I love this picture that I found; there is something about sunset which is seriously amazing and don’t you just love the way that the trees reflect into the water? One of these days I must get out and about and take some pictures of my own to put up here, one of these days I will have time to call my own. Infact today I saw a man of at least 70 years of age out jogging in the rain wearing cycle shorts; now what makes you do that?

A major part of my course is a module on reflective practice which will last for the duration (2 years) and that fact, plus the 2.5 hours I have spent in my car today (much of it stationary) has caused me to decide to post about the whole reflection thing.

In the NHS we all reflect on our experiences so that we can turn those experiences into some kind of deeper learning. Well that is what we are led to believe, sadly this can’t be the truth as it appears to me we make the same mistakes time after time. Whether that is about the care people receive and the way that is perceived or the way we are reorganised time after time, it amounts to the same thing. It has been my experience that nurses are far to busy to spent time reflecting with their peers and managers can’t see the point of ensuring that they do it.

It is my humble opinion though, that actually sitting down and thinking about something you have done, then discussing that issue with some colleagues is actually a really good way of learning from each other. That and remembering exactly what we have done before and what that felt like. It is just a shame that the department of health appear to have no mechanism for reflection; what message does that send to us at the front line?

while I have no control over the whims of central government, one of the things I am in the process of helping to implement at work is more in the way of reflective supervision for our employees, this means a place and time to be allowed to think about what they do and to plan how things should be in the future. Learning more about reflective practice myself and being involved in action learning with my cohort can only help this.

One thing I have been meaning to mention since my first trip to Harrow in Wednesday is that the high street already has Christmas decorations up! Perhaps they keep them up all year, but if they do then I wonder about the point of 4 strips of tinsel hanging from the top of every lamp post? I don’t agree with decorations before at least the middle of November, but if you must have them adorning the streets then at least make them tasteful and bright!