Spring day in Glasgow - Saturday 30th March 2019

It was damp underfoot when I checked out of Malmaison after a very comfortable 5 day stay. Checked out the map and decided to use the subway to visit a few sights. By the time I'd walked past the Rangers Football Club to find the "House for an Art Lover"", the sun was out shining on all the flowers in the Walled Garden. The house designed by William MacIntosh and his wife Margaret McDonald in 1903 for a competition was built 90 years later by an enthusiast. I loved the light-filled oval and music rooms and deep wood panelling of the dining room. It was all set up for a wedding this afternoon.

In the garden were various sculptures too. Alaok just hung around outside whilst I looked through. Marvellous and well worth the visit.

Next stop was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and museum. It was filled with people of all ages and I arrived in time for the organ recital. What an amazing mix of interactive and traditional exhibits. They even had 12 Leonardo Da Vinci drawings. I couldn't stop taking photos as I found new "favorites". I'll share a few.

Alaok found a few friends to hang out with. He was a bit scared of Dippy the Dinosaur, but Joshua thought the picture I sent him was "fantastic"!

My knee was a bit sore, but I traipsed on to the Hunterian Gallery as it was highly recommended. Perhaps I was too tired to appreciate it.

Eventually, I returned to collect my luggage and move to my new accommodation. It's a great apartment with a little kitchen so I don't have to eat out all the time. It's right in the centre of the city. It was a relief to ice my knee and put my feet up. We move to daylight savings and wake up to Mother's Day in Scotland tomorrow. I'll head off to a tour of the highlands.

IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety - Glasgow

This week has been full of stimulating speakers and rich opportunities to network with some of the 3400 delegates from 74 countries at the IHI forum. With one more day to go, I feel it has raced by.

Yesterday was an experence day where I went to visit the Clyde Gateway project. This is a collaborative project between health and social services in the east end of Glasgow. It's an ambitious project recognising that health and wellness is related to where we live and work. Various examples of engagement and integration of services were given and we walked around a park created on land that had become a toxic dump from discarded industry. The Commonwealth games village has been converted to a combination of social rental and affordable housing for locals.

We have managed to link up with other Aussies over here too and supported them with their posters today.

I almost forgot one of the highlights of the day when they opened the morning with a perfomance by a rock band in kilts!

Evenings have been fun too. Tuesday night we found a fascinating scottish pub for a drink. Last night we ate at Two Fat Ladies. Tonight was an evening exploring the Glasgow Science centre - the only place where you'll find a Bristol stool chart on the toilet door!!

Edinburgh sights then off to Glasgow - Monday 25th March

Got up and packed early then headed out to find breakfast and explore the city. Once again, glorious spring sunshine bathed me - even if it was only 6 degrees. I enjoyed just wandering the cobblestoned streets and marvelling at the history of the city. Visited The Edinburgh museum and loved the story of Greyfriars Bobby, the dog that turned up at the pub every day at 1pm and guarded the grave of his master 14 years after he died.

Next stop was the Scottish Parliament house which is very new. They sit Tuesday to Thursday so we were allowed into the debating chamber and around the public areas. I did like the gallery with sentences in ceramic about Scottish women.

Next it was finally time to see Edinburgh castle up close. It dominates the city as it sits on Castle Hill. It had me trying to recall all my history lessons from high school. It really was fascinating and beautiful, but I was all "castled out" after a couple of hours.

Aloak tried to keep me interested. He played on a canon, tried to scale back up the hill and even asked where the whisky shots were! He's a rascal!

Finally, I made it to Glasgow and settled in to the hotel. Tomorrow the work begins with meetings at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Looking forward to meeting some of the lead players in Quality Improvement initiatives.

Changing timezones and exploring new territory - March 23-25 (I think!) 2019

Travelling "Princess class" always makes the journey easier, but it still takes a long, long time! Departed home 9am then flew Melb-Singapore for a 7 hour layover. Departed an hour late, but made it up to arrive in London Sunday morning 6.30am.

Within an hour, I was through customs and onto the Underground. An hour to Kings Cross station to get a train to Edinburgh. Gorgeous countryside on the 4.5 hour trip then found my way to the Scotsman hotel by 3pm Sunday afternoon. Decided to keep myself awake by travelling around the sights on the HOHO(Hop on Hop off) bus then grabbed a bite to eat.

Bed by 7.30pm but awake from 4am! Hope that all the walking and sight-seeing today will have me sleeping soundly tonight.

Sabbatical Leave begins

I walked out of Monash Children's yesterday having handed over the reigns to my colleagues to watch over my projects until I return from sabbatical. I'm excited and grateful to have this opportunity to explore new ideas and create new contacts in the 3 main areas of my sabbatical.

They are:

1. Quality and Safety in Healthcare - planning to attend IHI Congress in Glasgow and do one of their immersive courses in USA later this year. Also hope to visit Cincinatti Children's and various other children's hospitals throughout Australia and NZ to see how they are tackling some of our challenges.

2. Health and Education - This has become a big area of interest for me in the last few years; spurred on by my role in developing the Monash Children's Hospital School. I hope to visit the children's hospitals with schools around Aust and NZ and compare services, as well as repeat a study we did at Monash few years ago looking at how much school kids with medical issues miss.

3. Social Determinants of Health is an enormous area. Looking at some of the ideas I had during the WCLP program, I hope to see how Glasgow has addressed some of the issues in disadavtaged communities to improve the health and life trajectory of young people and families.

So, I'm out at the airport, ready to commence a long journey to Scotland, but an even bigger one in my mind over the next 6-8 months. I'll try to update the blog from time to time with travel pics and reflections along the way.