Five Things I Think: 

1. Some of my favourite memories of working in healthcare were from the summers of 2007 and 2008 when I was a support worker in a mental health hospital. Perhaps the best £5.50 per hour I ever made. 
2. It will be a welcome return to (relative) normality for staff and service-users / residents once covid restrictions on visitors are fully relaxed. 
3. The next evolutions of workforce planning for healthcare professionals should not rely heavily on overseas workers. There are much better ways. 
4. An old mentor of mine, Sheilah from West London Mental Health Trust was recognised by her Trust last week. This was duly deserved. Sheilah is one of the best nurses I’ve met.
5. My wife had her paper published in a journal this week, it’s an excellent piece of work and well worth your time to read (the link can be found via my Twitter and LinkedIn.)

The “wow he’s harsh” thought of the week:

The Guardian reported this week that there are 420,314 open referrals for children’s emotional and mental health assessment/treatment in England. That is a staggering figure and up by 147,853 since February 2020! At which point do we really start asking the real questions about why our society does not meet the needs of children?

The Business of Healthcare:

There is so much opportunity for new services and models to be developed across the health and social care sectors, particularly to fill the gap in community provision for people with mental health needs. Success will favour the innovative, and the public will be grateful.