On Day Thirteen the world has two suns

Another day at the unit, spent in a series of Zoom meetings, dealing with the never ending emails, and trying to ensure we remain capable of providing the medical staff in the right places at the right times. For mental health service provision. I would not like to be a Chief Medical Officer for a DHB these days.

The first meeting I had was with our CMO, and she was helpful in discussion and will attend the next meeting in two weeks of our senior medical staff. That was followed by a meeting of the National DAMHS group. It is our responsibility within our respective DHB, to oversee the administration of the Mental Health Act. 

Since last week's meeting, common sense has prevailed in the airy setting of the Ministry, and seeking consent from persons who cannot refuse to be assessed, on the place of assessment and how it is conducted, has been declared unnecessary. I thought it was disrespectful of such persons, to suggest that they might be able to decline to be assessed. Added to which is that if someone doesn't want to be interviewed by Audiovisual Link, they can turn their back , or refuse to talk, or whatever. It is not uncommon that persons legally required to be assessed, choose to not answer questions.

Anxiety about the pandemic and the risk of catching the virus, continues to dominate the mind of many of our medical staff. Unfortunately, that spills over to other staff (who actually are more exposed to more patients) making them more anxious. 

It was a relief to ride home, through nearly empty streets (see the extra of K Road, which is typically jam-packed at the time of day I rode through this afternoon). While waiting for dinner, I took a few photos of the sunset, and then noticed the reflections in the glass doors, which has produced today's blip