Jonny Peppiatt, a regular contributor to the Daily Sceptic, has just returned home after a recent hospital stay. He shares his thoughts about what it’s like to be a non-Covid patient in a Covid-obsessed NHS.
“The back left of my throat is extremely painful. It hurts too much to talk, or eat, and feels like if it swells up any more then my throat will close. The pain’s spread through the left side of my jaw, my back teeth, and my left ear now too. I wouldn’t normally come to A&E for a “sore throat”, but I am worried about this swelling and struggling to breathe.”
That was the note I showed the receptionist at A&E this morning at about 3:40am. She took my details and I took a seat, prepared for the wait with some Netflix downloads, Spotify, and some work to do. Anything to distract me from the pain in my throat.
About half an hour later I was called to triage. First question: Have you had your Covid vaccine?” I answered their question honestly, and there was no follow up. Triage concluded that I should stick around, get some blood tests, and see a doctor. So that’s what I did.
The doctor took a look around my throat, asked if I’d had my Covid vaccine, confirmed the results of the bloods showed a very high infection, and told me she’d like to give me some medication and some antibiotics. She then told me to go back to the waiting room and wait to be called through to the main area of the hospital.
I was soon taken through to the minor treatments area off the back of A&E, where the first question I was asked was, “Where’s your mask?” I replied with the typical “I’m exempt” with a wave of the wrist. Only to get the reply, “This is a hospital though.” I pointed out that the hospital is not some sovereign territory exempt from the Government’s exemption rules. I was then left to be, maskless. But I was very quickly asked, once more, “Have you had your Covid vaccine?” Again, I answered and again there was no follow up. Come to think of it, what would they do with either answer?
I was then put on some strong intravenous antibiotics, although I had to face away from the doctor setting it up because of my masklessness. While I was facing the curtain though, she asked me, “Why aren’t you scared? You have a very high infection.” I’d like to think most NHS staff should have more faith in themselves than to go around asking patients why they aren’t scared while in hospital, but I gave her a nice simple reply: “Why should I be scared? I’ll get better.”
Now, being sick is deeply unpleasant, and I can understand a fear of getting sick, but if I’m already sick, and I know I won’t die, and I’m confident that I won’t get worse, then I don’t think I have anything to fear.
Anyway, this scene passed and soon there was an orderly coming my way. I took out my headphones to hear him telling me that I was required to take a Covid test. I asked him what would happen if I didn’t want to take a test. He asked me if I was refusing the test. I told him I might be. He told me that he was just doing his job and if I did want to refuse, then that was fine, I’d just need to say so so that he could go log it on the system. Fine then, I told him, I refuse.
A little while later, about 7:30am, the ENT specialist cane to take a look. He decided that a minor operation would be necessary, and sprayed my throat up with some vile numbing spray that had me gagging and spluttering. But, I thought, at least once this is done I can head home. Alas, I was mistaken. It turned out my “refusal” to take a Covid test wasn’t so fine. The doctor, it turned out, was being more obstinate than I’d been in his refusal to do the procedure until I’d had a test. We debated it briefly, pointing out that it was pretty clear I didn’t have Covid: he pointed out that I had a sore throat which was a Covid symptom; I pointed out that he’d literally just moments earlier diagnosed it as something else which had led him to deciding to do the minor op he’d just planned. It also became clear that all three of us in that discussion had had Covid early in 2021, and were all believers in the conspiracy theory of natural immunity. It was accepted that the tests weren’t wholly reliable, and it was appreciated that I didn’t want to swab my tonsils when they were the sorest part of my body at that point. Despite all of this agreement, it became clear that he wasn’t going to back down. He had the power after all, and he knew it. I needed the procedure. So I backed down.
The inevitable negative result came back about 8am, at which point I was admitted and transferred to a main ward, where I then waited for another hour and a half for a quick procedure that they were ready to do at 7:30am, but couldn’t because I hadn’t ticked the negative Covid test box. However, the wait at this point most likely wasn’t me being intentionally ignored for being Covid non-compliant (which I did wonder when a new doctor turned up later), nor was it me being forgotten because of poor admin and because I’d moved to a ward. This delay was happening over the shift changes, which was why I had a new doctor – well a new team of three doctors (I expect one or two were students) – when I did see a doctor again at 9:30am, and, just to keep you informed, this new doctor was equally interested in the results of my Covid test. She did her examination, came to roughly the same conclusion as the previous doctor, and then disappeared to get the minor op kit ready.
