BCUHB

You may remember a post I did a while ago about delays in allowing GPs to work in Wales, which was of particular interest to us as our surgery had come under the control of Betsi Cadwalader University Health Board, and things were not going well.
I did get an answer to my query, basically saying that they have speeded up the process and anyway, that lot in NHS England are even slower when the movement is from Wales to England.
However, things have now moved on. A wonderful doctor took the place under her wing and developed a plan for keeping the health centre in business and even offering extra services. Unfortunately, this weekend we learned that because she was tired of hitting 'brick wall after brick wall' in her dealings with BCUHB and her efforts to get them to back her, she has now resigned and we are back in limbo, with a scary lack of, well anything really. 
So, time to hit the keyboard again and I have fired off an email to our local Welsh Assembly Member, with an additional one to Vaughan Gething, who is our Secretary for Health.
'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ...' to quote Henry fifth!

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Dear Mr Skates,
You may remember Mark Drakeford in 2016 maintaining that we in North Wales were 'crying wolf' over the recruitment crisis of GPs. Unfortunately, the chickens have now come home to roost and for over a year now, we 9000 patients at Pen y Maes health centre, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, have been suffering day to day with a crisis situation. The staff who are there have been doing an amazing job under extremely difficult conditions, but there have been times when no doctors have been available and people have ended up in A&E at Wrexham Maelor in a far worse state than they would have been had they had timely access to a doctor. It isn't difficult to see that this puts even more pressure on an already overstretched service at the hospital and one wonders how soon before the first preventable death occurs.
To add insult to injury, it seems that an amazingly driven and committed doctor who has been working there, produced a viable and much needed plan for the future of the practice, but has now resigned as she has, to quote 'hit brick wall after brick wall' when dealing with BCUHB. Given that BCUHB is still in special measures, I am at a complete loss to understand how the Board can be allowed to be obstructive in a situation like this. We don't even have the option of transferring to other practices, even if we wanted to, as there are already two in the area about to be taken under BCUHB control and others have closed their lists as they are unable to take on any more patients, much less 9000 of us. I am particularly concerned about hints that staff do not want to work for BCUHB east area, which would seem to suggest that, rather than an out and out shortage of GPs, there is a shortage of GPs willing to work here. To quote 'Hamlet' 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark' (for Denmark, substitute BCUHB).
As AM for our area, I and the rest of Pen y Maes's patients, would urge you to look into this matter as soon as possible. The uncertainty and lack of regular medical provision is extremely concerning and is a worry that those who are already suffering from health problems can well do without.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible and I shall also be contacting Vaughan Gething in his capacity of Cabinet Secretary for Health.
Sincerely,
Jenny Aspin

 In the meantime, I think we might be going to have to chain ourselves to railings somewhere ...

Paddy



This was Paddy ten years ago when we got him from a rescue centre. He was estimated by their vet to be between seven and nine years old, which means he has now reached the grand old age of between seventeen and nineteen. In equivalent human years that's a lot, well beyond what one would expect for a dog, especially one who hadn't been treated particularly well before we got him. We were told that he had suffered from colitis and left untreated and although he was now better, we should always be careful with his diet. 
For the first few years, Paddy was very wary of other dogs and went berserk if faced with a cat, so it took a long time before I could trust him off lead. He was also terrified of fireworks, so November 5th was always a barrel of laughs! Ironically, these problems have disappeared in recent years as his sight has deteriorated and he has become almost deaf.
He welcomed first Jake and then Toby into his life and seemed to enjoy their company, although now his energy levels are well below Toby's, so I generally walk them separately, though he's still not too old to enjoy the odd 'stand off' with Toby.
But over the last few months, he has been displaying signs of dementia and often seems to be confused. Rather like elderly people at the end of their lives, his world is contracting and he is frequently restless during the night, as if he has forgotten the routine of daytime and night time. He doesn't seem to be unhappy or distressed, but then animals are so much better than we are at accepting what life deals them and living in the moment.  However, we are wondering how much longer we will have him with us.
Whatever the answer to that question, we will make the most of the time we have left together and treasure the memories.


