This month we were invited to listen to a consultant paediatrician on what their ‘day-in/day-out’ practice was. This I found intriguing as I have spent my fair share of time in hospital with various illness and injuries and have met many a paediatrician, the good and the bad. We listened to what he had to say with regards to every patient being a new personality as working with children and young people could be a very fluid and changing job. He talked to us further on the highs and the lows of treating and helping children and young people. He told us of some of the various cases he’d had and having been asked a question about attachment to specific patients he told us that it was easy to become close with both a long term patient and their family, and that it can be quite hard if something bad happens to them. In that case he has to put a professional face on and ‘deal with it’ as it were, but that it’s also very exciting to see the growth and development of children into young adults where they may leave his care.

After this talk, we briefly discussed the development of our charter for the Children’s Centre, which was coming along nicely. We are looking forward to being shown a few samples of them at our next meeting to discuss which are our preferred options. Sadly, the meeting was cut slightly short as one of the staff who was due to update us more in depth on the development was unable to join the meeting. It demonstrated how difficult things are in the NHS at present and how we all need to be flexible and accommodating – I’m sure that’s a trait I will need to fully develop as I progress with my studies.