A lot is said about our National Health Service. It is under enormous pressure, can’t get the staff and is short of money. These things may be true yet when it works well, which it does for most of the time it is one of the most fantastic institutions in the world. A few weeks … Continue reading The most fantastic institution
A&E App
Matt Hancock, the Heath Secretary is proud of the NHS’s latest app. It is designed to help patients find the accident and emergency department with the shortest waiting time. He claims that the app will be’ good for patients, good for clinicians’. It won’t work for two reasons, firstly it is tackling the wrong problem … Continue reading A&E App
Half a million lives
You know I am not the greatest fan of using targets to improve the performance of the NHS. In my opinion they have never worked as they are too arbitrary and indeed have distorted service delivery and politicised the service. Both of these have distracted it from providing the services it is designed for and … Continue reading Half a million lives
A year of work in progress – day 205
Day 205 – 28 November 2014 Black Friday turned out to be grey. Low cloud tuned to fog and gave the day a depressing start. When did this happen? Not the weather but when did a day that marked the point that American businesses moved from being in the red to making a profit and … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 205
A year of work in progress – day 191
Day 191 – 6 November 2014 The Digital Durham team has been put forward for another award. I’m mentioning this because I started at world headquarters this morning. This time it is the Great Staff, Great Stuff awards. It’s not a ploy to sell tickets this time though as they are held entirely within the … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 191
A year of work in progress – day 188
Day 188 – 3 November 2014 I took the tunnel. I’d promised to be in by eight thirty and with the schools going back I didn’t want to risk the drive through Team Valley. It was just as bad. I think everyone else had the same idea and so I was late getting in. Fortunately … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 188
A year of work in progress – day 168
Day 168 – 6 October 2014 Happy Customer Service Week! It doesn’t seem five minutes since the last one. Each year the Institute of Customer Service holds a week of events to try and raise the focus on customer service. I think that similar weeks are held in other parts of the world as well. … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 168
A year of work in progress – day 126
Day 126 – 18 July 2014 I saw Reegan yesterday happily beavering away in the guts of a computer. We agreed that he’d be better to stay at Meadowfield for his last day rather than hang around with me and I think he’s going to get the opportunity to go out with one of the … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 126
A year of work in progress – day 123
Day 123 – 15 July 2014 Last night I was at Stanley Area Action Partnership which confused me no end. The address for the meeting had changed but the location hadn’t. The Lamplight Theatre is now Stanley Civic Hall but apparently it was that way before. Brian gave a presentation on highway maintenance. He is … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 123
A year of work in progress – day 111
Day 111 – 26 June 2014 The Dynamo board went well last night. Justin is doing a great job bringing it all together. We covered a wide range of subjects including the type of governance structures we need to set up, what type of organisation we should become and who needs to be involved. We’re … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 111
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 