Friday, 26 December 2014

The Unsung Hero’s

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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