"Homeland" and the issue of memory.

Quality drama, well thats the title afforded certain types of drama, along with the term "high production values" its meant to convey something extraordinary about what we choose to watch.
I guess the "Killing" seemd to be dominated by jumpers, "Borgen" by lamps and now the "Bridge" seems to focus on architecture and beautifully shot  enigmatic locations in Sweden  and Denmark.
But what of "Homeland" what will be your enduring memory of it? Theres no doubt it was a tense and gripping drama and not since "Twin Peaks" have I felt not only compelled to watch but also came to actually care about some of the characters. I suppose its nicely contemporary and also had that hard "real politik" with just an suggestion of dark and menacing forces (on both sides).
For me the really memorable episode was the penultimate one when Carrie became manic and distraught at the failure by others to understand and agree with her view of what was going on. I have never seen a more accurate depiction of the features of mania as she worked relentlessly to solve the problem of Abu Nasir. At the scene where her work was torn down off the wall the sound was faded and we saw her complete distress at not being believed. It seemd to me that could be the lived experience of many who we consider "unwell" or "ill". I found it sobering to see that so accurately depicted and for me will remain as an enduring memory.
Which is kind of neat as the series ended with Carrie hoping her memory would endure the ECT she was having. We wait to see if it does.

I may have to retire

Well apparently I may have to because I am over 50 (hard to believe I know). An article I read today suggested that all us over 50's should move over and allow younger people to take our jobs. Simples.
Bit of an economic "Solent Green" really. Initially it kind of seems attractive, lots of time for all manner of activities , but hang on.......how will Ipay for it? Epecially as I may (hopefully) have along retirement. I guess Icould take one of the part time jopbs that are being vacated by all the graduates looking for work. Of course it doesn't really stack up does it (though I may end up doing that). All that experience, knowldge and networks just lost in a moment.
But it does raise a couple of interesting ideas.
Could retirement begin earlier, in a sort of staged way with a partial pull down of pension? Could people like me be offered a person to succeed  us in our roles? Could I be actively preparing the next person for my job, and really enabling them to undertake it?
I guess its probably to radical an idea and it certainly made me feel old and just a little bit unwanted. But could a double dip and an enduring austerity provoke the serious consideration of such ideas?

Hospital car parks

Contentious things aren't they? we have all visitted someone and resented the scrabble for change, or even how much we have to pay for visiiting someone frequently and how much it costs. Some people find hospital car parks a very useful metaphor for many issues. Here's one i really like. Hospitals are just like car parks because .......as soon as you build one it fills up.Well I guess that does hold up as an illustration. We are often told there is an over provision of beds in some sectors, yet the beds are all full.I suppose if you restrict parking then people find other means of getting to places, and the belief is that if you close beds and transfer the funds to community services then lo and behold the beds just aren't needed. I suppose as occured in the massive down sizing of psychiatric provision in the 80's.
Hospital car parks are another useful indicator of activity. If you go to your average District General Hospital at the weekend , what do you find? The consultants car park with its designated spaces will of course be largely empty, likewise the admin peoples. Yet the nurses car park (if there was such a thing) will be full as usual. Why so? Probably because patient need doesn't keep office hours and acutiy doesn't drop off at 5pm on a friday. In fact we are now told that mortality rates rise by up to 10% at the weekends due to the non availablity of senior medical staff to advise their junior colleagues (although available on a phone). It has been suggested that this needs to change.
Perhaps we will see all the car parks starting to be as full as the nurses' one?

Keep Calm and Carry On

The slogan that has probably been most read for years, and the product of a campaign that thankfully never was. I like many people I am sure have seen it on T shirts, posters, television presenters and even on on a coffee mug! Perhaps we will never know who penned this amazing instruction to the British people in the event of a German invasion, but it seems to sum up an approach to life that is pretty timeless. You can actually imagine for most people this would not have been to difficult to do as it's so close to the national mind set. I can actually envisage that life would have gone on as it was and that people would have adjusted to the awful circumstances that would have arisen following an invasion. The new rules, the sense of helplessness and the real hope that all would have been over ridden by a positive force that was awaited.
Pretty much like the staff in the NHS at present really, stoically carrying on quietly with their duty. Remaining calm and carrying on in the hope that the present invasion of cold political imperatives will pass them by.Of course they remain calm as its essential for the people they care for that they feel safe in a situation where they are vulnerable,
I  really hope that they and indeed all of us who care about the NHS do not feel they are being told as in my other rather more up to date alternative coffee mug slogan to "Shut up and deal with it".

