W-I-D-E on Wednesday: Street Scene

This isn't the best quality photo but it tells a tale: the last day or so hasn't gone as we'd planned. We were going to have a trip to Beamish Open Air Museum where I could have taken an interesting olde-worlde street scene!

Regular followers of my blips will know that our Son#2 (the one who teaches Maths at Bath University but has been staying with us for several days) has congenital heart disease. He's usually very well but for many years has had occasional episodes of "atrial flutter" (a very rapid heartbeat) causing him almost to collapse and often needing fairly urgent cardioversion (electric shock treatment - very similar to defibrillation). In April last year he had ablation treatment to try to stop these episodes happening but yesterday about 5pm he had another. He was "blue-lighted" to Cramlington Hospital although during the ambulance ride his heart rate fortunately returned to normal spontaneously. However they kept him in for observation.

He's been fine all day today but one hospital ward there doesn't seem to communicate with another so there's been confusion about whether he'd be discharged today or not. At about 4pm he was told that he would be but another ward to which he was then transferred thought he was staying. Eventually it turned out that he's there for another night - at least it means he's having another night of being monitored.

Having worked in the NHS for 35 years I'm familiar with poor communication but this must count as one of the worst examples I've known! (I've simplified the story a bit.) But at least we're pleased he's being looked after and is so much better today than yesterday.

That's a long explanation of the photo, taken through the hospital window while we were visiting. Thanks as always to Bobsblips for hosting.