13 October 2011

Paul returned my laptop late afternoon but I was too tired to try out all of the programmes. However I did find one of two things I couldn’t do so Paul popped back on his way home and added some more programmes which he had previously removed. Sadly, Dragon does not seem to understand my commands any better than it did previously. I can still say ‘Stop Listening’ and the words get typed into my text rather than working as a command. Paul is coming back today to do some more tinkering.

We are going to have to make some subtle changes to the morning timetable. The problem being that’ my lovely’ is finding it more of a strain to pull me up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed and is now becoming fearful about me toppling over and as a result she is beginning to dread the mornings. We cannot have that so we must speak to Harriet, of Ross nursing, when she returns from her cruise and see if we can get at least one helper in a little earlier to assist in this particular operation. It may mean shuffling about breakfast, shaving, teeth etc but we will worry about that when we see what Harriet is prepared to do.

Headline news is morning was that one in five elderly person in hospital are not getting proper care or being afforded(when they are on the commode etc. Not being fed or changed regularly. Many suffer from lack of dignity. In fact it is considered so bad in some hospitals the lack of care is considered to be illegal. One can only put this down to a shortage of staff but when you consider the amount of money spent on our NHS you would think it could be managed a little better than that. No wonder elderly people fear going into hospital. The last time I was in hospital I remember pressing the alarm for something other, (probably dying to have a pee) and it took 10 min or so before the nurse came. Had it been a real emergency and I was suffering from a heart attack who knows what the outcome might have been.

I rang the local surgery about a month ago enquiring about flu jabs and was told they would not start until the beginning of October. Having heard nothing I chased them up again today only to be told that I was on the priority list but they give me no idea when the district nurse could pop in to give me the jab. I reminded them that I have MND and carers coming in every day they could easily carry the virus with them and if I got flu it is quite possible that this could turn to pneumonia and carry me off, so there was a degree of urgency. The receptionist says she will try to contact the district nurses, so we will see if that has any effect.

I had a very satisfactory response to my letter addressed to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs about the scam e-mail I had received. They confirm that no genuine government department would request personal details by e-mail, nor indeed would any bank. It seems I had done exactly the right thing in not opening the e-mail and they give all sorts of advice to people who are concerned about requests to disclose their personal details, so I thoroughly recommend any reader who is concerned to get onto their website and read the advice for themselves (security.custcon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.)