Five minutes later she and her two colleagues returned to numb up my throat for the second time and then stick sharp pointy things into my mouth. An unpleasant minor op, without a doubt, but, credit where it’s due, this was probably the first good experience I’d had with the NHS. The procedure was well explained, well managed, and well executed. And from this point, I received no more questions on masks or jabs, so that’s where I’ll end the tale.
I’ll also leave the bulk of the inferences to you; particularly because what can anyone reliably infer from one man’s relatively short trip to the hospital? But I will say this: there was never any judgment for not being jabbed; only one person at any point over 12 hours said anything about masks; and the only real frustration was the repeated obsession with having a test done.
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https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1454124166844649477
Re: I was forced to wear a facemask for an MRI scan at a private hospital
Advice I read, was, don’t have an MRI Scan until after 2 weeks have passed from your last Covid Jab, because the MRI Scan could blow your arm off, because of the 90% Graphene Oxide in the vaccine (the unknown and unreported hidden stuff in the vaccine) and it takes time for the Graphene to spread around your body – what it does and why it is in the the vaccines remains a mystery.
Richard
Re: I had to have one when they were going to admit me for my latest kidney stone.
Ouch!!
The last time I had a kidney stone was over 30 years ago and the last one was a real killer, nothing would stop the pain, even an injection did not help – I eventually passed it, by drinking lots of water and I heard it go “ping” in the toilet bowl so was able to retrieve it – it did not look all that much – but I did not have a microscope to look at it close up.
At the time, we used to eat lots of raw tomatoes and canned tomatoes and I had been previously advised not to eat tomatoes any more, but ignored the advice – but this was the defining moment for me and I gave them up for good and I have not had a kidney stone ever again and I still don’t eat tomatoes or anything made with a tomato base, or tomato spread,like Pizza’s.
Hope this advice helps any of you out the who get kidney stones.
Richard
I picked up a dose of a viral infection the day before yesterday, it might have been when I was out shopping or at the doctor’s surgery – I have NOT had the vaccine and won’t if I can avoid it “here”
I had the peppery feeling in my nose, which usually suggests a cold, so I did my salt water sniffle, which I repeat below, and had a slight reaction to the salt, so I did my salt water treatment again, straight afterwards and this time I had a strong reaction to the salt, from my left nostril right up into my hair line – I would describe it best if I could have split my head in two equal halves, the left half was the sore side, in my brain and to the top of my skull the right half was clear – I have NEVER had that experience previously with my salt water sniffle.
I left the salt in my head for another couple of hours and I had a slight head-achy feel at the top part of my head, which another salt water cure erased and afterwards I blew out my nose and flushed away, washing… Read more »
I’ve never been scared going to hospital and I’ve had some fairly major procedures. I’ve never been asked “Why aren’t you scared?” or any variant thereof. It’s hard to believe anyone qualified to work in any clinical environment would ask that question. I guess I’d likely say something like “If I pretend to be scared will it get done quicker?” since my experience of the NHS has generally been abysmal in terms of time.
To me the very fact of that question and the constant barracking over Covid illustrates why the NHS needs root and branch reform, a new funding model, no Government intervention other than providing money, no Health Secretary, no Health Minister and modern management which understand what “Professionalism” means. It most certainly does not mean stupid questions and barracking over a fairly inane virus.
Just so others know – you can refuse a CV test – you cannot be refused treatment because you refuse a medical procedure. For any medical procedure your consent must be given. If your consent is not given they can neither force the medical procedure upon you nor withhold other treatment. Withholding medical treatment is clinical negligence and against the law. Coercing and forcing treatment against the will of the patient is clinical negligence and against the law here in the UK and also internationally. The NHS knows this and they have procedures drawn up to deal with continuing the treatment in a situation where the patient refuses the test. However it is neither convenient nor part of the narrative to encourage people to know this information. Coercion and bullying therefore is used to threaten you into accepting treatment so that you will give your permission because you believe you have no choice. Don’t give your permission, stand your ground and the bluff fails. All you have to say is I will have the test if you give me no option as I need the treatment you are offering but I want it recorded that you are forcing me under… Read more »
Great article, thank you.
