Covid Week 5

 21st April 2020
Getting into a routine now with the end of the day taken up with the Press Conference.  My letters of complaint to BBC and the Times continue to flow as these establishments shame themselves in the way they ask questions and the questions they ask.  They think their position allows them to be insulting - Hugh Pym talking about the government “It should be ashamed”- how childish. Having worked for the BBC I know how their minds work and shock tactics try to unsettle people so they will say something that can be thrown back at them at a later date as a criticism of what they have done. Thankfully the experts have had media training and therefore rarely fall into the trap.  What it does do is lead to uninteresting interviews because the people don’t trust the media and therefore don’t say anything of much importance.  Not their fault.
Befriending goes from strength to strength with 26 Befrienders looking after 30 Befriendees. Latest role is to deal with prescriptions and collection of medication.  The Social Prescribers are keeping in touch and the Local Area Coordinators continue to work wonders.  How we managed without these people in the past I have no idea.  In fact we didn’t manage that’s the point.  Issues of safety clothing has been explained by experts saying how what they order from abroad is not delivered.  They never know what they are going to get in a delivery. The press continues to try to misinterpret what has been said.  The NHS does a tremendous job but because it is funded publicly the checks and balances take much longer so things get held up.  Maybe we have to look more carefully at how these organisation operate.  My experience working with the NHS has shown the wheel turns far too slowly but that’s the problem with public service industries and I hope people realise that they can have due diligence or expect money to be wasted and have to accept it.  Private industry is much quicker because there is a bottom line - profit - but I'm not suggesting that the NHS should be private, heaven forbid when you look at the USA. I am saying that we should not be so critical about the system and criticise things that in the big picture are not a problem.
Today having a second go to get our tree pollarded.  What a great job Neil does and the entertainment value as we watch him up the try brings a smile to ours and Tony's next door faces.