Via Laura Land
Dear Jeremy Hunt
‪#‎iminworkjeremy‬
Do you remember the story about the patient who went to hospital on Friday night and didn’t get seen by a Doctor until Monday morning? Me neither….
Are you at work this weekend Jeremy? Because I am. Thank you for making out that we’re lazy, money-grabbing Doctors who don’t want to work long hours, especially at the weekend. Despite being employed part time (I have a 9 month old son at home), I’ll have worked over 60 hours this week. We, Jeremy, are the people skipping lunch so we can make sure our patients’ paperwork is done so they can go home on time. We’re the people missing family birthdays, our friends’ weddings, our children’s first steps, because we’re putting our patients’ needs first. We are the people that don’t see our own families anywhere near as much as we’d like to, because we’re busy taking care of yours.
The NHS workforce is at breaking point Mr Hunt, morale is shot, burnout is at an all time high and to be honest, I think the vast majority of us are wondering what the hell we did this job for in the first place. This is certainly not what I signed up for when I skipped off to Medical School at 18, thinking I’d “make a difference”. Stop making out we’re lazy, stop making out we’re greedy and stop trying to create a problem that doesn’t exist. I’ve yet to come across a speciality in which the Consultant isn’t either at work all weekend or at the end of the phone (willing to come in at any time should we need them).
Until, Mr Hunt, you establish a better understanding of how Doctors and hospitals work (it seems you’ve still failed to grasp the difference between routine and emergency care) I suggest you take a step back from your post as Health Secretary. Perhaps let someone who knows what they’re talking about and actually listens to us, take over. If you don’t Jeremy, you’ll be going down in history forever as the man that killed the NHS. Could you live with all that blood on your hands?
So for now, Mr Hunt, farewell. I’m off to do a 12 hour night shift. Enjoy your work-free weekend, your parliament free summer (recess is 21st July – 7th September correct?) oh, and your cheeky 10% pay rise.