I was taken by ambulance in September to my local hospital having been unwell and collapsing at home. Paramedics were great but having initially examined me at home with me maskless, they then put one of those blue masks on me when they put me in the ambulance. I also was given a PCR test in hospital having been asked by two separate doctors was I jabbed. Both encounters brought about a discussion on my decision not to be jabbed with my reasons being accepted and unchallenged any further. Surely the vast majority of medics know what an overreaction all this is.
A Tableau of Mass Psychosis.
Hope one of those “sharp pointy things” wasn’t him receiving an unsolicited dose of the vaxx.
Asking your vaccine status has no effect on your treatment but a positive test
result would. it would ensure that you were in the correct area and not going to potentially infect non infected people. Although unlikely serious if you did have COVID, I’m sure you would be cross if you caught a virus from someone which could be prevented. If I was close to your stinking throat I’d like to know you didn’t have a virus that would render me unable to work for ten days.
My experience:
Saturday Mum calls 111 and gets emergency doctor to visit due to breathing issues and also diarrhea. Doctor checks breathing, she is not good but no chest infection and oxygenation OK. Refers her back to gp. Gives us a lecture on the importance of mask wearing but accepts that her condition may be related to the booster vaccine.
Monday she speaks to her gp, who prescribes steroids without seeing her to improve her breathing. Also prescribes antibiotics despite the fact she has no symptoms of infection according to the other doctor 48 hours earlier. Dismisses the idea of covid vaccine being the cause of her condition.
Friday I speak to different GP to ask for an urgent referral to a specialist as her condition is bad and she has declined over last 2 years due to poor treatment from gp. This afternoon we were required to attend an in person appointment where he talked for 10 minutes and examined her before realising he had left his flimsy surgical mask on his desk and hurriedly put it on. Diagnosis: no infection but you should take the antibiotics anyway. Wtf?And the sudden decline in her condition after the booster vaccine… Read more »
Whilst waiting for medical treatment it is highly advisable to take activated charcoal for diarrhoea.
I dunno man, I agree with the not wearing a mask, but I personally think you could’ve just done a test. Hospitals are one of the biggest vectors and if you were staying in for treatment then they would need to know.
but whatever works for you my man
But they don’t need to know if you’re suffering from any other disease? They don’t even ask you about flu, TB, Ebola, RSV, Nirovirus, HIV, hepatitis… so much hysteria over something much less dangerous. According to Zoë app 80% people have no symptoms!!! We know from Bayes Theorum that more false positives than actual ones too.
you’d have been garling with w bicarb of soda solution.
My son recently got a chest infection that his Russian grandparents, one an eminent cardiologist in Moscow and the other a traumatologist with 35 years experience including being the go to accident cleaner upper for the Sochi Winter Olympics, and verified by myself using a stethoscope at home.
The grandparents both advised me to acquire a 5 day course of amoxycillin 250. Oh no. Here we go, I thought. The UK healthcare rationing system means that I cannot simply obtain the medicine My son needs to get better without taking an entire day off work. As my doctor is not seeing patients, my local chemist advised me to call 111, who, after a series of irrelevant questions prefixed with an admission from the automotron manning the line that the questions were mostly irrelevant but nonetheless necessary (we live in a world where two opposing realities can apparently exist side by side in the same sentence) booked him at a walk in centre in Derby. When we arrived, they refused to see him as their policy is that they don’t see people who have a temperature. We said we only needed a 5 day course of amoxy 250 to clear a… Read more »
The NHS is one of the worst healthcare systems in what was previously called the free world.
Im in the Oxford Radcliffe as I write this. My annual check up for ARVC, a rare genetic heart condition.
As always here, (my 3rd visit) the service is world class. My 2 kids come with me as there’s a chance they may develop the condition.
No fuss, no questions about masks (Im not wearing one) or vax (Im not vaxxed), just friendly competent pros. We got here 20 mins early, received our ECG and echocardiogram early.
