One Man and his Car

When you see a nice car sitting in the car park, like this BMW 2.8 litre Z3, you wonder what you might do with such a beautiful car. Clearly a car like this is meant to be driven and not just looked at even if it has a beauty all of it's own. It has to be one of the classic sports cars of its time.

Of course there is the poor mans option if you can't stretch the budget to BMW Z3, you can pick up second hand MG F Mark II or the earlier Mark I for next to nothing for a sports car and there are some fine examples out there to be had. Yes, they suffer from the same engine problems as all the K series engined cars but once fitted with the Lotus head gasket and they should provide miles and miles of enjoyable driving at a fraction of the running costs of the BMW.

My day dream is to take one of these beauties touring through the British Countryside and enjoying the all it has to offer. If you like one man and his car camping along the way to enjoy the fresh air and the feeling of being at one with the world. I can just see myself cursing around in one of these lovely cars with the roof down on a summers day.

There nothing quite like waking up unzipping a tent and making a brew as you take stick of the day to come . I can just imagine stopping of lunch and spending the day just going where I want and being free to do what I want in one of the most beautiful counties in the world. There is so much to see and photograph and I would just like to go to the places I have never been to.

Okay, it might not be the most environmentally friendly ways to have a holiday but it would be lots of fun, and we all need fun in our lives from time to time. Thankfully we are all allowed to day dream and if I ever have the money this is one I would love to come true.

British Pair win the Mens Doubles

For the first time in seventy six years a Briton has being in the winning pair at the Mens Doubles at Wimbledon. Jonathan Marray teamed up with Frederik Nielsen and having played just three tournaments together they had to apply for a wildcard to get into the tournament. They went on to bushed all opposition away and win a nail bitting five set final beating last years runners up.

It was a great match, I sat cheering at the computer as I watched it online on the BBC website. It was so wonderful to see a British man win something at Wimbledon it has been far too long coming and we have another shot tomorrow. Lets hope we see Andy Murray lift the silverware tomorrow in another great final. It will give the country something to be proud of for a change.

Children's Heart Unit Closures

The NHS's 'Safe and Sustainable' review of the ten children's heart surgery units in England has recommended a reduction in the number of units to create fewer, larger centres. The names of those units earmarked for closure where announced this week.

Hospitals in Leicester, Leeds and the Royal Brompton in London are to stop performing heart surgery on children under the review some time after 2013. It was the reviews finding that claimed that the specialist staff at the existing units were spread to thinly across the NHS in the existing ten units so it plans to streamline them down to seven.

In announcing the decision Sir Neil McKay CB, Chairman of the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts is reported as saying: "This is a landmark decision that clinicians and patients have long called for which will enable the NHS to improve care for children with congenital heart disease. The needs of children have been at the heart of this review. Parents, patients and clinicians told us consistently during consultation that quality of care should be the most important factor."

However, there is a lack of confidence in the whole of the review process, which even saw one of the Hospitals legally questioning the review process in the High Court. A number of Patient Groups and Members of Parliament claim that the review has ignored the facts about travel times and the patient level of flows at some of the units. There are also reports that the parents, patients and clinicians feel that their views have been ignored in the process.

The children's heart units that are closing are not happy about the decisions and nor are the parents, patients or the clinicians involved. Here is what they have been saying on the matter:

Giles Peek, a consultant heart surgeon at Glenfield, one of the units earmarked for closure, said: "Leicester has one of the finest heart hospitals in the country. Looking after children with serious conditions, performing complex surgery, nursing them to recovery and managing them into adulthood is an important service which we expect to remain in Leicester. Loss of children's heart services could adversely affect intensive care services across the East Midlands and the national extra corporeal membrane oxygenation service." He then went on to add "If we were to lose our heart service it would have an enormous impact."

Bob Bell, chief executive of the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It is very difficult to know what to say at times like these. But it is even more difficult to try and understand how this committee could have come to such a decision. Over the past 18 months we have seen respiratory charities like the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Asthma UK, independent clinicians from around the world, and many anxious parents, highlighting time and time again the damaging effects on specialist respiratory care for children if Royal Brompton's paediatric intensive care unit is closed. 

Mike Collier, Chairman of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This result flies in the face of logical health care planning and plain common sense. We genuinely believe that the decision will not deliver the stated aims of the Safe and Sustainable Paediatric Cardiac Services review. This decision seems almost perverse in light of the information which became available during the course of the consultation process. We are surprised that the very clear wishes of over 600,000 people from this region appear to have been disregarded."

It would appear that doing a quick search on the News sites about this review is that in many regions it is seen as a backward step and will remove patient choice and mean that families with very sick children have to travel further for the care they need. It is also felt that children's live could be at risk. A 

Locally there are plans for massive investment into children's heart services with University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust spending £1.7 million on expanding children's heart services over the next three years. Staff are being recruited and wards expanded and the number of operations are expected to increase from about 320 to over 400 a year. The cut off point the review team have used as the benchmark for if a unit should stay open. A petition to started to save the units to save the unit attracted more than 100,000 signatures so far.

In my view the problem with reviews like this is that they have no compassion or empathy for the people affected by the changes they propose. It is just to mathematical and clinical and shows a lack of understanding about peoples needs. 

If it wasn't for the unit in Leeds my daughters cousin probably wouldn't be alive today. She was born with a heart condition and if hadn't have been for the surgeons at the unit in Leeds her chances of survival would have been significantly less. She just happened to be born in the right place and got the right care, other babies are not so lucky. 

Making this type of care less accessible is in my view a crime and I just hope someone wakes up and realises that before these three units are closed. Please support the Leicester Unit by signing their online e-petition.

Well Done Andy Murray

Today saw a little bit of history being made when Andy Murray became the first Britain to make it through to the mens finals. The game looked like a walkover in the first two sets and turned into real match when Andy Murray's game dipped in the third set and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga settled into the match.

In the end he won the forth set in a set that swung one way and then the other and it all came down to a disputed line call in Murray's favour. This has set up a final with probably one of the best players of the game in modern times, Roger Federer on Sunday which will keep a nation glued to there seats and biting there nails.

Family Posts

Anyone expecting a family post will note the absence of them over the coming weeks. The next possible date the girls are together is over three weeks away and that is just a fact of life.

To say I'm will miss Lucy and having the girls together over the coming weeks is an understatement. Not knowing what has been going on in Lucy's life is one of the thing I feel is hardest to deal with. Not having contact with her for so long just hurts, but that is life and I can't see this situation changing. 

Of course some would say I want sympathy but they don't know what it is like, I just want to see my daughter I helped bring into this world with someone as much as possible. People can keep their sympathy for the children dying in Africa and around the world from lack of clean water and food or in war zones. I don't need it. 

I just can't wait to see her and have fun with all my girls again. That is something I'm looking forward too. This isn't what I wanted and that is a fact and always will be, but all you can do is make the most of it and move forward and that is what I will do given what I have and those that are so special to me.