My compulsion to stay working within the NHS is largely driven by guilt. As a healthcare professional, nothing I have experienced in the last decade under a Conservative government gives me much hope that things are going to improve in Read more…
Dear all, As any of you who followed my teenage nephew’s brief, tragic foray into the Elite Dangerous community starlight likely already know, Michael (aka CMDR Michael Holyland) died on 22nd May 2019. His funeral service and cremation was on Read more…
I thought being a paramedic would help me cope with my parents’ deaths. Or even prevent them. I was wrong. Allow me to explain. When I first applied to Beds & Herts Ambulance & Paramedic Service in 2000, it was Read more…
How many Players Handbooks does it take to change a lightbulb? To be honest, I couldn’t tell you; I’ve got three 5th edition PHB versions and no lightbulbs have yet changed. Let me explain… Over the last year or so, Read more…
Returning to Dungeons & Dragons after a quarter-century absence was always going to be a challenge. But I may have underestimated just how much. Mistakes were made. Pick a World, Any World I have vague recollections of being a reasonably Read more…
Over a quarter of a century ago, I was a Dungeon Master. Then life happened; career, mortgage, marriage, kids. The funny-shaped dice gathered dust. Yet over the passing decades, the impact of those teenage roleplaying game sessions has resonated through Read more…
‘Writing is its own reward,’ is a misquote of the little-known actor who played Feyd-Rautha in David Lynch’s 1984 sci-fi epic, Dune. He may also be known for other deeds, mostly tantric sex and naming himself after Bilbo Baggins’ sword. Read more…
Derrick was about to die. Shrouded in the empty blackness of a vast, subterranean cavern, Derrick Stoneballs – second-storey man and lifelong criminal – clung to the vertical rock face and gave his predicament careful consideration even as his muscles Read more…
Last week, I was invited to speak at the NHS Pathways National Partnership Forum, a gathering of 111 providers, clinical commissioning group representatives, technicians and policy-makers who are focused on improving the telephone assessment service. I took the opportunity to Read more…
Dear frontline ambulance colleagues, After 12 years of responding to 999 calls and subsequently watching from the sidelines as family and friends continue to do so, I am only too aware of the ever increasing pressures and the ongoing erosion Read more…