Ortho is not my specialty, but what exactly do you want to know? I'm back at work tomorrow actually, I can certainly talk to one of the surgeons and get some info.

quote:

Originally posted by Lews It's at times like this when I hate socialized medicine. My university is still processing my paperwork, which I handed in a month ago, so I can't talk to their staff until it's gone through.

That probably says more about how overloaded the university system is in this country than the healthcare system. Even when I've lived in shitty areas where the GPs are overrun, it's never taken more than 48 hours to get registered. Your uni is probably struggling from thousands of new students registering at once.

If it's remotely serious, I'm pretty sure that if you go into A&E at a hospital they'll see you without asking for any NHS card. Best to go in the afternoon though.

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Mixes:
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> Beating The Lockdown Blues [Peak Time]
> A Different World [Downtempo Beats]
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quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Best to go in the afternoon though.

Is it because the prior night's crowd would have cleared out by then?

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quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Is it because the prior night's crowd would have cleared out by then?

That and people waking up and deciding they're dying will generally rush in first thing in a morning.

___________________
Mixes:
> Crazy Beautiful
> Beating The Lockdown Blues [Peak Time]
> A Different World [Downtempo Beats]
> A Secondhand Sunrise [Lush Breakbeat House]
> Lost In You [Trance Classics]

I don't know about that. Afternoon and evening seem to be the busiest times (I suspect this has to do with people's work/school/life schedules), as well as weekends and right after the weekend/Mondays (no access to family docs or clinics on weekends). Also holidays (people eating big meals and drinking lots of alcohol will exacerabte all kinds of illnesses, and you might not be surprised at how desperate little lonely old ladies are for company). At least here, anyway.

Best bet is to go in the REALLY early hours of the morning, like before dawn.

Well, I'm sure you know much better than me so I'll defer to your judgement. I just figured everyone would be at work and out of harm's way in the afternoon, and that generally if you're sick you wake up and go "Right, I need help."

___________________
Mixes:
> Crazy Beautiful
> Beating The Lockdown Blues [Peak Time]
> A Different World [Downtempo Beats]
> A Secondhand Sunrise [Lush Breakbeat House]
> Lost In You [Trance Classics]

You underestimate how stupid people are though. The type of people who visit ERs and get sick more often are mostly of low socio-economic status. They don't use the emergency room for the right reasons in the first place.

There is a hospital near us that has an 'estimated waiting time' marquee outside of their ER. I always kind of chuckle to myself when I drive by, because 9 months of the year, it reads something like 10-12 minutes. But during summer vacation, it spikes to like 30-40 because everyone's outside getting themselves hurt.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Yup, lol. The hospital I work at serves a very large catchment area, and admissions drastically increase during cottage season, and always at the start of ski/snowboard season.

My brother is an asshole who has insurance but is too lazy to get a doctor so he just goes to the emergency room whenever he has a problem.

Fuck that. My ER copay is like $300. That'd cover like 100 beers and the resulting trip to the specialist I'd only have to shell out 20 for!

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.