Day 18: Winging it Mummy

06:15 - Alarm goes off, hit snooze

06:30 - Get out of bed, get showered and change. Today nothing fits, nothing appropriate for a STP meeting in this crazy warm weather.

07:00 - Wake the Mini K's up, get them ready for school. Neve's forest school has been cancelled today but a Music Festival has been planned instead. To add, school have sent text reminders for superhero dress up costumes. Cue the man made fibres. Neve is ready to be Diana Prince, aka Woman Woman.

07:30 - Neve is first to change. Of course she would be, she gets to wear a costume. Noel is still in his bed with just his pants on. He can't find his uniform from yesterday. That's my cue to run around the house in my pants looking for clean uniform. Being unwell and away from home for most of the last 7 days means chores have fallen by the wayside.

07:45 - Breakfast. Thank goodness both Mini K's can sort themselves out with their own cereal. Meanwhile I still can't find anything that fits and is appropriate for the weather and the meeting.

08:00 - Another nag to get the Mini K's to brush their teeth. Obviously I follow with wet wipes to clear all remnants of toothpaste.

08:25 - Given up on finding something work worthy and bothering with make up, I keep having to blow my nose and the heat is melting my face like the baddie from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

08:40 - School drop off. Child 1 goes in. Mad dash to the other side of school to drop off Child 2. The sea of polyester, man made fibres and face paint is really a sight to behold.

This is Birmingham (Not Black Country!)

09:00 - School run done. Off to Brum city to run some errands before heading to Wolverhampton for the STP meeting. Found a random shirt dress in the shop on my travels.

11:45 - Quick change in the disabled toilets. Ta dah I am STP ready, looking like a real Clinical Director, right?! Hmm.

12:40 - Arrive to Wolverhampton Science Park, driving around Wolves always reminds me of my pre-reg days at New Cross Hospital. One the best years of my life.

13:00 - #LetsgoPCN Black County & West Bham STP PCN Clinical Directors Meeting. Today I've bought a 'plus one' David Gallier-Harris, representing the Birmingham and Solihull LPC. Makes sense to keep community pharmacy in the loop of what is the shared vision and planned next steps. There's definitely a mix of positivity, optimism and some trepidation. Great to see the acknowledgement of achievements seen from the Primary Care Workforce project regarding GP retention and support for our #First5 GPs. So pleased to see "Pharmacy Network" on the agenda for 2019/20.

The need to get this Pharmacy Network right is crucial. Practices have been or are recruiting pharmacists for their PCNs. For some sites this will be a new territory for both practice and candidate or new expectations for a well season pharmacist. In fact it's all change. I feel the take home messages from today's STP meeting were right. No matter how contracts may look, the successes and sustainability of Primary Care will always lie within the strength of relationships. These relationships could be within our individual practices, our PCN practices or the wider healthcare provider community. Our relationships need to open, honest, friendly, understanding and above all else meaningful. From good solid relationships byproducts like trust, confidence and support form a foundation strong enough to face adversity and uncertainty as a united team. (Just ask Klopp!)

I am a pharmacist and a clinical director, it may not be the usual combination that most would expect in this current landscape. I've met so many locality leads and no matter how much of an imposter I feel, the network I find myself in, has been truly accepting of me and supportive of my work. I never feel I'm a leader nor do I strive to become one. When people ask me why I decided to put my name into the hat to become a clinical director, my answer is simple. No matter how small, I want to make difference.

15:15 - I make my apologies as I have to leave the meeting to run the kids to gymnastics and football club.

16:15 - I'm still not home, gymnastics starts at 17:00; there's been a road accident on the M5 and general rush hour traffic.

17:15 - After two hours on the road, I manage to get a sweaty Neve into a skintight leotard and packed off to gymnastics.Then onto football club for Noel.

17:30 - Just made it to football club. It's also School Open Evening. So football club is held at a different pitch. Quick run down the road and we're both sweaty before any exercise has even started.

18:00 - Back to gymnastics to collect Neve.

18:30 - Noel finishes football and he looks like he's been in shower of sweat.

19:00 - We grab some ice creams and make our way home.

19:10 - Showers for all, a light tea and some chill time watching the Labyrinth. Everyone needs some Bowie magic in their life.

20:30 - Kids to bed. Now time for me to write the blog whilst watching Stranger Things 3. I'm an 80s kid after all.