This week’s blog captures some of
the voices I heard last week; voices that for different reasons struck a chord.
And what a week it was! Here in Greater Manchester, the blistering sun has
continued to shine and we have had more fires on the surrounding moorland than
I can remember in a very long time. These have been massive fires, and the
smoke could be seen (and smelt) wherever you travelled across Greater
Manchester. I was very impressed with the response from the public. Volunteers joined
forces with the fire service folk to beat out the flames with whatever they had;
others provided refreshments to all
those fighting the fires in the high temperatures. I heard nothing but praise
and support in the messages sent out on social media to all those involved or impacted
by the fires. As I write this, the smoke is still visible on a number of the
hills.
Tuesday saw me enjoying the
weather in the lovely seaside town of Cleveleys. Although the tide was a long
way out it was still good to be able to walk together on the beach and watch
the sun set on the horizon. Lunch was had in one of the many fish and chip restaurants
on the front (thankfully I was able to have a cheese ploughman’s). Later J and
I were able to call on ‘Jenny the M’ for tea and cakes. It was a wonderful experience.
I had never met her before, although we tweet a lot to each other. Jenny has
worked for the NHS for nearly 40 years, and is widely recognised for her advocacy
of evidence-based midwifery practice. She recently was one of those ‘Health and
Care Top 70 Stars’ - part of the celebration of the NHS’s 70th anniversary
on July 5th. Our conversations went way into the evening as we shared stories
and tried to put the world to rights. She is a truly generous lady who wears
her eccentricity well. A woman after my own heart.
Wednesday had me experiencing very
different conversations. I attended the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust
monthly Board meeting. It was always likely to be a difficult meeting, as the
Board was due to take a decision on the creation of a wholly-owned subsidiary
company to provide all the future estate and facilities services for the Trust.
As expected, a large group of staff from these areas were in attendance, along
with full-time representatives from the Unison and Unite trade unions. The case
was presented and a vote was taken, with the outcome being a unanimous decision
to proceed. It didn’t go down well with those present and the Unison representative
read a pre-prepared speech condemning the decision, whereas the Unite representative
launched into a tirade of mostly untruths, saying ‘he knew where we all lived’,
that we were ‘scum bags’ and made threats to the running of the hospital. Neither
union appeared to have a cogent argument and appeared to rely on belligerence
and being disingenuous to make their voice heard. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Thursday was a much better day.
One of the things that made it a better day was reading Lynn Findlay’s new blog
on walking and running as therapy (see here). I always like reading Lynn’s
blogs. She writes reflectively, with humour, knowledge and experience. I was
not alone in appreciating her blog, as Lynn received many responses from people
wishing to help and be involved in her work.
Friday dawned, and with it a
different opportunity to hear the voice of someone passionate about their work.
I was the internal examiner in a PhD viva exam. Now I have done nearly 40 PhD
viva examinations, and have supervised 22 students through to completion of their
doctoral studies. Undertaking a viva and being a PhD supervisor is a great privilege,
and both activities have been something I have really enjoyed doing as an academic.
Alas now I only have three PhD students to supervise. I had read Friday’s candidate
thesis with much interest. Her study was focused on capturing the experiences of
people who in a mental crisis had used a telephone street triage team to get
help.
It was a good piece of work.
Based around three case studies, and using a narrative approach to both her
data collection and analysis, she had really found an effective way to privilege
the voice of service users. Many aspects were explored along the way, including:
what might really constitute a place of safety for those experiencing a mental
crisis to be taken to; the role of the Police in such situations (her study
found the Police involved with her participants were caring, compassionate and
had very good interpersonal communication skills); and the sad lack of readily available
follow up care once the crisis had settled. The viva examination was a conversation,
with not a hint of adversarial approaches involved. She defended her thesis
well and I am pleased to report that we recommended she was made the award of
PhD subject to her completing some minor corrections. It was a great way to end
of week of contrasting voices.
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