Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

My moan for today. I went to our local hospital to have new hearing aids fitted after a 14 month wait. The chap I saw was extremely patronising and spoke....very.....slowly as though I was a two year old imbecile. I told him I could hear him quite clearly without aids as we were face to face in a small office and that I'd had hearing aids for 40 odd years and knew how to put them in and out, knew what a battery was and how to change it etc etc. and he still insisted to showing me how to do it and repeated everything three times - ye gods! How I had the patience to just sit there and treat him politely I do not know. The appointment was for 45 mins, I was out in 20, no wonder they take over a year to schedule everyone in. Such a waste of time.
To add insult to injury, the right ear one doesn't fit at all well and is very uncomfortable, I think I've probably got somebody else's so I shall have to return it and insist they redo it.

Sorry, rant over. (I feel better now!!!)

 

@lizzie27 - I had a similar experience when I took my Dad for a new hearing aid, many years ago. He was totally deaf in one ear from birth, and the other ear had deteriorated from about the age of 4, and got worse and worse over the years, so he was totally reliant on it. The hearing aid had completely failed, so off we went. The woman who dealt with it was unbelievably condescending, and treated him as though he was thick, not deaf. I was gradually becoming furious with her attitude, but managed to stay calm enough until the procedure was done, and the new 'super smart' [not] aid was fitted. On the way down in the lift, the r*ddy thing stopped working. I said we'd go back and get it sorted, and my Dad was reluctant - because of the attitude of that woman, but he would have been totally lost without it, and he was quite upset with it all.
All was eventually fine, but I felt like telling her my Dad might have been deaf, but he was a lot smarter than her, and never rude either. Couldn't wait to go home.

He also had problems with the new hearing aid and eventually went back to his old one when he was able to get suitable batteries for it.
Glad you got that off your chest!

 

At least you did not have to pay 2.5K for them. Sounds like it was worth it to go private.

 

My dad went private recently, just for a consultation, because he's suffered with the same problem for about 5 years now and has about a year left before a NHS specialist will see him. So £250 later, after seeing the same doctor he would have anyway, he has a diagnosis. The problem is that even though all the information has been emailed to our doctors, they are playing silly buggers and claiming they haven't received it. The difficulty is he can't get his new prescription until they play ball and they can apparently be very stubborn if you have gone private.
The downside is that the condition is known but it will still take 18 months minimum for it to be dealt with by the NHS or there will be a big bill if you go private. I'm not sure the cost but know someone who had the same operation a few years back and it was 3.5k then. As a family we would rather club together to try and get it sorted but we have all payed in to the NHS and it's because of our inept doctors surgery that it has gone on so long anyway.

 

I'm assuming one of the reasons behind reducing the State Pension age was because statistics apparently showed that, on the whole, we are all living longer so can work ( and pay ) for more years.
Trouble is, each govt. seems just to tinker with these issues with the result that many people are left out in the cold. They also fail to tackle the tax system re corporations and the very rich as @ViewAhead often says. The oft repeated mantra "we need economic growth" is pretty pointless until they deal with the basics.
Can't see much changing as Money has a very loud voice.

 

Hope I am not boring anyone with my repetitiousness! It is a subject on which I feel quite strongly.

 

Yep,got that Impression.
Seriously, there are those that have modest savings and small share holdings and then there are the very rich.

I don't think we should all be treated the same.
Ordinary people have always invested some money for a rainy day in my lifetime, it was called being sensible and looking after your old age.

Somewhere along the line interest rates became stupidly low and everyone got used to it,people spent like there was no tomorrow because savings were losing money.
I think we need a sensible interest rate that suits borrowers and investors, after all where do you get money from if nobody is investing.
Borrowers have had a field day until recently, I'm not sure how the whole set up didn't fail years ago with zero interest etc.

 

@ViewAhead I wasn't having a dig - sorry if it came across that way. We were royally screwed by a bank when we moved to the UK in 2011 - exchange rates between the Euro and Sterling were "fixed" - that particular scam didn't come to light until a couple of years later. Bit late in the day but the various dealers made a fortune.

 

Only benefits are supposed to be non taxable ?

 

It is non taxable ATM, they tax any private pension you might have.

Unless they change the tax threshold I'm sure its pretty good bet pensions will not be rising much any time soon.

 

Calling ourselves the British Isles makes sense. I've never liked 'UK' and have never used it to refer to Britain (with or without the Great). UK is a title and not the name of our country.

 

But Great Britain excludes Northern Ireland - as in “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. I always thought that the “united” bit referred to uniting GB with NI. Quite where the Channel Islands fit into all of that, I’m not sure.

 

I prefer British Isles to Great Britain, but would generally use the term UK.

I didn't think you were having a dig, @Philippa. I know it is a subject that am vocal about.

@pete, my problem isn't with wealth per se (and certainly not with those who have saved a bit or inherited some money from family), but with rules that allow really excessive resources to be siphoned off and hoarded by the few.

 

These days I stick to UK or Britain, as Great Britain sounds wrong, especially with the current US administration.