Phil Gillam: Trailblazing a new frontier for Shropshire hospitals
Using a sheet from my Silvine drawing book, I made a paper aeroplane and launched it towards the ceiling of the children's ward.
It flew with grace and style until it became entangled in one of the light fittings.
Ooops!
Glancing up and down the ward furtively, I was greatly relieved to find that no-one had seen me do this, so I picked up my comic and ever-so-innocently began to read the adventures of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan.
I was six years of age and this was my first taste of hospital, recuperating after having just had a nasty cyst removed.
Okay, this was a long time ago now, but when I look back to those days I can't help feeling things (generally) and hospitals (in particular) were pretty basic back then.
Not like today when most things (generally) and hospitals (in particular) are almost always much more sophisticated, cleaner, sharper, tidier, snazzier, flashier, cooler and smarter.
This thought occurred to me as I read last week's Chronicle and found an article about the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (which of course is already a world away from its predecessor, the old Copthorne Hospital which stood on the opposite side of the road to the present complex, was made up largely of hastily constructed wartime buildings, and was the scene of my paper aeroplane disaster).
It appears that, half a century on from my children's ward aeronautics, high-fliers of a different type are ready to give a boost to Shropshire's two main hospitals (the RSH and the Princess Royal at Telford).
The plans will see staff from the American hospital sharing their wisdom and expertise with five NHS trusts in England with the aim of transforming practices and cutting waste.
Happily for us, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is one of the five.
It's hoped the partnership will help to cut the 800 avoidable deaths estimated to occur every month in hospitals across England. So - clearly - this initiative is not cosmetic; it's not to do with being snazzier and flashier, but it is to do, perhaps, with being "sharper" and "more sophisticated" in the less frivolous definitions of those words.
The Shropshire trust is forecasting an overspend of £18.2 million over the financial year, is struggling to cut high spending on agency nurses, and is still not meeting the Government target of seeing 95 per cent of A&E patients within four hours.
However, the figures are improving. Last month 92 per cent of patients were seen within the target, up from 87.1 per cent in May.
Mr Peter Herring, outgoing chairman of the Shropshire trust, said the partnership with the American hospital would "bring skills and support to frontline teams to change care for the better." And he described the partnership as "trailblazing".
The programme is to run over five years and set five NHS trusts on the road to becoming leading healthcare institutions, and at the same time sharing learning and benefitting the NHS as a whole.
Things have come a long way for Shrewsbury's hospital since that paper aeroplane got stuck in the light fittings.
* Phil Gillam's gentle novel of family life, Shrewsbury Station Just After Six, is available from Pengwern Books, Fish Street, Shrewsbury, and from amazon.co.uk
