Interlude
Apologies for my absense. Several times over the last few weeks I have thought of a blog post that I might want to write and post, but something (not entirely sure what) has stopped me. The question is – am I just lazy? Is it just that the obsession to score over 100,000 on bejewled blitz on facebook was too great? Or am I just an ordinary person who from time to times loves blogging then needs an interlude of several weeks for a break from it all? This month has been a big one for our small family. My teenage son, Matt has gone off to University and I have discovered just what empty nest syndrome feels like. In some ways, and to an outsider it feels much the same

Transitioning into nursing from different careers – A Guest Post by Richard Hemby
As a UK nurse who has moved into a managerial career in the NHS, I was intrigued to receive a request for a guest post by Richard Hemby. Ok so he is keen to advertise the work he does for an online resourse for US college qualifications. The sentiments and much of the information given here by Richard are also true in the UK and for that reason I am publishing a guest post written by him here: The demand for many types of professional skills is diminishing.  Companies all across the country are being forced to downsize, due to economic constraints.  Many of those faced with unemployment are considering a career change.  Nursing is a good fi

Living in the past
Today we have been informed by the Patient Association that a small but significant minority of nurses are cruel and uncaring. We have been told that some nurses in the NHS hold (often elderly) patients in contempt, that they fail to deliver even basic nursing care to them. Sadly, I am not surprised by this. Today also we are told that school students have achi

British Justice
Over the years there have been many miscarriages of justice. I guess that because we don’t execute people then it is always possible to release a person who has been wrongly convicted. Recently the body of a young woman killed in 1979 was exhumed after the convicted killer was released when DNA evidence not available at the time showed he wasn’t the killer. 27 years in prison for something you didn’t do is a long time, and Simon Hodgson is not alone in serving years in prison in this way.

Managing upwards
Having no team to manage is often a blessing. I have to admit that I have had very few people reporting to me who have been troublesome, and the stories I hear from colleagues about the workshy, the incompetent, the people discovered working while off sick and so on are just that. I have had a few difficult staff; one who tended to cry during our one to ones without good reason, one who appeared to do little work and hated to be challenged about why this was the case and another when I was