The unique you: Planes, Ships and Automobiles*

Travel featured a lot in the news last week. I’m much too apolitical to mention Alok Sharma and his many jollies across the world, or our Prime Minister’s flight back from visiting Scotland sitting next to an aide who tested positive for Covid. Apparently both people are exempt from having to isolate.

I did notice that the school holidays have meant quieter roads for the daily commute, but long delays at the weekends as families start or finish their holidays. Twice last week, Manchester city centre was completely gridlocked due to there being no trams running. It wasn’t much better on the ocean waves. The Scarlet Lady, Virgin’s first ever cruise ship had a much delayed departure due to passengers having to queue to get a ‘rapid’ lateral flow Covid test. Some folk had to wait nearly five hours to board the ship. Cruise holidays don’t appeal to me, particularly as this one was only sailing around the UK.

That other big ship, the Ever Given, was also back in the news last week. The giant container ship finally arrived at Felixstowe some four months later than planned due to getting stuck in the Suez Canal for six days. The computer I’m writing this blog on is made by the Chinese company Lenovo, who had many millions of pounds’ worth of goods stuck on the stricken vessel. Hopefully, all those containers are now finally on their way to their various owners.

If your really wanted an out-of-this-world holiday experience, and you have a spare £325,000, Richard Branson is also offering seats for his flights to the edge of space. I haven’t got a spare £325,000, and even if I did, like cruise holidays, space travel doesn’t appeal. In fact, and much to J’s disappointment, I’m not a big holiday fan. These days I feel there is even more of a disincentive to travel anywhere overseas. The high cost of testing and the potential of having to isolate or stay in a self-pay quarantine hotel on my return, simply doesn’t appeal. I doubt I qualify for exemption either. Taking a break and not travelling abroad can also be fraught, as J and I found out last weekend. Certain areas of the UK are becoming extremely crowded and very busy as the Summer moves on.

Booking holiday accommodation has, in some parts of the UK, become almost impossible and definitely more expensive, and you try buying a tent, or finding somewhere to pitch it when you do! Like cruise holidays and space travel, camping doesn’t appeal to me either. That said, I absolutely understand why so many folk working in health and care services are desperate to take some annual leave, and to take it as soon as they can. Talking to some colleagues, the turbulence and unrelenting pressure of the past 18 months has made it difficult to take proper time off, and even where this has been possible, the lockdowns and restrictions have made going away somewhere much more difficult.

Even before the pandemic impacted upon all our lives, only one in three working people actually took all their annual leave entitlement. It’s a strange phenomenon, but one I’m very familiar with. Before I retired, I seldom took all my holiday entitlement and if I did go away, I would often take both my laptop and phone with me, so as to keep in touch with work. In terms of maintaining a healthy life / work balance, it was completely stupid. My mind had no time at all to switch off from business. I didn’t do what I told others to do. Failure to achieve that healthy balance brings with it all sorts of consequences. It can impact upon relationships, lead to excessive tiredness, which in itself can lead to accidents, lack of productivity, depression and a general sense of malaise.

So, it’s important that together, individuals and the organisations they work for, find ways to ensure that all staff can take off the time that they are entitled to. Everybody needs time and space to relax, unwind, recuperate and recover. Holidays can be a great way to find this time and space. Of course, what one person thinks of as being the perfect break; a cruise, a space trip or even camping, others might see as something they would never call a holiday. We are all unique when it comes to deciding what a good break might look and feel like. My best holiday was walking the Coast2Coast walk, some 182 miles done over 13 days. Now that is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

What was definitely my cup of tea last week was signing the Dying to Work Charter with Karen James, our CEO, for our hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. You can read about the campaign here. Getting a diagnosis of a life-shortening condition is likely to be devastating and everyone will react to the news differently. Understandably, some people might want to pursue every treatment option available, others might want to stop work and try and do as many things on their ‘bucket list’ as possible, while others might choose to remain at work for financial security and/or the social benefits that belonging to a group or a team can often bring.

Our staff are critical to all that we, as a health care provider, strive to do. The health and well-being of every individual member of our staff is really important to us. Signing the Charter shows our organisations commitment to ensuring that any member of our staff with a terminal illness receives the support and peace of mind at a time when they need it most. It’s about enabling folk to choose the best individual course of action for themselves and their families and supporting them all through what will be a challenging time. Everyone’s experience of this time will be unique and we need to be there with, and for them, every step of the way.

 

* Apologies to John Hughes