Protect the NHS - but what about its staff?
As a 3rd-year medical student, I am proudly hoping to be the future of the NHS. On the 20th May, the prime minister reported that 312 of the then 36 042 people who’d died from covid-19 were NHS and social care staff. Sadly, that number will continue to rise. The tragic death of 28-year-old nurse Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, whose new-born child will grow up without a mother, is a solemn reminder that our “essential” workers could more appropriately be called “sacrificial”. Their reward? – a government approved clap on a Thursday night and £60,000 for their families if the worst does happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of the clap for our carers. It’s beautiful. The unity shown within a nation just a few months ago locked in argument – in-out, do-delay-decider, left-right – a nation, once so fragmented, brought together by the most desperate circumstances, standing side-by-side all clapping our heroes; it’s amazing yet only a few months ago unimaginable. That said, it is a laughable response by a government underfunding, under-protecting and underpaying these staff. They are sending their prized lambs to the slaughterhouse and clapping them on their way.
The irony in the government’s rhetoric is glaring; today’s “heroes” were yesterday’s villains as the “battle against the junior doctors”, which former health secretary Jeremy Hunt frequently boasted about in the 2019 Tory leadership hustings, becomes the “battle against the invisible enemy”. The army which Mr. Hunt proudly defeated now fights on the government’s behalf. Remember, the momentous victory against the junior doctors was removing paid overtime, beyond their £23,000-a-year basic salary, for working nights and weekends, affecting medics fresh from Medical School through to those with over a decade of experience on the front line. Initially the government assured “no junior doctor will see their pay cut compared to their current contract”, later retracted as it became clear that those working more than 56-hours-per-week (the average time worked by those opting out of the Working Time Regulations) would be greatly affected. At the time the government, and the media, did everything they could to turn the public against our nation’s carers. Doctors were branded militant, greedy, reckless, bullies. One columnist went so far as to write; “The young medics want the worst [for patients]. I hate them… My solution? We should fire all the young doctors who voted for a strike … Forget Hippocratic, it’s hypocritic oath. They don’t give a stuff about the sick.” That opinion hasn’t aged well at all. Now, more than ever, we should realise the failings of our past. Now, government and media alike should hold their hands up and hang their heads in shame. They should apologise, recompense and reverse the damaging effects of the 2015 fiasco. If not now, when?
As for the suggestion that NHS staff should be awarded with a medal; these people don’t need medals, they need fair pay. They should be earning far more than minimum wage for a job in which lifesaving decisions are made every hour of every day. In countries such as Australia, doctors receive tax breaks on everything from rent or mortgage payments to restaurant meals. Other UK employees are entitled to a range of benefits, including free meals (Intel), travel allowances (AirBnB), birthdays off (KPMG) and unlimited holiday days (Netflix). Meanwhile, doctors in the UK have to pay for hospital parking, over-priced hospital food and accept the toll on their social life and relationships.
For doctors, personal rewards come in making a difference to patients' lives - that is true now more than ever. One account tells of a family going to say goodbye to their wife and mother before a doctor offered to try proning the patient. She is now recovering at home. Without doctors’ interventions she and many others would certainly be dead and the COVID-19 death toll unimaginably high. It’s the greatest privilege of any healthcare job; the ability to save a life. However, once this pandemic is over, we should thank NHS staff in real terms, not by medals, not by claps, but rather by normalising their pay to just levels, increasing holiday days, giving tax breaks, meaningful shopping discounts, free travel to and from work and for a start, at the very least, free hospital parking.
Finally, to the government mantra “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives”. Our society creates labels all too easily - ‘essential workers’, ‘front line workers’, ‘our NHS’; it helps us dehumanise and lower our emotional response. Yes, the NHS is our national institution, so it’s easy to forget that behind the letters NHS are roughly 1.5 million faces, each with a life and personal responsibilities, be that parents, children, spouses or pets. The government has to save those lives too. Protecting the NHS is, rightfully, at the forefront of our minds… but is protecting the people that are literally dying for it? These people are now seeing the beginning of what will be years of COVID induced pressure on the health system. After the virus has passed, people will not stop needing them. Next will come a flood of people needing sociopsychological support; homelessness, depression, domestic violence, substance abuse and suicide will all rise as part of the fallout. And who will be there to act as the safety net? The people of the NHS. The people who need protecting more than anyone else; our carers.
Versions of this letter were published separately in the British Medical Journal and The Daily Mail.
