Its all about Change!

I know my blog is supposed to be about diabetes, but this post is about an opportunity that my engagement with Social Media and Diabetes has opened up for me.

I have been following posts by a number of people on Twitter about a movement call HSC Change Day 2014 - this is a Northern Ireland go at a successful innovation by NHS England in 2012 which saw hundreds of NHS staff members, patients and volunteers submitting ‘pledges’ to improve patient care within their health service.

The posts from @HSCchangeday and @DrStevenKinnear have been promoting the fact that all interested parties in Northern Ireland will be able in 2014 to make their own pledge to improve care within the service that thousands of people rely on every day. Social workers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, managers, patients, dentists, members of the public and allied health professionals as well as other stakeholders in health and social care services in Northern Ireland can make a pledge to change for the better.

My re-tweeting and positive vibes about this campaign didn't go unnoticed and I was delighted in late December to be asked to come on board the Core Team for Change Day as an expert patient - a chance I very much didn't turn down.

So now I look forward to helping the team by getting as many service users as I can to make a pledge for change, and I might even try and pull along a few of the Health Care Professionals I know too http://www.hscchangeday.com/changeday/Home.html

But why am I getting involved and what are my 'Patient Pledges'?  Simple, I love the NHS, it has been there from the day I was born, and it has been there through a number of medical issues I have had, not least my type 1 diabetes, I appreciate and value that service, but I know that to deliver that service an organisation as large as Health & Social care in Northern Ireland, or any other part of the UK, can't sit still and can't continue to deliver what it has always done without making tough decisions and most importnatly - CHANGE!

My pledges for change? -

I pledge to appreciate that everything has a cost - while there may be a lot I WANT, so long as I have what I NEED then I must learn to be content.

I pledge to be more prepared when I meet Health & Social Care staff to make any meetings more beneficial for all involved

There are many more pledges I could make, and many pledges I hope to see being made - so consider yourself asked - what would you change?