Just waiting now to see Prof Watkins who happens to be one of the global leaders in ARVC and the pioneer of genetic counselling.
NHS? Can’t beat it IMHO.
Postcode lottery it would seem, or perhaps NHS Trust lottery.
This is the problem, coupled with the ideology that has knackered the system to start with since the grubby paws of big finance got an entry.
One thing’s for sure : the religion of the Austrian school ain’t going to solve anything.
Kind of criminals that a licence to kill (as 007). They are not MD. they are government employees very well paid for doing nothing. I worked on a emergency service 35 years, the last 28 as Chief Responsible for all Medical cases.
Send these guy to hell.
My first thought, when reading of the doc who refused to continue treatment to an unswabbed throat, was to wonder whether a polite question as to whether he’d like a quick chat with your lawyer might have helped?
Very nice idea. They would go buy toilet paper for own use.
For the vast majority of people out there the survival rate for covid19 is 99+% and while I do appreciate the seriousness of covid to those who are very elderly and/or have underlying health issues what I don’t understand is why when something just as deadly came along like a new strain of influenza which was just as contagious and just as deadly claiming many thousands of lives I was never once asked to wear a mask and inquired whether I have had a flu jab or not – in fact during one flu season that killed many thousands of people in 2017/18 – I was in and out of hospital at this time with severe kidney stone pain and never once when I was seen by a doctor, examined, x-rayed or scanned did I have to wear a mask or was asked whether I had had the flu jab.
But here is another thing – a few years ago there were pregnent women flying in from Nigeria on a weekly basis to take advantage of free NHS treatment and maternity care – were any of these women tested for Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Aids or TB? In fact TB… Read more »
TB jabs don’t work on adults, only children. But yes we ought to have much better disease screening for immigrants. Problem is they enter as tourists and I don’t think we want to be screening all tourists.
Their experience of being in hospital adds to impression that hospitals have resembled the killing fields for some years.
In last 20 years I’ve twice rescued a relative from being written-off by hospitals, once due to misdiagnosis, other time due to sedative over-dose. Twice they fully recovered, happily regained their independent life and are still going strong.
100+ post-op dead in a hospital in Gosport (UK) years ago still not got to Court. 100s of new-born and birth-associated deaths in other hospitals years ago, not yet arrived in Court either.
April 20 NHS GPs stopped scrips for anti-asthmatic medication; private sector GPs continued to provide medication until this month. Their explanation – GMC rules which comply with government policy
+1 for Franke Howerd
There is actually no ‘typical’ experience in the NHS. It varies.
In all my experience, I’ve never had an issue with the jab issue. The last time I was asked was a cursory question from the hospital pharmacist before discharge.
Testing is a bone of contention, and I refuse to have anyone but myself do nasal swabbing, since I have an extremely sensitive nostril – apart from the flaws in the test.
On masks – I decided a while back that this was the one place where I wore one – partly in sympathy with the poor buggers who were forced to whilst dong a good job for me. At least on admission. I have to have too many visits to make it a constant and pointless bone of contention. Usually, I then treat it with the contempt it deserves (around the chin) and ‘forget’. Only the lower levels level of staff are occasionally likely to make it an issue. I have been an in-patient and never worn one, or had that fact questioned.
The thing is, all this shite is handed down in a service which, apart from the subjection to the wider psy-op, operates on the basis of… Read more »
“Usually, I then treat it with the contempt it deserves (around the chin) and ‘forget’. Only the lower levels level of staff are occasionally likely to make it an issue. ”
This merely reinforces the fact that they know full well it’s demonstrative nonsense of no real medical importance.
“This remains a political issue, not one symptomatic of the NHS.”
It genuinely amazes me how you and those of your political ilk can impose a state health system upon the entire nation, forcing everyone to pay for it whether they want it or not and governing it by political rules and politically raised funding, and then claim to be outraged when the resulting system is political in its very essence. What on earth did you expect?
As usual – point missed by a mile from behind the specs of preconception and tub-thumping.
Go and bore the Tooting Trots – your similarly blinkered counterparts.
While spending 3 weeks as an inpatient (see above), no patients wore masks and the only hand sanitizers were within the toilet cubicles.
F*ck masks, tests, & ‘vaccines’. Bin the f*cking lot of them.
