GP, OOH, NHS Tayside, Scotland. Interested in all things #Scottish, #medical, #politics, #crafts, and life in general! Note my profile picture is of a door I painted in my room as a teenager.
Public Key
npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Profile Code
nprofile1qqs9m04umch3zk0v866wh6ww0uys329dwqh8yrs30l2r82qrrrkcy4qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsl5xh3r
Show more details
Published at
2026-09-06T14:36:29Z Event JSON
{
"id": "8b03443029bbbd5adcaed313a5204d5d37eed43e4f5b0384a396cb3c794dae69" ,
"pubkey": "5dbebcde2f1159ec3eb4ebe9ce7f0908a8ad702e720e117fd433a80318ed8254" ,
"created_at": 1788705389 ,
"kind": 0 ,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"politics"
],
[
"t",
"medical"
],
[
"t",
"crafts"
],
[
"t",
"scottish"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://mastodon.scot/users/nusher",
"activitypub"
],
[
"L",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"l",
"pink.momostr.activitypub:https://mastodon.scot/users/nusher",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"-"
]
],
"content": "{\"name\":\"Natasha\",\"about\":\"GP, OOH, NHS Tayside, Scotland. Interested in all things #Scottish, #medical, #politics, #crafts, and life in general! Note my profile picture is of a door I painted in my room as a teenager.\",\"website\":\"https://mastodon.scot/@nusher\",\"picture\":\"https://media.mastodon.scot/accounts/avatars/109/331/871/306/381/668/original/ecca26d31a887c2e.png\",\"banner\":\"https://media.mastodon.scot/accounts/headers/109/331/871/306/381/668/original/783daff058a6803a.png\",\"nip05\":\"[email protected] \"}" ,
"sig": "06253ac561acc8aef9fd6691696c031c4144a993715dcff966581f07c60d8c2277dc4ada9e11b7ffc999c938dde93d65e75466e8d7d7382bd4ee8aced92be902"
}
Last Notes npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Of course raising the state pension age actually has the potential to push more people into disability/sickness benefit through not being fit to do manual work in their 60s, if not before. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Even with wheelchair access many consulting rooms do not have beds which go up and down. I distinctly remember having to hunt out a room with a usable couch to do a smear for a woman in a wheelchair in my last practice, while all the beds went up and down in my previous ones (and where I work now in out of hours). Simple things that make a big difference. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Practices don’t have enough money to pay for extra GPs, inspite of increased workload. So all the new GPs who have been trained find no jobs to go to. Use of locums to cover holidays and sickness has also reduced significantly. Expenses have risen dramatically due to rise in NI and inflation, so money per GP is squeezed. Partnership as a business is tough when total income is static while expenses rise. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Quite, but I don’t get why the world isn’t shouting more about this. So much double standards in the west. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha How do they expect people who are starving and have no fuel to actually move anywhere? npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha You always felt she was in it and struggling with everyone else, and I think that gave trust. Like she didn’t want to have to make the decisions, but knew it needed done to save people’s lives. And that she actually cared about the people she wanted to live. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Have lived in a few holiday lets with a longer six month lease over winter, but then it does mean finding somewhere else in the summer. The original idea of AirBNB of course was house swapping, or letting out a room in your home, not what it is now. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha True, but maybe employers of such temporary staff would keep accommodation for this, or there would still be a small number of holiday lets in some areas. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha If there was enough social housing, would it not remove the need for private landlords? Except potentially in the most remote places, but then could it not be social enterprise or community owned housing supplied to teachers/doctors/nurses etc that the community needs? (Which actually is how it used to be many years ago). npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Lucky to get a local veg box, as the quality and variety from supermarkets is dire as well as pricy. £1.20 currently for a cauliflower… npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It’s food. I shop for our main weekly shop online and every week prices go up. I reckon spending about half as much extra a week as a couple of years ago, ie £100 worth now costing £150. Granted we do still eat meat, although mostly chicken, even mince having more than doubled in price. Even basics like a tin of beans, lentils, rice has gone up dramatically. