriate - which is what I have experienced.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Ask Jaysay, he's been there and can surely give a candid report on what goes on.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Compassion does not have to be touchy feely stuff..it is really about asking what the person who is being treated would like......in a professional way, and taking cues from the patient....which are not always verbal.
You can usually tell those who don't want the touchy feely approach, but there is a vast difference between telling it like it is, and being blunt to the point of tactless.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Well in that case compassion has always been there for me - I take your point as a professional. Just wish there was another word for it - I'm afraid for me it evokes religious connotations - which I know is not in any dictionary definitions.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Never considered compassion as religious, if it was, it would probably kill the patient.
My kick on that is, trying a little extra to make someone more comfortable with their problem, not giving up on them, no matter how hopeless they or the condition is.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Some interesting views here on what is a more complex subject than at first appears.

The religious association for me Less comes about because many Christian and other faith organistions use the word in their titles but obviously that's not to say they have hi jacked it - it just seems that way to me sometimes.

Compassion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I like the quote:

“Greek and Roman philosophers distrusted (feeling) compassion. In their view, reason alone was the proper guide to conduct. They regarded compassion (a virtue) as an affect, neither admirable nor contemptible.” Thomas Szasz from his book "Cruel Compassion"

Maybe I just have a heart of stone?

I'm also thinking about Margaret's blog the other day about the young man she took pity on in Bury. I could never ever do that. My thoughts I'm afraid run along the lines of: How do you know he's homeless and will be on the streets on Christmas Day? Some people, maybe only a very few but it does happen, spend their days like that young man and then disappear to somewhere else at night. And where do you stop if you give to every beggar etc on the street? Yes I know we are more fortunate than others and most unfortunates are genuine but I just can't get involved. There you are, I do have a heart of stone. Still doesn't stop me giving to homeless charity at Christmas though as we did last year - annual donation to different charity each year in lieu of gifts etc.

Sorry drifted off the doctors theme a bit but just trying to put my views over.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I don't think your stance makes you heartless Sue. I also give to four charities on a regular basis.
And I think that modern life has made us very very cynical and suspicious.
During my career I met men of all ages(that sounds really bad doesn't it?) who slept rough...had nowhere.
This young man looked like them

He was was lying there at 9.30 in the morning...he didn't look as though he had been anywhere else during that day....his quilt was thin and wet from the floor of the underpass, and the damp from the tiled walls.
I took him on face value....and thought about how I would feel if it were me.(or someone I cared about)
I know I cannot help every beggar(and by the way - he wasn't begging...he was asking for nothing) but if I can offer some kindness/help(however fleeting) to just one person I meet, for no other reason than the fact that I can do it...and it takes nothing at all from me that I need.
Your question about helping every beggar makes me think of the man walking along the beach where hundreds of star fish had been washed ashore - likely to die.
He was picking them up and putting them back in the sea.
Someone said to him 'you can't help them all' just as he was putting one back...he said 'No, but I helped that one'...it is the same principle.

Who knows if at some point in the future I am in need of help and support of some description, and it is offered to me....Karma! What goes around comes around.

Different strokes for different folks.
And now I have drifted even further from the debate on doctors.
Compassion isn't religious, it is just wanting to make a difference to the life of another human being by offering a kindness(in whatever form is necessary).

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I know it's not about religion... I just can't help make the connection with something I feel strongly about.

And I think your word kindness is a very good one to use... much less emotive to me than compassion. And I like to think that I am a kind person - in my own way.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

circumstances make us what we are Sue.
Kindness comes in a variety of shades.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

well six people have :)

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I've just spent the last 10 weeks under the care of several doctors and to be honest when a doctor stands at my bed and says "seeing you have COPD without traces of Asthma we're going to try you on beta-blockers to regulate your heartbeat Mr Farrer", didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I just said excuse me asking but have you actually taken the trouble to even have a glance at my medical file, which is in your trolley, if you had you would have seen I had a severe asthma attack, on this ward, only 2 days ago, Doctor walked away from bed with very red face. I saw around 15 different doctors while in dock this time the only two I would give house room to where Dr Zaman and Dr Lynch, the rest I wouldn't have been happy if they'd been looking after my pet dog :mad:

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I'll keep Max away then?

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I have to say that I have worked with some excellent doctors, but I have also worked with some who would only be useful as a bad example...or a doorstop!

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

You would do well doing just that believe me;)

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

The reports we've been hearing on the news is more to do with patients being ignored by nursing staff on the ward and I see these nursing clinicians were also included in Charles's speech.

