Oh, where to start.

The NHS isn’t perfect and it never promised to be but I’m sure there aren’t many who would disagree that it’s founding principles of free health care for all, regardless of background and circumstance, are principles worth holding on to.

All the main political parties, at each and every election, can be depended upon to roll out their pledges to take care of our NHS . . . that it’s safe in their hands.  Well they would do. It’s nothing less than what the British electorate demand.  But anyone who can remember New Labour’s 1997 election pledges will be forgiven for feeling deceived as they watched the huge expansion of the NHS market culture that has since followed.

As both an NHS employee and an NHS user, I’m going to comment on both aspects.

I can remember a time, not that many years ago, when NHS employees felt secure and comforted in the knowledge that they had a “job for life”.  As a nurse I thought my skills and dedication would always be needed. The NHS taught me my skills and I was/am more than willing to repay the health service with hard work and committed loyalty.  But lordy, how things have changed.  Even within the couple of decades that I’ve worked for the NHS, the industry (and I use that word deliberately) has grown into a cut-throat and semi-corporatised ruthless employer.  There is no such thing as a job for life anymore and no-one is indispensable.  This isn’t wrong in itself let me stress, but it’s hard to keep morale high when top-level managerial posts are being created from nowhere - with no apparent use, while decent frontline workers are losing their positions and individual departments are having to make immense cut backs which affect the service they are able to offer.  As tax-payers, we really shouldn’t be too happy.  The bosses and the politicians assure us there’s no buddy nepotism going on and that it’s all necessary if the NHS is to survive and meet the country’s healthcare needs so it all gets very bewildering.

In contrast, as a user of the NHS, I simply can’t fault it. I’ve had the misfortune to need it’s services quite regularly these last five years and, as many patients say to me . . . where would we be without these places . . . so it is.  I’m acutely aware that there are many who’ve had bad experiences of the NHS, some with tragic results.  And when neglect has been the cause, there is no excuse and the NHS should be held accountable.  But the NHS struggles to keep up with continuing medical advances and increasing longevity, not to mention the continuous changes in health care policy which adds to the frustration (and the bureaucracy) and it’s difficult to keep up.

But it’s not impossible and for all its faults and weaknesses, no-one has ever been turned away from the NHS on account of the inability to pay.  And I’ve yet to see someone refused treatment because their insurance policy didn’t cover it.  We only have to compare our NHS to the American system to know which system we should be committed to.

Overall, the NHS service, I’d say, is easily one of the best in the world in spite of privatisation creeping in through the back door by way of PFI and PPP initiatives.  Yep, characteristically, I simply can’t talk about the NHS without including a rant about privatisation - although expect more of a whimper these days.  Once upon a time, not that many moons ago, Militant Millie here was dead set against any form of privatisation within the NHS but recently much of my passion has been replaced by despondency.  I am still against it in principle though.  There’s something ever so distasteful about profiteering from ourhealth but it’s not just about being anti-capitalist for the sake of it.  Private firms are being subsidised by our taxes.  They are making huge profits and still, NHS departments across the country are having to make cutbacks that affect the services they are able to offer.  Ultimately, the NHS is becoming increasingly dependent on privatisation and although some would argue that if the NHS is one of the best and most admired systems in the world, then surely this is evidence that privatisation is actually working, we’ve yet to realise the full extent of PFI successes or failures and we’ve already seen some humongous PFI disasters in our public services.

So to round this up, I personally believe it’s time that Gordon Brown stopped dismantling the system that he claims to be so proudly defending.  He should give up his wasteful PFI baby and should start nuturing a democratically managed and fully-funded public NHS.

The NHS is controversial and emotional and it’s far from perfect.  But it never discriminates and it’s always there for us.  So it’s with thanks and celebration that I wish the NHS a very happy 60th birthday . . . and many, many Happy Returns.

I was curiously surprised when I read that the Spanish government is to give human rights to great apes.  Of course it’s good news for the marvellous hairy beasts in that they will be given protection from experimentation and exploitation.  Of course that protection should already be in place by way of their animal rights but if giving them human rights on acount of their kinship with their human cousins assures that protection by law then I won’t argue.  And anyway, it’s not such a crazy idea if you read this article.  It’s an old article and some of it may be irrelevant now but it does explain how making apes people by law can actually help protect the rainforests and also the livelihoods of the indigenous people.

