Nursing shortage?.....what shortage?

This week saw the 'nursing trade union' The Royal College of Nursing announce that there were in the UK the NHS were in the region of 20,000 nurses short in order to provide a safe service.
Yet Cameron's health spokesperson glibly announced that his Government has done more to bring about improvement in health care & increase front line nursing numbers. This in practice is utter hogwash-take it from one who works in the 'front line' of nursing.

Although I retired from full time nursing in 2010 I continue to work twice weekly. I am employed by a health care temporary staffing organisation-run by & for the trust to supposedly supplement nursing staff shortfalls on/in 'front line units.
Sad though it doesn't work like that  & I don't think that the public are being told how many of the nurses that care for them & their relatives are working part time, without full time contacts, without sick pay, without allocated annual leave entitlement-no work no pay & no holiday pay & are payed at below a grade that full time contracted staff are graded/payed at.

The trust has an apparent bottomless pit of nurses who they call in to plug the gaps, the temporary staffing organisation(s) send text messages throughout the day advising these nurses what vacancies they have for work either that day or in the long term.

Today (Wednesday) November 13th by 0956am I have received  9 text messages with requests for me to work. These text continue throughout the day, every day even when I'm actually working on the unit where I work!
The best or worse of this, is that the majority of these texts are requests offering me employment for 3  months or so. Therefore the recipient of the text is being offered a 'full time/part time job for 3 months, after which time the post is retexted again.

So what's' the problem?
It shows that NHS trusts throughout the UK have frozen recruitment. That trusts haven't the money to employ full time nurses. That patients do not have any contiguity of care, they see a new nurse looking after them each day with all the implications that this can bring about.
I won't bore you with all my argument why having different nurses each day/month/week on a unit is wrong & not beneficial to good nursing care I'll leave it to you to think about how you would feel if you or your nearest & dearest were a patient in that situation.

And the texts that I receive keep coming through.... I've just received 2 more offering work for 3 months only.
Who's to blame for this situation??

Chuggers & UNICEF

UNICEF as you'll all agree is a very worthwhile charity. It helps children all over the world & its workers risk life & limb bringing aid to children in all the war zones of this troubled world.

Now I don't wanna blow me own trumpet here people but I have to admit that we here at Woolley Grange do give to this worthwhile cause. Our latest offering took the form of us making an on the spot donation to one of them blood manically inflicted hooligans that accost members of the public on the High Street. 'Chuggers' their called. These young people average age about 22yrs leap out at unsuspecting members of the public, wave their arms about' & great you as if you're a long lost member of their family. In a mental health setting their behaviour could be described as manic. They then do their level best to extract money for whatever cause they happen to represent. I hate 'em.
Whatever. Some 2 months ago one of these bloody Chuggers leapt out in front of me. I resented the strong desire to tell him to fuck off & chose instead to listen to his manic rantings. I was glad I did. He spoke alot of sense, he we talked about the situation in Syria, the suffering & of possible outcomes. Turned out that he represented UNICEF & asked me...here it comes... for a donation for the children of Syria.
I opted to make a one off donation by bankers order to UNICEF.

Then today I received a phone call from some guy saying that he was UNICEF & proceed to pour forth copious thanks for my kind donation. He then without my asking gave me an update of the present situation in Syria-kind enough I thought, then it cam.... "would I be interested in donating another amount?"
I think that's taking the piss abit to be honest. Its milking the financial cow that P J Woolley a bit too often don't you think?
Difficult that it was I declined. I'm sorry but things are a bit tight at the mo.

Chugger!

Update on Bonfire Night...Not Fireworks ...

I've done a little research on the celebration of Bonfire Night & I've been a little hasty in my condemnation of the festivities on or around this time of year.
Seemingly the tradition of lighting bonfires around this time of year dates back to Tudor Times in 'Merrie England'. We're talking about 400 odd years ago here people., & the lighting of bonfires marked the passage of summer/autumn to winter. It's pagan I guess & the fire represents the Sun which has gone away for the winter & a 'prayer' to summon the light & heat that brother Sun gives us.
However, I still can't go along with the burning of the Guy Fawkes effigy. How about burning effigies of Cameron's cabinet?? Nor can I agree with waste that is fireworks.
There you go.
Next celebration in the Woolley household is scheduled to be December 21st-Midwinter, cos after that date the days begin to get longer by a few seconds each day.

Fireworks.....November 5th

My mate Guy Fawkes

The nonsense

                                                                               







I'm gonna have a rant this evening which I'm pretty certain will have the majority of you who aren't (unlike me) anally retentive, grumpy old men (sorry 'persons!').
Ok. Well the clocks have been put back & we're plunged once more into the dark morlock crevasses of winter. Of waking up in the dark, & the sun-remember that bright disc in the sky that gave us warmth??) disappearing below the horizon at around 3.30 pm. That period of the year when Charlie Coal the cat stares out of the back door, looks at me with an expression that seems to say.."..You don't really expect me to go outside in those conditions do you????.  Its dismal but rejoice our friends under us (so to speak!) there in the antipodes have the sun, warmth and they are about to have summer. Gits!. But I'm being mean.
So here we have it November, miserable November. And what's worse its that time of year when people go crazy. When some people appear to have more money than sense.

They stand in the pouring rain  & cold & watch their money go up in smoke!! Yeah...fireworks. what a bloody waste of money. They cause misery when some ejjits burns themselves with them or the bonfires that go out of control, the fireworks cause some prats to have an apparent brainstorm and they think its fair game & fun to throw fireworks at each other,  they terrify domestic pets (including our own Charlie Coal) & the occasion actually celebrates an event which we should morn rather than celebrate.

