enkelt skapninger

Sandsound. Silver beach, secluded, usually in the lee of the wind, fabulous views. Great for a picnic, and kids love it.

Hospitals don't have accomodation like this. Also, my meeting wasn't at a hospital. Plus, NHS England isn't the same body as NHS Scotland, and will charge. It isn't up to the accommodating board to pay. Aberdeen was doing Shetland a favour. Aberdeen don't have the money to do up the rooms. I think you are overestimating the pay. And underestimating the other responsibility that commands that pay. I'm sorry, but I'm not a charity and I'm not going to kiss my family life goodbye. This is why it is difficult to recruit and hang onto good staff. Really? Name those people who are not working hard. Name those people who are just waiting for their pension. Put your money where your mouth is. Name names. Duplicated posts? Do you have any idea how many hats many people wear in NHS Shetland? I was at least three people when I was there. This is the norm. The requirements (both legal and political) from central office that are put upon boards mean huge amounts of work. Frankly I'm amazed that Shetland manages to do it with so few people. Quite the opposite. The range of services you have far outweighs what a population of this size should get. Please provide examples. The milk of human kindness is finite. People end up getting sick of running themselves ragged in return for hostility and criticism. They'll end up doing what they get paid for and no more. I have seen people work themselves into an early grave on behalf of the NHS-using public, and then be criticised by patients for having the temerity to selfishly die without giving anyone due warning. Well why not give it a go?

Yes. A little DOI: I no longer work for NHS Shetland, but used to. There are strict rules on how much we could claim for accomodation. If I went to a meeting in London, it would not be possible to find a hotel for the allowance allocated. I would end up out of pocket to make up the difference. So, I was effectively subsidising the NHS. There are strict rules on getting the cheapest possible trains, flights etc. Everything has to be accounted for. I spent a week doing some work in Aberdeen on behalf of NHS Shetland, and stayed in a crappy little room in Woodend Hospital with somebody elses pubic hair clogging up the shower, a light that flickered, a bed that should have been condemned 30 years ago, and a table with a wonky leg. There was no phone, no telly, nothing. So I spent a week in a room thoroughly miserable so as to save the NHS some money. This was what people tended to do. The cost of flights were not significant - everybody has an ADS card, and quite frankly I'm buggered if I'm going to spend days away from my family for the NHS unecessarily, for the sake of 20 quid. The managers who have to go to lots and lots of meetings on the mainland - why should they miss out on their family life day in day out? What about the 1 hour meetings the government insists they attend face to face? Should they get the boat to those meetings? And as I said, significant investment has been made in videoconferencing facilities which have cut the number of off-island visits significantly, realising big savings. You seem to have this impression that everybody in NHS Shetland is on the make, or is lazy, or incompetent. Here's a suggestion, Silvercloud: Apply to be the next Chairman of the Board. Show the lazy incompetent money-grabbing staff how it should be done. I think you'd be amazed at how resourceful and hard-working the people who work in NHS Shetland actually are. The good folk of Shetland seem to think that NHS Shetland is a poorly performing board. Believe me, it isn't. The levels of service that you have is astounding compared to many places in the UK. This sense of entitlement when you live hundreds of miles away from the nearest major population centre is unrealistic. If you were to transplant Shetland to England's NHS, you'd find Gilbert Bain Hospital closed, all the consultants made redundant, half the GPs gone, maternity gone, support services pared to the bone. I'm going to step away from the keyboard now.

Silver cloud, all that is the norm for NHS travel. Except for getting the ferry, which is thoroughly ridiculous. Do you want doctors working a full shift straight off the ferry?!? Really? Most meetings are done by video conference these days anyway.

Please expand on this, and how you think it should be done.

Wife is Middle English for woman. Hence, "midwife" literally means "with woman" and was somebody who accompanied a woman in childbirth.

