A surprise and an idea

The surprise is not really exciting so I will start with the idea.......

Regular readers may recall that I wrote about whether I should go for the nuclear option under the title "Dilemma" the other day. An anonymous reader left a comment (my first!) advising me to go for it and observing that I was lucky to have a nuclear option, most people do not.

The comment set me thinking and has produced the germ of an idea. There will inevitably be a number of people who feel that they need to take a degree of control in similar situations, but do not have the knowledge, contacts or sheer bloody mindedness to do it. There must also be quite a few people like me about i.e with knowledge, access to contacts and bloody minded in the extreme (some politely refer to this as being an iconoclast!).

What would happen if there was a network of people like me who are prepared to help others take control, particularly over the delivery of public services which, theoretically, are there to serve us, not the other way around?

(By complete coincidence, I then bumped into someone I know who had exactly the kind of problem that I am talking about...........you may read more about her in later posts if she decides that she really wants to "go for it". )

Will people want to join a network like that?

I am meeting with some fellow iconoclasts on Monday; if we get time, I shall see what they think and let you know.

Now the surprise.......

This blog is linked to an email account which I rarely check. For reasons unknown, I took a look at it today and found a fascinating email from a middle manager at Medway Hospital. It was written on the 16th and invited me to "talk through my experiences and where you currently are in your pathway". Good to know that someone from the hospital has been reading the blog and had obviously taken it seriously enough to get in touch.

To regular readers, my response was predictable: thanks, but no thanks, although I will be happy to share a concise summary with the hospital's Board at the same time that I share it with you and send it to the delightful woman at the CQC.

As for where I am in my "pathway", I think that I have a pretty good idea about that one given that I have (mostly) had to determine progress through it by being precisely the kind of consumer of services that the NHS hates: one who has a good idea of how the system works and how to make it work for them.

I now have only two things left that will require visiting Medway Hospital: a meeting with the Oncologist tomorrow (I am curious about why he delayed the meeting and feel it would be impolite not to see him) and an endoscopy on wednesday. Even something as routine as an endoscopy has proved an interesting challenge at Medway. To save you from getting bored, I shall put that one up as a separate post; that way you can either choose to go for the "marathon" by reading both, or you can skip yet another tale of poor customer service............

Nearly forgot the song.....

Not sure whether I have posted this one before. Even if I have, it is worth listening to again.....and again......and again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0