"In times of change the learners will inherit the earth while the knowers will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."- Eric Hoffer

Years ago, in fact until very recently, Saturday Night Live probably meant a show from the London Palladium or a well known US TV show, not anymore. On Oct 1st Saturday Night on Radio 5 Live meant from a busy A&E Department at the Royal Edward Albert in Wigan. The Stephen Nolan show which transmits from 10pm Friday to Sunday inserted their man for comment and opinion real time.

Given the nature of our business I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to listen to the show to see what transpired - afterall this was what we are about and are trying to achieve - feedback and comment on NHS services and this promised to be straight from the horses mouth.

The show even inserted a reporter to Wigan town centre, I assume to interview drunks as they were being taken to A&E.

"I'm surprised" purred Nolan, his surprise wasn't that people were arriving at A&E but three at arrived with Cardiac Arrest within an hour. He reported live as one was taken from the Ambulance and being wheeled into A&E. "We're machines that can break down at anytime" and then "It's like a conveyor belt" Thankfully the Ward Sister interjected with the fact that getting three heart attack cases in such a short space of time was extremely rare.

However at this point Nolan raised possibly one of the best points of the entire show, some people arrive for an ingrowing toenail and resources are taken away from the treatment of higher importance cases to deal with more frivolous injuries or those that are self inflicted. We all buy into the NHS and want our bit out of it when we feel we need it.

A motorbike accident victim wished it was more like casualty - "You see 3 million doctors on casualty doing nothing" on being told he'd wouldn't be dealt with for 3 hours or so. "I wish I could be seen a bit quicker ... I just want to be seen" The reason for his wait of course, perhaps unknown to him, was that three more high priority heart attack victims were ahead of him in the queue.

Sadly just after this interaction, it was announced that the man wheeled from the Ambulance with a Cardiac Arrest had died. The Ward sister sounded genuinely choked and I suppose it brought home even more so the priorities the NHS faces. Treat a man whom had crashed his motorbike and was frustrated at being told he had a three hour wait or try to save a mans life?

Over 23 million people use A&E in the UK annually for varying reasons, sometimes sports injuries, but around 20% of cases involved alcohol in some way. The programme was on air until 1am and I didn't listen to it to the very end but it continued to interview patients, managers, staff and relatives of the people in that A&E, it confirmed several things, that I probably already knew: 1/ - I have always said at the emergency end of the NHS it can rarely be bettered. 2/ - Sometimes we have no idea whom might be ahead of us in the queue to be seen but we all think we are the most urgent priority that the NHS faces. Perhaps communication could be better at times to put us in our place a bit more.

But finally above all else at 3/ - We all want to have our say on the NHS so why don't we?

For the remainder of this week the show can be heard by visiting the Five Live Website or via a direct link here

Two fascinating stories have kept us talking at PO HQ this week, both incidentally linked by their intimate, hard-hitting honesty.

Firstly, we were struck by the story of Joy Tomkins, an 81 year old lady who has had 'Do not resuscitate' tattooed to her chest. An unusual decision, inspired by a retired nurse who did similar back in 2003, and one that undoubtedly demonstrates the conviction behind this lady's decision.

She resolutely states that she could not bear to "make beds and wash-up for another 20 years". "My mother-in-law lived to be 106 and in the last six years of her life she'd have been much better dead. She was miserable. I'm 81 and don't need any more use. What do you think I'm going to do with the frightful thought of getting to 100?"

I was quite taken by the way Joy speaks about her life, and her absolute acceptance of death. She far from wishes it upon herself, but accepts the inevitable and sounds entirely fearless. "I've had 80 good, interesting years of marriage and children and grandchildren and plenty of friends"she said. "I'm quite happy if I wake up in the morning, but if I don't I'm just as happy."

In a world obsessed with prolonging life, I find it refreshing to hear Joy speak of her appreciation for the healthy years she's had with her family and her calm and resolute approach to death.

In a similarly frank and honest way, Gail Porter spoke this week on Radio 5 about her experiences of being sectioned earlier in the year, and the residual anger she still feels. Gail was sectioned to a secure ward for 17 days, during which time she had very few visitors (at her request) and says the experience has had a profound impact on her. Gail goes on to say that on release she remembers thinking "what was that supposed to have done for me?" and for a long time resented the people who made this decision for her.

As Patient Opinion, we receive lots of stories which detail highly emotional and distressing forced admissions to inpatient care and it's always been fascinating to hear how people feel a little later down the line, at a point where they reflect upon what happened to them and how it made them feel. In that respect, Gail's story has a strong message.

She feels that secured inpatient care wasn't what she needed and that the treatment she received and separation from her family, particularly her young daughter, made her more unwell. She speaks calmly and thoughtfully about the whole experience, and I'm glad to see that she looks happy and healthy.

Gail's words got me thinking about the stories we have, and how important it is that people are supported to express their wishes, especially at the most difficult times and make the right decisions for them. Feeling empowered and confident enough to say what you feel you want and need from health care could really make all the difference.

You know that feeling that you get when you find a photo that you'd forgotten all about and it reminds you of a really happy day?

I just stumbled across the fantastic video made by BeInspiredFilms at our brilliant event last year, Out of the box. It was such a beautiful sunny day, the perfect venue (the Deaf Cultural Centre, Birmingham) and a truly inspiring event. We navigated people through the day but invited our expert friends to speak who came from the NHS, blogging circles, the third sector and many supporters from the world of Twitter.

The video followed a lightbulb moment when talking to BeInspired where we suddenly thought, 'how great would it be to video each of our guests sharing their strongest wishes and wants for patients and carers, put them all together and complete the video by the end of the day to play back to them all as we close?' We loved the thought, but had no idea whether it was possible. Turns out, with Rav and Anthony from BeInspired working tirelessly all day, it was!

The end result is this great short video. I'd forgotten all about it until I stumbled across it again today - and it's put a big smile on my face. Hope it does the same to you!
Amy

p.s. Seeing the old logo makes me feel all nostalgic!

Out of the Box 2010 - Transforming patient experiences in the UK from Be Inspired Films on Vimeo.

Conversations are the life blood of Patient Opinion – carrying your story to the heart of the NHS is, after all what we are all about. But why just the NHS?  Conversations are the stuff of politics and democracy too – why not share patient stories with MPs, local authorities and scrutiny committees?

From 7 July 2010 Patient Opinion will begin to do just that. We will be offering a free email alerting service to all Westminster MPs, so they can be automatically alerted to what their constituents are saying about local health services and post a response if they want. The new service is being launched next week at Portcullis House in London.

We hope that this will have many benefits. Patients stories and experiences will have greater reach and power. MPs will be able to monitor what local people think of their health services and, if they want, show that they are listening by posting comments.

Patient Opinion is already showing how stories are helping improve health care - and soon we will be able to show which local and national stakeholders are actively listening to any particular story too. Is your LINk listening? Is the provider using Patient Opinion? Is your MP in the loop?

All this is an exciting new development in online civic engagement – a way to use the power of voice to promote discussion and help bring a truly patient-centred health service into being.

The Big Society is often seen as being about two things: freeing data, so that it can be mashed up and better used. And freeing the energy of citizens, via social enterprises, to solve problems in new ways.

We think it is also about creating structured, helpful, local conversations that create more engagement and many more service improvements at much lower cost than has ever been possible before.