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Blog May 2020

Rose Road's CEO

So now we are midway through May and it feels as though things are shifting slightly.

I feel a bit like a mole surfacing unexpectedly into sunlight, blinking, confused and not at all sure I should be here.

Too much lockdown wine perhaps!

Or a surfeit of socially distancing snackage.

Things seem to have changed and yet maybe they haven’t actually changed that much.

What I do know is that I now need to read lots more pages of guidance to make sure that I make the best possible decisions going forward for our service users and our staff.

And then I have to make sure that we can bring in sufficient income in these straitened times to pay for those decisions as none of them come without a cost.

But that’s ok – that’s my job and there is something about the team working that is happening here at this time that I find really positive and exciting. Especially when we start with what seems like an insurmountable problem and then come up with a solution – we are getting better and better at that!

I do find my emotions quite near the surface these days, I’m sure I’m not alone.
A couple of things make me angry.

Firstly those whingers and moaners who are the first to find loud and public fault with the guidance and refuse to cut anyone any slack whatsoever.

You know what – if you have the answer to keeping the R rate down, if you know how to source antibody tests and vaccines, if you can protect the vulnerable and know where to discharge them to, if you could manage the effective distribution of PPE and you could stop people dying – go for your lives.

If you can write the perfect guidance then stop talking about it and do it (and send it to me please c/o Rose Road).

Seriously.

Everyone would thank you.

You’d be a hero. Internationally.

If you know the answers to these things then why are you sitting on your backside and timewasting?

Where are your letters and emails to the advisors and the press?

All went unanswered did they?

Funny that.

Or did you just air those ranty views on Facebook.

No-one in Government got up today and thought as they were cleaning their teeth ‘you know what? I’ll take it easy today. I won’t bother trying to save lives. I won’t consult with my professional advisors. I’ll just wing it and hope for the best.’

Nobody is perfect, we must take our elected politicians off the flaky pedestals we created for them and apply our own knowledge and common sense to our own settings. We must be brave and clear in our risk assessments, we must respect and abide by guidance, we must talk to others who know more than us and we must make rational judgements.

So not every single piece of guidance fits every single setting.

Fine. Ask questions. Consult with colleagues and peers. Listen hard to what they have to say. Think harder. Work it out.

And secondly……
PPE.

I may not like the fact that a global shortage of avocado pears means that the price of avocado pears in the shops goes up.

Let’s face it. First world problem. Smash a different fruit onto your toast. (or is it a vegetable?).

BUT

It is not acceptable to grossly inflate the cost of PPE when PPE saves lives.

Facemasks have more than quadrupled in cost. There was a point where you could buy a 500ml pot of anti-bacterial gel on Amazon for £89. This should have cost £2.99 tops.

It is utterly, utterly unacceptable.

Where will we be in a few weeks?

Will R be up or down as a result of the easing of some lockdown measures?

I don’t know. Nobody knows.

Let’s just hope and pray that we can all hug it out somewhere along the line…….