Paul Vaughan

Time to pull together

MA Healthcare Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London SE24 0PB (Tel: 020 7738 5454)

Swine flu: your role

Hope you all enjoyed August! It tends to be a quiet month; children on school holidays and there are still some places that have the traditional ‘shut down’ for a couple of weeks in Summer. The roads have been so clear when I have been travelling into work and when I have been out running. Shame they cannot be like that all the time.

Time to act

The opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing was a stunning performance. A fitting opening to a very special event. I was mesmerized by the people working in unity on the large drums. Their timing was amazing as they counted down to the opening of the games and banged their drum at just the right time to produce, through the medium of light, the numbers from ten to one.

Time is of the essence

Not to make you all jealous but here I am sitting by the pool in Skala, Kefalonia (Greek Island) writing this piece in the glorious sunshine. I have finally managed to get myself organized at this point in the year to have had a summer holiday. I have been busy organizing free workshops and a free conference for healthcare assistants (HCAs) in October and trying to make sure that the voice of HCAs and assistant practitioners (APs) is heard in all the right places. Life for all of us can be a bit like that these days, always got something to rush for and somewhere to get to and a need to get there fast. When do we in the course of our normal day take time out to think about what we are doing? So it is no surprise to me to hear from HCAs that they find little or no time to plan their personal and professional development.