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha So essentially you die while working if you can’t afford to pay into a pension, while those that have plenty of cash might manage 10-20 years after retiring. But saving in pensions is likely to increase sickness benefit needs as many not saving are likely to be too unwell to work in their 60s (even now not many continue in their 50s in the most deprived areas of Scotland). npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Child benefit isn’t paid for every child, only those where the highest earning parent earns under £60,000. So if one of you earns £60,001 you don’t get it, although if both parents earn £59,999 you do. Not sure why this was never based on household income, I didn’t qualify for my son as my income was over the then threshold, yet my sister-in-law did although their household income was higher (my husband was our childcare and had minimal/no income). npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It’s so sad to see the demise of Royal Mail. It used to be a real lifeline service in rural areas, with the postie often delivering newspapers, milk, bread etc and often the only person people would see. And there are still a handful of post buses which still exist on the Isles (or there were relatively recently). npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha This is a BIG issue for NHS appointments which are usually sent out second class. They are now even less likely to arrive on time. Increased cost to the NHS perhaps? npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha If you look at what happened after the last Tory government turned to Labour, waiting lists improved through widespread investment in the NHS. Investment in social determinants of health is also vital to improve the nations health and hence pressure on the health service, invest in actually affordable housing, invest in children, invest in the future. Tax those that can afford it to boost incomes of those that can’t afford decent food or a place to stay. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Clearly they don’t care about the country they live in, just their money, while asylum seekers are often desperate to give something back to the country that supports them to survive. Yet we lionise the one that would contribute, not the other. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Which is how it was when I went in the 80s! My best friend did not go to university but after A levels went straight into bank manager training and has now done that for the last 30+ years. Someone else in my year at school went straight into game design at 17. Degrees weren’t essential then. And most people I know with degrees, from then at least, do something completely different to what they studied anyway unless it was vocational like myself. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Agreed, GP funding has barely risen while expected to do much of what used to be the remit of secondary care. And this has got worse as secondary care waiting lists increase so patients go back to their GP time and time again until seen. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha The forecast was showing rain for a week on Friday but no longer shows anything but cloud. I am beginning to forget what rain is…did it actually rain last in April? I remember a spot of drizzle which came to nothing some time within the last three weeks, but the last real rain must have been March here. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Israel are completely out of control and their government appear not to care for anyone but themselves. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha That’s so sad. Racism sadly is pervasive and often through ignorance. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Have never used Instagram either, don’t like it and don’t see the point to it. But then no one I know uses it either apart from my husband. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Mixed down with some Irn Bru it probably would work if it stays down… npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I didn’t realise there were so many different kinds of councils in England. In Scotland it’s pretty straightforward, there aren’t that many council areas and generally also align with Health Board areas, which is why it’s so much easier to integrate social care and health. Hence also the recent news about Highland council wanting to split up into smaller areas as it covers almost half of Scotland geographically. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha The polio vaccine one of the biggest success stories ever (except of course the smallpox one which completely eradicated smallpox, not quite there yet with polio). A live three dose vaccine no longer needed to give enough immunity, but instead an inactivated form. I remember those foul sugar cubes! No one surely would want polio to return. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Someone on here had mentioned DuckDuckGo- have downloaded and am very impressed so far! npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Also I think labelling in general is unhelpful. Being “on the spectrum” is one of the more annoying off the cuff comments too - we are all on a spectrum by definition of what a spectrum is. People will develop their own skills in their own time and their own way, they just need the right support and environment to develop. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Depends how you define gifted? You can be a talented musician, or painter, from innate skills. You can have a level of intelligence, regardless of how it is then nurtured. I don’t agree that kids pushed by their parents to become maths whizzes at a young age are gifted, just pushed. I was classed as “gifted” as a young child, but realistically just intelligent with good reading skills, and ultimately maths etc. Not related to schooling, as it was before I got to primary. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It would be nice to have the option to do searches NOT powered by AI, or switch off that function on some websites where I have seen it creep in recently. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Or privatisation by stealth? npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha #ArtAdventCalendar #day9 Todays picture is a sketch of a lily of the valley in memory of my mum. Every year I would buy her a little something at Christmas with this scent. I still miss her a lot even 8 years on. