Hospital Visitors, Tips For Northwick Park Hospital

 

1 Know which department to visit. 

I was sent a letter to go for a blood test at Northwick Park hospital. When I arrived there were separate car parks and entrances miles apart for differnt departments. If I parked in the wrong place, I would have to take a long walk and pay twice  and be late for my appointment. There was no answering service at car park entrances to get advice. I had no idea where to go. I didn't know that the department I needed was haematology. 

I went to see my uncle's body in the morgue in Barnet hospital. No such building. They don't label it as such inhospitals because it unnerves the patients and visitors. Instead it has a mystery name to disguise it such as the trees or the John Smith building. 

Check the drop off points. The A & E may be for ambulances over, no access for cars and taxis. 

2 Take with you food and water and a change of clothing. 

You could be sitting hours waiting for your name to be called.. 

3 Know which name you are registered under. 

You may use your middle name, but be known by your first name to the hospital. If you are waiting to be called as John or Mary when your first name is Ali or Mae you might miss the call.

4 Check all facts on the hospital typework. 

I was listed as having an accident in a bedroom when I fell over an uneven paving stone in the street. It makes a big difference if you are suing somebody. I was able to phone and correct it. The person who answered said they would post the new version to me.

5 Shop around

if you have to wait, such as for medicine to be dispensed, while waiting you can go shopping, and shop around for the cheapest sandwiches or meal deals. At Northwick Park hospital on the fourth floor you find a Costa, a shop selling cards and scarves, gloves and gifts, a bag shop,a Marks & Speners, A Smiths bookshop.

6 In A and E by the check in area are masks, jugs of water, toilets, each with washbasins in the cubicle, a machine selling chocolate bars and snacks and drinks.

Also free newspapers.

Newspapers. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Useful Websites

https://nhsgp-online.uk/area/

https://www.nhs.uk/services/hospital/northwick-park-hospital/R1K01

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Build a Lego Room, Visit Legoland Or Move? Are you thinking of building a propery, taking up citizenship or renting or buying a condo? What apartment and condo really mean

 You could build your dream house from Lego or on a computer, or admire pictures on the internet. I have moved around the world, mostly renting, dreamng of buying and building, visiting friends who have done so and listening to their cautionary tales. 

Let us start with the simplest move, when you go to another country to look around, holiday, take a job overseas, and consider buying or building overseas or back home, using all your ideas. 

American homes are bigger. Huge rooms. Huge houses. Huge bedrooms. Often with a walk in clothes closet.

I always thought a flat was just a dwelling on one level. An apartment was grander, bigger. A condo was a big development, like a village of blocks of large size flats or flats of 2 to 5 bedrooms mixed in each block, with shared facilities. What kind of facilities? Most importantly for me, a swimming pool. For my husband, a gym. Extras are often a shop or two, even a nursery school, a hairdresser, and a meeting room for hire. 

England is too cold most of the year for swimming, although neighbours in London and friends have had pools where I have swum. For us Brits, the dream is a hotel or condo with a landscaped pool, in Florida, or Spain, or Singapore.

In the USA

In the USA we first lived in a shared town house owned by the company where my husband had a new job, transferred from London within the same company. Rooms on each of the three floors were rented out to incoming staff. These were permananent staff, staying for more than a week and up to a year before they found their own place to live. This was great for sharing meals, tips, cars, social life. We moved to live in a conso with a swimming pool.

The estate agents used to send a packet of offers of everything from bedding and curtains to food delivery, to every new guest, renter, or owner. 

Our apartment in Rockville Maryland had a swimming pool open in summer. It was closed in winter and nigh time and surrounded by tennis court style high netting. Two lifeguard seats were there and two of the resident's teenagers were empolyed as life guards. This was to do with local laws and insurance.

Pol fencing. Photo from Med55 in Wikipedia.

Australia has rules about surrounding home swimming pools with fences and lockable gates.

Other American ideas which I liked:

Old People's Home linked To Leisure Centre

The home for the elderly was at the end of a short covered walkway leading to a leisure centre with a library, swimming pool sna djacent cafe. Our neighbours took us there to visti their granny. They spent every Sunday lunch time there. The grandchildren used th pool. The parents read the free newspapers and watched. The granny had company from her family and other residents.

And a pool for exercise. A card room.Lots of visitors and people to see. The visitors were all relatives and were identity checked with membership cards on arrival.

The pool and gym provided exercise. 

Later we moved to Singapore.

I was sent a link in Singapore to a website which might be run by an estate agent or be a scam, so I am reluctant to pass on the link. However, I have observed these points for you to notice:

In Singapore there are three main kinds of property, Housing Development Board (HDB), several levels of estates built at different periods, some only rented but most available to buy. Sometimes in some places you have to be a resident in the property for five years before you can sell.

