Came for the grains and seeds

After yesterday's visits for a Greenfinch pair it was great to see a pair of Chaffinch coming to feed on the seeds and grains on the deck below the bird table. Most of the chaffinches I have seen have been on the ground. I don't know if they are preferentially ground feeders, but while this bright male and the accompanying female were on the deck, a female greenfinch was up on the bird table, scattering what it didn't want over the edges.

I was slightly late for another unexpected 0800 meeting, as I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to find the assessment form for the new admission overnight. One consequence of the lockdown, and me working from home and not involved in the direct assessments of the patients, is that I attend a lot more meetings; by Zoom. Some of these are due to being the DAMHS, while others are a carry over from when I was Medical Director (I have yet to be replaced, more than a year after I left that role).

The early meeting this morning was about starting the next stage of a quality improvement project on the prescribing of antipsychotic medication. Made excellent progress despite the effects of being in Lockdown.

After 15 cases the day before, yesterday saw just 14 new cases. All directly linked to known cases/clusters. Despite the increasing number of nay-sayers, this is evidence that the Government strategy is working. We may not achieve absolute zero, but minimising the numbers is going to mean the possibility of return to a more normal life style for most people.

At a large metro-wide Zoom meeting this afternoon, the Director of Nursing at another of the three DHBs (and one whom I respect, especially for her drive to help produce a plan for a (then) future pandemic which formed the basis for NZ's successful strategy) raised the high level of distress in the community.

I argued strongly that the DHB services are in danger of being overwhelmed by serious mental illness being exacerbated by the current situation, and we should not pathologise distress due to a seriously abnormal situation. I was very pleased that overall the meeting agreed that what is need is a community response, which in my view largely means people caring for people which was informally the situation 18 months ago, and is not so strong this time around.

After all my meetings were done I had a walk around Highfield, and on the way back spotted the kereru which posed for today's extra.