<<He called on doctors and nurses to heed what patients say so they can develop the ‘healing empathy’ so badly needed.>>

The doctors don't run the wards, the middle management do and it's they who should be given courses of compassion towards their staff who are run off their feet. A well run ward would have fulfilled staff and contented patients.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Unfortunately I witnessed a very poor standard of hospital "care" six months ago leading up to my elderly mother's death. My sister and I have lodged an official complaint, not because we want any money but because we want to try and prevent other elderly patients being treated in the same way. I was profoundly shocked at many aspects of my mother's "care" and will never get over the fact that I opted for her to go into hospital thinking she would be well looked after. My mother was an elderly lady with several medical conditions. It's not that I can't accept her death, it's the fact that the last six weeks of her life were so unpleasant and unhappy. My biggest complaint is that doctors and nurses sit in front of computer screens at workstations on the corridors instead of being on the wards among the patients.

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My daughter has been ill since the end of July(she is just now starting to feel a little better)...her 'care' was abominable.
I won't go into details (in case there is litigation - again, as Judith says not for money...no amount of money can compensate you for lost family life,pain and maybe in the not too distant future - her job).
As a retired ward sister I was appalled by the lack of, for want of a better phrase - 'joined up services'.
There appeared no communication between teams of medical staff.
Some nurses were not only unkind, but cruel.
I think I had better leave it there....I can feel my ire rising.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

A friend of mine with a long term illness, had to be admitted to hospital, because he'd spent sometime before going in flat on his back he had some sores and told the Doctors.
They looked at them and decided they aren't proper bed sores therefore don't need treating unless they turn into bedsores.
Surely prevention would have been better than cure? Treat them before they get out of hand.
I wonder, do the same professionals turf patients into the street because it's only a 'mild' heart attack?
Come back when it's worth my while opening you up!

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Less, I can't answer the question you posed....But I can tell you that I am saddened(and angry too) that patients are being treated as if they were commodities on a conveyor belt.
I am concerned that patients are being treated with disregard and disrespect.
Patients should not be blamed for being ill...and if you look at it logically, without patients there would be no jobs.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

That sums it up for me too. My late husband was an otherwise healthy active 61 year old. The first day he was full of praise for those caring for him. The second day he actually said "I'm frightened" and then outlined an occurrence over a missing medical note which happened to another patient who'd been admitted that day. The staff crowded around that patient trying to persuade him to take medication which his consultant had documented that he was allergic to and which could be fatal (detailed on the missing record).

My other half caught some sort of bug in the hospital and wasn't discharged as planned - I was sat at his bedside when a nurse actually raised her voice to him .... he died the next day. I got 100s of disbelieving 'phone calls from around the country and heard some hair raising accounts of hospital errors.

I too started action but eventually decided our 18 year old needed me more than I needed a 6ft hole in the ground.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I know what my 86 year old mother has to say about nursing standards.She did her S.R.N.training at Burnley Vic and was senior staff nurse at A.V.H. Casualty when it was going. She is completely appaled at the lack of nursing .In her words "they are all pen pushers now"

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

As you know Judith I have just spent around 10 weeks in hospital, and most people on here know I'm not a shrinking violet and am always prepared to open my mouth when needed. I have been treated as an in-patient in the NHS for 32 years and have never found any need to complain about anything until this last stay, we have lodged a complain with PALS the patients association regarding my treatment on ward C7 the Royal Blackburn hospital, I can concur with everything you have said in your post. When I was admitted it was for a very serious chest infection and a chronic stomach problem, they then condescended to treat my chest and ignore my stomach which was getting worse all the time. One morning the consultant came on the ward and asked how I was feeling, my reply was rough, but your infection has been cured, That maybe I said but my stomach is worse now than when I came in over 5 weeks ago, what he said next was when I lost it, I think we'll treat your stomach as an outpatient, my reply was OH NO YOU BLOODWELL WON'T, (mods please excuse the language in that statement) I'm going nowhere until you've sorted my stomach out, consultant leaves ward never to be seen again, they then started work clearing up my stomach, which seemingly would have killed me if left untreated. I agree with Judith doctors spend to much time on computers, you don't cure sickness on line.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Treated as commodities Margaret, and lets not forget Guinea Pigs, on the Thursday I was coming home the first time, the SHO put me on a new tablet to try and control my heart beat, I took two on the ward, but when I got home my feet had swelled to 3 times the normal size, apparently due to these tabs, thus I was rushed back into hospital with a pulse rate of 161 and the crash team on stand by in caz, very scary believe me:(

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

John, I could tell you a very similar tale about my daughter.
On the morning of her discharge from hospital( she was sent in by her GP with a rapid irregular heartbeat - over 150bpm) the Registrar said to her 'I don't know why you were sent back to hospital' in a scathing tone.

In the normal course of events, and if my daughter(being a feisty so and so) had been well, she would have given her an answer that she would not have forgotten in a hurry...but being ill and feeling vulnerable she just asked for the phone and rang her husband to pick her up.
Hospital was the very last place she wanted to be, and she cried all the way to RBH in the car clutching her admission letter from the GP.

I am appalled at the treatment that is meted out to patients who are vulnerable and sick.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Having read the comments by John and Margaret, my experience with a rapid heartbeat has been a bit different.

