Just back from an evening out with some former (and current, to be honest) work colleagues. These are the kind of events that I kind of dread going to because first they are usually midweek and secondly these are not necessarily people I would choose to mix with socially (not all just some). But in fact they are events that once I am there I quite enjoy. I have to be honest and admit that I tend only to chat to the people I want to at these things, though of course I am pleasant and say hello to everyone else, but you can’t speak individually to 17 other people in 3-4 hours flat. I am quite an outgoing person but actually not so good at small talk, so I have to want to spend time with someone to feel able to get stuck into a conversation with them. Plus as you get older, I find that you do less things because it is the right thing to do and more things that you want to.

During the working day, I have been to Newmarket which is a kind of market town well known for horseracing which is about 70 miles from home. Today was about Maternity Matters, the government choice agenda for maternity services and involved bringing people who provide maternity care, those who commission it and anyone else vaguely interested in it together. Generally interesting stuff, but as usual you are left wondering how it will get done, how will it get done and is it worth getting done before the agenda changes to something else. It also makes you wonder what people really mean by choice, because if it is about making sure a mum to be gets the safest care then that might mean no real choice is available. Thinking back to my own experience of maternity services, I developed complications which meant that I required in patient care before delivery, monitoring throughout and all of the high tech input of the whole team. I was never going to get my delivery at home and would never have wanted it and to be honest never felt that I missed out on anything. However the experience wasn’t all that pleasant and is related to the reason I only have one child now. Still life in commissioning is certainly turning out to be interesting!