Last week, I had a couple of very
stark reminders of just how dreadful the world can be for lots of people. The
first was a picture of some street art seen on one of the city walls in
Istanbul. It was made up of 440 pairs of women’s shoes. Each pair represented a
woman who had been murdered by their husband in Turkey during the year. I found it a stunningly powerful image. Shocking as the facts are, sadly it is not an
issue found only in the Middle East. Refuge is a charity committed to creating
a world where domestic violence and violence against women and girls is not
tolerated, and a world where women and children can live in safety. On their
website, they quote from research published in 2016 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It makes for an equally disturbing read.
One woman in four experiences
domestic violence in her lifetime. Two women are killed each week by a current
or former partner in England and Wales – yes that is two women each week. In
the year ending March 2016, 1.2 million women reported experiences of domestic
abuse in England and Wales. The message here is as equally shocking as the 440
pairs of shoes. The Refuge website is absolutely worth reading to see the work
they are doing in holding perpetrators to account, preventing future violence
occurring through education and campaigning to change the State’s response to
violence against women. Last week the UK appointed the first Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs. An appointment made after the numbers of those reporting domestic abuse reached a 5 year high.
My second picture in this week’s blog comes from the Refuge website. I found it similarly powerful. For me it clearly illustrates why such a commissioner is required. And given her background, I'm very hopeful that we will see some change.
The second reminder was less
stark in contrast, but was equally powerful. On Friday at Wigan, Wrightington
and Leigh (WWL), where I am Vice-Chair, I chaired a series of appointment
panels for the recruitment of medical consultants. In particular, we were
trying to fill vacancies in cardiology and gastroenterology. At a time where
there are many shortages across a range of healthcare professions, it was great
to see so many candidates expressing a desire to work at our NHS Trust. For
each of the posts there were some excellent candidates, some with more
experience than others, but all were highly skilled and knowledgeable. I never
cease to be amazed at the way in which the clinical scenario questions are
presented and the subsequent detailed responses from the candidates. The use of
abbreviations and terms, where I had no idea what is being said or what they
might mean, was both amusing and reassuring. Amusing because it really does
sound like a different language and reassuring because these folk really do
know what they are doing!
Each of the candidates was asked
to present their own CV in their own words and tell of their journey to become
a consultant. One of the candidates, whom I will call Mahdi, a very softly
spoken man, started his narrative by telling the panel where he had trained,
which was overseas, and how he had come to the UK to gain more specialist
knowledge and skills. He had stayed here for a number of years and had made a
wonderful contribution to the NHS whilst acquiring these skills. Mahdi
eventually wanted to return home. That’s where his extended family lived, and
he wanted to use what he had learnt to help those in his own country. The place
Mahdi called home was Syria.
The Global Peace Index ranks
Syria as 162 (from 163 countries listed) making it the most violent county in
the world after Afghanistan. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
monitoring group based in the UK, has estimated that since the start of civil
war in 2011, the number of people who have died there has reached 511,000. The United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry on Syria has reported that during
2011 and 2017, the rape and sexual violence against women, committed by government
forces and associated militias, amounted to war crimes against humanity. Additionally,
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the years of relentless
fighting have resulted in 6.6 million people being displaced internally, and a
further 5.6 million around the world. Mahdi is one of these people.
Not long after Mahdi returned
home the political unrest and conflicts grew to such an extent that he feared for
his safety and returned to the UK. He once again started practising in the NHS.
With the escalation in the ongoing civil war in Syria, Mahdi once more returned
to Syria to rescue his mother and sister and did manage to get his mother out
of the country. His sister remains in Syria.
During all this time Mahdi has
continued to use his medical knowledge to help others. He told of his experiences
of working in Saudi Arabia, and how he found it very difficult to work within the
‘two class’ system of healthcare. Mahdi reminded the panel of how wonderful the
NHS was in providing such universal high-quality care whatever someone’s status
or resources might be. I was very impressed with his humility and commitment to
helping others, despite what he and those he loved had endured over the years. In so many cases, we absolutely don’t know
what those around us have experienced, or continue to experience.
I asked all the candidates the
one and only interview question I’m allowed: ‘Can you please give us an example
of when you were kind to a patient?’. These days I am no longer surprised by the
variety of answers I get to this question. Nearly all the candidates proclaimed
themselves as being kind and compassionate in their dealings with patients, and
maybe they are. However, some of the candidates struggled with coming up with
an example that was truly one that demonstrated the interpersonal and not
something that was organisational or procedural. Mahdi was not one of these. Mahdi
has and will continue to truly make a difference to so many people. While there
are people like Mahdi and Nicole around, there is hope that we can make the world a better
place in which to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment