Our hospitals are struggling

Although we've managed to "flatten the curve", so our ICUs are not being overloaded, our hospitals are clearly struggling.

One obvious sign of that is their internal miscommunication around changes of appointments, sequences of appointments, and who tells who what. That was stuffed up with my life companion's cancer treatment appointment yesterday, and while I was in the waiting room (at least there was none of the "we've never let patients in" BS yesterday) it was clear that that had happened with several other people.

That is a sign that they are probably understaffed. The recently announced increased in nursing ratios will partly help, but there is also a need to make sure there are enough admin and other support staff. (It wouldn't hurt to make sure doctors are in touch and less arrogant in their pronouncements on changes of time, etc.)

Also of concern is that the cis-normative and hetero-normative biases are worse than usual. I stopped going to one hospital for diabetes management because of being misgendered - and the BS handling of my complaint. I've got another complaint lined up about a doctor at the hospital my life companion was originally going to for cancer treatment, but will wait until my life companion's treatment has been completed in case there is any backlash. The body language of too many of the medical staff I interact with is appalling - to use the latest terminology, they are passive aggressive.

I've pointed out previously that advocating for asking pronouns is creating the potential to be abused (especially in workplaces with a high throughput of staff, such as those with - outside of pandemic lockdowns - multinational placements). This problem is at an extreme, in my experience in hospitals. When it is normal for cisgender people to exchange pronouns, I'll accept this suggestion, but until then it is just creating another point of difference - i.e., a form of DISCRIMINATION - for TGD people.

It is exactly the same sort of strategic error as hiding gender on forms etc - it doesn't deal with the problem, which is bias.

On that, commentary about the need to meet more TGD people is downright stupid.

Firstly, the LAW says don't discriminate - it doesn't say "don't discriminate after you've met some TGD people".

Secondly, there aren't enough TGD people to go round - and the same for most minorities.

What is needed is for those third rate human beings (yes, I'm judging them, just as they're judging me - but I am doing so on the basis of the content of their character, not an irrelevant, illogical, and unjustified characteristic) to decide to be better human beings.

This also applies to white supremacists and other racists.

Final point on hospitals: their design really needs input from psychologists. If the "experts" designing that, who clearly have no conception of what stresses people are under when they are trying to find their way through hospitals, aren't prepared to do that, then give the job of laying out hospitals and associated carparks, etc to the people who design airports. It would be more effective and user friendly.

PS - and locate air intake vents AWAY from publicly accessible areas, as staff won't keep smokers away from their given the murder of doctor by a smoker a few years ago, and police patrols are too infrequent to be of any use.