Leon A Smith's blog



A memorable week at Nightingale

By Leon A Smith, July 15, 2011

Last week was a memorable week at Nightingale following the official opening of our wonderful new Wohl Wing by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

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Dilnot

By Leon A Smith, July 7, 2011

The 4th of July is a memorable date primarily because it marks the anniversary of American Independence. Yet in the care sector it is likely that this will be a memorable date for another other reason - the publication of the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission on funding of long term care for the elderly were made public.

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I'm the oldest person here........!

By Leon A Smith, June 23, 2011

This week I’m returning to a theme which looking back over my blog in recent months is sadly a recurring one. This either means that this particular theme is a very serious one or alternatively it could mean that I am becoming fixated! It is a theme that some people may perceive as being a somewhat peripheral issue. What is that theme?

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Location, location, location.....

By Leon A Smith, June 10, 2011

We all known that estate agents have a mantra which is “location, location, location”. The 1997 Labour government had a mantra which was “education, education, education”. But it seems the one stock phrase appears in every facet of society in life. It’s the importance of “communication, communication, communication”.

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Wonderful positive moments

By Leon A Smith, June 3, 2011

Of all of the items that appear in our newspapers on a daily basis, the care of older people has never been higher and more prominent in the headlines. As is so often the way with such matters, virtually all of the headlines and the substance behind them is negative.

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Talking of hurdles...........

By Leon A Smith, May 23, 2011

Nobody can be unaware of the enormous financial pressures which so many segments of public society experience at the present time as a consequence of the public spending review.

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We are deeply proud of our volunteers................

By Leon A Smith, May 4, 2011

Nothing can be more emotive at the present time (other than views on the Royal Wedding) than the debate about the wisdom of the Olympic Games being held in London. There are those such as myself who are very much in favour of London hosting the Games and those who are vigorously against it – and many shades of opinion in between.

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Passover - the heart of our Jewish identity

By Leon A Smith, April 21, 2011

One of the most creative inventors of recent times has to be James Dyson. He has created a number of imaginative, functional yet well designed electrical products. The most famous of these of course is the Dyson vacuum cleaner.

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The referendum on AV - hardly the greatest priority....

By Leon A Smith, April 14, 2011

A recent Panorama programme focussed on the difficulties and challenges which those in the 50-plus age group are now faced with in getting jobs. The underlying theme running through this programme was that ageism is alive and well and permeating itself through many parts of society.

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A Bristol Rovers supporter................!

By Leon A Smith, April 5, 2011

Childhood experiences can shape one’s attitude to life in later years. Having been brought up in a provincial city with a minute Jewish community, I often felt different at school to those surrounding me. The reason for this was not, on reflection, hard to fathom!

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A fully paid up member of the "Big Society Club"

By Leon A Smith, March 24, 2011

I have vague and extremely unpleasant memories of the athletics running track at my school. Participation in athletic events at the time was akin to a form of perverse cruelty and as far as I was concerned one of the least enjoyable experiences which I recall as a child was running the hurdles race.

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At Nightingale "we never close"!

By Leon A Smith, March 15, 2011

One of the many side effects of getting older is that Passover comes around with increasing rapidity – whereas as a child it seemed like an eternity from one Passover to another. Today, it seems that no sooner we dismantle our Succah and put away our Lulav and Etrog then we’re already beginning to think about Passover.

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It's all a matter of luck....

By Leon A Smith, March 2, 2011

There is a strong possibility that somebody born today may have a reasonable life expectancy of 100 years of age. A generation ago, 100th birthdays were something of a rarity – a very special occasion warranting significant coverage in the media. Today that situation is very different.

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Do you have a "provincial" outlook?

By Leon A Smith, February 15, 2011

Until I visited Beijing and Shanghai last year I was always under the impression that London was a large city – I now know that it is not! I say this, of course, in relative terms. London is a very large city compared to Paris, Rome or Brighton. But put alongside the cities referred to above or alongside Cairo or Mexico City or Rio de Janeiro, it is not.

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Good news stories

By Leon A Smith, February 4, 2011

There have been a number of shock horror stories in the leading national newspapers recently, including The Independent and The Daily Mail, regarding awful conditions and experiences which people have had in care homes. These stories talk of the personal experience of a mother and/or other relative.

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Something of a shock........!

By Leon A Smith, January 21, 2011

This week has seen the publication of further details of the government’s plans to restructure/reorganise the National Health Service. We hear that the depth and breadth of this proposed restructure has come as something of a shock not only to many people who voted for the Conservative Party but also some of its MPs. The change being proposed is radical, far reaching and not totally thought through!

It seems that it is almost obligatory for a new government coming in to power to talk about changing the structure of the National Health Service!

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Can one make gefilte fish without carrot?

By Leon A Smith, January 12, 2011

As someone who runs a large care home for older members of the Jewish community, I find myself with a myriad of different responsibilities and matters that need dealing with on a day to day basis. There is however an all pervading theme which runs through life at Nightingale. We care for 200 people and 75% of them are female. They are all Jewish. What particular subject might be of interest to them other than food?

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Whitechapel, Aldgate and other East End landmarks....

By Leon A Smith, December 17, 2010

A couple of weeks ago I installed in the lobby at Nightingale some wallpaper with a difference. Not wallpaper in The Lord Chancellor- £400 a roll sense! But nevertheless wallpaper with a difference. I can only really describe this by referring to it as “reminiscence wallpaper”. Basically it is a photo montage of various scenes from Whitechapel, Aldgate, and other East End landmarks from the 30’s. The reason that I installed this wallpaper (which did not cost £400 a roll) was for both aesthetic reasons and for reminiscence purposes.

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University fees.......

By Leon A Smith, December 13, 2010

None of us could have failed to notice the emotive debate accompanied by the violent protests in the Centre of London by those demonstrating against the university fee increases from £3,000 to £6,000 or £9,000 per year. These fees seem totally insignificant when compared to the cost of caring for an older person – which is likely to be many times that cost.

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England will not be hosting the World Cup in 2018...........

By Leon A Smith, December 7, 2010

As a child and in my teens I often used to fantasise/project forward to being an adult. One of the things that I used to dream about in the 1950s and 1960s was what “…..what would it be like celebrating the year 2000?

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