It’s Salt Awareness Week this week. I put toooooooo much salt in and on my food. My blood pressure is borderline high (that’s my job I reckon). But blood pressure is a silent killer – and so I am off to my local hospital, The Whittington, to visit the cardiac department. They say about two thirds of us walk around not knowing that we have high blood pressure – and the ward I am visiting, the Montuschi ward, is where we will end up if we continue to take no notice of health warnings we are told.

The Whittington has kindly arranged for me to meet the whole team taking care of patients who suffer from heart failure, attack or other heart issues. Introducing me to everyone was Dr David Patterson, who is the consultant cardiologist. I met the Head of Catering, Cecil Douglas, who has virtually banished salt from hospital food – or at least got the daily intake for patients below the 6gm max figure. He has a job and a half: to get ill people to eat something and yet give them good nutritious food that won’t cause more health problems. And yes – there are a small number of remarks about blandness, but a hospital must be an example and they give you some education in nutrition whilst you are there. The problems really are when you go home and just cook with and/or and add salt for the rest of your life.

I learned something today in particular – that the Afro-Caribbean population is even more vulnerable to these diseases and that pickles and piccalilli carries huge doses of salt.

I also met one of my constituents who happened to be there and after talking to him what concerned me is that there is seemingly no real support package for when he returns home. He is elderly with a serious heart condition – can barely move his hands through arthritis – so how is he going to cook for himself, let alone worry about things like salt content?

Anyway – a very big congratulation to the Whittington with their Charter Mark for their cardiology department’s high levels of patient care and service provision. Very impressive!

Then I meet with David Sloman, the hospital’s Chief Executive, for my two monthly ‘chat’. I have been concerned over the Government’s outrageous cash grab in terms of top-slicing from budgets of health trusts etc – thus punishing those who have maintained their budgets properly. The promise is that after three years this ‘loan’ will be returned. Pigs might fly! But I have also been worried about the Government’s aversion to District General Hospitals – which the Whittington is. Of course we must provide the very best specialist hospitals giving the best care in the world for diseases – but that is not the staple diet of need. What the Government ignores is the fact that people want their services locally – including a general hospital that can deliver the medical treatments near their homes.

Straight onto surgery at Jacksons Lane – except I get a call from Ed (my head of office) to say that having arrived at Jacksons Lane they have discovered it is closed because of building works – and no one has told us. But quick thinking Ed gets Highgate Library to let me do surgery there. Thank you Highgate Library!

Quarterly meeting with David Sloman, Chief Executive at the Whittington Hospital. Overall the Whittington has managed to balance its budget. Phew! But what awaits the good guys is a demand from the Government that they make ‘savings’ next year. David explains to me that there will be a capital investment (or at least that is the plan) – so that we will get it back another way. We have a discussion about the way health (and everything else) is being regionalised – and I talk about the need for nurses to be able to be caring as well as clinically excellent. So often they are rushed off their feet and so can’t give that extra personal care and attention. I remain convinced that the caring part of nursing is a keep part of medically effective treatment overall.

In the evening I get to go to 350 years of Jewish History. This is Mr Speaker’s reception for unsung heroes of the Jewish community and I go to have a drink etc. If Mr Speaker invites you – you go! In fact, I went last Monday to what I thought was this event. As I arrived, I shook hands with Mr Speaker – and in the reception line next to him was a Catholic priest. Which did strike me as odd – but… Then as I moved into the room, there were not very many people and there was a very quiet atmosphere. Jews gathered together are not normally quiet – I know ‘cos of family bashes. So I went back to Mr Speaker and asked him. And I had actually arrived at a celebration for the Apostles of the Sea! Mr Speaker kindly invited me to stay – but I said I would come back to the one he had actually invited me to the next week.

This time – the Chief Rabbi was there – and it wasn’t quiet! I met a little clutch of women from the Jewish Women’s League, a woman from Hornsey & Wood Green, the wife of the Chair of the Board of Jewish Deputies and a wonderful woman who sent people to far off places to do voluntary work. It is funny really. The Jewish population have managed to stay as a pretty firm culture and race – and assimilate at the same time. However, one woman told me that there is quite a lot of trouble and snobbishness about which type of synagogue or congregation that you belong too. There is no culture or race, I guess, who don’t have status levels. Great fun!

Surgery at Wood Green library – from which I exit in order to run to the Civic Centre where the Public Inquiry on the Hornsey concrete factory plan is being held to make my statement. I do my best to make the Inspector understand that he should uphold the decision of Haringey Council to refuse the scheme. Fingers crossed. I rush back to my surgery and continue to try and help everyone who comes to me. Surgery is pretty draining. So much desperation, need and unhappiness. One man sobbed today.

I then go to meet the Learn Direct team and HALS – so that I can know more about what is available to skill people up so that they can engage better in work or whatever. Very impressed with the whole team. Clearly Learn Direct is helping raise education and skills for those people who, for whatever reason, missed out on some of their education.

And then last port of call of the day is a visit to meet the Chief Executive of the Whittington Hospital. Ostensibly it is a meeting so that we can meet. But I suspect from the conversation that he had been surprised by the coverage of particular complaints with regard to care that elderly people received when they were at the Whittington. I had written to the Secretary for Health describing the cases as a way of suggesting to the Minister that there needs to be some attention paid to whether these are infrequent occurrences or whether there is nationally any need to review training etc.

I found the Chief Exec extremely easy to get on with and look forward to working closely on health and public health issues. From what we discussed, the Whittington is actually doing pretty well. Forgetting the stars (not my favourite system) they are hitting their targets, they were not one of the hospitals on the recent expose of dirty hospitals and it looks like they will have a balanced budget this year. But even more importantly, I felt that Mr Sloman really cared about delivering good services at the hospital. And in the end – that is what counts the most. It is always down to people and leadership. We agree to meet quarterly to keep updated on all the key issues and hope to be able to attend the opening of the new building in the spring.