In a room full of juniors doctors all at a course to learn surgical skills and suturing techniques yesterday there were murmurings of disquiet all through every break. Young people who were doing the same job in different parts of the country were all discussing the different options they had, and those they might consider, come the years to come when the Government’s various proposals for the NHS come into force.
We all know it is coming, it is like each time this government makes a further choice we feel the earth tremble under our feet and we can see out of the corner of our eye the tide disappearing off into the horizon and some of us simply see it and think “that’s odd!”, some see it and document it for others knowing that it is strange, wanting to record for posterity something that seems momentous.
Then there are the rest of us that know that what goes up, must come down and when the tide rushes away you can bet a tsunami will come rushing back, carrying all that you knew and loved in its wake. We’re the ones shouting at the top of our lungs, who don’t shut up about the little tremors, who are urging everyone to DO SOMETHING – “run for your lives” is the overwhelming message in the atmosphere among the doctors I know, “train up for something else, the end is nigh!”.
It was strange yesterday to hear the different ideas that these bright young things had about what they would do "after medicine". And I felt it; that impulse to run. Oh I felt that impulse. I got my certificate of good standing. I got my provisional registration with the MCNZ. I moved to New Zealand and started working as a doctor out there and I utterly loved it. I persuaded my partner to come out there. It really is a different atmosphere. The dream of living else-where being better isn’t simply pie-in-the-sky. I had my life there all mapped out. We’d chosen a house we loved and were writing our mortgage application! But ultimately our family and our lifelong friends are here in the UK, and for the time being, we felt we had to come back, for them. So with extremely heavy hearts we boarded the plane back to the UK. And then came the really tough choice for me. Do I choose to go back to the NHS job that has made me clinically depressed in the past, that has triggered all my natural perfectionist tendencies, where the choice to leave at my contracted time to be with my family seems at times unkind to my patients and colleagues who deserve better and at other times seems frankly immoral?
Or do I choose to do something else?
I looked at training jobs in teaching (they’re desperate for physics teachers you know!) and in big pharma, in finance and in consulting. There were a lot of other appealing options but after much soul searching and talking to my friends and family about whether or not they’d be disappointed in me if I started back in the NHS and then found it all just too much and walked away, I decided I would give it my best shot. So I am here, giving it my all, trying to balance the near overwhelming urge to put patients first in front of everything, and the need to makes sure that I eat, and sleep and see the people I love and build a community to support me and do the normal self-care that enables me to do the patient care bit at all.
So here I am, arrived fresh back in the NHS for such a time as this! I hear the murmurings and the resignation that this government’s legacy may bring the tsunami of privatisation that destroys the NHS. It's time to imagine a different end to the story. Just maybe, this government's legacy might be annoying so many people that they catalyzed three generations of doctors and whole nation to mobilize and rally the public to stand up and fight tooth and nail to re-establish the basic principles of the NHS, or even the whole welfare state. We are not facing a force of nature, some unthinking act of an all-powerful God. The people (yep, they are people!) pushing through these plans are rational thinking folk who are working together in a coordinated fashion to bring about a planned structured change, they would claim for good of the NHS and the people, but we have cause to doubt their claims! Do you know how many of the conservative MPs and Peers have a vested interest in seeing an increase in private health care? Did you know that MPs and Peers are allowed to vote on things that they have a direct vested, financial interest in (they have to declare their interest, yes, and promise that their putting the interests of the UK at large above their own, but do you trust them to do that?)? I didn’t know until I looked!
So if we don’t like the current plan what can we do?
Things have not gone well and time is running out. Great oratory never gets old and across history something similar rings out – most recently and memorable the sentiment has come from Obama when he said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” But it is echoed at many times of critical junctures in history (Ghandi’s “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” etc). Bevan said of the NHS "It will last as long as there folk left with the faith to fight for it." Let’s limber up and give a damn good fight!
So what can you do?
Thinking Big:
Write to your MP:
You can write to them here: www.nhssurvival.org/action.html
They are all people, just other humans trying to do a job and do it well. For the most part they do want to represent you. So tell them what you think – maybe do it writing, you know they old fashioned physical thing that makes you a physical presence in their life in paper form. Remember, in a democracy, governments rise and fall on the say so of the people. Let them know that you think that a Royal Commission on the NHS to protect it from other meddling politicians with a vested interest is a jolly good plan – read more details on how it works here.
Put your money where your mouth is:
You can bet your bottom dollar that those with a vested interest in seeing private medicine increase it’s market share are throwing their cash around to get version of the story out there. There are people with the time and energy on our side to stand up and give a good old fight. But they need your support. Let them know in small ways by registering and sharing a www.nhssurvival.org or donate to NHSsurvival.org to help them get our side of the story out there.
Thinking small:
Read Around:
See what other people think and voice your support. Check out Big UP The NHS and the NHS Survival Facebook group. Follow NHS Survival’s Twitter feed and read the blogs here. Get informed. Don’t just get scared and not think about it.
Share your views:
In print – Write a letter to your local paper letting them know how much you appreciate the NHS – see if your granny or granddad has any local interest stories about life in the area before the NHS.
In person - Optimism isn’t popular in the NHS. Cynicism is a seemingly much more effective defense against crushing disappointment and bitterness; if you keep expectations low isn’t more difficult to have your hopes dashed. But I for one am done with it. It is a false friend that only serves to keep you from looking towards a better future. Lets try to shift the oppressive culture that we work in that says things can only get worse. Say thank you to somebody you see working hard every day to do their job well. Encourage the team that you work with that we are doing something amazing.
We are the future of the NHS, public, patients, professionals, let’s make it great!
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