Introduction
I’ve travelled around the world a little on business; sometimes in general conversation the subject of health care has cropped up. There’s consensus among everyone I’ve spoken to that the UK has a wonderful health service and UK citizens can be proud of our NHS.
In my various times in UK hospitals, from minor ailments through to neurosurgery, I’ve rarely encountered staff who don’t inspire trust and respect. I haven’t met a single person in the UK who’s complained of an unsatisfactory experience when faced with major surgery. Regardless, I imagine everyone can tell a story of how a routine operation / appointment was cancelled or re-scheduled, resulting in personal inconvenience – yawn! 💤
NHS Doctor’s Tribute
The following paragraphs are snipped from a book written by a former NHS doctor (Adam Kay); the BBC produced a TV series based upon his memoirs.
I would always feel tremendously proud to say that I worked for the NHS – who doesn’t love the NHS? It’s unlike any other national asset; no one talks in fond tones about the Bank of England or would think any less of you if you suggested suing Cardiff Airport. It’s easy to work out why: the NHS does the most amazing job and we’ve all benefited from it. They delivered you when you were born and one day they’ll zip you up in a bag, but not until they’ve done everything that medical science will allow to keep you on the road. From cradle to grave, just like your man Bevan promised back in 1948.
They fixed your broken arm on sports day, they gave your nan chemo, they treated the chlamydia you brought back from Kavos, they started you on that inhaler, and all this wizardry was free at the point of service. You don’t have to check your bank balance after booking an appointment: the NHS is always there for you. On the other side of the fence, knowing you were working for the NHS took the sting out of so many things about the job: the vicious hours, the bureaucracy, the under-staffing, the way they inexplicably blocked Gmail on all the computers in one hospital I worked at (thanks, guys!). I knew I was part of something good, important, irreplaceable, and so I did my bit.
I don’t have an amazing inbuilt work ethic, it’s not applied to anything I’ve ever done since, but the NHS is something special, and the alternative is horrifying. We should see the skyscraper-high bills of America as the ghost of Christmas future when it comes to NHS privatization. One day you’ll blink and the NHS will have completely evaporated. And if that blink turns out to be a stroke, then you’re totally screwed.
COVID-19 in 2020 & 2021
After witnessing the efforts being made by everyone in the NHS during the pandemic, I felt compelled to display some messages of appreciation at the Royal Stoke Hospital, which can be viewed below. One photo of my efforts was published in my local newspaper as a counter-balance to the grotesque story being reported.
I put together a series of photos into a PDF, illustrating the creation and installation of the following banner.
I went on to create an even bigger banner than the one above, and decided to consult senior hospital staff about where I might deploy it. They came up with the suggestion of using it as the basis for a screensaver on the computers in the hospital wards, an example of which in operation can be seen in the following photo.
NHS Tribute Poem by Pam Ayres
I’ve been to other countries, where you pray you don’t get sick,
Where if you’re taken ill, no kindly ambulance comes quick,
No motorbiking paramedic, roaring through the rubble,
Where if you have no cash to pay, then mister you’re in trouble.
We have a gentler system, which is comforting to all,
It strives for our wellbeing, be we elderly or small,
With expertise, professional, extended countrywide,
So, in an emergency, a world is at our side.
Consultants and anaesthetists, and those who man the door,
Specialists and surgeons, and the folk who mop the floor,
The porters and the nursing staff, who labour night and day,
And never ask the patient, if they have the means to pay.
A plague has come, a plague that’s new, yet old, as old as time,
Fermented out of suffering, and cruelty, and grime,
With unimagined images, which linger in the head,
Refrigerated trailers, for the storage of the dead.
With calm and regulated care, staff with one accord,
Though fearing for their families, are working on the ward,
Where end-of-life care nurses, in their strange protective dress,
Hold a fading hand, to dull the pain of loneliness.
Thanks to every doctor, every midwife, every nurse,
Every single worker, in the flight for life immersed,
Whatever God you recognise, may your endeavours bless,
Sending love and gratitude to you, the NHS.
Bankzny Banners
It might be said that I got a little carried away 😀
NHS Tributes from Emma Joustra
Emma is an artist and illustrator based in Staffordshire; following are links to her web site, Instagram page, a local review and web shop.
Broadmeadow Court Care Home
Broadmeadow is the care home in Newcastle-under-Lyme where my late mother resided. I put the posters up during the COVID-19 lockdown periods of 2020 and 2021, whereby social distancing made daily life for the residents and staff extremely challenging.
