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• Tales from the Flackley Ash residential... Well, the twenty-four hour residential course at Flackley Ash hotel in Peasmarsh, near Rye was a great success. It turned out to be an excellent opportunity for registrars from Canterbury and Thanet to get to know each other after the arrival of so many new faces on the GPVTS. We pitched up at the hotel around 4pm on the Tuesday afternoon, and after a swift coffee got down to some group work to introduce everyone. We were struck by how cosmopolitan the group was, and it soon emerged that there were many hidden talents amongst us all. Sufficed to say you don't want to get on the wrong side of Patrick after he's had a few! Later that evening we sat down to an excellent dinner with plenty of wine (all provided courtesy of the VTS budget) and a jolly good time was had by all. One or two quite heated debates arose about the future of the NHS, but nothing that couldn't be sorted out with a bucket of cold water. After dinner we retired for coffee, then a few more drinks before bed. The next morning, after a good breakfast we got down to some more serious work with a session on palliative care. This involved some role playing exercises on the subject of breaking bad news and talking to dying patients. Later we were given a talk by two of the nurses from the Pilgrim's Palliative Advisory Team. After lunch we moved on to Personal Development Plans, and managed a walk through the strikingly beautiful countryside while talking about things we ought to learn more about in the coming months. Finally, it was time to leave at about 5pm on Wednesday. This was an excellent course, and I can recommend it to everyone when it is repeated next year! Posted Wednesday, May 21, 2003 by Dan