Well last week was a bit of an
adventure! Now then, I thought being retired was all about not getting up before
10.00 am, indulging in long lazy lunches, with perhaps a snooze in the
afternoon, before opening up a bottle of the old red stuff to see the evening in.
My week wasn’t quite like that. Monday I was interviewing for two new paediatric
consultants. We had some cracking candidates and we were able to appoint to the
two vacancies. But my goodness did they seem young. Any organisation needs to
have folk who are passionate about what they are doing and the successful candidates
had bucketloads of passion, and my goodness did they know their stuff too.
Pleasingly for me, both candidates
were active researchers! One of them, in presenting her work, was a passionate
qualitative researcher – something fairly unusual among our medical colleagues.
Her work was in palliative care for children (and their families). Her presentation
used the words from the children and parents participating in her research. It
was a very powerful and moving account.
Tuesday it was down to Manchester
for the annual NHS Providers Conference. It was the second time in six weeks
that I found myself in the Manchester Convention Centre (I gave the Tory Party
Conference a miss…) and actually the second time in six weeks I was able to ask
the NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, a question – this time it was about
what the NHS (and Government) might do about reducing the known harmful effects
of children and young people using social media, digital games and so on. He
provided a very reassuring and well-informed response. I don’t know why I’m surprised,
but his knowledge of local concerns and issues is simply phenomenal.
It was a really lovely surprise to
meet up with my Twitter friend Jackie Smith, who was also at the conference.
The following day it was the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
Matt Hancock. If you are sitting on the edge of your chair waiting for the upcoming
Queen’s Speech and expecting to hear about a proper solution to the UK’s social
care problems, I came away with a sense you will be very disappointed.
Thursday was World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme being suicide and suicide prevention. The World Health
Organisation reports that each year suicide accounts for more deaths than war
and homicide combined. Worldwide, over 800,000 people die by suicide each year –
that’s one person every 40 seconds. Lithuania has the highest rate of suicide
in the world, the UK is 78th. Worldwide, suicide is the second
leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29 (accidents and
unintentional injury are the top cause of death). On the day there was much material
available to raise people’s awareness and counter stigma. I liked the free materials that were available for schools to use in the run up to, and as a
follow up to, the day. This is something I thought was particularly important,
as to be honest, every day should be a mental health day.
Interestingly, last Monday the Department
for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy announced the launch of a £35
million-funded research programme aimed to give more support to young people experiencing
mental health problems. In the UK, one in eight children or young people will
be affected by mental health problems. The research will look at both external factors,
as well as genetics, to try and understand the development of the adolescent brain
(and mind). I remember well my time working in an adolescent forensic mental
health service and having to deal with the challenge as to how much of the behaviours
we saw were ‘normal’ adolescence and how much was due to an underlying mental
health issue. As most parents will know, adolescence is an often poorly
understood period in a child’s life. A young person’s brain is particularly sensitive
to external influences, as they develop their own social and cultural sense of
self. Last week also saw the launch of ‘Every Mind Matters’, a launch so successful
that the Public Health England website crashed for a while. You can watch the video here.
Thursday was one of last week’s
busy days. Thanks to the sheer volume of traffic on the motorway, it involved a
two-hour commute from home to Alder Hey Hospital - a journey that should have taken
just over an hour. I was there for the first North West Region’s Provider and
CCG Chairs meeting. The meeting was held in the wonderfully modern and enthralling
Institute In The Park. A building funded by a range of different sources and
which provides a shared space for research and learning. In fact, the hospital’s
architecture and design are breathtaking and well worth a visit, if you happen
to be passing. Given that it is a children’s hospital, it was wonderful to see
so many smiling faces and to hear so much joyous noise, as I walked through the
buildings.
Then it was on to spend a few
hours with two of my grandchildren, before driving back home. I relish every
moment I can spend with them these days. It was seven years ago that the eldest
of the pair spent a harrowing 10 days in Manchester Children’s Hospital’s intensive
care unit due to a respiratory condition. He is fine now, but at the time it
was a very worrying near-death experience for the little lad. Yesterday, two
more of my grandchildren came to visit and we spent a pleasant hour on the beach.
These two are little younger and so enjoyed being on the sand, drawing sand
pictures, running, shell finding and all the things that only a three-year-old
and a 14th month year old can take such pleasure in. Thinking back
over the week, it was good to be able to enjoy the making of new memories.
Children are here now and can be highly delightful; they are also our future
and we should cherish them for that.
Glad to see you are keeping busy.
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