What to look for:

Status of Buyer

1 Is ownership of an HDB flat open only to Singapore citizens (passport holders) and Permanent Residents (those who won't take up Singapore passports because they are unwilling to give up their other passports, which is a requirment).

2 Is it a subsidized government development and only available to first time buyers who have no property overseas.

3 Is there a requirement that you have lived a certain number of years in the coutnry.

Status Of Buyer or proximity to Schools,/Miltary or Govenment property

4 Is there a restriction on the type of preprty or area where you can buy (due to local restrictions on foreigners or any member of your family having a criminal record, not near a military, base, not near a school, not on ground floor or the lower five floors of a builing (once introduced on foreign ubyers in Sinapore to prevent foreign owned buildings being used to orchestrate riots).. 

At one point you ould not have windows overlooking housing occupied by government ministers, so apartments in one block had narrow high windows on one side of the building and you could not alter the windows).

5 Are the buildings in a condo with high security. in Singapore most condos are gated and vehicles have to say who they are visiting and give their ID. So you cannot drive around a condo just to see the outside, except with an agent who gives his ID to the gatekeeper, and with an appintment to meet the unit owner or collect a key.

6 You can learn a lot from 360 degree views from apartments currently on sales. However, apartments can vary enormously. One looks out on a mountain, another on a car park another on a dustbin area, another on the swimming pool. 

Cashew Heights, condo, Singapore.

A video does not tell you about traffic noise. If the land next door is sold for another development, or knocked down for another, you could have a year of building works noise, dust from the buildings site, water cut off, electricity cut off (deliberately or accidentally), distubance of snakes and wildlife such as monkeys. 

7 Redevelopment could be prevented by neighbours, objections from governemnt, builders going out of business. In Singapore sometimes you are protected by a law preventing building starting unless their are sufficient funds to finish the project. Sometimes in the past the first building in a complex is sold to get a bank loan to start the second building. If there is a recession and the first building does not sell, your deposit on the second buidling would be lost t the defunct company which could not finished the development. 

8 Don't accept verbal assurances. Check a legal document. Check the history of developers. Go to see thier previous developments to see if you like the finish.

9 What to lok for:

Is the parking covered or will you get leaves and bird droppings?

10 is the building on stilts to withstand flood water?

11 Will the building have fire alarms and a lightning conductor?

12 Are you dealing with the owner of the land or apartment. Have you checked their identity and have you met them?

13 Are tenants of your property allowed to have children and pets and to sub-let? Can you veto the tenants?

14 Do you need to let the place to pay off the mortgage? If so, can you have any guarantee the place will be let? Can you reserve one period a year, such as Xmas or Easter for your own family holiday?

15 What is the cost of a porter and mainteance/ Is there a contingency fund to deal with a 20 year old boiler, boiler switches for communal hote water, subsidence and tree roots under the ground floor, leaking through the flat roof (Singapore and UK I have been in buildings which had this) and leaking down the outside walls.

In Singapore A balcony can be turned into a fruit and vine growing area. I have seen vines growing on the balcony of a neighbour in Singapore. They also have allotments. You may need to get on the waiting list early for an allotment.

Angela Lansbury watering plants on a Singapore balcony. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

The tallest plant is a miniature lime tree. The small bitter oranges were used by us to make marmalade. 

Other plants which grow well are aloe vera. The aloe vera plants sporut babies. 

Anther success was  lemon grass, bought for food from the supermarket. One piece cut into four soon grew more.

In Singapore the plan is to tturn flat rooves of housing into gardens for fruit and vegetables. The plan is called 3030, meaning 30 percent of the coutnry's needs will be grown within the country by 2030. 

In Singapore many flats have a mmaid's room and toilet. One family has converted the mai's room area into a kitchen and made the kitchen itno a dining area off the lviing room.

16 Can you buy up an adjacent flat or nearby flat for your parents, children, grandchildren, cusins, future husband or wife, guests, or to let out and easily visit the proeprty even with travel restrictions.

Remember, when it is a bad time to sell it could be a good time to buy. And vice versa. 

What can go wrong? Worst case scenario, the developers disappear,, run over time, use substandard concrete, build onto foundations not strong ennough to support an extra storey, added without planning permission later. Worst case scenario, loss of life of builders or tenants or guests. 

In London I have seen the worst and the best.

