I don’t know about any one else but I have struggled with navigating my way round here and for example putting links onto the right hand side of my blog. Maybe I am just plain stupid? Maybe the instructions are just for techys? On my 4th attempt I have managed it and will in future be putting loads more links up.

I also found yesterday that I don’t have any pictures of myself I would wish to share with the worldwide web, so I will be looking for a cartoon which best represents me and have a go at posting that on here.

Doing this stuff has nothing to do with the NHS, but then it is the weekend and a long bank holiday weekend at that! We are looking forward to good weather for the rest of this weekend; yipee! But I will use this time also to let people know about the NHS, how it started and what is happening now.

The NHS - What is it and when did it start?

The National Health Service was formed in 1948 and was designed to ensure that health services were free at the point of contact for all. Aneurin Bevan, Who was the minister of health is widely recognised as the founder of the NHS. More information about this historical context can be found here

I joined the NHS as a student nurse in 1980, and even by then it was clear that the original concepts set out in 1948 were proving difficult to sustain. The expectations of the public have always ensured that so called need has outweighed what can be provided. Money has always been moved around the system depending on what was deemed important at the time, and this has been confounded by the fact that this system has always been underfunded by successive governments. There will be much more about this later.

Welcome to my blog! I have spent some time reading though other people’s blogs and it seems to be alright to go on about stuff, so as I often have plenty to say about life, work and the workd this may be the place for me.

So who am I?
Well, I am a qualified nurse, who for about 4 years has been working in the world of education (now grandly titled workforce development) in PCT land in the good old NHS. I am married with a son of 14, so I may well have stuff to say about the joy of bringing up a teenager in 2005. I may rant about life inside or outside the NHS, who knows.

What’s happening in the NHS now?
Well plenty it seems, especially in PCT land. I will be spending alot of time going on about the changes which are afoot, and trying to explain them from my perspective. I might also have something to say about the things that the press say about health related issues, nurses and so on.
But for this post, I think that is enough. I think I am going to have a think about what comes next while doing my housework. Cos a woman’s work is never done - as we all know!!