We have it (not currently in Shetland, but in Moray). Speeds are around 18Mbps, but the cap is 26GB a month, which I use up pretty quickly with iPlayer etc. The dish for in Moray is pretty big and may well be even bigger at 60N, and it won't do the Sky stuff as well (even though it would further down South). The dish may not stand Shetland storms (we lose our broadband during the weedy Moray storms), but you could mount it on a concrete-based pole I guess. Just don't stand in front of it else you'll cook your brain. I'm happy with it, because we're so remote that nothing else reaches us, but it isn't as good as a fast wired line, and there'll be issues with the weather. I use Tooway Direct if you're interested.

Being no longer in Aith, but missing it hugely - is this the resurfacing from the new bit of road to down past the Shipping Office?

You may want to try Aith Garage - they're excellent.

My internet speed is precisely zero. Ever since the storm on Wednesday evening we've had no phone or boradband, and probably won't have any until the end of the week. I've seen the BT engineer furtling about in manholes and coming out of the Bixter exchange looking very harassed, so I'm not complaining. It sounds like there was a lot of damage done.

Power still off here in aith. Phone line dead too.

So all the kids will be shipped to the not-fit-for-purpose AHS? Should we rename Shetland? The Lerwick Islands sounds fitting.

Hi, We're missing our Abyssinian cat. Four years old, chipped, a little neurotic but very friendly. Answers to the name of Peanut, lives down the Vementry Road. If you see him, please send me a pm or give me a call on 810855 Thanks

Saw just the one puffin at Sumburgh yesterday.

I'm amazed that there are problems with Westside GPs. I've found them to be kind, courteous, empathic and accomodating. And also damn good at their jobs. Shetland sometimes doesn't know what side its bread is buttered on.

Chookyargyll and ruidh: Firstly, I'm sorry you get abuse from islanders during the course of your job. You do a difficult enough job as it is and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Secondly, you'll probably have the support of many Islanders. You certainly have mine. Thirdly, disruption to the Island services will be the best way of getting Serco to listen, as disgruntled customers will make them listen far more than disgruntled staff. The whole pensions debacle amounts to nothing more than theft as far as I'm concerned. Fight for what is yours!

By crikey Kavi Ugl, you are a joy vacuum sometimes! I was in Norway the other week. They love the concept of UHA over there and are quite jealous of Shetland for keeping the viking spirit alive whilst having a lot of fun!

What a load of rubbish. Final salary pensions when managed properly do work. The NHS pension is a final salary scheme. Contrary to the lies the government rattles out, the NHS pension costs the tax payer nothing at all, and is actually in a significant surplus to the tune of £2 billion (which goes into the treasury's coffers, by the way). Despite this the gorvernment wants doctors to pay even more into the pot (and this will be a greater percentage than anyone else in the public sector).

Am I right in thinking that Serco are planning to ringfence more of the vehicle capacity on the passenger boats for freight to compensate? If so, great for freight, but rubbish for everyone else.

This has to be the funniest post I have ever seen on Shetlink! Kavi, if it is any consolation, my Norwegian cousin says that the country looked on the Shetland visit by the PM with great affection.

He was brilliant! Loved the raffle and wedding.

You'll be welcome to buy our house in Aith. It'll be worth sausage all once the windmills are up so you'll be able to grab yourself a bargain.

Everyone has an accent, surely?

Shadow flicker is a real objection. The further North you go, the greater footprint shadow flicker has due to the angle of the sun. I reckon we'll get a couple of hours a day for several months of the year straight through our windows. Turbine noise is a real objection (It is the nature of the noise that has the effect. Comparing it with a railway line or a road is like comparing apples and oranges). Devalued house prices is a real objection. And don't pretend that there isn't a risk of this. Why should I end up out of pocket?

I wonder if SSE will invest in a very high capacity cable (1200MW or more) to help link to Iceland in the not too distant future...? (And if the North Europe Supergrid doesn't happen, there'll be lots of opportunities to fill Shetland with windmills....)