But who can fail to miss the contrary message by the Spanish government?  They talk about animal rights and want to protect the gorilla while continuing to allow their barbaric bullfighting customs. 

Animal rights.  Human rights.  What does it matter?  All species have rights - just different needs.  Shame the world can’t protect all species from human abuse.

Interesting to hear that the Green party is to run against civil liberties martyr David Davis in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election campaign.  Green party candidate Shan Oakes will stand against him and this is very good thing indeedy.  She has a blog and her tag-line is . . . The real civil liberties candidate.

Yes, odd as it may seem, the Greens are running against Mr Davis on a civil liberties platform.  And they do have a very valid point.  Well, when one remembers that Davis supports basic liberty violations such as the 28 day detention policy, the death penalty and fewer gay rights, it’s hard to believe that he’s a sincere champion of civil liberties.  Indeed, it’s easier to conclude that he is a bleeding hypocrite.

My initial thoughts about the Davis resignation was that it was a brave and sacrificial stand against the 42 day detention ruling but me being a life-long sneering Tory-basher, it wasn’t long before I came to the conclusion that his move was probably more to do with ego-induced publicity stunts than principled stands. 

Needless to say, Shan Oakes has my wholehearted support because one thing’s for sure . . . unlike the two main parties, the Green’s really will protect our civil liberties.

And the most surprising name on the old H&H ballot box is that of David Icke. I honestly thought he’d run away to fight with the moon-bats and the stardust-fairies against some kind of manipulatory lizard army.  But no, he is still in the land of the human humans and is going to run against Davis.  Mr Icke, incidentally, used to be a member of the Green party and in his defence, I have to say, he’s written some pretty intriguing (Green party unrelated) stuff, not to mention the fact that he thinks George Bush is a reptilian humanoid.  Well who could credibly argue that George Bush is fully human?

Anyhoo, should be quite entertaining.  And they say politics is boring.

Although we do nice things for others because we want to rather than because we desire some kind of material gratification, it’s still nice when friends show their appreciation by giving gifts.  And it’s even nicer when those friends have put some thought into what they have given.  

Here is a snap of how my friends showed their appreciation for organising and hosting our reunion.  The warmest thing about it for me is that they clearly remembered me talking about a book I read called The Kite Runner . . . and that my next planned read was a book by the same author entitled A Thousand Splendid Suns because they bought me the book.  And they also remembered that my favourite late night after-party drink was a delicious delight called Amarula because they gave me a bottle of that too.  Although it could be said that perhaps some of the generosity regarding said luxurious alcoholic beverage of extremely creamy and annoyingly artery-hardening nature was formed from acute feelings of guilt due to those friends having emptied the poor defenceless bottle that I’d tried in vain to hide from them on the night of the reunion.  Not that I bear any grudges because nothing should come between good friends.  But then, good friends shouldn’t come between me and my Amarula.

Anyway, no need to tell you how I’m going to be spending the next few rainy nights.

What’s that phrase they use about a week being a very long time in politics?  Oh yes, I remember.  It’s . . . a week is a very long time in politics. 

The same can be said about the news. 

I get my time on the pc and one of the first things I do is check out the news.  And I always come across several news items that make me think to myself . . . oooh, I  might just have one or two things of a ranty nature to say about this.  Or I might snigger and say to myself . . . I just know I’ve got something sarcastic to say about that.   And other times . . . oh, this would be good to bring up over at the Coffee House.

Then my little boy comes along and says . . . Mum, let’s play on Club Penguin. You can play your favourite ‘Bean Counters’ game first.  So we play.  And after an hour or so, my laddie eventually drags me off so he can have his turn (I defy anyone to try getting off this game before at least three go’s).  Then Middlie comes along and . . . when can I come on the computer?  My friend is waiting for me on msn . . . and I have to put some piccies on my Bebo.  No, it can’t wait.  I need to do it now or it will be too late. 

So up I get and make myself useful somewhere else until I can get the pesky kids off to bed. 

