Now it’s suddenly hard work. Now I’ve exposed myself to appraisal and judgment and I’m flinching a bit. Not that anyone is ever going to say an unkind word (I have cancer you know). But I feel like now I’ve committed to being Good At This Kind of Thing, the writing like. I’m hitting delete. I’m looking up words. That’s never good.
Anyway. I had intended originally to muse, whimsically, about what it is like to be a patient when you are a doctor. I was going to laugh at the knowing-too-much, wanting to read my own notes and prescribe my own drugs, the finding it hard to keep my opinion to myself.
But sure I’m not a standard patient and never will be. I will never be the same as the others. There’s no way that they all get the same quality of treatment and care that I am getting. Diagnosis to treatment in twelve days. Texts from oncologists on Sunday evenings, checking that I’m okay. Unremitting kindness from nurses and care assistants, radiographers and porters. Or maybe, maybe that is normal?
There is another doctor out there with a blog about being sick. I’ve become a bit obsessed with her. She has started a campaign called #hellomynameis, which aims to encourage all healthcare workers in the NHS to introduce themselves when they meet a patient. She makes out that HCWs are terrible at this and need to improve. She is getting an MBE for this sterling work. So now we know that any NHS staff member who introduces themselves to patients these days has this brave lady to thank for teaching them how to do it.
Funny thing is, we don’t appear to need a soldier like her in Ireland. The majority of the people I’ve met have told me their name, confirmed mine, asked me about my kids, and been generally good eggs. Is it a cultural thing? Are Irish people friendlier? Possibly, but given that a good percentage of NHS staff are Irish you’d think that might rub off. There is the teeny tiny possibility that this lady might just be a bit of a crankypants....dear god I just insulted a woman Who Has Cancer You Know!!
(Also, she describes herself as having terminal cancer. She was diagnosed three years ago. I’ll be calling it “terminal” when I am on the flat of my back, Cheyne-Stoking, seeing bright lights and hearing beardy men calling my name. And not a moment before.)
I can't speak for the Irish system but I think there is a problem in the UK, probably linked to the chronic under-funding of the NHS. No idea how widespread but it’s not negligible. The service is in pretty dire straits, not least because of recent government policy, and the problem may not necessarily be with people's compassion, but the way in which the horrendous conditions they're working in mean they lose some of the will (not to mention the time and head space) to deal with people as they might. The worry is that her campaign becomes what someone on her blog called an 'NHS fig leaf' - it's convenient for the government to champion her and suggest that it is a problem at the level of individual staff, which of course is only a very small part of the story. And she may have jumped on a bandwagon of sorts. Reading the tweets she can come across as ungrateful (though I’m sure I wouldn’t be a paragon of patience in her shoes – on the other hand, it’s all too easy to broadcast grievances on Twitter, suggesting people may be culpable when they aren’t). But I’m not quite as down on the campaign as you. I think this will have some good effects, and NHS staff have written comments about how they have much improved relations with patients as a result (which is good for everyone). Whether overall it’s a positive step or a convenient way of distracting from problems with the system (inevitably political ones) is hard to say. LB
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz. I absolutely agree that the biggest problem facing both our health services is underfunding, or certainly in the HSE, mismanagement of funds. And KG's campaign is undoubtedly having a significant effect, with something like 400,000 NHS staff signed up to it. It certainly does suit the NHS to use it as a fig leaf and to be happy clappy about it, without dealing with the underlying issues.
DeleteIf I'm being totally honest, it's not the campaign that irks me, it's her. Which is entirely unfair as I obviously know very little about her, but what I do know comes from what she herself has actively disseminated in social media.
There could also be an element of me wanting to be the only cancer-ridden doctor in the village! Pscyhes are strange things...