Poll results – how should the NHS save money?

By | 6 October, 2010
Eager Shoot Up readers queue up to vote in this month's poll

Eager Shoot Up readers queue up to vote in this month's poll

It’s that time of the month again, chaps and chapesses – poll results time. Last month I asked how we diabetics should help wrench the government out of decades of poverty and despond by saving money for the NHS.

The results were both disturbing and startling, with 52% of my readers voting for the option “Summarily execute all Type Twos”. You maniacs! I know that 1) there is an endless battle between the priorities of warning people they might have Type Two and providing equipment & resources for Types Ones; and 2) your soaraway Shoot Up is dominated by Type Ones; but this is a step too far not-so-gentle readers! You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Type Twos have feelings too. Apparently.

Anyway, moving swiftly on – the slightly more sane option of managing diet and exercise more effectively came out next, which seems more than fair as it helps both Type Ones and Twos (see, we can all work together in harmony!)

Of most interest was that “reduce blood glucose testing” scored a grand total of no votes. This is because it’s a stupid idea – but, ironically, it’s the option that’s most commonly used by health authorities to reduce costs. I often read of diabetics having problems being prescribed enough strips to test often and effectively – which just goes to show that some health authorities really are run by drooling imbeciles who don’t know their Islets of Langerhans from their somatostatin delta cells. Bah!

However, this month’s poll strikes a more positive note; who’s your diabetes-related idol? You can pick one of the pancreatic luminaries from the poll over to the right. Get voting!

  • FG Banting
  • HG Wells
  • JJR Macleod
  • SG Redgrave
  • NJ Jonas
  • All of the above
  • None of the above

Those results in full:

  • How should diabetics help the NHS save money?
  • Summarily execute all T2s. (52%, 53 Votes)
  • Manage diet/exercise more effectively (27%, 28 Votes)
  • Multiple uses of needles and lancets (11%, 11 Votes)
  • Reduce research funding (5%, 5 Votes)
  • Return to bottled insulin and hypodermics (4%, 4 Votes)
  • Reduce Hb1Ac testing (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Reduce blood glucose testing (0%, 0 Votes)

11 thoughts on “Poll results – how should the NHS save money?

  1. Stephen

    “You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Type Twos have feelings too. Apparently.”

    I demand proof 😛 Beside, you gave us the option to vote for that @Tim !

    On a side note, can I have Nicolae Paulescu added to the poll please? Shame on you for not including him 😛

    Reply
  2. Cecile

    I insist that you luminate one T Ozbourne and add him to the list – after summary execution, you owe him that… and another Ancient Mariner that is a shining example for any diabetic about what not to do, is also not there: Sue Townsend (for a British blog, your list is extremely outlandish :()

    Reply
  3. Tim

    @stephen@teloz came up with the poll, nothing to do with me – I’m merely the messenger!

    And I’m not adding that old Romanian fraud to the poll… 😉

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  4. Tim

    @ckoei – I’ve never forgiven Sue Townsend for writing the latter and very crap Adrian Mole books. So she’s off the list too!

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  5. Cecile

    @tim: You being such a discerning reader (of Ian Fleming?), I’m entitled to smack you with a rank cod for the sake of Ms Townsend’s literary honour 😉 Diabetically speaking, she’s fantastic too: blind, borrowed a kidney from son & foot bones as brittle as digestive biscuits…along with dog 33, she’s the (warning) light of my life.

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  6. Rohan

    I’ve not heard of any but Redgrave and Wells on the new poll! I have gone for Wells, but it was pretty much eeni-meeni-miny-mo (how the hell do you spell that?!).

    As for the results, Part of me likes the execution of type 2s, but I know one who is an absolute legend, and it would be a shame to cut him short – even though he’s my ex’s dad! Diet and exercise it is then. *sigh* I like being lazy 😛

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  7. Tim

    @neobrainless: a handy key to people:

    * FG Banting > discoverer of insulin (along with Charles Best, though Nobel Prize was shared between Banting and person who ran the lab – JJR Macleod, who in turn gave half his prize to James Collip)
    * HG Wells > writer and co-founder of Diabetes UK
    * JJR Macleod > see above!
    * SG Redgrave > Olympic rower chap
    * NJ Jonas > member of popular music beat combo and diabetic.

    Reply
  8. Hairy Gnome

    Given the sense of humour of the wonderful people that inhabit this particular part of cyber space, I can’t honestly say I’m surprised by the poll results. The only real surprise was @Tim using my poll in the first place!

    I also totally concur with ‘Tim’s postulation that reducing the testing capability of any stripe of diabetic is arrant stupidity and must lead to increased costs in the long run, Diabetes UK’s magazine isn’t called Balance for nothing, and testing is the cornerstone of balance.

    However, I’ve decided I won’t dismantle the defensive cordon around The Gnomery for a few weeks yet! 😀

    Reply
  9. Rohan

    @teloz Wow! I love that image: Gnomes manning the machine gun turrets! 😀 I’ll stay well clear, in that case, I guess you escape the cull 😉

    Thanks for the explanations @Tim, I may just need to change my allegiance to Mr. Banting! 🙂

    Reply

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