Apologies for my absense. Several times over the last few weeks I have thought of a blog post that I might want to write and post, but something (not entirely sure what) has stopped me. The question is – am I just lazy? Is it just that the obsession to score over 100,000 on bejewled blitz on facebook was too great? Or am I just an ordinary person who from time to times loves blogging then needs an interlude of several weeks for a break from it all?
This month has been a big one for our small family. My teenage son, Matt has gone off to University and I have discovered just what empty nest syndrome feels like. In some ways, and to an outsider it feels much the same as before, after all it is not that he didn’t go out a lot (that boy has a social life to be proud of) but it is very odd that a house where the teenager is just out for the evening and one where he is currently living elsewhere feels different. Hubby and I are enjoying food that is slightly different – teen son isn’t fond of fish and I have cooked more fish than for years. But actually I like him here and I like cooking food that he likes. Ok so his now tidy and clean room has remained so for over a week, but I like to hear myself grumble about the state of it and he say that it is fine!
Yesterday we v
isited to take the printer that he said he didn’t need, but now does. His room had been hastily tidied and apparently he had shown a hoover to the floor! He has new posters on the wall and his dirty clothes were in the linen basket thing I bought him rather than on the floor. He is managing well, cooking for himself and learning how to budget. He is enjoying living with other teenagers in the flat they share on campus, he continues his good and varied social life and claims not to have been too drunk. His schedule is not all that busy, but he says he has lots to do; indeed he has a to list on the wall – very organised. However on Saturday he popped up on facebook and asked me why I wasn’t at work. It is Saturday I said. “oh Yeah!” says he!!
So my plans for the coming few weeks – On Wednesday we are off on holiday for a week – to France! Yipee. On my return I plan to change the name of this blog – to something more about life in general when you are middle aged (but feel pretty young inside) and need to get yourself into some kind of gear for the coming weeks, months and years. Watch this space, I will return!!
Today we have been informed by the Patient Association that a small but
Having no team to manage is often a blessing. I have to admit that I have had very few people reporting to me who have been troublesome, and the stories I hear from colleagues about the workshy, the incompetent, the people discovered working while off sick and so on are just that. I have had a few difficult staff; one who tended to cry during our one to ones without good reason, one who appeared to do little work and hated to be challenged about why this was the case and another when I was a district nurse who couldn’t understand why 4 inch heels might not have been a good idea. Dealing with people in these situations can be tricky, and what is more managing poor performance in the NHS doesn’t seem to be easily resolved – there is a balance of power that appears to lean more towards the rights of the individual than those of management or organisation.
It is with great pleasure that I have to tell you that my Son Matt and his cousin Brad are both off to University in just a few weeks. Both have got the grades they need and are off on what might be the biggest adventure you can have at the tender age of 18. I don’t care if I am boasting here, but as far as I can see an A in English, a B in History and a C in Business Studies are good grades and I am a pretty proud mum tonight.

The US Healthcare debate seems to have caused some people across the Atlantic to suggest that the NHS is some kind of evil Socialist ideal and to have fixed on what they consider to be the worst aspects of the system to try to prevent government involvement in healthcare. I guess that when the NHS started in 1948 it could have been accused of being a socialist ideal, a system that would provide free healthcare at the point of contact to all those who live in the UK. I am not sure that the current NHS is quite like that, and what is more I am not sure it is particularly socialist. The UK is a much smaller place than the US but even here we don’t actually have one NHS as such. Ok so policy and top level guidelines are national, but the way they are implemented and the way in which priorities are set is part of local and regional decision making. This in itself casues accusations of rationing and post code lottery, but the money available is finite and the needs of all do need to be addressed.
Who would have imagined that just a day after my last post I would have answered the call for people to man the new antiviral collection points? On Friday afternoon however HR were out of their offices recruiting, and seeing as I sit just 10 feet from the HR managers and given that I am a soft touch, I was easily persuaded to give up my saturday morning for the good of the NHS. The idea of actually earning some overtime pay didn’t come into this, though with numerous birthdays and a golden wedding celebration in August any addtional money at time and a half at the top of band 7 will be welcome!
While I was on holiday, two 



















