Thursday, March 05, 2009

I love my work .... and feel blessed

Every week I consider myself blessed to meet so many great people in my work.

The last four days have been pretty busy with lots of travelling.

Monday – Drove down to Milton Keynes where Annie and I ran our latest “Trust me I’m a Patient” workshop. The 25 participants are all trying hard to improve services for patients in the National Health Service (NHS). We had nurses, doctors, managers and various other professionals among the participants.

Tuesday – Drove up to Sheffield to deliver two workshops on confidentiality and information governance in healthcare. One workshop in the morning, one in the afternoon for a total of 45 front line admin and reception staff, practice managers family doctors, (GPs), practice nurses. All of these folks work in Primary Care.

Wednesday – On the road again as I drove up to Nottingham to spend all day running a workshop for 10 receptionists who work in GP surgeries. This workshop was on customer service in healthcare.

Thursday – Drove to Shrewsbury to deliver a 2 hour talk to around 100 front line healthcare employees including practice managers, admin workers and front line receptionists. This talk was called exceptional customer service in healthcare.

In four days a total of 700 miles driven and about 180 people seen – mainly front line workers. Between them, so much enthusiasm and passion to do a great job for patients.

There are those who seem to enjoy knocking our NHS. I am always impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of the employees I meet – particularly those who are in direct contact with patients on the ‘front line’ of healthcare such as receptionists, nurses and doctors.

So, once more I celebrate our healthcare workers – they deserve our thanks.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trevor,

What a terrific post. Nothing like getting to wake up and go to a job you really enjoy doing. Meeting great folks, doing different things....gets no better than that! You earned it my friend!

I too share your respect and admiration for those in healthcare. My daughter Whitney is a nurse who cares for children and young adults with cancer. Front line medical care can be very challenging indeed and those who do it are a very special group indeed.

Trevor Gay said...

Hi Dave - good to hear from you.

I hope Whitney is keeping well and it is terrific that she works in an area where she has so much empathy through her own illness. I admire her so much and I know you are rightly very proud of her. She is an amazing example to us all if I may say Sir!

Anonymous said...

Trevor,

Thank you sir for your kind words regarding Whitney. Amazing is indeed an apt description of her. Basket case would be an apt description of me as I still struggle both understand and deal with her illness. Her diagnosis was indeed the very factor that lead her to pursue her certification as a nurse oncologist. I have a Lymphoma Awareness T-shirt that proclaims "My Daughter is My Hero"...a truer statement has never been made indeed!

Trevor Gay said...

Thanks for sharing that Dave and I just cannot imagine how I would deal with the news you had to deal with - it is stories like yours and Whitney's that always put work into perspective.

Your family remains in our prayers.