Rotherham – Dr Rod’s Odd Blog (almondemotion)

The Sailor from Dinnington

It was a few weeks ago. I was logged-on to a meeting. Locked, stock to the computer screen, my face flickering at 60Hz, my fingers dancing over the keyboard, and, me, for the most pretending to eye-contact, whilst reading the Guardian. During these times I exist in a split reality. My focus switching between theContinue reading “The Sailor from Dinnington”

Civility, Incivility and being nice

Incivility from me to you is as bad as my stabbing you with a knife, just less bloody.

Hospital at home, virtual wards and turning care in the community on its head

The doctor calling the ambulance rationalises their actions, ‘I don’t know what will happen to their chest (NB not ‘Albert’, but his chest – a lapse into pathology and medical-speak

opposite the optimism / down stream

I see school children in groups walking around as if nothing is happening; dumb to the reality that their future is being burned through the profligate nature of government spending on failed schemes for virus control or overall chaotic mismanagement of the crisis.

Covid – difficult moment when the answers are not straightforward

All we can do in the Time of Covid is to do our best and act in good faith.

Covid – My blog is calling (Week one, through a doctor/dad/outsider’s lens)

Fear of doing the wrong thing is a fundamental of quality improvement. If you are afraid to act because people might call you out or think you stupid, you won’t do anything, and the quality won’t improve. It won’t necessarily deteriorate either, yet, in times of radical change, that is worse.

My Job

Mostly, my approach is to consider that we, that is the community services (those outside the acute hospital) can and do support a far broader range of patients than people realise and, when working well together, can care for a significant proportion of the people who otherwise arrive at the door of A&E.

London to Glasgow (cardiologists and frailty)

First, I wanted to mention Neprilysin (and its inhibitor) as it seems to me to be such a cunning piece of high-tech science it should reach this blog. Then I’ll get to the cardiologists!

Tepee Tales (1)

We are all just people who are trying to get-on, to get-by, to find an answer.

Change and its resistance

That is the best way to end-up with an unhappy, mediocre, computer programmer. Not a happy lepidopterist.

4-hours

I’d never really considered healthcare as a competitive sport.

India, etc.

The plan had been to explain to people the why, what, where of my trip to India. We are heading-out, a small contingent of NHS from Rotherham on the 17th of May, Mumbai via Abu Dhabi – which is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, not Scooby’s catchphrase. I wrote a couple of monthsContinue reading “India, etc.”

Small is beautiful

ure, there are workforce and financial hurdles, but, the most valuable resources are people, and, by, supporting and nurturing their emotional, intellectual and experiential capital things happen.

One week on. (in AMU)

I hadn’t laughed so much (about me, A and C’s stupidity) since arriving in Rotherham; this is the secret to significant improvements in health.

Grand-theft Junior

Is this what we want? One overall winner with everyone else losing?

Silly hats, uniforms.

I went back to Doncaster yesterday, to take part in the Person-Centred Care training day we have been running for the past year. On this occasion, I attended as a guest speaker, which was a novelty. I also took with me some colleagues from Rotherham, so that they could get a feel for the workContinue reading “Silly hats, uniforms.”

Three weeks. What have I learned?

It is just over three weeks since I started working in Rotherham. It has been an interesting time. There have been highs and lows. Some confusion. Soupcon of anxiety. Even, disorientation. Lesson 1 When I was younger, it was routine to change jobs every year – that was the rotation which was the core ofContinue reading “Three weeks. What have I learned?”