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha was an amazing place to live and work but there are so many abandoned crofts. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I know both the people behind this, amazing work. I may also have been in some of these houses at some stage. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I’m sure I read somewhere that around 80% capacity in hospitals was optimum? Would have been studies from some time ago since that’s not been the case for a long time. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I’d imagine it’s probably even worse on the west coast. Or for most of Scotland’s rail network outside the central belt. Husband got a new 5G phone recently and was most impressed it worked in Aberdeen, while we barely get 4G. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha #ArtAdventCalendar And finally for today a painting of the view from my wondow done in 2017. The trees have now grown bigger! npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha #ArtAdventCalendar Forgot I was going to give this a go. Here is some little paintings for the 1st which I did in March 2015. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Inveraray in Argyll. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It’s a perfect storm. PAs were intended as doctor support, to be trained to do routine procedures, history taking etc. But they are unable to prescribe or order x-rays etc and need to be overseen. The NHS decided to use them to plug rota gaps and overextended their role while they have no regulation. Nurses, pharmacists, physios etc are all regulated and will not overstep for fear of losing registration. Not the PAs fault but being asked to do what they are not trained for. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Very aware that my son is in a fortunate position in that regard. While tuition fees are paid for, he currently lives at home and goes to university. If he lived in halls, we would have had to cover some of the cost. Not everyone can do this, which is why so many students also now have a part-time job to cover their costs. University is not the same now as no time/money to socialise for the majority. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Reading a very interesting book at the minute on philosophy “How the World Thinks”. Have only read part one so far, but half the world it seems base knowledge on reason and rational thought, half on how it actually is. And the Americans are essentially pragmatists so reality is what you make it (not quite but that’s kind of how I read it), and have the highest number of religious followers in the west. And a huge amount of self belief. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Interesting, I did not know wild ones were so rare now. I knew you could still get them for use on wounds though. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It’s often the layers of management and the issue is good clinicians don’t always make good managers, but without having been a clinician it’s is difficult to get any insight into the issues. And then at management level you have to manage a budget, which inevitably runs over what you are given, so you have to cutback somewhere. Staff is the biggest cost, but you also need staff to provide care, so it’s hard to balance the books while keeping services going. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Reading the news about how the government are planning to increase employers NI my thought is how will this affect the public sector? This money to go back to the treasury will also have to come out of public sector which may just recirculate some, but also hits local council budgets, GP practices etc. Will they increase this funding to cover the increased cost? #NIincrease #ukbudget npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Not sure how that compares with Scotland where there are no tuition fees? (Although funding for living expenses is still not covered even by max student loans in many areas). npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I suspect a huge number of women just never report any sexual crime. It’s better than it was, but there is still a lot of blame sent the woman’s way. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I was one of the last generation to get free university education (although student loans for living costs were brought in then) and the real aspiration of owning one’s own home, a decent pension at the end of a working life. What do we offer today’s youth? Debt for the rest of their lives, shared accommodation, living month by month, and then we wonder why there is a mental health crisis npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha That makes sense as to why it happened when it did, I was a teenager then and didn’t quite follow the rationale. The government sold nearly everything off that it “owned” to make a fast buck to please their voters by reducing taxes. And sold off council houses of course to make a generation of home owners. Then my generation and the one just above pulled up the ladder leaving today’s mess npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I really don’t get the concept of getting profit from basics like water supply and electricity. I understand they require investment in infrastructure etc but surely then any profit should just give back what is paid in? Selling off all these parts essential to life never made any sense to me. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Saving now is only to provide a cushion later given interest on short term savings remains low. I suspect people are just putting back the money they have had to spend on essentials the last year or two as food and energy prices have spiralled. And to buy anything large eg new car, kitchen equipment, etc still requires more than most people can afford. Those little savings might just about get a trip to the cinema or a meal out, or some nice food from the shop. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Ironically, more GPs have been trained in England, but are now facing a lack of jobs as the funding has been squeezed to pay for them. And the worse it gets, the more we are training GPs who then either change path or emigrate. Nurses, pharmacists, physios, etc. on the other hand are in very high demand and short supply and just get moved around rather than anyone new. Proper workforce planning would help. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Personally I hate it. Suddenly it’s dark before 5pm so you go from couple of hours of daylight to permanent darkness outside working hours overnight. Still have to get up in the dark so no benefit at the morning end. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Simple, fund community services from community nursing, social care, primary care, work on prevention via good public health including reducing poverty, update necessary infrastructure ie buildings, IT, equipment, and make it fit for purpose. It’s going to take a lot of money to get it right, which they don’t seem to want to give. The quickest fix? Sort out social care. Fund primary care to have more GPs. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha And I think our personal opinion changes according to what we witness and will differ even as a diagnosis of terminal illness happens to us as a person. I can only think how I might feel if it was me, but at the time my decision could be different depending on how many symptoms can be palliated etc. The key is to ensure no one feels compelled to act in a given way for others benefit not their own. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha It’s disgraceful the way most hospices are only part NHS funded and mostly rely on charitable donations as does support for palliative care at home. Community nurses do a fantastic job but are less available overnight. We need to do palliative care much better and cover all people dying not just those with an expected trajectory from end stage cancer. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Even if those people left are fit to move, the chance of dying anywhere else in Gaza is just as high so why leave whatever you have left to die on the road or in a tent? To see such suffering on such a large scale, you have to admire the medical people working in such conditions, but also hope they eventually get the support they need to have lived through such awful times. I can’t imagine the sheer horror day in day out, and the long term impact of that. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha That makes perfect sense and I’m sure is absolutely true. The presence of UN peacekeepers stops them occupying that land. And I suspect too that is precisely why the UN does not want to budge. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I would agree with that. There is a distinct difference between being anti-Jew and anti-Israel, which seems to get blurred constantly. Israel may be a largely Jewish state but that does not mean all Jews support current events even within Israel itself. It is possible to be vehemently opposed to the action of the Israel state/government and the support with arms provided by the US to kill innocent people, but not be anti-Semitic. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha That’s really interesting because the one thing planning permission currently takes no account of is provision of medical services, specifically GPs. Schools etc have to be taken into account, and often permission tied into additional funding for these kind of services, even shops etc. A lot of practices suddenly find themselves with an extra 2,000 patients with no room for expansion. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Years and years ago back in the days of British Rail there always used to be a bike carriage on the train, at least the ones to Cambridge anyway! npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha The Molecules of Emotion is an interesting read. Neurotransmitters are very much the link between mind and body. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Quite a few care workers are also doing it as a temporary post, often while a medical student or prior to going into nursing etc. Conditions now are dreadful, have to clock in and out with each patient, limited time, often not paid for travel time, some employers better than others. It used to be better when directly council employed but now all subcontracted. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha I despair of this world. Climate change is making places burn, which in turn will accelerate global warming. Meanwhile wars are happening all across the world with people being starved to death or massacred while we all turn a blind eye to it all. And what’s newsworthy? A yacht sinking. And the Labour Party telling everyone life is going to get worse. Not sure how it can get much worse TBH, I am one of the lucky ones but I fear for the youngsters living now. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha And now evidence that a large number of them rioting already have a criminal record. Rent a mob aimed at violence. npub1tklteh30z9v7c045a05uulcfpz526upwwg8pzl75xw5qxx8dsf2qtfpdwu Natasha Terrorism too. Lots of non-white people in fear for their lives just going to work and going about their daily business. Raising concerns, peaceful protests is not the same as violent rioting, burning, and destroying everything in your path.