Then, when all is still, I get on the pc but by this time I’ve joined the living dead so I give up and succumb to the sounds of my alluring duvet.  And all my opinionated opinions will have to wait until the next day.  Of course, when the next day comes, the cut-throat news industry being what it is - NEWS, all that I had mentally written about yesterday is just not current anymore.  It’s yesterday’s news.  And to be a roving blogger of current affairs, one has to keep up with current affairs as they occur - on the ground, before the sharper, eye-on-the-ball bloggers beat me to it.  So, I start again and on it goes until I’m reduced to this.

This is a cropped view from our roof-top louvre window.  And let me tell you folks that I risked life and limb to bring you this picture.  Hanging from the roof-top window of a three-storey house, without the use of ropes, karabiners, harnesses and wot-not, to bring you these snaps is a pretty hazardous thing to do for the sake of one’s deserate blog posts art and I only hope you appreciate my efforts.  We have a lovely, panoramic view of our town and surrounding hills from this window and although my digital camera is made for numpties like me and even has a fool-proof panoramic setting, when I set it to this panoramic setting, my photo’s look no different.  So this will do. 

 Nerves of steel I tell you!

What a gorgeous evening to celebrate Midsummer.  The sun has come out in her fine blazing glory in honour of her longest day’s work.  After tomorrow, her days will get shorter and shorter and then Winter will arrive. 

Here’s how this blog celebrated the solstice last year and as I can’t improve on that, I will just leave you with a Wiccan Summer blessing.  I’m not Wiccan but there’s probably not much else that comes closer to my personal spiritual ethos than the non-judgemental, non-doctrinal Wiccan values towards nature, humanity and Mother Earth.  Wiccans seek to find harmony and believe that because of our intelligence, we have a duty to protect nature.  And that’s a good, good ethos to live by. 

Merriest wishes folks.

As the sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse us
As nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless us
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfill their truest destiny
Wiccan blessing for Summer

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you

Maori proverb

I was astonished when I read this article.  Obecalp is a placebo designed for children.  Jennifer Buettner who’s company produced the drug said . . . “When drugs are not needed and the patient still thinks that medicine would help, we believe that the placebo effect can work,”

This is a staggeringly stupid comment!  No, Jennifer, when drugs are not needed, the patient, especially child patients, should not be given them, not even pretend ones.  And they should be told why they don’t need them.  Why would you want to trick our children into thinking that a little fake pill will make them feel better when as adults, we know jolly well that they don’t need the tablet?  What about some tender loving care instead?  No, that’s no good is it!  TLC won’t raise your profits! 

Do we really want to turn our kids into pill-munching addicts who are dependent on drugs for every ache and pain?  I can’t think of a single instance where I would give my children a placebo to treat their illness and pretend it was genuine medication.  If my children are sick enough to need medicine, I will use my own judgement and give them the appropriate medication or I will seek advice from my GP.  If I know my children aren’t physically ill then I will not play along and give them false medicine.  That would be grossly irresponsible.  We should try to distract them from their imaginary illnesses, not pop a pretend pill into their mouths and let them think it’s the solution.

And if a child has a virus, no pill will get rid of it and to give our children a little pretend pill and tell them it will make the virus go away just so the kid will stop fussing and make life easier for the parent is not only untrue, it also gives the child incorrect medical information and encourages a pill-popping mindset. 

But also, we shouldn’t really administer any medication to our children indiscriminately or without assessing whether they really need it.  Painkillers will relieve symptoms and lower temperatures but sometimes a cold compress, a comfy bed and lot’s of snuggles are all that’s needed to make a child feel better.  But importantly, if kids are genuinely ill, they need genuine medication.  A raised temperature for instance won’t be lowered by a placebo and to treat it with one thus keeping it raised can be very dangerous. 

Placebo’s do sometimes work but what’s horrifying about obecalp for children is that it’s endorsing some kind of pill culture and encouraging bad, drug-taking habits.  To paraphrase Douglas Kamerow of the British Medical Journal . . . if parents used placebo’s to comfort their children, they are teaching them that tablets are the solution for every ache and pain.

I love movies.  I don’t do TV, not much.  I enjoy political shows, comedies and nature programmes but I have zero tolerance for stuff like reality TV, tiresome soaps and those live chat shows where Average Joe goes on TV and exposes all his private business to the world.  I have to confess though that for the first time I got right into this years Britain’s Got Talent, so much so that I actually rang in and voted for our favourite act - partly at the persistence of my eight-year-old boy, it has to be said.

