My new home! One month in and so much healthier.
— Henry Tapper (@henrytapper.bsky.social) December 16, 2024 at 7:47 AM
Thankyou for reading this. This is my first public blog since November 14th. On Friday 14th November I was knocked off a Santander bike and suffered broken bones, a beat up brain and an inability to explain myself. These impacts have reduced over the past month but I am far from 100%. Were I an athlete , I would be considered several months from being fit!
But I’d like to thank the NHS for putting in help that has made me capable of saying Thankyou to them and to my family and friends for getting me back on my feet, albeit widely.
Although 63, I consider myself many years from stopping my job of making it easier for many to retire with confidence. In my room , one person is 32 and the other is 85. My nurses are mainly email , mostly originating from Caribbean, African and Indian backgrounds. Kings College Hospital brings us together.
It is delightful to think about later life in this environment. It is also good to share what the state and the NHS will deliver to help staff and patients to reduce the need to deliver results from work. Some , like the gentleman next door to me , is getting his maximum, others are already looking at dependence on the state for the rest of their lifetime, including the 32 year old who is on the other side.
The prospect of their financial products are secondary to their immediate prospects in terms of healthcare. While I read the statements from the Chancellor and Pension Minister about how Britain will finance the future, the staff of the hospital want to know they have the certainty to carry on working without worry.
I am able to encourage us all that whether working or not, we have a state that will fund our later lives and give us the opportunity to do more than the basis- voluntarily. It is encouraging to talk with people from Ghanaians, Nigerians, Jamaicans as well as Indians and Pakistanis and from other countries. They know their country of origination and consider now part of British health and wealth style.
I feel proud to have helped pay or King Edwards College Hospital, which I have benefited from. I am sure that there are other such institutions but I don’t have such experience. The experience I have as I walk down the corridors is one of smiles , hugs and reminders to be properly dressed.
I am beginning to have questions about retirement from fellow patients and from staff and I’m happy to explain how things work, the things we can do for ourselves and the things that Government is looking to do, to lessen people’s financial weakness in later life. I am thinking of these things at a very granular rate.
So thank you for reading to the end of this piece. I am getting myself back into thinking and am grateful to the FT, the Times and other papers but I have to say that I have learned much more from those who have supported from me and look forward to sharing my findings in the months to come.