Networks,dentists and hamsters

On Tuesday I attended a Healthcare Professional Commissioning Network (HCPCN) workshop. If you haven’t come across this group then do visit the NHS Networks website and look them up. http://www.networks.nhs.uk/  The purpose of the network is to bring together, pharmacists, dentists, optometrist, nurses and allied health professionals in order to convey the significant message that successful healthcare commissioning needs to be multi-disciplinary in order to best support the quality and productivity challenge.  

I sat next to an orthotist who was passionate about his work and I was astonished how much his profession can improve patient outcomes and save the NHS large sums of money  if  they can get their services fully integrated into care pathways and if current funding mechanisms can be restructured to support this. Sound familiar?  On my other side was a dentist who gave me some good advice, delivered in a sound bite that  is impossible to forget …’spit don’t rinse’

I did attend my first  really festive  event  ( the sort that includes a full turkey dinner  and Christmas pudding on the menu)  so in my world Christmas has started.  The fact that we were the only guests in the restaurant was a reflection of the current economic climate. The party was made up of mostly pharmacists but we managed to steer clear of too much professional chat. We did get onto the subject of pets and how difficult it is to explain their passing to small children. Remind me to give you the full story of why one of our group  ended up warming the  deceased  hamster with a hair dryer….I can assure you it’s worth it