NHS Staff Deserve Better
The NHS is not free. It costs time, money, frustration, distress, burnout, and far too many lives of doctors and patients alike. It is not a charity, yet we treat it like one. It is not the best healthcare system in the world, yet we refuse to criticise it, perhaps because too many of us equate criticising the very flawed healthcare system with criticising real doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals who are trying their best.
We clap for them, we praise them, but what are we actually doing to change things for them? Acknowledging that the healthcare system needs reform should not be controversial- and it is long overdue.
No matter how much these health professionals want to serve, they are often restricted by the pressures of bureaucracy and 'efficiency'. For the majority of doctors* I have seen, english is not their first language, yet Brexit and our xenophobic laws mean we have created an unwelcoming environment for them, we are limiting a great number of incredible healthcare professionals from coming to work in the UK by stopping freedom of movement, and we are losing doctors because of racism.
Strikes, donations, and pay rises are not going to fix this system or change these laws. I hope in the next general election our votes reflect what our NHS workers deserve, because it is not this government.
*This comes from someone who has a history of medical gaslighting and dealing with constant pain, and is heavily traumatised by the NHS. 9/10 healthcare professionals I have seen have been abusive or discriminatory towards me, but I can still empathise with the awful pressure they are being put under, how new doctors and med students are taken advantage of, and how experienced doctors are probably dealing with a god complex or have to desensitise themselves in order to work. I can still want better for them despite the fact that the majority of this profession have treated me terribly, because if they were getting paid properly and looking after their own wellbeing, I like to think there would be fewer incidents of medical gaslighting and more time to learn about the social model of disability!
