Healthier People, Excellent Care

Healthier people, excellent care,
Is giving us the chance to share,
The vision that we’ve laid bare,
Providing services clean and fair,
Helping people to be aware
Of all the efforts to repair
Ailments from brain to derrière.
8 pathways are ensconced in there,
Take a moment to prepare,
Then read on if you dare…

MATERNITY & NEWBORN:
Are you going to have a baby?
Answer Yes or No – there is no maybe!
If Yes – you’re in the family way,
Go see a midwife without delay.
They will follow you through the gestation,
From early weeks unto parturition.
The best place to deliver we’ll help you choose,
And will provide support through baby blues.

CHILDREN'S SERVICES:
Kids are great! Kids are fun!
On life’s adventure they’ve just begun.
Give them time to bloom and grow
Sometimes, though, they need protection
From adult ways and temptation,
Drink and Drugs and Sex will take their toll,
Best to stick with rock ‘n’ roll.

STAYING HEALTHY:
Everyone wants to be fit and trim,
That’s not too fat and not too slim.
Reducing hangovers, and stop choking:
So less boozing and stop smoking.
Special clinics if you’re silly,
And don’t wear a condom on your willy.
Do these things every day,
To help you work and rest and play.

MENTAL HEALTH:
Can’t think straight? Not yourself?
Could be a problem of mental health.
Don’t be shy, it’s no shame,
Many people feel the same.
There will be people you can see,
Long –term or with urgency.
They can help take the strain,
And get you back to work again.

ACUTE CARE:
Emergency, Emergency – I’m feeling sick,
Get a doctor, and make it quick.
Feeling broken, slightly wrecked?
Then speak to NHS Direct,
See a pharmacist, or your GP,
Call on an ambulance for urgency.
Need some medicine or leg in plaster?
With these services we’ll do it faster.

PLANNED CARE:
18 weeks is the top duration
Waiting for an operation,
With careful planning over time
We want to get it down to nine.
As the pathway you traverse,
Every consultant, GP, nurse,
And other workers you will see
Shall treat you with expediency.

LONG TERM CONDITIONS:
Some health problems come and go,
Many more stay and cause years of woe,
These conditions need a plan,
Unique to each woman and man.
Support from every health and social source,
To live as normal and join the workforce.

END OF LIFE CARE:
This poem is coming to the end,
Beyond this stanza it will not extend.
No more puns or dreadful rhymes
To help it through these difficult times.
With dignity and in a place of choice
The poem will slowly lose its voice.
Thank you, reader, for staying near,
The time has come the end is here.