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Posts by magpie  

Joined: 10 Mar 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 21 Dec 2011
Threads: Total: 6 / In This Archive: 5
Posts: Total: 133 / In This Archive: 107
From: The UK & Opolskie
Speaks Polish?: Not very well

Displayed posts: 112 / page 2 of 4
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magpie   
21 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

UK nurses became too posh to wash

Ain't that the truth. We had a nurse as a neighbour and she was right dirty. eh? eh?

She also commented on the the fact the the outsourcing cleaning agencies, then subcontracted to other, smaller, frequently flybynight cleaning agencies. So, it was nothing unusual to have three or four different faces turn up over the course of a week, all needing to be shown where everything was, but not caring, as they knew they'd never be back.

I had an operation about ten years ago, and on the first day the shower in the 6-bed ward was splattered with blood. It was still the same on the third day when I left. And they were full of their own self importance.
magpie   
21 Oct 2011
Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Thanks for that. I thought so, as it's more than I've been charged in the UK, almost double in fact.

It's one thing I've never got my head around here: wages for many people are lower, houses are cheaper, there isn't the onerous UK style business rates regime. But, services are frequently quite expensive and business property rental is high. Hmm.
magpie   
21 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

...5 years ago the nurses in the Lodz voivodstwo weren't paid in the several months up to Christmas

I just asked my mrs about that one of the grievances the nurses have is that unlike the doctors, their pensions are abysmal. Teachers are in the same boat. So much so that I've suggested to her that she stops her pension contributions and we use the money to buy lottery tickets each month. She thought I was joking.
magpie   
21 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

I had a look at the statistics, and it's about now that there should be some totally irrelevant reference to Serbia. Followed by a complete breakdown in the original topic.

But regardless of that:

. She and her nursing friends feel bad when people offer money as you don't become a nurse for money, if they did they would leave for the UK.

That's a good point. And for people with integrity it must be really condescending. We were at the hospital today and the staff were great. The nurses were absolutely fantastic. The oncologist was really good too.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

I was in with appendicitis and two weeks later my wife gave birth

Christ, I wish I'd know it was that easy! You can't imagine the things I had to do to my mrs to get her pregnant!! ;)

I have no doubt that many people have a trouble free experience in the nice modern hospitals that I've been in, but I think the problem is getting all the various bits in the system connected.

As I see it, in the US/UK/Aus it's either megabuck-private or free-public. Either way everything is managed for: In the UK the NHS send you letters telling you a date/time for your appointment, in a private system you get lattes in the waiting room.

But here, mrs was told "you need to see a radiographer... who will you be using?" Err...

"You need an oncologist...who will you be using?" Err....

"Oh, and we can't operate until next year. Find another hospital that can fit you in and get back to us" unquote.

Our experience is that you have the freedom to choose whatever specialist you want, but there is little to no assistance in coordinating..... anything.

So what story are you going to make up about the scar?
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

But they aren't your typical columns are they? Especially as they appear to be load bearing ones they are something special.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

we had two, cemented in, and still got nicked.

The moral being, don't trust people who put concrete lions in their garden. : ) I think these be-columned houses are inspired by halcyon times.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

Yes, particularly round, poured concrete ones.

I don't mind them, but a bit of imagination, like some stone would be nice.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

I do not condone threats of violence against women however

neither do I, but the nurse in the anecdote did, which is even more sad.

mother starts to give birth in the taxi enroute to another hospital, there are complications and the baby gets brain damage

See previous comment.

Some people - myself included - probably ask the wrong questions, such as "Do Polish people..." or "Is it normal in Poland for..." when the questions should be more "Do any nations of people who lived for generations under a regime that wasn't really interested in their welfare, actively nurtured mistrust and totally discouraged people putting their head above the parapet or using one's initiative frequently..."

Last year BBC R4 had a series, where they read out old declassified letters sent to London by various UK diplomats based around the world. One I remember was by a man who had been at the British embassy in Warsaw both pre and post WWII. He had commented on what friendly people Poles were prior to the war, then after the war his letters became quite dark. He commented upon how the Stalinist influence of fear encouraged mistrust and a mentality of 'if you don't want to get into trouble, don't do anything at all unless so instructed'. No wonder there are small daily experiences of their remnants.

On a lighter note, they commented on how in the 1970s a child's toy remote control car would open the electric/rc gates of a police station in central Moscow. :)

Right, time for a cup of tea I think.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

Sorry I wasn't very clear on that, I meant wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper) for the patients to bugger off the Germany for the abortion. Much like how the Irish go to the UK... unless of course they are 12 years old and raped by their friend's father, in which case they get a court order banning them from leaving the country.

Your explanation was interesting, nonetheless. I didn't realise that the GMC had done that. Did they put on pith hats for the occasion? :(
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

And they don't even have the good grace to build them from shoddy materials so they'll fall down eventually.

