I’ve never seen the NHS pushed so hard. It’s not the system that’s breaking now, it’s the people | The Secret Consultant

This week, chair of The General Medical Council made an extraordinary announcement of support doctors. What was striking about this was not his tone, but his content. Nowhere was it said how do your job or how become better doctors; the message was simple. He asked us be compassionate and kind to yourself and to one Another.

We will need it is compassion. This Christmas period promises to be terrible, just just as hard in some ways are the worst of Covid and that’s what prompted me to write this.

Winter pressure is feature of a life in NHS. Circulating winter viruses – influenza, RSV, etc. – cause every disease breaks out year and result in a large number of of hospitalization and often death. Hospitals fill up up.

It was obvious for months that this will take place – “twindemic” of flu and covid always gathered hit hard – but I was shocked how sick patients, including young and otherwise healthy, and how our broader immunity has dropped during the pandemic.

There are so many factors that bring it together year which in total system pressed harder than I’ve ever seen it before. There are massive more emergency care than usual, with recurring theme of how unsupported patients feel like their GPs, even if this is often not the case.

Social assistance and community the provision of psychiatric care is completely inadequate and we cannot discharge healthy patients for many days or weeks leaving patients who make need come on to the waiting room in A&E for hours or consecutive days.

In this case, ambulances cannot unload or respond to new calls, and the patients they bring in often get sick after a long wait outside.

in last for several weeks we were on in highest alert level 4 at least once every few days. This usually means more over 40 sick stuck in A&E is usually for more than 24 hours everyone needs urgent treatment, but with there are no ward beds in which to put them.

As far as I know, we were not below alarm level 3 since the beginning of summer. What used to be a relative rarity even in winter is depressingly normal now. And to add to this situation, we are now facing unprecedented strike.

nurses already startling. In A&E they soak up stress, abuse, lack of staff 24 hours day; on wards they are told to take extra patient here or open up another bay there with without additional staff and without way of closing these beds as soon as they open.

And all of that without any close respect or reward for what are they doing.

And our junior doctors will also soon go to the vote. Their payment on deplorable qualification, given the degree of training and the responsibility they bear. Covid destruction and current the pressure means they are often denied the mentorship, training, and camaraderie that solidified my love of medicine, and how result their job satisfaction plummeted.

I see a noticeable deterioration in their mental health and I hear about them financial worries a lot more than I’ve ever been used to. More and more of they take career breaks. I would be surprised if they didn’t vote for further strikes.

And how Is NHS England offering to respond to these strikes?

They assume that hospitals move the patients out of emergency departments in preparation, or open extra beds. Oh, and try not to cancel your scheduled exit while you’re at it.

To say that I find this offensive is an understatement. This shows a total flaw of understanding of which things like in middle hospital and how hard we work every day to move patients and protect planned treatment.

Don’t you think that we already thought of what? It disclaims responsibility for in problems back individually teams and implies that we already we do everything we can. If we stopped being so lethargic, then everything would be fine. I found this statement is remarkable for his absence of compassion for the workforce as GMC’s one was for his warmth.

We are told that the NHS is at a “breaking point” and for years underfunded and poorly planned by successive Conservative governments.

But this is different. What’s breaking now is not the system but it’s the people in fast, perceptible way.

I regularly see colleagues in tears. Every few weeks I hear of someone else is me know who retires, retires early, retires part-time, moving to less stressful area.

All the time I hear how things have changed that the pressure is now too high that we would not recommend our children do the work we do.

The pandemic has accelerated this and we need compassion more than ever. Although I see it regularly in our patients and the public, it is conspicuously absent from our leaders.

Most of all, however, we feel accepted for provided. The expectation seems to be that we should just continue to do what we are doing – without proper evaluation or support – because we are NHS heroes and that our work some noble vocation, which should support us in spite of of how hard it could be.

And so these strikes are not just about the fee. They are also cry for help critical symptom of a stressful and inefficient workforce. Perhaps if we were shown a little more the kindness of those in charging, will way forward.