WARNING HEALTH NOTE: Tropical Medicine Unit...in Oxford

The papers are full of discussions about the NHS - and the great variety of performance across the hospital landscape against the decision to freeze funding. I can't begin to offer you a rounded view but I do have a small insight from my own recent experience.

My health has been boringly overwhelming and after recovering from pleurisy I suddenly had an excruciating headache and very high temperature that resulted in being sent to the Tropical Medicine Unit in Oxford. (And I have now had to postpone my flight again to Moz.)

We were greeted by sweet but distracted nurses, the usual morass of grey corridors, strip lighting and that all consuming smell of cheap disinfectant - and when we arrived at 10 am on Friday all the doctors were in a meeting.  So despite having been prepared for my arrival, the greatest concern being cerebral malaria, I had to wait.

Then an hour later large quantities of tests taken and much examination by two nice doctors and I felt monitored.  I explain that I would rather go home to wait for the results - which have been marked 'urgent', sent to the lab and should take no more than 2 hours.

At home I wait and no call, we ring and are told the doctor will ring us if there is anything to report. I am battling with such a bad headache and temp just below 39C, my really wonderful GP Dr Curtis comes round and gives me a prescription for stronger pain killers, codeine/paracetamol.

The next day we ring again, and are told once again that the doc will ring us.  Eventually he does ring, a different doctor, and says quite calmly...the malaria results were not processed. 

Arh what does that mean?  You lost them? 

No, no absolutely not they were just not processed?  And they expire after 24 hours, so you need to come back for more tests. 

There is one comfort, I couldn't have cerebral malaria and survive this, so by default it is not that!  My great dislike of hospitals is being tested (re-tested). 

In Mozambique health care is basic to an alarming degree, unless you have malaria and pay to go to the small private clinic in Pemba, where you have a blood test and a result in 30 minutes (and Cuban doctors prescribe the most appropriate antibiotic.)

On this point we may be worlds apart.  In the British National Health System 'loosing' seems to be a greater crime than just 'not processing'!  Two days later I was processed and I don't have malaria (although they did add that I should have three consecutive tests to be 95% sure).  But next time I or those around me have suspected Malaria lets hope it is in Mozambique!

PS - just to reinforce the varied health 'landscape' here, my GP is quite exceptional.  The landscape analogy is proving problematic I don't like a flat landscape (e..g Norfolk) - better stop my wonderings, blogging with a temp may not be a good thing.