The bad news is that nothing lasts for ever; the good news is that nothing lasts forever

Some regular readers of this blog will know I have long had a thing about all things ‘chicken’. Due to my interest, I have my social media search engines set to pick up on stories about chickens. Last week, I was alerted to the horror incident of a lorry fire, down in Essex. The lorry was carrying live chickens. It was probably a story that passed you by. It’s a busy world out there, and of course last week there was a lot going on in the world.

I saw the story on Facebook. The reports didn’t say how many chickens were being transported, but a similar lorry fire last year in Ireland involving a similar-sized lorry, was carrying 8,000 birds. None of the reports made any mention of the number of birds that would have died, although the report did state the fire and rescue services’ concern for the birds’ welfare as being paramount.   

Scrolling through the comments on the article, I was appalled and saddened at the callous and offensive dark humour of many of those commenting. It felt to me that some of these folk had become so inured from dreadful events that they felt able to make fun of such a tragic incident. It made me stop and think about how much ‘negative news’ we are bombarded with each day. We have seen a rapid rise in the live communication and sharing of tragic and awful events, as these are occurring, almost from anywhere in the world. I wondered about the impact such exposure might have on our children and young people in particular. 

Last week saw the celebration of the annual World Mental Health Day. First celebrated in 1993, this year’s theme felt both timely and so prescient: it is ‘access to service – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies’. The focus highlights the importance of people being able to effectively safeguard their mental health in times of international insecurity and instability. I think the world has never felt so unstable, leaving many people feeling anxious and vulnerable at best and totally overwhelmed at worse.

The Mental Health Foundation has some great advice on how to deal with feeling overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed is not a good place for anyone to find themselves in. It will have a lasting and negative impact on anyone’s mental health and wellbeing. I worry more about the longer-term impact it might have on children and young people over time. I struggle at times to make sense of what I watch on TV, read in the papers or see on social media. Some of the behaviours, decisions and actions I see played out in the news feel to me to be almost inexplicable, inexcusable and at times very frightening. Just consider what is being currently reported on what is happening on the streets of many US cities?

So, if at times, and despite my experience, knowledge and age, I find the unremitting negative news difficult, goodness knows how younger people and children deal with news. Jane and I no longer have young children living in the house. However, experience tells me that often children, trying to make some kind of sense of what they are seeing, hearing or worse still witnessing, can give rise to all kinds of emotions and misunderstandings. The news stories, complete with horrifying images of conflict in place such as Ukraine or Gaza can be terrifying. Likewise, the recent dreadful events at the Heaton Park Synagogue, which was featured over and over again on the news and on social media will, I’m sure, have given rise to much anxiety.

Families separating or divorcing is another example of the difficulties children can have in making sense of what is happening to their worlds. In 2024, there were 2.5 million separated families in the UK. Over 4 million children lived in these separated families. Many of children will blame themselves for the break-up of their family. Of course many don’t necessarily, but the evidence shows most children will suffer behavioural and emotional disturbances, as a consequence of their family separating.

Often children dealing with any trauma will have difficulty in expressing how they feel. The NSPCC website has an excellent guide for talking about difficult issues with children. For children, and for all of us trying to make sense of the world, it’s always important to remember that the emotions they feel, we feel, (and I feel) will be normal and understandable. There can be many ways to deal with these emotions. Connections with others are always important, and finding ways to keep talking, equally so. For me, mindfulness works well, particularly when I’m able to be outside and able to slow down, think and make sense of the world I’m part of. And let’s remember the importance of sharing some kindness.  Kindness matters, always.    

Visiting my GP: boiled sweets and swimming pools.

Whenever I became ill as a child, my parents would try ‘over the counter’ remedies and draw upon their many years of family experience to try and make me well again. This was a time before Dr Google. If all else failed, then it was a trip to our local doctor. His practice was but a few streets away, situated in an ordinary semi-detached house. It was a single GP practice, and the doctor was a lovely man whose name I have long since forgotten.

What I haven’t forgotten however is how each visit was conducted. Back then there wasn’t an appointment system. If you needed to see the doctor, you turned up at the surgery, entered through the side door and sat and waited for your turn to see him. The chairs were dining room chairs, set around the walls of the room. There was a gas fire, lit in winter, and a small table with a range of magazines on it. It was always stifling hot.

In terms of medical memories, I once went there and was diagnosed as having a ‘burst appendix’ and was swiftly walked to the local hospital to have it removed. My other enduring memory was when I developed a huge abscess on my back. After days of unsuccessful home treatment, I was taken to the doctors, only to be sent straight to the aforementioned hospital to have it lanced, drained, and sewn up, followed by two weeks of ultra sun lamp treatment! However, each visit to the doctor meant you got a boiled sweet from one of those old-fashioned tall glass jars he kept on his desk.

Now the more astute of you will have made this blog’s connection to the news last week that as of the first of October, all GP practices must offer online appointments. The appointments must be available from 08.00-18.30. Many GP practices already offer such a system. Our GP practice has been offering this service for over 18 months now. I can contact our surgery through my NHS App, Patient Access and Patchs. That said, it has taken me a while to be able to navigate my way through the Patchs system. Unlike Jane.

Over the last month Jane has used Patchs to access her health care, and has done so very successfully. She has been offered appointments to see GPs, and an Advanced Practitioner, had call backs, blood tests and other investigations, and all arranged remotely. Jane’s biggest problem is actually physically getting to the surgery. Since her brain injury earlier in the year, she has not been allowed to drive. The folk at DVLA keep saying the computer says no. Very frustrating.

Our GP practice has two branch surgeries. Our regular one is a five-minute walk away and comes complete with a swimming pool, library, café, gym, kiddies’ play area and a therapy garden. It would blow my childhood GP’s mind. The branch surgery is a 20-minute drive away and requires two buses to get to it. It was at this practice that Jane was receiving her recent health care, and thankfully, I was able to ferry her to and from her appointments.

Understandably, a lack of transport is going to be a problem for some people; fortunately, it was just a minor issue for us. The problem would have still been a problem had we tried to access our GP using the more traditional 8am telephone call. I have to say I’m a big advocate for using new technology to make it easier to access the health care I need, when I need it. I’m not alone. Currently one in five GP appointments are made online, and that’s equates to about 72 million appointments a year.

Whilst I understand that not everyone will have access to a smart phone or computer or be digitally literate, my greater concern is the number of folk, who struggle with health literacy. Last week, NHS Providers, in partnership with NHS England, published a report on improving health literacy across the NHS. It makes for a sobering read.

The report contains a number of case studies. One of these focuses on my local hospital. It details the steps that they are taking to improve health literacy across a population with high levels of deprivation. Not all health care policy make sense. Mandating online appointments in primary care certainly does. However, it’s clear from the NHS Providers’ report that there is a need to also address some more basic and fundamental issues around how people could best access health care services. I’m sure it is unlikely any such approaches will involve boiled sweets.