A bit of background…… I believe in the theory of the NHS. My mum was a nurse for 20 years, 2 other close family members still work within it and I recently left my job there. I feel privileged to be able to have tax-payer funded healthcare (It’s not ‘free’). Many people, myself included, would be dead if it wasn’t for the excellent people and care provided by most of the people working within the NHS. Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and radiographers, to name a few.

However, I worked in a Mental Health & Criminal Justice team – Community Forensic Mental Health. Within the team were people who were absolutely amazing. They cared for the ‘patients’, doing everything in their power to ensure they received the appropriate care for a positive outcome. Then there were others, joining the team from other areas in the NHS, ‘because I have spent time on the wards, I deserve to have an easy life’ or ‘well the team was being dissolved, and i had to go somewhere.’. ‘Patients were referred on to other teams, many of which did the same, meaning people were left in a never ending circle with no support. On a daily basis then, the statistics were being updated but the people were being left on their own. ‘The NHS is in crisis’ Is the buzz sentence but who and what does that actually mean? Funding? Training? Management? The people who are overloading the system? Maybe a bit of everything BUT, one of the most fundamental parts of healthcare is staff that care. People who work in their roles because they want to make a positive difference in the field they are passionate about.

The reality is much different though. The hierarchy is despicable. If the staff cannot be respectful of their peers and their beliefs then how can they carry out their role effectively? Not only have i experienced bullying myself, I have witnessed people who have been so affected they have had to leave their roles, roles that they had spent time and effort to do right. I have witnessed all kinds of discrimination, been accused of racism and ridiculed for who i am. Incompetence and laziness is rife and the superiority complexes are laughable. Some take drugs and break the law.

There are people who work in the NHS who are absolutely amazing and go over and above to do their job to the absolute best of their ability. Not only are the people who need support being let down, these staff members are also.

Depending on what department you work in, wages are brilliant compared to the average person’s wage. I have worked with people earning a wage of almost £40,000 a year, sitting in offices with literally nothing to do; playing games on their phones and watching Netflix. I myself have spent days, 9-5, chatting with others when there is nothing to do. (My wage was about £22,000 a year.) Just sitting in an office for 8 hours a day, talking, laughing and drinking. At one point, top branded tea bags of all kinds, Coffee, milk pods, sugar, sweetener and biscuits were all provided free. Boxes and bottles of them all were hoarded in cupboards. Some staff even took detours into Starbucks to get a free coffee for NHS workers and enjoyed massive discounts. Most drive into work in huge, top of the range cars and moan about crap parking.

These people voted for and stood outside protesting for a wage increase. Just let that sink in.

I often asked if anyone thought of providing sanitary products in the toilets but alas, nobody cared and the subject was changed.

As i said, these are my observations and i am in no way saying everyone is like this but i know that more than a handful really do let the service down and believe that whilst they shout about how rubbish it is to work in the NHS, they should take a good look and take accountability for themselves.

I am sure this won’t be the last post where i mention this vital institution but for now, it is off my chest.

Yet again I have had the pleasure of listening to someone, proud to be from a quiet, old mining village, being unashamedly racist and shouting their support for President Trump. The latter subject, this time, was for remarks he had made about historical sexual assault claims. ‘Why didn’t they come forward at the time?’, ‘They’re obviously full of shit.’, ‘They’re just doing it for fame and money.’ yada, yada….Hello?

I have met many people over the years, all with their own, unique perspectives on life. Many different to my own and I have enjoyed talking, listening and learning about the world through other people’s eyes. Hopefully I have educated and inspired some of them. What I absolutely cannot fathom though, is that, a few people I have met who are just outright, blatantly ignorant, close minded and up their own arse. The language I have heard people use unapologetically, I thought, had all but died out. If I hear this, I will call it out, and believe me when i say, I have lost friends over it.

Women who boast that they are kind and not judgemental, drenching their social media feeds with body positivity and life quotes, calling other women ‘money grabbing whores’ when they claim to have been abused. I’ve hears someone with two mixed race daughters shouting vile racist remarks down the phone line to an ‘Indian’. Openly calling new people in their village ‘Coloureds’ and ‘Darkies’. These people are in their 40’s with children who are, quelle surprise, copying that behaviour. Discriminatory remarks about disabled people and an evident disgust of people who claim state benefits.

I wonder what it would take for those people to open their minds and be less unpleasant? Sure everyone can have their opinions but what are their opinions based on? Whilst there is this mentality within whole communities, respect, equity and equality can’t be achieved.

I have claimed state benefits due to illness, a lack of support and being homeless. I have also worked with people who are fleeing domestic abuse, young mothers who have lost everything newly released from prison after a short sentence and people with mental health difficulties or neurodiversity, who need to claim benefits to survive. Those people have all experienced some kind of abuse from others who call them lazy, insolent and liars.

How are people supposed to live their best life when the stigma and discrimination is so great?

I myself may have biases I don’t realise, but I accept that and will ‘Do the best you [I] can until you [I] know better………..’ (Maya Angelou).

Where has humanity gone? Where is the common sense?

This is my third attempt at making and sustaining a blog. I tend to start things, get distracted and move on. This time however, I have started my journey with motivation and intent. Giving you, the reader, my perspective on life around me and topical issues. My observations of the world and the people in it.

My views may be controversial but I am not here to offend and the views are, as stated, my own.

Anyhow, if you’ve got this far, there may be hope for me yet, thank you.