My "London face"

I was introduced to a fascinating idea the other day from a colleague who was visiting London for the day. He had at one time worked in London and then had moved to the West Country. Whilst we waited for the meeting to commence he told me that he hadn't been in London very long that day and he had found himself re-adopting his "London face". I was intrigued by this and asked what such a face looked like. He told me it was essentially a blank stare and he proceeded to demonstrate it to me.
It was as he said blank. In some ways similar to the blank expressionless stare that some people with Parkinson's disease have. Devoid of expression and at the same time a bit threatening.
We discussed what the purpose of such a stare was. He considered it was to avoid contact, in particular to avoid interactions with people who are trying to sell or beg. I was familiar with the tricky issue of eye contact on the Tube and how that took some managing on a busy trip, but this really interested me. Was it a way of keeping to oneself, or a means of keeping people away.
A look that says "don't bother me".
As I was making my way to the Tube at Oxford Circus I noticed that all three Big Issue sellers I had passed didn't offer me their magazine.
I became worried, was I wearing my very own "London face"?

Jack Nicholsons finest moment?

Well was it in Easy Rider, or in "The Shining" (who will forget his cry of Here's Johnny)? I think for many people his most exciting or indeed mercurial performance was in the movie adaption of "One flew over the Cuckoo's nest". He plays the part of one Randle McMurphy sent to an institution for evaluation. The rest is well known and I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say the adaption of Ken Keseys book (also a top read) won many plaudits and awards.
Its influence has been vast and for many that depiction of 1950's institutional care has become synonymous with mental health care "full stop". I was once interviewed for a place on a Masters Degree in mental health and the first question to me (as a nurse in particular) was "Why do you think Nurse Rachet behaved as she did"?
I watched the film (and enjoyed it) and I guess filtered it through a nurses values and culture. I saw clear brutality of a subtle and insiduous nature on behalf of Nurse Rachet. and also the actions of the male orderlies (am I right in remembering one using a cosh?), were really grim. They seemed to be not only institutionalised but also willing to engage in pretty forceful and dehumanising actions.
The patients themselves, well again pure drama and a good drama to, but a more sensationalist collection of stereotypes you couldn't hope to find. Does it have merits though? I guess it does, its pretty realistic in some senses, Its critique of psycho-surgery to ameliorate difficult behaviour is pretty accurate and the numbing routine of a neat and tidy ward is captured well. Perhaps this was because it was filmed in an actual hospital location.
There's much to commend the film as drama, my problem comes when its the main point of reference for peoples understanding of mental health services today.
Don't get me started on the infamous "Titicut follies" whatever you do. Well perhaps another time!

Form an orderly queue

I was intrigued to see a book review recently that referred to the author (British) as an "orderly" in a mental health secure unit. It is an account of his time in a service in the 1980's and is apparently a cracking read. My curiosity was aroused so I read the review a little closer to see who he was. As I read further I found he is also referred to as someone who had been "nursing" and doing so in his capacity as a "nursing assistant"! So now this poor fellow has had three tiltles foisted upon him and quite possibly only one he would have chosen for himself.
I guess its pretty obvious that the strap line containing the term "orderly" was considered more attention seeking and indeed a better fit for the tone of the book. Yet its so very unhelpful and to those in the "trade" an absolute howler of a mistake.But what effect was the copy write of the advert trying to gain?
When I hear the term I think of films such as "One flew over the cuckoos nest" (OFOTCN) and orderlies in white uniforms with bow ties and a penchant for coercive approaches. It leaves me cold and at the same time cross. I consider it a real distortion of what we do.The topic of OFOTCN will be a blog subject later on as i consider it a really damaging movie.
So the effect sought? Probably that of a spectre of locked rooms, secrets and howls of anguish.
Sorry to dissapoint the advertiser but the only howl of anguish was mine!