Dysgu Cymraeg - eto

I have now been learning Welsh for six years. No, I can't believe it either! Unfortunately, I still wouldn't consider myself capable of stringing a sentence together with any degree of ease, probably due to various reasons, some my fault, others beyond my control. So let's see:
Reasons that are my fault

  • I have been very lax in going to Sesiwnau Siarad Cymraeg (chat sessions) over the past two years. I neglected them when Dad was ill and never picked them up again since he died.
  • I have various apps for practice of vocabulary etc but somehow, the lure of Facebook, Twitter or Ancestry are often too strong to resist and I am one who can resist anything except temptation.
  • I am one of those anoraks who actually like learning a language the traditional way, so I am more interested in the grammar, usage and history of the language than actually speaking it.
Reasons beyond my control

  • Keith doesn't speak Welsh and even when I threaten to trade him in for a Welsh-speaking model, refuses  even to entertain the notion. (Of course, he knows I wouldn't really!)
  • I have no work colleagues, being retired, and no neighbours or friends who speak Welsh.
  • The dogs don't speak Welsh.
  • People in the area generally don't speak Welsh, so there's no opportunity to pass the time of day in shops etc.
AND - and this is the big one,

On the few occasions when I have made myself take advantage of an occasion when I could have a go, it has not gone well. There are Welsh speakers out there who don't want to speak Welsh to a learner or even a non-Welsh person. 
However, I do accept that I have had bad luck in these situations, as most of my fellow learners have had good experiences of very helpful and supportive Welsh speakers, but it has meant that I am wary of even trying now.

Still, not to be deterred, I am signing up for the coming academic year, or at least trying to. The local college, now the only provider of Welsh for Adults (and that's a whole other story!), has a website with a course finder - which doesn't seem to work. Having been round the houses twice, I have now given up for today. 
Anybody know of a good Swedish course?





Craft & Dough

A week or so ago saw us in Sheffield, meeting up with Kathy, who lives there, Claire and my grandson, Paul. Kathy, who is very au fait with the eateries and taverns around her area, decided that 'Craft and Dough' would be a great place to go for our lunch.

 This is one of those places which promotes craft beers (of which we didn't partake) and pizzas, which were very acceptable. Paul certainly enjoyed his.

 Craft & Dough is in the Kelham Island Quarter and yes, you've guessed it, on an 'Industrial Heritage' site.
Unfortunately, as we didn't have a lot of time, we didn't visit the museum. Maybe we'll do that another time, but if you want to know more about this little area, have a look here.

Or you could ask Yorkshire Pudding!

Ancestry again

I am happy to report that, as of this morning, I can see all images, jpegs etc in Safari and Chrome for Mac.
Thanks, Ancestry! You see, it takes very little to make my day.
Now, if we can just have an improvement in the weather ... ?

Ancestry

I have been on Ancestry for several years now. Sometimes I have spent hours on it, poring over elusive hints and leads, sometimes frustratingly so, and at other times, I have barely visited the site for weeks, even months. Once I get into one of my more active phases, it does become quite addictive and hours go by in a flash. Choice between doing the hoovering and popping over to Ancestry? No contest, the housework wins every time - not!
Luckily, Dad had a good collection of family photos and the death certificates of his parents and I was also contacted by a lady called Lola in America, who is researching on behalf of her husband, so we have been able to exchange quite a bit of information and ponder together on various scenarios. Our common ancestors, my great, great grandparents on Dad's side, upped sticks and emigrated to America, settling in Kansas, where Lola and her husband live today, but the unusual thing is that they were in their mid fifties when they did it. These days, they probably wouldn't even be accepted at that age.
However, the problem that is causing me some grief at present is that, all of a sudden, I am unable to see any images, whether photos or documents on Ancestry when I use Chrome or Safari on my Macbook. As it happens, Keith has set up a Windows desktop upstairs for me to use and using Chrome on that causes no problems at all. Looking at various online forums, I see that Ancestry say they do not actively support Safari. In other words, 'if things go wrong, we don't want to know', which is not what you want to hear when you are bunging a hefty subscription their way.
They do have a 'support site', which is not as straightforward as you might expect, since you have to register on that separately, with a different password to that which you use on the main site. Undaunted, I tried to register. I typed in my email address, to be greeted by the command, 'Now go and check your emails for the password we have sent you.'
I did. Nothing.
"Oh, if you are having difficulty with that, please contact us on our support site.'
That would be the support site I have tried to register with but you haven't sent me the password, then?
I gave up then and had we had a cat, I might have been strongly tempted to kick it.
Ancestry seems to be by far the best resourced site but looking at online feedback, there are a lot of unhappy people out there wondering where their subscriptions are going.
You need to get your act together, Ancestry!

GP or no GP?

