This winter, the reason the NHS is struggling so much is not helpless patients or lazy doctors or rubbish managers or uncaring nurses or disorganised therapists or nasty commissioners. It is government underfunding.
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And it’s not just underfunding of the NHS itself. It’s underfunding of social care, an increase in child poverty, a failure of social housing, an increase in cost of living - all these things mean that the NHS becomes the backstop for massive societal issues.
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Except when you have dozens of patients and ambulance crews in the corridors of your hospital you can’t say ‘ooo but what about psychosocial determinants of health?’ - you just have to deal and hope no-one dies.
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And if you are a good and compassionate person, which most people are, this standard delivery of substandard care is upsetting and stressful, and pushes staff to leave, which makes things worse.
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And if you try and protect yourself from this stress, ‘it’s just a job’, you risk becoming detached and can lose the meaning of why you wanted to do the job in the first place.
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So I try to see the good at work, as much as possible, to treasure my time off work and guard it forcefully, and to try not to be angry with the system. But it’s hard.
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And to all my precious NHS colleagues this winter I say - nil carborundum. Do your best. Remember who you’re doing it for. Try not to feel angry or guilty. And REALLY REALLY enjoy your holidays and days off. You’ve earned them.
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(Sorry - that wasn’t meant to be a thread. But some things are important)
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That was great! Don't apologise. Such candour brings the subject into sharp focus, makes it real. Tends to show one's true colours too and yours look good on you!
Thank you Elin...
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