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April brought a change to my medication for my mood disorder. This change led to an unstable mood and would lead to a crash into a depressive episode later on in the year.
In April I also got my gorgeous kitten, a black Bengal that I named Nicholas:
Nick, my black Bengal kitten, he wouldn’t take his eyes off me, I think I was being stalked :P.
The Californian Sea Lions (3).Quickly becoming my favourite animal, the giraffes. What I love about giraffes is that every time I’ve politely called over to one (in different Zoos I might add), they come over. They look at me with their big black eyes and some times, if I’m really lucky, they let me take a photo before they walk off.This is how close we got to a Lion. Able to look in its eye and see the intelligence, along with the hunter instinct. He appeared to be eyeing us up as a snack. Blackpool Zoo had two male Lions living in the enclosure together from what I saw. They seemed pretty well bonded and one went and groomed the other while we watched.Look how close we got to this tiger at Blackpool Zoo. In Chester Zoo I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tiger, let alone been able to get close enough to appreciate its stripy beauty.Orangutan. The parade of Elephants.Penguins.This photo of a penguin is most probably the best photo I’ve ever taken. The penguin was swimming at great speed, although you wouldn’t have guested. I looked at this photo when I got home and it looks like it was taken by a professional. A total fluke.
The Report has been written and submitted as a formal complaint.
Back in September I had a fifteen day stay admitted in mental health ward. Unfortunately, the care that I received and the care I observed other patients receiving was unsafe and did not meet the high standards of care that I would expect from our National Health Service (NHS).
I am proud to be a Nurse and despite still being unwell I feel that it was important to raise the issues I experienced and observed to prevent future patients from experiencing the same.
I never like to complain about anything, but even more so with our NHS. In fact I’ve never complained about anything in the NHS. I have nothing but love and adoration for our NHS, after all it has saved my life several times and the lives of my loved ones countless times. I know it’s not perfect, but I also know that most of the staff do the very best that they can with extremely limited resources.
But I felt that I had an ethical and professional duty to raise these concerns to ensure that I was acting within the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s Code of Conduct (2018). So I sat down with notes I made at the time and wrote an exposé report.
The purpose of this report was to raise issues/concerns and give suggested actions for improvements.
I started the report with the positives, like:
The vast majority of staff introduced themselves to other patients and myself.
Staff appeared to complete the appropriate paperwork.
Staff wore the appropriate badges & tabards.
But most importantly staff showed kindness and compassion.
Then I listed each issue or concern that I had along with suggested actions for improvement. For example, a number of staff reported having “no idea” about diabetes. So I recommended:
That all staff should receive training on diabetes that includes the difference between type 1 & 2 diabetes.
All staff should be reminded that best practice is to take a BM reading before a meal and 2 hours after a meal.
Staff should be reminded of any policies or procedures relating to diabetes care.
I then sent the report to the Complaints Team as a formal complaint, PALS, the Ward Manager (via PALS), the Lead Consultant Psychiatrist (via PALS), the Chief Executive, the Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive and The Governance Team at my local Clinical Commissioning Group.
This was on a Saturday evening. I didn’t expect to hear anything until the following week. But I got an email back from the Chief Executive (on a Saturday!) thanking me for my report and assuring me that the Complaints Team would be in touch.
Since The Complaints Team have been in touch by email. It reads like they are taking my report extremely seriously which is good to read.
My book Mental Health Wisdom has been reduced in price to do my bit for World Mental Health Awareness Day, which is today and on the 10th September every year.
The new prices are:
£7.49 for a paperback, either signed through buying on the link above (plus £1 for postage and packing) or by purchasing on Amazon. This is a saving of over 37% or £4.50 in actual money.
£1.99 for Kindle version by purchasing on Amazon. This is a saving of over 66% or £4 in actual money.
So go on, treat yourself. Want to know what others think of the book? It’s 5 star rated for all review on Amazon. Here are some quotes from the Amazon reviews:
“This book is a serious, yet light hearted, look at anxiety and depression from someone who has battled with this throughout his life…
This is an easy and often humorous read into a subject that impacts on far more of the population that we generally realise or are aware of.
I would highly recommend ‘Mental Health Wisdom’ by Anthony Simpson…”
“Very informative, useful and helpful read, would highly recommend, very reasonable price also.”
“This is a perfect starting point for anyone that wants to get clued up on mental health. It goes through the many different mental health illnesses, symptoms and has so much invaluable knowledge and wisdom embedded in it. It then goes on to list some tips on how to manage and look after your mental health and well- being.”
The book will never be at a lower price than it’s current price. This is the absolute cheapest I can make it. I decided to drop the price as the book has been out nearly 9 months. I also accidentally over purchased stock and would like them to find good homes, so that I have space for my next creative project.
