Better Health For All

So I have made it through DAY 1 of social isolation…

This followed heavy pressure from our (grown up) children that we should not come back to London to fulfil various commitments or attend meetings that we had in London this week – so here we are in Lyme Regis.

All this because of COVID-19, now designated a pandemic by WHO.

As a retired public health doctor I am proud of the fantastic work public health professionals are doing to try to get on top of things and to protect the public. Similarly as a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Foundation Trust, I am proud of what the NHS is doing to prepare for this epidemic; one of the benefits of the ‘command and control’ system that we have in the NHS – even though in normal times we mutter about lack of autonomy.

We are fortunate that for the past 20 years we have divided our time between London and Lyme Regis in Dorset and we have homes in each, so we have decamped for now to the ‘country’.

Day 1 was ok, for one thing we had some sunshine, so we did some gardening; planted some seeds, tidied up the vegetable beds and sat in the sun. Later on we went for a walk by the sea, getting chillier but still nice and we got some exercise and improved our mental health – alas the ice cream shop was not open or we could have indulged!

And now the news tonight – 16th March 2020 – and government reiterating that we/ I am in the ‘vulnerable group’ and that more draconian measures are needed and we must self-isolate and reduce social contacts; everyone to avoid pubs, restaurants, theatres and non-essential travel, work from home if they can, more flights cancelled. Goodness knows what will happen to the economy.

And all us oldies (over 70) and ‘vulnerable’ may need to go into self-isolation and be ‘shielded’ from social contacts for 3 months!

Jigsaw opened, and one of our children signed us up for Netflix!

We will just have to take it a day at a time…

Sue Atkinson
16.3.20