What a Difference a Day Makes...

Following a 'difficult' workshop in Oxfordshire on 16th May (see post dated 18th May), the following week couldn't have been more different. We delivered 4 'Trust Me I'm a Patient' training workshops in 3 counties: Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and the dreaded Oxfordshire. Living in Warwickshire, we found ourselves up and down the A34 like a yoyo.

Monday 19th May was spent in Basingstoke, Hampshire with a delightful and appreciative group of participants. I'd like to have adopted a couple of them and taken them with me to other workshops as they threw themselves so enthusiastically and passionately into their roles.

Trevor chats with 3 of the 17 participants

Tuesday 20th May was spent at the Culham Science Centre in Abingdon in, dare I say it? I'll whisper it, Oxfordshire. Getting in was like trying to get in, or perhaps out of prison. Met by security guards, we noted that they lacked any charm or personality.
The workshop was great apart from a bit of negativity from one frontline NHS staff member. She said that she hadn't learnt anything and wished she hadn't left her important work with patients to come to our workshop. I asked her why she had attended, to which she replied, "It was a tick box exercise for the PCT (Primary Care Trust) to say that I've been on a course." Mm... any comments about that?

Ready to go home at the end of a long day. It took several hours finding our way out....

.... and even longer to get in

Wednesday 21st May was spent preparing workshops for the next 2 days ...

Thursday 22nd May saw us in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. The workshop took place in the local Anglican church and the people were responsive and utterly delightful.

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Friday 23rd May was spent in Eastleigh, Hampshire. It was a small workshop and it all went smoothly. We ended the week by presenting DAFTA awards to participants.

Eastleigh, Hampshire

Imagine this.....

Imagine that you go to the theatre one evening to see a play in two acts.

Imagine that the play opens with a narrator to set the scene, during which some people come into the auditorium, late and noisily.

Imagine that the first narration is over and the first scene appears to go quite well, creating laughter and a round of applause at the end of the scene.

Imagine that the second scene is interrupted by two people from the audience. The first one says that the first scene was completely false and unrealistic. The second person stands up to say that he is offended by something in the script.

Imagine that the scene continues, somewhat slugglishly because the success of the second scene is dependent on a response from the audience.

Imagine that one of the actors remains composed and professional, though inside he feels embarrassed. The other actor becomes hyper-active in an attempt to win back the audience, but does manage a degree of control.

Imagine that a couple more people in the audience interrupt by stating that the play was different from what they were expecting and had they known what the play was about, they wouldn't have come. They leave the auditorium.

Imagine that the curtains close before the first act is finished.

Imagine that the second act proceeds but it is difficult to follow, without having seen the first act in its entirety.

OK that's enough imagination for one day! This highlights one of our role-playing training workshops for the NHS, last Friday. Trevor and I have facilitated many of these events and apart from a little bit of negative feedback a few months ago from one, the response has been warm and positive! We wouldn't have been contracted to do a series of 25 workshops with one health authority if they'd been that awful!

I was the one who went all hyper and humiliated myself. I feel so sorry that we failed, and that the majority of the audience were short-changed.

Sigh, we have 4 more similar workshops this week. Lamb and slaughter spring to mind. I'd better pop a jar of mint sauce in my handbag.

Here's me, after the workshop... attempting a smile!