The first week of my trip, I stayed in London. Most of the visits to specialists and organizations related to our research on home nursing were in Hatfield, a beautiful country area 30 minutes north from London by train, but had also good times in London in the evenings.
One significant characteristics of UK’s health system is that medical service, provided by NHS basically for free and social service, provided mainly by local authority are clearly divided. Home care, especially for elderly care is a point where both sector come across and contact the same person, an individual who live in their own home and community, and have various needs based on their daily life, which includes both medical services and domestic/personal services (bathing, cooking, washing etc.). Since our main focus was a nursing service, we visited related professionals and organizations, but at the same time, I had always paid attentions to other sectors and comprehensive systems, though it was too complicated. We met faculties of the University of Hertfordshire, and NHS hospitals/community services, the Royal College of Nursing (trade union for nurses), and the Queen’s Nursing Institute, a organization for support and advocate of home nursing. As I mentioned, there is a fragmentation of the overall health system in UK, and varieties across local districts, so even for specialists or organizations in UK, it was difficult to gain figures or materials of all the necessary information such as workforce, service delivery. Thus, it was important to know what is missing pieces and how to infer that. …Still my brain is storming after lots of visits and additional documents, I try to grasp the overall picture and build our final report to client.
Anyway, despite fragmentation of the system, and huge decrease in budgets and workforce, especially for district nurse, a key player of home care in community, I was impressed with lots of efforts by practitioners and organizations. A district nurse, with whom I visited several homes of local residents, who had various diseases and needs, showed me how she communicated with each of them, and also their relatives and other actors such as social workers. Her caseloads looked very large, and it sounded partly because of recently decrease in human resources (but still she worked so hard every day every week). The Queen’s Nursing Institute impressed me with how they made research by themselves such as surveys to practitioners, and advocate to policy makers to approach problems in the field. The quality of their reports and pamphlets were so high, and that told me their professionalism to fight to realize their goal, not just criticizing the government.
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In the evening, though half of time I fell down asleep after back to the hotel, I could met my friends living and studying in UK. It was so happy for me, cos they showed me parts of their daily life here, what they see, what they love, how they feel and do, while walking around the town with them. Not only here, I always feel myself a foreigner, or drifter. I never imagine, so far now, to settle in one place for long time, say 5, 10, or 20 years. So wherever and whenever I visit some town, I look and walk around the town with an eye of observer, never a inhabitant. My thoughts and feelings tend to float, and that’s why I respect each of you, who settle in a community, keep your own rhythm and tempo of your life and work, and warmly welcome me, with happy smiles telling me what you love in our town. Though short stay every time, I never forget your kindness. Thanks a lot, and hope to see you someday somewhere again.
その街に住んでる友達と一緒に歩くのが良い。ヨソモノの僕が素朴な疑問と感動を繰り返す一方で、彼/彼女が日々、その街をどう見て、何を愛でているを知ることができるから。「知ること」それ自体が二人の散歩の目的でないのも良い。
パブや居酒屋に集まってお酒片手に「ぼくの/わたしの人生ハイライト/ダイジェスト」を順繰りに話し、気持ちが高まった拍子に未来や夢の話をしちゃうのも、勿論楽しいことだけれど、目的もなく歩行のリズムで、話すともなく言葉がこぼれてくる時間は、よりいっそう愛おしい。
なんだかんだと観光スポットは良い。基本的にはヨソモノしかいないから、非日常の気楽でバカに明るい感情が溢れていて、あまり余計なことを考えずに住む。ハグをしたり写真を撮っているその様子を、その街に暮らしている友達と、ベンチに座って眺めるのも良い。
お気に入りのマーケットに連れてってあげる、と言われ、行ってみたものの時間が早すぎたり休日だったりして、「普段はここもっと賑やかなんだよ！」なんて弁明されるのもまた良い。
それにしたって僕には根が無いね。
「外食続きでつかれたでしょ！」と、おうちに連れてってもらい、手料理をごちそうになった。こたつに寝転んで待っていたらうたた寝してしまって、おいしそうなにおいで目が覚めた。
しあわせってな、オムライスのことだよ。