Anyway, some films I’ve watched recently that I would recommend (listed in order of preference but the first two come very, very close).  I love writing film and book reviews but for some reason, I am always reluctant to publish them so this might remain in my draft folder.  We’ll see.  I won’t say much about the plots or the storylines of the films.  I’ll just ramble out my own thoughts . . .

The Kite Runner:  A film based on a book of the same name.  My dance teacher gave me this book as a gift a few years ago and it deeply moved me.  Normally I would absolutely avoid watching the film of the book but I was prepared to forget my usual rule for this film, not least because I expected the music and the scenery to be spectacular.  And it was.  Although the story is set mainly in Afghanistan, most of the scenes were filmed in China, for two reasons apparently: firstly because Kabul city is currently too volatile and also because Afghanistan has changed so much since the era in which the book was set and the makers decided that West China best represented the then Afghanistan. 

Anyway, in short, a good, good film.  Disturbing at times and very sad but equally as heart-warming and sweet.  I was relieved that it was faithful to the book as much as it was able to be.  And I thought the acting was outstanding, especially by two child actors.  Young Hassan was utterly endearing.

Whale-Rider:  I picked this DVD up at our school summer fair for 50p no less and I have to say, I’d have paid full price.  It’s another heart-warming and inspiring tale of family love, loyalty and triumph.  Films like this tend to get lost among all the popular blockbusters which is a real tragedy because they are usually much more valuable and satisfying. 

Some might say the film is a bit slow in parts but I found it to be a gentle and relaxing pace and well worth staying with.  The performance of the main character, twelve-year old Paikea, was superb and I couldn’t help being enchanted by her magnetic simplicity.  It has to be said that one moving scene where she recites a poem to her grandfather had me sobbing my heart out.  Amazingly, this was her first main acting role and unsurprisingly, she was nominated for an Oscar. 

To sum up . . . lovely.  Beautiful.  Amazing imagery, great music, beautiful story and quite superb acting.

Juno:  I liked this film!  And I liked the soundtrack even more.  One of the most refreshing things about this film is the fact that the actors aren’t beautiful people.  Well they are beautiful but aesthetically, they’re quite average.  And that’s what’s needed in today’s image obsessed world.  

The main child-bearing character, a pregnant teenager, is dynamically down-to-earth (if that makes sense) and she has a smart mouth that belies her young age.  Same goes for many of the other actors but of course the dialogue is written for them and in reality, not many people have that gift of throwing out endless and perfectly timed wisecracks.  Juno herself is a bit too sharp and confident to represent the average teenager, let alone a pregnant one. 

The film does demonstrate the naivety of teenagers and the heartache of infertility with the right amount of sensitivity but I thought that the film ended a bit too rosy.  It made the consequences of teenage pregnancy seem . . .  well, inconsequential.  Basically, if the film was trying to speak out for the pregnant teenager, it probably wasn’t gritty enough to be realistic.  But having said all that, maybe the film wasn’t trying to make a political or social statement and if not, then I’ll take it for what it is and say that it’s sweet and funny and easy entertainment.  And I’m sure it pleased the religious crowd.  Oh yes, and the boyfriend Paulie was quietly wonderful.

Iron Man:  In direct contrast, this is of course a loud and fast action movie.  Much as I prefer a more intelligent and thought-provoking movie genre, I have to say I really enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it in spite of not wanting to because of the aspects involving the tiresome Americans versus Muslim Extremists agenda and the usual self-righteous American centrism.  But the film manages to get away with the prevalent US flag-waving, somehow!  Or almost anyway.  I was disappointed that the film failed to get a more definite message across about warmongering, war profiteering and the duplicitous arms industry.  And I also thought that the redemption of the hero Stark didn’t go far enough.  I know some would argue that the film is meant for entertainment purposes only but when a storyline involves current and on-going delicate political matters, however brief they might be touched on, at the risk of contradicting myself, I think the makers have a duty to deal with such matters with responsible sensitivity and I believe they missed some opportunities here. 

