Random – Up the hill backwards

Overprescribing of medicines must stop, says government https://t.co/3iKBBfuJt2
— BBC Health News (@bbchealth) September 21, 2021

I used to be called to fill in repeat prescriptions for my former elderly neighbours. One of them had a repeat prescription lost of 22 seperate items.

Their GP regularly tried to reduce the amount they received and /or refused to re-supply certain items but they would angrily bully the GP into re-prescribing them.

The prescription contained a few items that I thought GP’s no longer prescribed such as Hayfeaver tablets.

Often cheaper alternatives were returned but again there was this sense of entitlement and, sadly a desperate belief that doctors can hold back the aches & pains of ageing.

We are a nation hooked on prescription medicines. OK this could also be a pure money saving exercise.

My previous GP would not prescribe pain killers believing that people just get hooked on them.

I attended a pain relief class organised by the NHS where they basically explained that the brain is dumb & often reports pain, once triggered, despite the cause abating and that other non drug based options could help manage it more.

I can’t pretend that this message was well received.

We are a medication nation.

The BBC licence fee is now at its most unpopular

I’ve always supported the BBC and the BBC licence fee but I have fallen out of the habit of watching TV. These days I watch youtube, listen to radio from around the world and music in general. Add to that podcasts and there’s little other room to vye for my attention.

Sleep well BBC

I grew up with the BBC. Top of the pops, Tomorrow’s World, The Young Ones, Horizon, The Proms, Morecambe and Wise etc but these days I look at the schedule and there’s little to pull me in. BBC news jumped the shark for me with Raul Moat.

So the hoo ha over the BBC pulling free licence fee for the over 75’s is no surprise. The Conservative party are masters of the dark arts and this was a George Osborne delayed hand grenade expertly left in the Beeb’s back pocket and entirely intended so that the BBC would take the blame and the public would further be weened off their historic affection for the publicly funded broadcaster.

This aside, the BBC have lost their way. Competition is strong. People are feeling the pinch and the BBC is a political whipping boy.Young people are not likely to be the next generation addicted to watching TV or listening to radio and the retired generation will seemingly hang on to telly, like they do landline telephones. Habit.

The licence fee model and television as we knew it is clearly an endangered species. In an on-demand world with a fragmented population and we all wanting our news tailored to our narrow beliefs and prejudices, the BBC is acting like a captain-less oil tanker unable to stop itself beaching the vessel on the sand banks, to rust and rot as the sea salt eats away at its wounds.

I do find it tragic that we, as a culture, think that television is a viable panacea for lonely old people. Where the hell are we in this scenario? Without the free TV service the real brutality of our uncaring and selfish culture might just finally hit home?