Gimme

But to consistently time everything badly, every day is just poor management. Unless my continual long waits for in the waiting room every time I go to DMC are just darn bad luck (i.e. a repeated blip) and everyone else is seen within a few minutes of their appointment, then the management need to work out how long to leave for appointments and reduce the number of appointments they try to cram into an hour. They would then need to increase opening hours or increase the number of doctors to meet demand but that is how everyone else deals with demand so why shouldn't they. Or they reduce demand by charging for appointments (a suggestion already shot down in flames earlier...). The problem with public services is that they think that their customers have no choice and therefore they can deliver poor service with impunity. Think what would happen if a restaurant always made people wait 45 minutes past their alloted booking time. Their customers would go elsewhere. But because there is so little choice of doctors surgeries and all the alternatives have the same public service attitude, the service tends to be terrible. On the positive side though, DMC is 10 times better than Melbourne Grove Medical Centre so I suppose that's something to congratulate them on.... Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > sophiesofa Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Sometime my appointment > > has taken 2 mins, sometimes 20 mins so there's > no > > way of timing everything perfectly at a > doctors. > > xxxxxxx > > Yes - exactly :-S

It would just mean that the 'wealthy' (i.e. those who choose to pay for convenience) would be contributing more for their healthcare while the less wealthy (or those who choose not to pay for convenience) would continue to get their healthcare for free. Bringing in more funds would allow the surgeries to stay open later, thereby reducing the number of people attending during the day; this would improve their service too. So this in actual fact a brilliant idea. The 'wealthy' pay and the 'less wealthy' get better service on the back of that. Everywhere we have choices to pay for convenience so why not the NHS. It is not just the rich who pay for convenience (see McDonalds as a perfect example - you could make the most amazing nutritious meal for 4 people for half the price of 4 Maccy D meals but many less well off people still choose to pay for the convenience of Maccy Ds). Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So... in other words, you would get the NHS you > can pay for? Convenient appointment times for the > wealthy, the rest for the rest. A Cabinet > Ministry awaits.

Or how about introducing a ?10 charge for appointments between 8am and 9.30am and between 5pm and 7.30pm, but with a guarantee to be seen within 5 minutes of appointment time. That would mean that those who are time rich but cash poor could go during the day and those who are cash rich but time poor could pay to go at times that fitted with their working arrangements. Everyone's a winner.

Alternatively, charge ?5 per visit to put people off seeing the doctor with a cold or sniffle. That would reduce waiting times due to doctors seeing less time-wasters and then being able to spend more time with the genuinely ill.

No. Because the time of the next person's appointment would more than likely have been about 18 minutes before I was seen by the doctor.

What is DMC policy on them seeing people at appointment time. Last 3 appointments - 1 hour wait, 30 minute wait, 45 minute wait. Any organisation that is so totally impunctual cannot but be flexible with people turning up a minute or so late. My surprise wasn't that they didn't tell him he was 29 minutes early... Has anyone ever been seen on time at DMC? I'm yet to meet the person. And to those people who say "don't bang on about it here" etc, you obviously haven't been on this forum before because that is exactly the purpose of this section of the forum (see 13 odd pages on Nasty Nigel etc). Who are you to tell anyone what they can and cant debate?

What is offensive about the set of characters ####s? Isn't that a pretty low offensiveness threshold? I have no idea what was meant to be behind the # but assume it meant twits or something like that. Maybe that's why nobody complained. It wasn't actually offensive unless you used your imagination to create a phrase that was actually offensive. Personally, I'm more interested in what Dulwich Medical Centre have to say about their hypocracy in cancelling someones appointment when 2 minutes late, when they are usually running over 1/2 an hour late themselves, than I am about a number of the other posts on the forum. Perhaps you should consider putting it back (although I suppose it's your forum so you can do what you want...)

The great thing about books like this is that you can agree with them or disagree with them. They don't have to affect your behaviour or make you guilty. Just pick and choose the bits you think make sense for you. We found most of Gina Ford's Contented Baby book to be a load of tosh but there were a few bits and bobs that we picked up and have used. Likewise with Oliver James - read it, pick out some bits you think work for you but remember that there's lots of other books out there with lots of different views some of which you will agree with and some you won't. Don't let one book f*** you up.

What amazes me was that they didn't say "Oh don't worry about that, we are running an hour late as usual!" Think my record for the earliest being seen after arriving for an appointment is about 20 minutes and the latest is 1 hour 10 minutes. It seems that if they expect you to be flexible and put up with their appalling timekeeping then they should be a little flexible when someone is 2 minutes late.

Did the train timetable just update? I missed the 8.15am last week and had to wait until 8.35am for the next train (despite reading about the new 8.27am and hoping that would save me...) Then this morning missed the 8.15am again and lo and behold... the 8.27am arrived, chopping 8 minutes off the wait.

I've been waiting with baited breath for the next bit of information on this story. Did they get the guy with the gun?

A colleague at work called out a locksmith one day to his flat in Clerkenwell and who should turn up but.... ....Zammo McGuire from Grange Hill!!! He's a locksmith in central London apparently (which explains why he turned up to fix a lock...) Probably doesn't do ED sadly... Tobester999 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have seen Mr Griffiths from Grange Hill in > Saino's on a number of occasions. Only those of > you who fit in the 32-38 year old age bracket will > know who I am talking about, but a legend of my > childhood nonetheless... > > Unfortunately he no longer wears a tight adidas > tracksuit...