 Ok, I know all about the pagan symbolism of paying homage to the sun by lighting bonfires & all that, & that would be great by me-I love the romance of that. But people have forgotten that. Saying that though, I do reckon that the majority of people have actually forgotten what November 5th commemorates.
In my opinion (here we go I hear you say!), the November 5th celebrations are a celebration of the execution of the best man EVER to get into Parliament-Guy Fawkes.
And why should I, a Roman Catholic (albeit lapse!) celebrate the death of a fellow Roman Catholic? The aforementioned Guy Fawkes.
I don't like this time of year, its a waste of money.
I know....
 I'm a grumpy old man. There, I've disarmed my critics!

Charlie Coal doesn't like fireworks either!

The closure of Royal Mail Post Offices

Thanks Mr. Cameron. Little by little you are gradually selling off Britain to the highest bidder-usually these bidders are those who a) are Conservative voters. b) Fund the aforementioned 'party' & c) Don't give a toss that the very foundation of British heritage is being eroded by the likes of Cameron et al.
First we had the sell off of the railways,then gas companies, then the electricity companies, then the water boards, then then Post Office telephones & now the Royal Mail has been sold off at an undervalued price to the highest bidders.
Cameron tells us that employees of the Royal mail are to be allocated  (FREE) £750 (odd) shares in the privatized company. How kind....But what he doesn't tell the public is that the recipients of these shares aren't allowed to sell them for 2 years & that they won't receive them until the 'sell off'' is completed By which time the value of the shares (currently flying high) will be worth considerably less that what they were when 'given' to the postmen.
Why?? Because private mail companies-TNT, Fed-X, DHL & the like will cream off the most profitable area of the market leaving the Royal Mail with the dregs-the junk mail etc.
These smug bastards who proudly announce that they are "over the moon" with the profit they've made with the increased value of the shares should be ashamed of themselves.  These money grabbing fascists are out to make a quick buck at the expense of the majority of the population in the continuing sell off of 'Shop UK'.

Now today its been confirmed that Royal Mail is going to close a number of whats called 'Crown post offices' ie-post offices on the high street in the suburbs.
Ut doesn't matter a fig that the old & disabled will have to walk or get a filthy West Midland transport bus to get to a post office. No, it don't matter. All that matters is profit.
There is an alternative though....The local WH Smith newsagents will , we're told accommodate the local post office. But....our local WH Smith is tiny compared to our Post Office. On an average day the queue of customers outside my local.post office stretches out of the front doors! How on earth will WH Smith's cope with this amount of customers? And what of the staff currently employed in the post office?? They tell me that they're going to lose their jobs. But who gives a damn. Very few apparently & especially not David Cameron's cronies.
Cameron by his complete & utter inactivity in dealing with the energy companies and their recent imoral increase in charges has plunged hundreds of thousands of people into what he glibly calls 'Fuel Poverty'.
It'll be both tragic & interesting to see how many people the energy companies send to hospital with hypothermia, and how many die of cold related illnesses this winter. The same energy companies shareholders meanwhile enjoy a sun-soaked lifestyle whist no doubt contributing to Conservative party coffers.
So co on one & all grab a share of sell of Britain.
But don't complain people....You voted for Cameron & his catmite Clegg...I didn't.

Trick or Treat & all that shite...

Trick or Treat or urban terrorism?

I had the best of intentions about this Halloween. I was prepared & accepting of any small kids who. accompanied by an adult would knock at our front door at a respectable hour dressed in a garish costumes for Trick or Treat. I even brought 2 bags of mixed chocolate sweets to give them.
However I find now that the whole Trick or Treat thing is nothing more than begging by another name & an excuse for some thugs to terrorise the old & vulnerable.
We were lucky...we didn't have one caller. I had all the sweets in a large bowl on the hall table near the front door ready for any little kid who may knock the door & attempt to scare me witless.
However none called. Not 1.
then at 2120 hrs the door bell ranr. We heard the voices of some kids but what the hell!? 2120 pm & knocking on the door for Trick or Treat?/ What the bloody hell are the parents thinking of in allowing small kids out at this hour knocking at peoples doors !?!?
I didn't answer the door. Sod it I'll not be part of this nonsense..
I have to say it but its one import from the USA that we over here in the UK should not have implemented into our society.
There is an upside of all this though...We now have a bowl full of Cadbury's mixed chocolates to eat. Yum!
Keep your bloody Trick or Treat. Damn pagan worship.

Baked potatoes??

I  gave my books & my brain a rest this evening & I wish I hadn't bothered.
I spent a large part of my evening in mind numbing wastage watching gutter television.There appears to be a glut of programmes-the majority fly on the wall documentaries-with the theme of mental illness,& nearly all of these are about Obessional compulsive disorder.
Tonight the programme producers had suffers cleaning the cluttered & filthy houses of hoarders.On Thursday we have the treat of yet another fly on the wall documentary,this time the programme comes from Bedlam psychiatric hospital in London. It apparently features patients suffering from a range of mental health problems.
I'm delighted that mental health is becoming a conversation in the public domain, in fact the UK spends much less on mental health than on physical health, yet the majority of medications issued by family doctors are for mental health issues.

But: Why the baked potatoes?? I'll tell ya. During the commercial break there was a very flashy commercial that was advertising pre packed baked spuds. Apparently they cook in just 1hour!! This is absolutely incredible!! Have people become so utterly lazy &/or incompetent in their ability to cook that food manufacturers now have to sell pre prepared baked spuds?-It seems so.
We have allowed ourselves to become disempowered by these rascals who claim to be making life easier for us.
Whatever next??