My pulse appears to be naturally high, above the "normal" 100bpm and up to 120 I would say. When I was in hosp in Jan, the night before my op this was noticed and caused some alarm, doctors were sent for, my chest was listened to and I had an ECG. I told them it would probably go higher thanks to anxiety about the op, they found nothing wrong and forgot about it.

Then a few weeks ago I had to have a procedure at Preston to insert a catheter into my heart, again they noticed a rapid pulse, I told them it was par for the course and would probably subside once the procedure was under way. Which it did and as I was hooked up to an ecg machine as part of the procedure again it was not taken any further.

Last week I went for a blood transfusion and the same thing happened, high pulse, everyone got very excited, I told them it would go away once I was hooked up to the drip but they sent for the doc anyway who listened to my heart and said all was fine, it must be just me as I'd been saying all along.

Of course when they get all excited about it it makes it worse so I asked if could have THIS PERSON HAS A NORMALLY HIGH HEART RATE plastered across the front of my notes

I know my pulse was nowhere near as high as John and Margaret describe and I know all the docs and nurses have to take note of anything unusual but I'm getting a teeny bit fed up of having to explain every time. I guess I should be glad they take it so seriously...

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

If you are anaemic then your pulse rate does go up in relation/response to there being fewer red cells about and any nurse or doctor worth their salt would realise that......anxiety,a raised temperature and infection might do the same as well.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Yep I think they finally got that message Margaret at the transfusion - but I wasn't anaemic before the op in Jan so they had to put it down to anxiety.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Most people are anxious before an operation......even minor ones..though I firmly believe that minor operations only happen to someone else...any operation that we ourselves have is a major disruption to our lives.
Just being in hopsital where you give all control of your life to someone else(who doesn't know you) is a worry.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

id setlle for doctors knowing their damn place in the system

i took my son to great harwood medical center and the doctor rubbished information/facts given to me by both a cancer specialist and saint marys genetics at manchester and as it turns out information that it is critical to my sons future safety has been negelctfully omitted from his personal records 10 years after them been sent to the practice

as soon as my practice is taking on again he will be switching his doctor pronto

i had to ring my cancer specialist and have him have a quick chat with my son to undo the crap this paticular doctor was shoveling

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

A lot of GP's are clever clogs (they like to flex their know how for the sake of it!) and dispute information they don't agree with- also where you have medical centers with several GP's that you may see, they often contradict each other. For example one longterm GP at a place I use cut the strength of pain killers I was given. A week later I went in and a locum gave me the strongest type of pill of that type (without question) and had a bad attitude to boot! :rolleyes:

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

That's the thing with Doctors because it seems to be an elite achievement to become one, they don't like being contradicted by us the patients and the complaints system is inadequate to deal with them. Because it seems that because they have become a Doctor then they are then apparently superior beings.:( I've watched at least 2 programs about NHS malpractice in 2012 and Doctors get away with many things that in other jobs you'd be dismissed for - like Murder! :eek:

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Think it'd be a bit more than just dismissal. :rolleyes:

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Perhaps you should have, 'READ THESE NOTES LIKE A PROFESSIONAL SHOULD', plastered over the front?

Everyone seems to have one thing in common, nobody bothers about the patient's history.

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This one of the reasons that my daughter has been unable to work since July.......not only did the trainee GP not read her notes(it appeared that he could not navigate the computer system), but he did not listen to the information which she gave him...and denies that this information was given to him verbally.

This meant that her initial treatment was inadequate, leading to two stays in hospital and possibly the need for medication for the rest of her life.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

funny how medical records have vital omissons isnt it.The doctor that nearly killed me got away scott free because 3 years of notes about a paerticular ailment went missing.All other visits were logged regarding other aspects of my treatment over that 3 years but nothing regarding the repeated visits and begging from me to take a propper look or refer me

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Think you've got that one spot on Less. :mad:

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

There was a couple of cases one a woman died giving birth because she was left on a trolley for too long and didn't get the care at the right time. Also a couple's baby died for similar negligence - both featured on Panorama.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

I don't think it's Prince Charles' place to pontificate on anything (the Queen doesn't do it). If he'd been born into an average family, with his intelligence & physical attributes, he'd probably have just about made a living as a factory or office worker.

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Are you sure about that Dave, he does talk to plants you know:D

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

not a royalist by any means but considering how much charlie does for the people of this country above and beyond what is required of him and although not the most physicaly gifted man he cant be that stupid if he manages to maintain and run the many organisations he has set up plus his royal duties.

the only way you could think prince charles to be dumb is if all you knew about him is what is printed in the sun.

besides rich or poor anyone can have an opinion it just so happens the press care about what he has to say but not so much about us.

Plus on this occasion hes right

Re: Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!
 

Can't argue with any of that accyman

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I think he may have a little help doing that !!!!!

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Most high flying businessmen/women do it all on their own then?
No, of course they don't...they have people who do the menial things for them.
Prince Charles is no different to these, in that respect.