Colin Dunkley
@drcolindunkley.bsky.social
490 followers 270 following 160 posts
#apaediatriclife reflections! | Children seen & heard...better outcomes | More baking | Consultant Paediatrician Sherwood Forest | Epilepsy12 Lead | BPNA course content Mx | Views own
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drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Hi Bluesky…

UK Paediatrician tiptoeing into new spaces…

Here for…
#medsky
#epilepsy
#QI

…Looking and Leaping?!!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Agreeing clear actions from a meeting is often vital!
2. I often use a Post-it to scribble my actions in the moment?!
3. This action from a governance meeting, relating apparently to ‘KPop Demon Hunters’, is a bit curve ball!!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. It is quite easy to be going in the wrong direction?
2. You reimagine the cues around you & sort of believe you’re right
3. Weirdly for me the easiest way to be wrong is completely 180 degrees wrong, rather than slightly wrong!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Such a great team updating together our British Paediatric Neurology Association ACT course this last week in Birmingham. Co-created with parents and professionals! Is on track for 2026!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. I still get imposter syndrome, partic in round table type collaborative activities!
2. This week I helped facilitate an Assessing Children’s Tone course!
3. This table ‘clapperboard’ was very helpful!!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Sometimes you need to take the long view!
2. The ups and downs catch your eye but hide a real story, some things require patience and trust?!
3. Anyway time to “soak that fruit”!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Very proud of this step change, driven by our @rcpch.bsky.social youth advocates….

@emma-sparrow.bsky.social
hqip.bsky.social
1/3 NEW HQIP Article:
The proportion of children and young people with epilepsy who have a school Individual Healthcare Plan (IHCP) within the first year of care has jumped 72.8%, from 38.9% (2024 annual report) to 67.2% in the latest HQIP-commissioned #Epilepsy12 audit 2025 report.
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
A bit windy but now heading Bournemouth way for @ilae-epilepsy.bsky.social UK #ILAEUK2025. Trying to cram 15 years & ~14,000 children’s worth of @rcpch.bsky.social #Epilepsy12 improvements into my poster tube!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Clinic chat this week about being woken up by cockerels & setting phone alarms as medication reminders!
2. Is the 1st time ‘cockadoodledoo’ appeared in a work conversation!
3. I suspect what’s effective as an alarm is highly individual!?

#apaediatriclife
Houdini the Cockerel!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Glimpsed the Regatta Flag La Concha on rail trip home from Lisbon. Cheered on teams of 12 rowing in sync to & from a raw Atlantic!
2. Presented ups & downs of 15y co-creating QI in epilepsies!
3. It’s sure easier when the surf is with you!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
😆…Not for you and your bedroom!!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Why do we keep using the term “bench to bedside”!? Surely health research can do better than reaching the hospital bed?

Bench to…

bedroom
bathroom
birthday party
beach
boardroom
bus stop
ballroom
basketball
ballet
biology lesson
behind the bike shed

Any more?
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Great to seee @bpna.bsky.social PET with ETAM in so many presentations and conversations over the last 4 days in @ilae-epilepsy.bsky.social Lisbon #IEC2025.

Liking the cascade! Loving the impact!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. I like to think I’m rational and evidence-based
2. I avoid flying as much as possible!
3. En route to Lisbon via Gare Montparnasse, this is my type of daring!!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Off to @ilae-epilepsy.bsky.social #IEC2025 Lisbon to showcase 15 years of @rcpch.bsky.social #Epilepsy12 showing reducing gaps in England/Wales epilepsy care!

….I’ll go by train I faintly remember saying!!!!

👋 to anyone else heading that way!!!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Bank holidays always bring out a range of panics!
2. On call cover, getting admin done, avoiding traffic, ending up in that traffic anyway, believing all shops will be closed!
3. We got a little more milk than we were expecting!!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. My mum’s not that well at the moment and is unhappy in hospital
2. It’s quite hard to be both a son & doctor?!
3. The nurse gave both of us ‘a cooler’ this week! Everything’s better after a rocket lolly!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Sometimes you have to make the most of opportunities?
2. I love blackberries!
3. I picked these on the way home from the staff car park!

#apaediatriclife
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. It is (far too widely) known within my team that I have an aversion to unicorns!
2. While covering for strikes I was ‘kindly’ made a coffee!
3. This has to be the worst drawing of a unicorn ever?! (I had to work hard to let it trigger me!)

#apaediatriclife
Unicorn mug
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. Life journeys take you in all sorts of directions, some on your own, some with others!
2. Celebrated a 32 years anniversary this week!
3. We caught a community bus together!

#apaediatriclife
Tickets
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. It’s good to pause, think and take a helicopter view!
2. Sometimes I sit for a moment on top of the stairs!
3. On this occasion the cat joined me and disarmingly my youngest caught us!

#apaediatriclife
Me and cat on stairs!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. I love a good cookie!
2. In my worlds, food & medicine are separate entities…These are wrong for all sorts of reasons?!
3. Anyways… my youngest bought them (against dad/medical advice)

…and I only had a small bite!!

#apaediatriclife
Cookies
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
My reflections…

1. The dialogue around transcriptions is really important!
2. It’s been roasting hot this week!
3. This typist correctly diagnosed a certain cyclical disruption!!!

#apaediatriclife
Apology re fan noise!
drcolindunkley.bsky.social
Reading 10-year health plan. A stack chiming with epilepsies ambition. Prevention, digital wearables & self-management, genetics, equity, close to home, children, long-term conditions, PROM/PREMs, AI 4 admin burden, SPR!!

…already paddling this way…lots to do!

🛶 🛶 🛶