At this time of year my thoughts turn to those people
who are working over the holidays. This is because my daughter in law will be
working as a doctor in A & E today, not a day that she was looking forward
to for obvious reasons. Also over the last year I have a lot of personal
experience of our National Health Service, I also hear anecdotes from the
inside from my daughter in law, son, and daughter. With all of that input I
think that I have learnt some lessons, which are surprising, and instructive.
During the days that we were with my mother earlier
in the year in Conquest Hospital in Hastings there were some fantastic acts of
personal kindness shown to us by the staff. Firstly a doctor who had admitted
my mum, a week later on a Friday dropped by to a completely different ward to
see how we were all doing. Now this doctor did not have to do this, indeed she
had been working long shifts, but in what was a difficult time it was a ray of
sunshine and comfort. Secondly a nurse took me to one side and gave me a
parking pass. She had noticed the time we had spent at the hospital, again a
completely un-looked for kindness. These were personal examples, but the care
on the ward was totally based on the professionalism of individual, but also
acts of kindness that went beyond the regular tasks that had to be completed.
Now it just so happened that this coincided with an
announcement by the government that Health Service workers were not to get an
annual pay rise, a situation that has been repeated over the years. In parallel
they announced that they would no longer pursue a case through the European
Courts to enable bankers to receive more than £2 million an annual bonuses. I
am sure that the irony of this is not lost on my readership reflecting the
skewed priorities of our society. Now I know that money isn’t everything,
though it obviously is if you work in financial services, but a measure of our
society should be how we treat those who have no bargaining power.
So at this Christmas Season give a thought for those
who are working in our hospitals. Think carefully as to who is going to help
you when you are in need, particularly as you cast your vote in the United
Kingdom in May 2015. Do you want a world-class health service, or people in
financial services receiving extreme bonuses?
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