‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve got it in for me!’  So said Kenneth Williams in ‘Carry on Up Pompeii.’  The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, could be forgiven for pacing his office floor muttering the same words such are the column inches appearing each day about his NHS reforms.

Anyway, I am looking forward to our own workshop on the Health and Social Care Bill next Tuesday when we will hopefully inch a bit further forward in understanding how things might shape up for research.  The event is one of a number we do during the year to support policy and public affairs officers working for our member charities.  And at a reasonable price, not like the rip-off delegate fees that many lobbying firms seem to want to charge people for quite underwhelming fare!

Next week we will also be publishing the annual expenditure figure for the medical research charity sector for 2010-2011.  We release these about the same time every year and next week’s announcement will also include the results of our latest survey of the impact of the recesssion on our members. 

You know, someone I miss dearly from public life and public broadcasting is John Peel.  His penchant for bringing to the fore bands – whether the truly original, excellent or frequently both – that might never have seen the light of day otherwise means the world of music is poorer since his passing.

So in this vein, I end the week with a report by AMRC member, WellChild, of its WellChild Children’s Nurse Programme.  I know little about nursing research if I am honest but my impression is that it is underfunded and receives less attention than it should.  I do seem to recall UKCRC doing quite an extensive report on the subject but, rather disappointingly, I have not been able to track down any follow-up activity. 

In the meantime some of our members do indeed fund such work and I think this particular example is of the highest quality.  You can find out more about their long-standing nurses programme here and you may also like to note that they have also recently funded a Nursing Research Fellowship in Acute Pain in Children.

It seems only appropriate to finish with another ‘Carry On’ quote for the weekend. 

Sister: It’s Matron’s round.
Percy Hickson: Mine’s a pint!