Hahaha! :(

Christ, I've just noticed that its got integrated roller-shutters. It's like a poor man's version of that square bombproof monstrosity that Polmed bangs on about.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

I'd never heard of it until the SIL(ly cow) mentioned it. Actually, a few years ago mrs m did tell me that in the weeks after the communist government folded, everything was a bit up in the air and that she paid for a doctor's visit, but I didn't really click what she meant, to be honest. But that was a little different to today. (head in hands)

Last night we were in the very plush offices of another oncologist for a 2nd opinion and today my mrs became adamant that he wanted a bribe too.

He said "there are very long waiting queues" followed by a long silence
She said "but what can we do?"
He said "there are very long waiting queues" followed by a long longer silence
She said "but what can we do?"
He said "proceed with your recommended treatment..."

He must have realised that she wasn't being to quick on the old nudge, nudge, wink, wink routine.
magpie   
20 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

I'd refer you to Wrocław's back slapping comment.

Peer review in architecture (or fashion or cooking) has little connection to peer review in science, as it's all eye of the beholder stuff. Like the man with light sensitive eyes who design the house above.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Oh dear.

That reminds me of a French policeman arguing with a friend a few years ago that the UK was not in the EU. I think he was getting it confused with the Euro. Maybe your immigration person was in the same boat.

Is this accountant at it with their monthly charges? It sounds a bit steep to me, especially when they know I only have one employee at the moment.

Suggested net price for the main services
a) 50 documents (bookkeeping) - 400 PLN*
b) 10 UE transactions - 100 PLN
Total net price (bookkeeping): 500 PLN

c) 10 employees (payroll+HR) - 575 PLN

Total net price (HR+payroll): 575 PLN

magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

Geez, two vastly different cooks!

It must have been a loaded coin, as in he lost a bet. The house in my pic appears to have had very little in the way of artistic input and would have to be one of the most unimaginative new build houses I have ever seen.

Whomever designed this really didn't like windows and it's 490,000zl in a reasonably modest size town! Surely an architect can't have been involved in it. It looks like something designed by a 'builder'.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

House designers would be my answer to the thread.

As in the sense that anyone who cooks become a Cook? :)

one would expect such people to pat one another on the back.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

I did look at all the links and all I saw was the same purile OTT armadillos that seem to be built these days by the barrow load all over the world, in a certain profile of country that feels it has something to prove... especially in China and Dubai. I like to think of this style as "complex architecture" and I don't mean difficult.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

F4, Last year my mrs had a mammogram, an ultrasound, x-rays, an MRI and a biopsy, all at the same hospital and was given the all clear.

About a month ago she knew something was definitely wrong and was referred to a surgeon who specialises in cancers and he said that the original mammogram was so poor quality as to be virtually unreadable, but one of the other scans showed it up as clear as day. Her treatment starts this week, so 18 months down the friggin gurgler, making the experience far more traumatic than it needed to be.

This would make me think the local radiologist is incompetent, as one would think reading x-rays should be at the top of their list of capabilities. Mrs m has been told that should things be a success, her life style will still be dramatically different, e.g. after the operation she won't be able to carry heavy things, like bags off shopping, or work in the garden. I believe that the doctor needs to be held to account. I'm not saying anything to her at the moment but will be following this up at an appropriate time.

She was recently put in touch with a woman a few streets away who has the exact same experience at the same hospital two years ago, and I think it was the same specialist.

BTW, my SIL just told Mrs m that she recently paid a bribe to get bumped to the front of the queue for an operation on her hip. There are some big mountains to be climbed.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Life / Do you have water coming out from sink in yellow, red or brown color in Ursynow/Warsaw? [11]

It's probably just crap in the old areas of pipe. If the hot water smells like rotten eggs, it's a by product (farts) of a bacteria living in the stagnant water.

They are only in certain water supplies and live of other properties in the water. I'd never heard of it here, but it is a known problem in some parts of the world.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Who designs houses in Poland? [66]

at the end everybody deserves to be satisfied.

But not the builder of this house. From what I can tell, it's been for sale for months. He's probably still at a loss at to why it isn't sold.
magpie   
19 Oct 2011
Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Richfilth

Bloody hell. That was along the lines of what I expected. The woman from Urząd Skarbowy even telephoned yesterday and said "Congratulation on the commencement of your new business".

If it makes you feel better, I lived in France a few years ago and had a similar experience. In Polish terms I was incorrectly issued two REGON/NIP ID cards. One had the correct NIP but the wrong REGON, while the other the wrong NIP/correct REGON (so to speak). Seven times I tried visited the local office/ wrote letters etc. The woman at the local office kept apologising and tearing up the nasty letters and telling me everything would be sorted. Before leaving I paid all dues in full according to the card with the correct NIP along with a explanatory letter from my accountant and photocopies of all correspondence/both cards. I received a letter telling me that I had no outstanding obligations.

Friends in France tell me that the authorities still visit occasionally to interview me.

The thing that both countries have in common is that a qualification is necessary to become a public servant, or I believe that to be the case. At least the Polish authorities have have made progress.