A timely reminder of how valuable our NHS really is

THE time of the year has arrived when I have to remember what comes first…is it the clocks going back or is it time for flu injections. We used to have to contact our GP surgery and book a date for the flu needle, but now they contact us! This year it was probably helped by us due our third Covid injections – the surgery decided we could have both done during the same visit.

Our appointment was Saturday and I was impressed by how well the event was organised by our surgery. We both had our appointed time and one simply joined the queue to book in. Then the line gradually moved forward and we were soon able to adjust to the routine.

We first went to the nurse who administered the flu injection before we waited our turn to join the doctor who was to provide the Covid injection.

Maybe you will have noticed that I do not use the Boris Johnson language. If I need a needle in my arm for any reason, during my life so far it has always been called an injection and I have not needed to change that part of our English language.

It is the same with this new term “loved ones”. I have always used the term “friends and relatives”. Much better, as I have friends – but they are not all loved ones!

I shall return to our visit to the surgery last Saturday. For senior management it was an easy job. She wanted her third injection, she had a spare arm available and the injection just took another minute or so once she had established it was the Pfizer brand and not the AstraZeneca version that we had for injections one and two.

Unfortunately, despite having one arm left for an injection, I had to discuss the problems I had experienced with AstraZeneca during my previous injections. The first caused enduring problems with pain in my left arm which remains after nine months! After we agreed this was not good, it did mean that arm was out of commission and the other had been used for the flu injection.

However, the bigger problem was that I had needed the services of a doctor on the Friday before the

August bank holiday. He quickly determined I might have a blood clot at the top of my right leg and off I was despatched to the Royal Derby for a scan. This proved our doctor was on the mark as, after the scan, I was soon lying down, being quizzed by a consultant after the result of the scan was positive.

I did not know that a blood clot, in its medical role as a deep vein thrombosis, can be dangerous and a lot of ways of starting this had to be put aside before he decided that it was probably a result of my second AstraZeneca injection. I am now having to take blood thinning tablets for the rest of my life!

The outcome also meant that last Saturday I was having a somewhat extended chat with the doctor about my third injection.

Clearly, I do want it to hopefully rule out Covid this winter. But with my painful arm from the first injection and the flu injection in the other arm, I had run out of arms! I also need to see the blood specialists at the Royal Derby before we put any more blood clot solvents into me!

Luckily, the doctor was superb and very helpful She spent time ensuring she understood my worries with the third injection and agreed that once I had clearance from haematology at the Royal Derby, she would soon have me back for my third injection. I started with nothing more than my annual flu injection…but then noticed the skills of my surgery as they manage my aches and pains.

With my painful arm from the first injection and the flu injection in the other arm, I had run out of arms!