Snow in the Sahara and other Tales of the Unexpected

I read, with dismay, the announcement last week that BT intended raising the cost of its broadband and phone services by 9.3% in March this year. It will be an additional financial burden for many households to bear, alongside the higher costs of fuel, food, and energy bills. April brings the new National Insurance increase and rises to our Council Tax bills. Why are the charges for broadband and phone usage going up? Well, it is said that there has been a 90% increase in broadband use since 2018 and a 79% increase in mobile phone usage since 2019. There are 80.97 million mobile subscriptions in the UK. The UK population stands at just over 67 million people.

People in the UK spend an average of 3 hours and 23 minutes on the phone each day. Over 65 million people use their phones for internet use, whereas only 48% of us actually use our phones to make a voice call each day. BT note that the pandemic and working from home and the popularity of streaming films and games has led to increased use of their data networks – hence the planned price rise.

The pandemic brought about many changes to our lives, not least of which has been how we work. Despite what some folk may think (PMs and the like), hybrid working is here to stay. Many people have been able to enjoy a better work/life balance as a result of adopting an agile approach in where and when they work. Health and social care have also seen innovation brought about by new technology. We now have virtual wards, telephone consultations, and virtual outpatient clinics. More of which later.

Although these days I’m largely retired, I’m privileged to work as a Chair for a large acute hospital. Although I could easily work from home in undertaking this role, I choose to travel in and have a physical presence on site each Monday and Thursday. I enjoy working and being with people and going in twice a week means I get to spend my time doing just that. It’s a bit of a commute; 70 miles there, and then 70 miles back, but I don’t mind. It provides me with time to think and to listen to music or the radio. I like Radio 4 best. Last week, as I was travelling home, I tuned into ‘Think with Pinker’. If you haven’t caught this programme yet, have a listen here. Each programme provides a fascinating exploration of how our minds work, and how this impacts upon our behaviour and decision making.

The programme I listened to explored false memories, and how these might result in wrongful convictions in some court cases. False memories are not deliberate and can happen as a consequence of many things.  Someone who holds a false memory will often maintain some certitude in the veracity of that memory. A false memory can involve remembering something that occurred, but in a way that is very different from what actually happened. More commonly, a false memory deals not with forgetting something that actually happened, but remembering something that has never taken place.

False memories can be ‘created’. Research undertaken by one of the programme’s presenters, Elizabeth Loftus, Professor at the University of California (and one of the most influential psychologists of the 20^th century) showed how easy it was to do this. She described an experiment which involved showing the participants advertisements featuring images of Bugs Bunny. Subsequently, the researchers found many people believed they had seen, touched, or spoken with Bugs Bunny on a trip to Disneyland. This was unlikely to be the case as Bugs Bunny is a Warner Brothers’ creation and would have no place at Disney. It is perhaps easy to see the difficulties judges and juries might have in sifting through evidence that might be made up of false memories! Knowing what to believe might be more than just a challenge. For example, how many readers of this blog knew that it had snowed in the Sahara Desert last week? It did! And this was the fourth time it had done so in the last 42 years. If someone had told me that, I’m not sure I would have believed it.

What we believe to be true can have all kinds of consequences for us, as was shown in the outcomes of a Harvard clinical trial, published last week. This showed that 75% of side effects caused by the Covid vaccination were likely to be more psychological rather than a direct consequence of the jab. It is a phenomenon known as the ‘Nocebo effect’ – people experience a reaction because they are expecting one. The most often reported side effects were headaches and fatigue. Most side effects and, in particular, serious side effects are extremely rare. It is, however, true that in some cases, the second jab might give rise to some minor side effects as the body reacts to vaccine.  

Knowing what is a genuine physical reaction caused by the vaccine rather than that caused psychologically can require skilled, knowledgeable and experienced individuals making an assessment. I met one such person last week on my visit to Mastercall Health Care, one of our partner organisations providing out of hours and out of hospital care. In addition to providing face to face care, they use a great deal of technology to keep people safe and cared for.

The person I met was Jacqui Doherty, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, and Lead for Technology Enhanced Living. She showed me some new digital monitoring equipment they were just trialling. It was impressive. Using an internet-supported system, Jacqui could remotely monitor patients’ health and wellbeing, interact with them by phone or video link and give advice about changes in an individual’s symptoms. It was a system that also gradually educated folk with long-term conditions to more effectively look after themselves.

It was a glimpse of the future, yet it was here right now. Given the imminent BT price rise*, perhaps doctors and other community staff will soon be able to prescribe data plans for high end health care data usage. It has to be cheaper than keeping someone in a hospital bed!    

 

* I know from personal experience that BT have a great track record of protecting and supporting vulnerable individuals and families. Well done to them. I’m just not sure why when I turned 66, I became a vulnerable person.