6th & 7th December
It’s been a quiet two days, again. Apart from anything else, the weather, which has not been quiet, has discouraged us from much off-boat activity. This is not to say that we’ve got nothing done, but I can’t really claim that it is of huge interest.
Yesterday, we spent a fair bit of time cleaning the inside of the boat, and then after lunch I boated down to Deer Farm Bend where we spent the night.
Today, we went on into Marple with the wind coming and going but never really causing a big problem. I had a good session at the physio, and we got a lot of shopping done.
We had thought about going on up to Bugsworth and Whaley Bridge, but the continuing gloom of the weather forecast has dissuaded us. Instead, Sheila steered us back to Poynton where we watered and collected some post from Braidbar.
They are slowly getting on with the work on the towpath edge at Marple, but there was not a lot happening today. They’ve dug out all the rock and it looks ready for rebuilding the wash wall. There were blokes on site, but the gaffer spent his time sitting in the site hut and the other men seemed to pass the entire morning lurking in the crew cab of their pickup. (And no, the weather wasn’t that bad; a WRG team would certainly have been out grafting in it.)
Presumably there had been some logistical failure, such as forgetting to bring the shovels so that they were having to lean on each other until a supply could be procured. I note that this work seems to be being done by a local contractor, so I just hope that it is a fixed price contract rather than being charged by the day. With BW, you can never be sure.
Meantime, their workboat was sitting on the wharf for the service point, rather than tied alongside BW’s own workboat on the BW yard. It appeared to have been there all weekend, so the service point is virtually unusable for the time being.
4 comments:
hi my name is karen and im a nursing student. i have an exam on thursday and it involves a man in his 70's who has been diagnosed with bladder cancer and has a long term catheter in place. i wondered whether you could give me some answers to some questions i cant find the answer too. i dont know if he is permently moored or a cruiser as we have not been given that much info, but in your experience on the water how easily can district nurses and other health care professionals visit patients on a boat and continue treatment.also do permenant moorers register as normal with a GP and what about cruisers, how would they access health care ie:picking up perscriptions, delivery of medical supplies. ifpalliative care was needed is there room on a boat for equipment and daily nurse visits etc.... sorry to throw so much at you but of all the sites i have looked at i can find no mention of medical issues surrounding living on a boat. in eager anticipation of your reply. karen
Hi Karen
Gosh, where to start? Permanent moorers normally register with a local GP and access services in the usual way, so no problem with visits and so on.
The quality of accommodation on board varies enormously, from extremely comfortable to very basic indeed, so that is one issue to consider; in some cases, basic washing facilities might not exist, causing problems with hygiene.
Continuous cruisers are also registered with a GP somewhere, usually, using a borrowed address (a practice is under no obligation to check the address claimed, though some do.) My own GP is very helpful as regards repeat scripts and the like, either giving me a supply of postdated scripts when I see her, or I can post a repeat script request with an SAE for a handy address near where we are moored for the time being.
In case of illness, BW are usually pretty good about allowing a CC boat to overstay, i.e. remain in the same place for more than 14 days.
You'll have seen from my blog that we visit out GP and dentist in Alrewas every six months for routine checks. I haven't managed to get a flu jab this year so far, as I was too early for my review at Alrewas, and we've been up here in Cheshire ever since.
A case very similar to the one you describe was reported at length (from the carer's point of view) on another blog just a couple of months ago. Take a look at Hadar . Try googling RBOA for the website of the relevant lobbying organisation for liveaboards as well.
Hope this helps
Bruce
Karen, you might also find some useful info from a couple (friends of mine) that cruise continuously but have need of regular medical check ups etc at:
http://nbepiphany.co.uk/
Then 'Our Blog', then 'New Blog'
Look on the RHS of the page for medical tips etc.
Roger
thankyou so much for your prompt reply and help. this has cleared up a few issues that as a student nurse i would need to consider when discharging a patient home to a boat. merry christmas and thankyou again karen
Post a Comment