12 - Moving again!

".. not having much in the way of income.."

Weeks blended into months and my lengthy time at this hospital had reached its current conclusion. My wife, having been staying intermittently between the nurses station and her Aunt and Uncles house, was pleased to be moving back to a hospital near to where we live so that our cat could resume some normal living routine again and she could stay at home.

With not having much in the way of income now (statutory sick pay for me and no job for my wife having been made redundant a month prior to the accident), we had demolished our savings to stay afloat with accommodation, TV bedside 'time' purchases, magazines, food and living expenses, emergency mortgage payments and many other financial considerations that the medical professionals don't have to consider. They all do such an important job but I do feel that some consideration would be beneficial to understand things from a patients point of view.

"..the door to my room was suddenly opened.."

We had been planning to move hospitals and had put a request in to accomplish this but one day in August, the door to my room was suddenly opened by an enthusiastic military official whose position was to organise transportation of patients to alternative hospital locations. He had suddenly managed to secure a bed at our local hospital close to where we live, one in the Trauma Ward under the expert care of a Professor. The catch was, we had 2 hours to decide to go that evening to get the bed reserved and the transportation to be organised.

After a wheelchair excursion outside to ponder on all pros and cons, we decided to go for it. One of the main problems is, across the course of a hospital stay, like mine, as a patient you have a tendency to 'collect' emotional items, things to populate your "world" with, your world being your bed and immediate surroundings. Emotional ties are important, they give a long term patient a feeling of home from a distance, a ledge of safety to sit on during the cliff climb of their recovery.

".. my wife had to transport the bulk of items herself.."

The gathering of items provided us with difficulties though, for to move them all to the new hospital, my wife had to transport the bulk of items herself and with no transport but her car a 40 minute train journey away, we had a problem. That day, I think luck was shining its faded light on us for a colleague from my place of work turned up. He was able to take my wife and the bags of items to her car to continue the journey home and to the new hospital to meet me. That was at 4pm. By 6pm the ambulance crew arrived and, my notes collected from the ward reception, I was on the road in the ambulance.

An hours drive later, and in the dark, we reached my new 'home'. An old infirmary building part of a bigger complex, one of those 1940's / 1950's constructions that NHS Trusts still relied upon to provide beds and wards.  Most Trusts are investing in new hospitals these days, building new and fancy edifices that do not have the same effective patient care delivery as the older buildings. My assumption would be is that the government is taxing the NHS Trusts quite heavily for these old buildings, which although can be very attractive in their design and have many architectural features that are then lost when the Trusts have the buildings knocked over to avoid being taxed. Only my unsubstantiated assumption but it is my guess I'm not far from the truth.