Thinking of Grenfell Tower in London, a goverment building, Beiru explosion and firet, the tsunami in Asia, and the Versailles wedding disaster in Israel.)  For every one of these cases you can read comments on what could, or should have been done to prevent thse events, and what is being done now to protect people in future.

Some laws seen to be there just to make life difficult nm and cause paperwork delays. Other laws seem there so the governemtn can collect taxes for inspection and permits, or for intermediaries to collect bribes to speed things up. to look on the bright side, many of the laws are there to protect the builders, the owners, the buyers, the sllers, the inhabitants, and those renting.

The 'Finish'

What can go wrong? In Singapore, we had a batrhoom floor which sloped the wrong way, so the shower water did not run down the drain but collected in the opposite corner, creating mould. I have rented property which had basins cracked by the installers, light fittings broken by tenants.

In the UK, a neighbour's insecure low wooden side gates were opened by burglars. The remedy, required by the insurance company, was to install a metal gate with a high top.

Downstairs bedroom

I met a family who needed a ground floor bedroom for the huband in a wheelchair. they bought a house in a secluded cul de sace. The double garage of the house had been converted by the sellers into a a large ground floor bedroom, with parking for two cars in the open on the forecourt.

More Cupboards

Another person I met had converted open shelving in the kitchen into high cupboards to create extra storage space. 

Space under stairs can be cnverted to a libary, with a desk, clothes closet, shoe cupboard, downstairs toilet. 

Space under stairs can store boks or horizontal wines.

The attic can be made into storage, a guest bedroom, or a bedroom and bathroom, or an art room with a skylight for the painter, or writer and illustrator.

A conservatory can be a playrom or an artist's room or for watching bird and animal life.

Too Many Roms?

In London the UK I met a widow who had her old-fashioned house knocked down and built herself a double size basement flat, plus three floors of two flats above to provide income. She went to visit the developers' other proerties he had built to see if the finish was god enough.

UK Lego Room

Another young London couple converted one bedrom into a children's play room. Every birthday and Christmas they asked every family member of guest for Lego. By the time the children reached the age of five, they had an entire room filled with Lego. They had more Lego than their local toy shop.No problem keepign children busy and ut f your way, or off the computer. Easy to entertian visitng children and guests. 

What can you build? Everything from buildings to rockets.

USA Scene

Lego. Houston.USA
NASA's image of the day.

UK Lego Scene

Trafalgar Square, London, England, built in Lego, shown at Legoland,  which you can visit in Windsor, England.

Useful websites

https://www.legoland.co.uk/

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/singapore/safety-and-security

About the Author

Angela Lansbury and her family have lived in the UK, USA, Spain and Singapore.

Insurance, property, car, rental agreement, and other items to list when travelling overseas

Problem
Whether travelling overseas for work or pleasure, for a one month trek,or indefinitely, you need to allow a day or two to photocopy or duplicate onto a second computer or backup device all your insurances and paperwork. For example:

Supposing you are leaving the USA to work or study in the UK and have a flat in New York and a home you rent out in Florida.

You need a record of your insurance for both properties to hand so you can renew. The terms are different for occupied and empty properties.

The same applies to your travel insurance (unless it is organized by HR of the company you work for). If your insurance is organized by your company, it might not cover a skiing holiday, and will almost certainly not cover you for any country where the government says Americans should not travel, even if you are prepared to take the risk.

On the other hand, let's suppose you are travelling from the UK to the USA as we did. We extended out stay overseas and had problems with the house being empty in the UK (because tenants moved out early and we came back late.) The house was not covered whilst empty.

We could have got around this by having a neighbour or relative with a key doing what the insurance company wanted, not having a house which appeared empty. They could have been collecting the milk, mowing the lawn or paying the gardener to do so, cleaning the windows or paying the window cleaner to do so.

Family should have been just popping in every day or two, with lights on switches to go on and off, making the odd cup of tea, without actually living their full time, just going in and out regularly. 

You might prefer house sitters, if your family are too young or old to be relied upon, or the neighbours are unable or unwilling to help, because they are in wheelchairs, bed-ridden, walking with sticks and can't manage your home entrance staircase, or themselves overseas on holiday, or are developing dementia.

AA
If you hire or buy a car, or co-drive, you will want to have a breakdown service. The AA automobile association will already by familiar to those who have lived in the USA and heard of the AAA, American AA. (The AA also turned up in Singapore.)

Two other services in the UK include the RAC.

But what if you are not driving?

UK Road Tax
In the UK if you leave a car off road on a driveway or in a garage, or are away, you can save on road tax if you declare your car off road. You must do this in advance, not in arrears.

If you are sure you won't go back home, it  can be worthwhile. However, we eventually decided this wasn't not a good idea.

