Personal stories are the essence of DDN. They speak volumes about good (and bad) practice and they also serve to inspire; and that’s vitally important in the land of diminishing resources.
Many of the people we speak to about their experience of treatment have a debt of gratitude that inspires them to share their story. Wayne (page 16) and Tony Adams the footballer (page 20) both fought a dangerous battle with alcohol. It’s unlikely they would be around to tell the tale if they hadn’t experienced the right intervention at that pivotal moment.
Sharon’s story (page 22) demonstrates what can happen when chances are missed – an all-too-likely scenario when services do not stretch around complex needs. If we’re serious about getting the best for our patients and service users, every stakeholder needs to be around the table. We’re turning a blind eye to processes that don’t work (page 10) and are in danger of undervaluing vital healthcare in our haste to run services to one ‘cost-effective’ template (see the letter on shared care, page 12).
Any straightforward opportunity to save lives should be an obvious move (page 6), and we hope that our hepatitis C supplement will contribute to this important public health initiative – visit our website to share the pdf and order free printed copies. Let’s all do our bit to make hep C elimination a reality.
Read it online as a PDF or virtual magazine.
Your letters, comments, suggestions and feedback are always welcome. Email the editor through this link, join in our Facebook page, or tweet us @DDNMagazine
DDN is a free magazine – please help us to keep our circulation up to date! Email subs@cjwellings.com to make any changes to your subscription.