Anyway, it’s very funny with some exhilaratingly great Transformers-like special effects.  Robert Downey Junior plays an excellent role as Stark.  He uses lots of cool humour and he’s really quite cheesy at times but it’s intentional - it’s a comic book movie.  Not a lot more to say about it other than although it is very US-patriotric and there were some missed opportunities, a humanitarian factor does get through.  Although inevitably, the Americans come out shining in this area too but not nauseatingly so.  And they do make great movies. 

So, here endeth this month’s review.  Do you think Mark Kermode should be worried?  No, it’s time I read some books again.  Book review coming up. 

The government wants nurses to be rated by their kindness.  They are to be measured and marked by how much compassion and empathy they show towards their patients . .  and by how much they smile.  Health secretary, Alan Johnson wants nursing teams across the NHS to be scored and the results displayed on a website.  Article here.

I was tempted to throw in some sarcasm and suggest mandatory courses entitled Compassions Skills Training or *How to Keep Smiling while You Dress that Smelly Necrotic Wound* which would result in nurses cleaning up soiled patients while maintaining their fixed-on, supermarket check-out grin-and-bear-everything faces but that would be insulting to the tirelessly friendly supermarket check-out staff.  So, although some nurses could do with an injection of compassion or at least a few lessons in smiling, and athough it’s usually the grossly underpaid nursing auxilliaries who do most of the dirty work, I really should hold off the sarcasm.  Too late.  Never mind.

Seriously, I’m a firm believer that a compassionate approach and a friendly smiling face helps the recovery and the well-being of a patient but I would think that a compassionate nature is a given for anyone wanting a career in care-giving.  Forget the silly smiling lark, personally, I don’t believe that anyone should even think of entering the nursing profession if they don’t possess high levels of compassion and empathy.  And I’m not suggesting nurses should have bubbly and extrovert personalities but a friendly disposition helps.

Of course, beaming happy faces aren’t always appropriate but I would expect nurses to be professional enough to assess each situation and act accordingly.  Sometimes, nothing they say can make things better but a gentle smile and some sensitivity can give sometimes give comfort or reassurance to patients and their loved ones.   

Ultimately, no matter how hard the job gets (and it does get hard - on many levels) the empathy and compassion should remain as a natural part of the care-giver.  No amount of grumbling, however justified, about workloads, internal politics, low pay, lack of resources, feeling undervalued or indeed, the personality/attitude of the patients themselves, should really justify any lowering of that compassion or empathy.  Yes, it’s hard not to become embittered by the system . . . and the very nature of the work itself can get you truly down.  But that’s not the patients fault and compassion must never run out in a care-giving environment. 

To be fair, I’m glad to say that although I’ve worked with some pretty rude, lazy and grumpy caregivers, most nurses, both trained and untrained, do maintain a decent level of compassion.  Frontline staff have to tolerate all kinds of abuse from aggressive patients and relatives, especially in the Mental Health and A&E departments.  Sometimes it’s gratuituous and such behaviour really is intolerable but often it’s simply because they are feeling scared or vulnerable.  And we do have mandatory conflict resolution courses that provide guidance and guidelines on how to deal with or indeed avoid confrontational situations.  

I know from experience that nurses get tired, they get stressed and they get anxious when their heavy workloads prevent them from giving hands-on TLC to their patients.  Many nurses also suffer from compassion-fatigue at some point in their career and that’s perfectly understandable.  Nurses are human too.  But when it becomes more serious or long-term and it’s affecting their duty of care on a regular basis, that is the time when they need practical support and understanding . . . from management, friends, colleagues.  If nurses are going to be pulled up because their compassion levels have slipped due to overburdening workloads and low morale, the last thing they need is to be blacklisted or stigmatised and made to feel even worse about themselves.

To conclude, my overall opinion of the government’s plans is that I would definitely not like to see any kind of smile-rating or Compassion Index introduced to the NHS to add to the bureaucracy.  How does compassion get measured anyway?  It would be far easier to look out for and deal with a lack of compassion.  It’s a fact that some nurses (and doctors, it must be said) would definitely benefit from a refresher course in bedside manners but nursing compassion and empathy should really only be targeted when it doesn’t exist. 

Oh, and it’s about time we saw some genuine compassion and empathy from the politicians towards front line healthcare workers!