Family Using Your Car
Our son and father in law were using our car if theirs was off road or in the garage or somebody was nearby.

We suspected the gardener or neighbour was using the car when we found the petrol had run low. If you have relatives at home or nearby using the house, even if they have their own cars, if you take yours off the road, or insured let it go uninsured, you need to warn them that they must be sure to get  it insured for them to drive. They might also get a parking ticket.

You might ignore that, thinking it is nonsense. Of course I was not in Edinburgh. I had just flown to Thailand. Then you get fined.

"Son, this is absurd. I've been sent a parking ticket saying the car was in Edinburgh."

"Er, Mum, actually we went to Edinburgh for New Year's Eve. My car had had an accident and was off road - I didn't want to worry you. So I used yours."

So make sure the family and friends, house-sitters and others tell you when they are using your car.  And fill it up with petrol (in the USA you  would say gas). No use flying home, expecting to take a long business trip to another city, and finding the kids have emptied the tank on their jaunts assuming you would fill it up, using your time and money.

Protecting Your Car
If you have a valuable car and are leaving the house empty, which may be obvious to the postman, or  others, you might wish to move it elsewhere. One system is to pay a local garage owner to leave an employees old car on your driveway or in your garage. Your more valuable car is moved into their house or garage where it is supervised 24 hours. (You may or may not need to change your insurance if this is long-term.)

Goodbyes
Don't stand on the doorstep saying goodbye, allowing workers up and down the street, or walking past, to hear that you are leaving the house.

It is easy for thoughtless neighbours to walk up the drive shouting, "When are you leaving?" or, "Have a safe trip!" alerting the assorted workers on the property opposite to watch you loading your suitcases in the car.

On one trip, we would come back on a flight and want to use the car to pop out to the supermarket for groceries before we recovered from jetlag and had time to sit down and record that the car was back on the road.

Of course, we could have done the paperwork from overseas the week in advance before returning. But if you can only do so for blocks of one month, the dates may not suit you. If you are yo-yoing unpredictably back and forth, it may be simpler to not declare the car off the road, and forego the financial saving, rather than have the hassle of the changing and the risk of missing out a day and being fined.

Keeping Records
So you need to have all the numbers to hand. For an organized person, this is all obvious and simple. If you are going abroad for the first time, or are a creative time or hate paperwork, this can be a nightmare. The simple solutions include:

You might choose to keep all vital information in one box file or book which travels with you. Keep it on your laptop and print off a copy on your pinboard. Check the last week of the month for all bills regarding back home.

Vital records can be kept in a marked place on a shelf or left on the fridge door or pinboard or miniature whiteboard.

That way you can phone home and ask somebody to check the fridge door and send you a photo.

What if the only creatures left in your property are not pets but ...

Insects and Animals

Foxes run around the suburban roads and gardens of London, especially at night. This little fella with a couple of family members was in a garden in London.

I found a family member was afraid of spiders and would not go into the house alone on seeing a spiders web. After that I left a spider spray just inside the front door.

If you are renting out your property, you might want to mention pets, no pets, and wildlife. If

Pets
Make provision for pets. I think even hibernating pets should be moved to another place where they are supervised. My friends' house burned down, they claimed and apparently believed, when the weather changed and the hibernating pets woke up unexpectedly early, felt hungry, chewed the electrics and started a fire!

You can also have house-sitters and dog-sitters and dog-walkers. You need to research catteries and dog holiday places if you are planning to leave pets at home, in case your relatives or neighbours fall ill or are away on business travel or their own holiday. Check your pet insurance and leave details of the preferred vet and keep these details with you in case you get a call saying your pet is sick and what should you do.

Now, what about your own health.

Doctors and Dentists
If you have follow-up hospital appointments or dental checks, also time the home visits. An alternative is to have trusted doctors and hospitals in both countries. You may need to take copies of your latest medical checks, even x-rays, with you from one country to the next.

I had an accident overseas and the hospital in one country wanted to give me jabs, tetanus, but I could not say when was the last time I had them.Without I risked an infection. I could not have a jab before  the date the old one expired. First it was a waste of money. Second, I hate jabs. Third, because the double dose would have overloaded my system.

If you are on a doctor's register in the UK, you can book an appointment from the UK. Unfortunately for confidentiality reasons and security, they might block calls from overseas numbers which are not registered, or only allow one number.

Now, let's think about property, again.

Rented property
If you are renting out your home or another property, you should have to hand, the name of the people renting, their phone numbers, the contract so it can be renewed and updated, the amount of the deposit, which might not have increased despite a rental increase, any insurance of the property, or the insurance of their deposit.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.