Thoughts of a carer

On Friday 24th September there was a debate in Parliament on ‘Baby Loss Awareness’. Losing a child around the time of birth must be one of the most traumatic experiences humans undergo. It happened to some former next-door-but-one neighbours of mine,  perhaps fifteen years ago. I attended the funeral, and I’ll never forget the sight of the tiny, white coffin being carried into the service by the father. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read reports of the debate that Friday. I suspect it was the usual political nonsense, perhaps with a nod towards the seriousness of the topic. It's quite possible that ‘poverty’ was attributed by some as being a likely cause. Sadly, some years after that sad funeral, I learned a little as to why that may, and may not, have been the whole story.                                    ...

  Over forty years ago I left University and entered the job market. I was actually rather surprised to land a job at the Central Electricity Generating Board, at its London HQ, working among a team of statisticians supporting the endeavours of others in the industry, which was, of course, very scientifically oriented. The teams we worked with were based in laboratories or design units, all involved in projects that related to our quite limited range of responsibilities - electricity generation and high-voltage network management. This was before the age of ‘mission statements’, but it was post-1970s energy crises, and ‘security of supply’ was considered the top priority. The problem is, power stations have a limited life - maybe thirty or forty years. It takes a long time to build them - particularly the large ones, far longer than a parliamentary session, and in more recent years our politicians have preferred to put off big decisions like building new power generating capacity r...

 Social care has been in the news recently. As someone who at least likes to think he has some experience of the sector, I've taken an interest. Much of what has been rumoured has not impressed me; it seems as if those in charge have little understanding of the way the front-line social care system works, or of how 'service users' feel.  I've sent a couple of emails to my MP outlining my concerns. 3 September 2021 at 08:43 To: "FULLER, Richard" <richard.fuller.mp@parliament.uk> Good morning Richard Did you see last night's ITN News at Ten? They led with a story about the problems facing care agencies, and thepeople who use their services. Staff are deserting the sector in droves, meaning that some people who need help areunable to get it. Viv, my partner, would not be alive today if it had not been for the help she and I received from Sagecare Biggleswadewhen the NHS failed to correctly diagnose her hydrocephalus in 2017. It's possible that her c...