Friday 18 February 2011

Hospital Negligence – the start of a campaign

If you have access to a Leicester Mercury newspaper tomorrow (Saturday 19th) or Monday then do please buy a copy because it will feature an article promoting my campaign for improvements to Leicester’s hospitals. I will be posting up the progress of the campaign as it develops. If you’ve had a bad experience in a Leicester hospital and want to join a pressure group to ensure that changes are being made, then please let me know. The pressure group will be set up and run with the support of Sir Peter Soulsby MP.

My Radioactive Week

Once the Leicester Mercury have launched the campaign I’ll be posting up more details, and discussing in more depth, the issues that I’m most concerned about regarding our hospitals, but for now I’m preoccupied with a radioactive week. 

It all began with newspaper reports about Monday night’s massive solar flare. Apparently radioactive material will be blasting towards Earth sometime today or tomorrow. In 1989 a similar event knocked out a power station in Quebec. Let’s hope it doesn’t do anything too horrible this time. I must admit to being rather excited about the prospect of it sending the Northern Lights our way. That would be an extraordinary experience, to see the aurora borealis from our back garden. I love looking at colours in the sky, not fireworks. I can’t understand why people enjoy having gunpowder exploding above their heads, but show me a rainbow and I’m ooohing and aaahing like a drunken sheep.

I’ve always loved rainbows. I blogged about them here but rainbows now remind me of the other radioactive part of my week. On Tuesday Mum started her five days of radiotherapy. In the entrance to the treatment room there is a large picture featuring a rainbow. It’s in pastel colours and has a peaceful feel to it. I don’t suppose Mum has noticed it. She has other things on her mind but while I’m sitting and waiting for each radiotherapy session to be over I’m looking at that picture and hoping it holds a promise of better things to come... and I can’t help thinking that if radioactivity can knock out a power station then it can knock out my Mum’s tumour too.

Please join my campaign for improving hospital conditions in Leicester. Either comment below or email me at rosalind.kathryn @ googlemail.com. Thanks.