Slow reader

Feeling quite well, yet, The doctor has said, I am sick, he suggested, using indirect speech that I might die, perhaps tonight.   Malcom Gladwell Calls it mitigated language:   ‘Captain, perhaps, you should look out of the… window; Is our altitude not a little low?’   My oxygen requirement Is too great My arterioleContinue reading “Slow reader”

Mindless medicine

It is the way we teach people to blindly follow protocols, pathways and guidance; it is what makes the nurse challenge my wearing a watch but miss all the dirt on the floor or the nurses not washing their hands; it is, to quote Master Lee, staring at the finger and missing the heavenly glory.

Uniforms

There is a theory, developed by Ellen Langer, Professor of Psychology at Harvard that there is a thing going-on with uniforms. Yes, none of us needed a US academic to tell us that uniforms do something, it is more the effect they have, not just on those who engage with the individual in said togs,Continue reading “Uniforms”

Immature

Now, this is going to be a tricky one. This is because, it is part confession, with a little pre and post-hoc rationalisation. Are you intrigued? I may as well just jump-in, like you do at the Lido, head-first, only concern that your heart might stop. Now, I feel it is OK to come-clean aboutContinue reading “Immature”

Health and Social Care – a little guide

Sure, this is not as good as someone popping-in and checking on you, but it is better than the fear of being found collapsed, dead, on your carpet at the weekend when your family call round to visit.

Asleep

When was the last time you saw someone you don’t know asleep? This happens to me every day. It is a standard of hospital practice; take a person, young or old, lay them in bed, add the complexities of an acute medical illness and there you go. Asleep. This does not mean that at threeContinue reading “Asleep”

Housebound

I struck upon this last night after reading the section in Hilary Cottam’s book, ‘Radical Help’ (See below). It is interesting, how people acquire certain statuses – handicapped, disabled, impaired; the same applies to housebound. This is a term we use to describe – I imagine (I haven’t consulted the dictionary), a person who isContinue reading “Housebound”

Hitler on the M1

I don’t think I have written much in the past about Hitler. It is not a topic I am that comfortable describing. (Sorry for the awkward grammar – isn’t that appropriate?). Sure – it is easy for me to express my position – it is the same as everyone else, but, when entering into theContinue reading “Hitler on the M1”

Changing narrative

When I was a kid, travelling unstrapped in the back of yellow Kadett, windows up, tarry Benson and Hedges mist choking the air on a dreich Glasgow morning; that was the world of the time. We now sit, strapped, hands-free, hybrid-car, cruising along motorways controlled by super-computers. Things change. Times change. Modernisation; moving-on, developing, growing.Continue reading “Changing narrative”

Watch it…

(When was the last time anyone checked the dirt level of an NHS keyboard)(Oops, should have said that – the snap response there is sometimes keyboard-condom rather than ‘clean the thing’ the former making touch-typing a nightmare)(when you do get to type, rather than write, which is a mixed-methods form of data collection, common in the health service).

Super-stranded

I wrote a few months ago about one of the NHS terms that cause me feelings of anxiety – DToC, in other words, the acronym used to describe people who are deemed by the ‘system’ to be ‘delayed transfers of care’ – this being, people, mostly older, often frail, frequently living with dementia who areContinue reading “Super-stranded”

Earbuds and the Black Death

I don’t know when headphones became earphones then earbuds; I think the latter was something to do with the iPhone.* This evening I went to Meadowhall, our nearby shopping centre situated off the M1 between Sheffield and Rotherham. It is a big, brash, ugly place that in years gone by was an iron factory; nowContinue reading “Earbuds and the Black Death”