Yes I agree. There are no circumstances in which I’d agree to any of them.
Wow… Zero bedside manners… “This patient is so calm… I should scare the crap out of him.”
The picture that emerges here is of medical staff obsessed with covid. They see it everywhere, in everyone. So is it any wonder that we’ve had scandals about deaths wrongly attributed to covid?
I dread to think what would have happened had the test been a false positive… Would he had been placed in isolation for two weeks until he could get the operation done? Are people being denied treatment in this manner, because they are supposedly covid positive, and when they die in waiting, put down as covid casualties?
The main thing you need to be scared about in the NHS is mal-practise and staff indifference.
Maybe because they have repeated first- and second-hand experience of various people dying from COVID-19 in their fine hospital? Just a wild guess…
There is no test for Covid.
Also, forcing a swab in to, of all things, a sore-throat must count as a serious form of assault, if they were so obsessed with a test for their tickbox system couldn’t they have tolerated one dipped in hand sanitiser instead?
There would I think, be one very legitimate reason for a hospital to ask if you’ve had a covid vaccine, establishing whether the complaint you’ve come in for might be a side-effect.
Thanks for your account of your experience Jonny.
Extraordinary that the first question they asked was about the experimental vaccine.
If Jonny had been experimentally vaccinated, would they have required the covid test still? All sorts of implications if the test is only required for the unvaccinated especially in terms of the statistics of those who are hospitalised by vaccination status etc.
Or might they have asked the vaccine question first because they’ve been treating so many adverse reactions to the vaccine that knowing the answer narrowed down the possibilities of what was causing your symptoms than any other question could have done.
Thank you for taking the time to write and share this Jonny. It’s pretty much what I suspected was going on in the NHS. A question that I would try and and remember to ask the staff if ever I have the misfortune of engaging with the NHS again is ‘when do you think this is all going to end?’
Two things – A) they won’t know the answer to that and B) they don’t want it to end – they would lose their sanctified “heroes” status. They can basically write their own cheques at the moment.
“Why aren’t you scared?” That cracked me up! Almost like “Why hasn’t the brainwashing worked on you?” Glad you’re better, Toby. My brother, an absolute sceptic, had have a few days in hospital last spring. He did allow them to take one test because he was in so much pain and needed treatment. But overall his experience was relatively good. He didn’t wear a mask either.
Sorry, I meant Jonny.
My brother was in for an consultation last week. It turned into a need to stay and have some minor operation. He said the doctor spoke for 30mins about him not having been vaccinated.
They kept him in for 24hrs, still no operation and no idea when it might happen. He walked out.
I’ve since sent him the latest numbers on deaths and infections for the vaccinated and the Oxford Covid risk calculator. He had never heard of Yellow Card even, but had just a bad feeling about the jabs he says.
In the spring I was in A&E for a suspected broken wrist wearing a mask; when I suffered a panic attack and took it off the nurse assaulted me. She became aggressive and rammed a visor onto my head with force. Obviously this increased my panic.
I made complaints through PALS but nothing was done and no real apology was ever forthcoming. I have ASD (autistic) and tried to explain that a whole range of sensory issues had occurred over the 2 hours i was in the hospital and eventually led to my meltdown. I was trying to explain from my side what led up to the assault. All they did was excuse the various things that caused me distress, like it was cold because of extra ventilation, wrists are difficult to x-ray so take a long time etc. They couldn’t grasp that I wasn’t complaining about anything except for the nurses aggressive behaviour which only started the instant I took off my mask. It’s almost like they agreed with the nurses behaviour.
It’s left me with a genuine fear of A&E.
They probably grasped it all too well and knew that it wasn’t acceptable and that they couldn’t explain it away, so resorted to answering a different question which you didn’t ask. It’s a favourte tactic of MPs, and the Church of England is also very keen on it.
What are you, some sort of “bedwetter”?
How f**king rude. I’m a 50 year old woman who has struggled most of my life with a difficult mental condition and never asked for any special treatment because of it. All I ask is to be treated with respect, as anyone should be treated. Anxiety attacks, panic attacks or autistic meltdowns are all real and can be terrifying. Surely, NHS staff should recognize one and not make the situation worse?