This Month: April 2013
Hello…
April 2013 is sponsored by the shambles of, and irritation and angst exuded by anyone trying to use the NHS 111 service. “Let me see madam, for dialing a wrong number, please go to your nearest emergency department within the next four hours.”
March was an unprecedented month for Chopsy Baby. For the first time since launching in 2008, we had to suspend publication for four weeks. This was due to a series of disasters, including running out of custard creams and an unexpected item in the bagging area.
What You Need To Know…
This April, there are some great shows on in Bristol and the surrounding area. We are particularly looking forward to Starlight Express at the Bristol Hippodrome, and JUSTIN FLETCHER coming to Cardiff. Before you go to the theatre or arena, there are five key points you must remember to include during the visit.
Key Points To Remember:
1. Cough. Not all the way through, but just at those really poignant moments.
2. Do not take a tissue. It is fine to snort through your nose like a hog at the person sitting in front of you. Recommend a bitter-sweet West End production for doing this.
3. Be late, but before you are, buy your tickets right in the middle of a front row and do a bumper shop in Primark.
4. Talk every now and then. Make sure you share your questions and opinions with everyone.
5. Buy a big bag of noisy sweets or flashing wands. It’s a competition to trough, rustle, snort and cough all the way through the next two hours.
Featured Event…
It’s the ultimate classic murder mystery play, now in its 60th year in London’s West End. Now South West audiences will be able to enjoy the mystery too. A touring production of The Mousetrap is due to visit the Bristol Hippodrome in May.
The Mousetrap will be at the theatre from Monday 29 April until Saturday 4 May. Tickets from £14.50.
We featured it last month, but the excitement is growing in the South West as Justin Fletcher funnies his way towards appearing at Cardiff this April. The UK arena tour Justin & Friends will see him on stage as a whole host of Something Special and Gigglebiz favourites. Tickets are available now and are priced from £13.00 for children, with family tickets from £52.00 (for four people and subject to booking fee). For tickets and the most up to date tour information please visit: www.bbcliveshows.com.
Your Views…
Is your Easter childcare in the bag?
“Just about. It’s a nightmare trying to tie it all up together. I organise my holiday allowance to take school holidays into account.”
Allie Rose Jones
Mother of three
“It’s not a problem for me because I work term time in a school. I couldn’t cope otherwise.”
Charlotte Mayhew
Mother of four
“I have just gone on maternity leave which has timed itself perfectly. Honestly, women are expected to stay at home to raise children but also work at the same time. We can’t win.”
Cara Jenkins
Mother of one
Celebrating the Best of Incompetence…
There is incompetence and then there is theft. This sad looking birthday card arrived already opened for one Bristol resident. It probably got caught up in somebody’s fingers machinery.
Our Views…
This Month it’s NHS 111
Chopsy Baby Editor Jen Smith Writes: It was just last month I was able to phone an out of hours doctor and get advice quickly and efficiently. Those little accidents or sudden illnesses occurring out of hours with an element of Not Sure about them. You know the kind, the ones you consult Doctor Google about. They seem fairly innocuous until you read the one per cent of complications that can happen related to eating a craft googly eye, or a yard of elastic at 6.45pm. It’s not a hospital job, but some quick What to Watch For advice is sometimes needed.
I could phone up BrisDoc and speak to an out of hours GP fairly swiftly. They would offer good advice and if necessary, offer an appointment or recommend heading straight to children’s A&E.
So you can imagine the disappointment and subsequent irritation having to use NHS 111. You can hear them fumbling through the questions. “Is your two-year-old left handed?” they ask. “Does she have patches of numbness in her fingers?”
What you really want is a straightforward chat with a doctor who won’t tell you to go the nearest ED in the next four hours even if you accidentally phoned the wrong number to order a pizza.
Gone are the days of accessing out of hours care in a reasonably safe way. People will die with the new NHS 111 system. Call handlers refer people to ED for everything. Making them escalate the call left me with a ‘clinician’ who bumbled around and eventually agreed to get an out of hours doctor to call back in the next 12 hours from the next door county. Bloody ridiculous.
Featured Review…
Ideal for the final potty training stages, the hypo-allergenic B-Sensible fitted sheet and protector will keep mattresses safe until youngsters are dry.
Prices start from £8.50
www.luxurybeddingproducts.co.uk
Shopping…
The range of Bathtime Buddies has had a revamp, offering bright bath time fun for youngsters.
Suitable for children aged 0-3 years and above
Prices from £1.25-£3.15
Look out for them in Morrisons, Asda and Wilkinsons
Rockabye Baby! CDs of popular music turned into lullabies are brilliant. New release Lullaby Renditions of Blur is available now. Visit the site and preview the tracks for yourselves. We have just wasted about half an hour listening to different tracks!
£11.99
www.rockabyebabymusic.co.uk
See-Me from Diono allows drivers or front seat passengers to see babies and children in the rear seat without the need to turn around or take their eyes off the road. The See-Me is a mirror with a power grip mechanical lock suction cup giving those in the front seat an eye in the back. The reflective surface is made from safe plastic.
£5.99
www.diono.com
Finally, Thought For The Month…
They text you, send you letters, get inside your children’s heads. It is your primary school contacting you about another sponsored walk, cake sale or fund raising event. Can schools not just take bank details and set up a direct debit each month? This would make life so much easier.