I've just discovered a new phrase that the police use - 'TACAU', which means 'Treat All Calls As Urgent'. It's used to 'flag' an address so that if there is a 999 call from it they run there as quickly as possible.

In this instance it was because a young man decided to beat his mother-in-law over the head with a broom before threatening to kill other members of the household.

Everyone was rightly concerned that he might return to the house to make good on his threats, which is why the policeman in attendance flagged the address.

The mother-in-law had such a swollen cheek her face was twice the normal size.

Back when I was an A&E nurse I would have put her somewhere quiet so that she could try and relax, especially because she couldn't speak English and her relatives were still at the house dealing with the police.
Unfortunately the nurse in charge was a little less sympathetic and put her out into the waiting room. So I ended up leaving her looking upset and confused, surrounded by people she couldn't understand. While it might have been the 'clinically correct' thing to do, I wouldn't have thought it was the right thing to do...

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In totally unconnected news, there seems to be an awful lot of people frequenting the local mosques today - something to do with a demonstration in Forest Gate perhaps?


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Sent from a mobile phone, probably from the cab of an ambulance.
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I am currently feeling like death warmed up - and it's all my own fault.

Here is the thing... I've just finished a week off work. Convinced I would be coming back to a series of nightshifts, I spent the last few days off gradually retuning my bodyclock to 'night'.

Then I looked at my duty rota, and found out that I'm actually working 12 hour dayshifts.

Because of this almighty bugger-up, by the end of my shift I'll have had one hours sleep in twenty-eight hours.

Today's work will be brought to the people of Newham by the power of Red Bull.

Still - hopefully it'll be a peaceful day....