Sounds a bit fishy to me...........


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Europe » Sweden » Västra Götaland County » Gothenburg
October 1st 2015
Published: October 1st 2015
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We had a busy day ahead and had planned to met Robin at a different location on the other side of the City, he had drawn a basic map for me so the pressure was on to navigate the group to our rendezvous point - even I was surprised how easy we found it but I am still troubled by the direction of traffic and keep looking the UK way first thinking the coast is clear just as a tram speeds passed over the other shoulder or the ringing of a bell on a bike has my scrambling for safety.

This morning we met with Robert Sinclair, Senior Medical Advisor for Vastra Gotaland to discuss Healthcare in the area. I asked Robin if Robert was English as its the most English sounding name on the programme and stands out but he wasn't sure. We quickly established Robert is Swedish but with Scottish ancestry hence the name.

He was certainly an interesting gentleman and gave us a brief history of his career which as a qualified Doctor he has spend time working in intensive care that he found very rewarding but as the years progressed he decided a move to the strategic side was more beneficial to his work/life balance.

Robert provided us with the full impact of healthcare from an International level all the way to local municipality level with an enthusiasm that helped us appreciate the subject area - the refugee situation was discussed and an interesting international fact that currently the German population have an average of 1.32 children which means eventually there will be a decrease in the population a reason why they are willing to accept a very high number of refugees to help shape their population for years to come.

Sweden are regarded as having a good provision of healthcare but as with any country have areas they can improve on, but they are looking at advances and are pioneering some techniques that could radically change not just their health service but worldwide - we were provided with further information to bring home with us.

We only had a limited amount of time before our next meeting but Robin recommended we visit Feskekorke, the fish church, which I had heard about prior to our trip and was literally just round the corner from us - only myself and Danielle accompanied Robin as the rest of the group aren't fans of seafood. Great suggestion by Robin and as a fish lover I could have said a prayer of thanks as the place was amazing full of every type of fish you can imagine, I grabbed a prawn and crabmeat salad and we sat on the canal side to enjoy our lunch - superb and possible the best bait (had to get one in) I have had yet.

Our afternoon session was back in the Norra Hamngatan building which is quickly becoming a second home for us, the first meeting was with Maria Talja and Jan Terneby both Human Rights Officers for the region. They work with the Human Rights Committee in a similar way our Equalities Team support the Council ensuring equality within the workforce for the region and the issues and problems they face to eliminate discrimination. The group could relate to the information provided by Maria and Jan but maybe on a smaller scale and it seems some of the larger more multi cultural cities in the UK would mirror their work.

Between meetings we finally had the chance to meet with Irma Ganibegovic, Robin's line manager who has been heavily involved in the arrangements for our trip. Irma had been in Brussels for a few days and was pleased to hear we had settled and are enjoying the programme - we are with her on Monday to find out more info on her role.

We then spend time with Hanna Katarina Nyroos discussing Vastra Gotalands support to social entrepreneurs and social economy projects, Hanna explained how almost 50% of the region have some sort of membership to an association e.g. a local football group or community group and they can help these associations providing a small contribution to any events they would like to organise to encourage social integration and inclusion. Hanna also provided info on how they support unemployed back into business with an initial financial contribution once a business plan has been submitted and a contract is agreed enabling the funds to be released.

Alex was certainly engaged for this being based with Business Durham and provided Hanna info on the FBM scheme we operate that definitely impressed - they do not offer anything like this and Hanna is keen to find out more around this which Alex is going to send to her, its great when we can share ideas and strengthen international partnerships.

We had a lot of information to digest today but the group were attentive throughout and I am sure have increased their knowledge on a whole variety of things - I know I have.

The rest of the group are now off go karting which I declined as I am an old man and my back doesn't need much encouragement to flair up - lets hope the European Health Insurance Cards we all obtained before our trip aren't needed.


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