James, does "The new entrance on Crystal Palace Road and complete rebuilt pool and new studios should be opening late winter/early spring 2010. " mean 1) late winter 2010 or early spring 2011 or does it mean 2) late winter 2009 or early spring 2010? Can you clarify? Cheers Gimme

Interesting reply from Southwark Council re the OP's photograph of their driver parking in a ridiculous spot: "This matter has been taken seriously. The driver involved has been investigated and the matter is moving forward to disciplinary action in addition he has been suspended from driving duties until that is concluded. Regards David Sole Parking services and development manager Southwark Council Environment and Housing Public Realm - Parking PO Box 64529 London SE1P 5LX " Keep the photos coming. They will surely get the message sooner or later if Southwark treat every outrageous breach of road safety with the same rigour as this.

What period are the crime stats for? The previous X months? Or the previous year? James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The latest crime stats by ward are available from > the Metropolitan Police. See attached. > > It shows East Dulwich is the safest ward in > Southwark. The 108th out of all 624 wards in > London - so well and truly top quartile - but for > the 243 inner London ward East Dulwich is the > joint 7th safest ward. > > I?m delighted that all the effort my ward > councillor colleagues and I and resources we?ve > allocated and put into crime prevention along with > the dedication and expertise of the East Dulwich > Police Safer Neighbourhood Team have paid even > more dividends. > > But how can we reduce crime further through > prevention?

James, You should know by now that they are not Sinn Fein / IRA they are Sinn Fein / ex-IRA. If people can forget Osborne's alleged coke and girls parties, and Cleggs alleged womanising then surely you should be able to forget that the key Sinn Fein politicians were allegedly IRA top brass ordering the deaths of scores of innocent people in the 70's. Everyone has skeletons but you have to let it drop! James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Of course I should have typed Sinn Fein - funiliy > enough just completed a history of the IRA. Yes I > do understand Sinn Fein orignally the political > wing of the IRA and that Sinn Fein's current > leader in the past also commanded the IRA. An > amazing man to have helped make peace possible. > Funny the angst we all have for a coaltion in > comparison to Northern Ireland. > > The point I was making is their MP's have not sat > in the Houses of Parliament and have not voted. So > the actual number of MP's required for a majority > is fractionally less than half the number of > actual MP's. It made the maths of an alternative > to a Lib Dem/Tory coalition more possible.

Jon Pienaar - BBC political correspondent lives near LL. While watching constant election coverage the other day, spotted him on TV in the best position outside the Cabinet Office waiting for the negotiators to rush out and say nothing. What a thankless job that was. Hope he's recovering now its all over!!!

Are you mad? Of course they are all numpties. Why in gods name would anyone become a traffic warden unless they were totally unable to do anything else? They must by definition be numpties (although they could be masochists I suppose...). You could almost feel sorry for them having to do this sordid little job but they are trained to make things as unpleasant as possible for their victims as they possibly can so you can't but hate them. There's a statistic that 80% of serial killers worked as traffic wardens at some point before they were finally caught. Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm also guessing that it's impossible to > characterise all wardens as numpties.

Hilarious. Someone with Labour leanings complaining about misleading leaflets, after the 'Tories will take away pensioners bus passes' leaflet being sent round GB's Kirkcaldy constituency and other places. Pot, kettle etc. On top of this you have also made 2 fatal errors: 1) Reading political leaflets at all 2) Thinking that anyone else has read them or that anyone has actually believed anything that was on them, or cares... DJKillaQueen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Let me put this in plain english for you. A > political party puts out a leaflet telling voters > that a Labour council WILL transfer housing > mamagement to the team lambeth use to manage their > housing stock. Secondly they then scare voters by > telling them that that same team increased rents > in the first year by 17%. > >

Interesting to see in the policy announcements coming out today that there is a Great Repeal Bill designed to restore civil liberties. I'm sure the devil will be in the detail and I look forward to seeing exactly what they are going to repeal. I wonder if 42 days detention will go as well as ID cards.

There is definitely a lot of optimism about the coalition government - it could be a historic change that makes British politics forever. I would be absolutely delighted if it works. But most people I have spoken to trust the Tories as far as they can spit them and think that there's a big shafting coming at some point. What happens when the AV bill goes to Parliament and the Tory backbenches ignore the whip and it gets voted down? The offenders get a smack on the hand, the Lib Dems pull out of coalition, the country goes to the polls and the Lib Dems get wiped out as everyone sees the failure of the Coalition as making a Lib Dem vote irrelevant. It would be great if Cameron really wants this coalition to work but can he keep his sneaky, self-serving party on the leash for more than the honeymoon period?

"Tony Blair is my favourite politician". My goodness, that's not a phrase I've heard since about 1998. Keep taking the pills dear ;-)

Do you still have that dreadful very loud singer with the guitar in the restaurant? We went to Si Mangia once, thought the food was brilliant but were so put off by the terrible music (snuffing out any chance of conversation too) that we've never been back. si mangia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i wouldn't worry too much. its usually jeremy or > one or two others. i got 5 - 6 hundred people a > week that quite like it. thanks for your support > though, colonelchips.:))

Reply from Nicky Costin (Nicky.Costin@southwark.gov.uk for anyone who wants to raise similar concerns with him) was as follows: "Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I will raise it again with the contractor re-emphasising the importance of parking appropriately when carrying out their duties." Pretty standard reply. Have replied to ask what sanctions he will take next time he gets a photo of one of the parking enforcement officers parked dangerously.

Isn't this great for democracy. Suddenly there are all manner of politicians on EDF providing their pennyworth. Question is, DC, Gavin Edwards etc, are you going to continue to use EDF to provide an interface to your constituents and to help resolve issues raised here? If so, that would be great news for all. James Barber has won himself a lot of fans by effectively becoming much more accessible to a lot of people who wouldn't have otherwise gone to a councillor surgery or council meeting. The more councillors who are accessible to those who voted for them, the more likely the concerns of the community are likely to be dealt with (although knowing politicians... the more likely we are also to see the bickering and point scoring that everyone outside of politics hates).