 For over a year now, our local surgery has been limping sadly from one day to the next, and no, that is not an exaggeration. It is one of an increasing number of surgeries throughout north Wales (and elsewhere) where the GPs have decided, for whatever reason, to hand back the surgery to the local health board, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board which, just to add to the problem, is currently under special measures. Keith and I have only been patients at this surgery since 2014. I wanted a surgery for Dad which operated an appointment system and was physically easily accessible. Our current surgery at the time didn't fit either of these criteria, so we all three made the move and hit the jackpot.
Our new GP was fantastic, especially in comparison to our previous experiences. However, this was not to last and sadly, all four doctors in the practice decided not to carry on. That was over a year ago.
We had meetings with people from the health board who seemed determined to tell us as little as possible and lived over the border in England, so were probably not likely to suffer a similar situation anyway.
We were promised that this situation would be short term and soon there would be permanent doctors for us again.
We were told about the wonderful new system whereby anyone who rang up for an appointment would be 'asked questions' by the receptionist to determine whether they did indeed need to speak to a doctor or could be directed to a nurse practitioner. Did we really want to be disclosing our medical problems to a non-medic, especially to someone who could well be a neighbour?
Since then, there have been locums, never any more than two, as far as I can gather, and sometimes none. Appointment systems have varied, from having to ring on the day for an appointment to being able to make one a week in advance and then, without warning, back to 'on the day'. People needing ongoing monitoring, blood tests etc have been left high and dry as two nurses have gone on long term sick leave, one is on holiday and there are no replacements available.
The patient representatives organised a petition to send to the health board, asking for things to be sorted out and quickly. In the meantime, I discovered this article:
health-council-slams-system-delaying new GPs coming to North Wales
It appears that even if you have trained and qualified in Wales and/or previously worked here, if you have then left to go elsewhere and wish to come back to work, even though there are patients ready to fall on your necks in gratitude, it's a non-starter because Welsh NHS, having lost patience with NHS England and their promise to set up a system whereby doctors can move between the two countries, and set up their own for incoming doctors. The icing on the cake, of course, is that the said doctors have to sit on their hands for three months.
Hence my email last week to BCUHB, asking 'what the hell...?" although not in precisely those words.
I have been promised a written reply! Watch this space.

On the nail


Another grainy photo and black and white to boot. This time it's myself with a college friend, who came to visit one holiday. On this particular day, we ended up at the Corn Exchange in Bristol. The piece of street furniture that we have appropriated for the photo is a 'nail'. Apparently, merchants used these to hammer out their deals and put down their payments, hence the phrase, 'pay on the nail'.
You heard it here first, folks!




Young me


This photo, apart from being dreadful in quality as it is a photo of a photo and dates from 1970 (Yes prehistoric, I know!), was taken at Temple Meads station, Bristol in January. I know this because I was on my way back to college, after spending a wonderful six months in Tours, France as part of my course. Please note that I was at the cutting edge of fashion - probably the last time for a long time as the fashions of the seventies were a great disappointment to me. I hated the cult of the ugly and the sludgy browns and greens of the late seventies in particular.
But what I remembered  in particular, when I looked at this photo, was  not the happy absence of a spare tyre, but the energy and optimism I had then. As well as looking forward to a career in teaching, (Hm, yes, really) I could walk uphill for a couple of miles in stiletto heels and not feel the after effects, spring out of bed at six in the morning if I had to and not feel like going back there by 2pm, play a game of tennis without my knees grinding  and just generally rush around without a second thought.
Still, it's all an attitude of mind, isn't it? I am still that person, if I can just get over the post prandial energy dips, the aching hip and the knee that threatens to give way every so often.
Now wouldn't it be fantastic if someone could find a way of combining the life experience and maturity of age with the energy of the young self? Whoever is currently working on this, please let me know when you are successful. In the meantime, maybe a trudge round the field with the dogs would help...

Going to the vet

Today was Toby's 'check up and injections' visit to the vet. It should have been in November, but his record card has mysteriously disappeared and we didn't get a reminder from the vet.
"Ah, we installed a new computer system then," the receptionist declared with the air of winning the lottery, "So it will have got lost in the system."
Oh goody, goody, I was tempted to reply, because now, instead of a booster, he has to start with a new course of injections. No apology, of course. Is it part of the training for people dealing with the public these days that they must on no account apologise for anything? 
So, we got in to see the vet, a young lady from County Cork, and Toby was, amazingly, as good as gold during the whole visit. So good, in fact, that I'm wondering if someone has quietly done a swap and I've got the wrong dog!

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...