Getting old alongside the NHS – let’s have a tea party!

Well last week was exciting. It was Part 1 of Lytham Festival and J and I got to see Snow Patrol at their first live performance since the pandemic started. They were brilliant. It was a special evening for us. We played their hit song ‘Chasing Cars’ as we walked out of the church at our wedding. Summer festivals are the best and we have missed not having them over these past few years. We have tickets for Simply Red, Elbow, and Tears for Fears next week. Let’s hope the sunshine stays with us. There was one slightly strange occurrence on the way home from the concert. I wanted to use the loo, so called into one of pubs in the town, walked into the gents only to find two women waiting to use the toilet. ‘I’m not interested in what you might be doing’ one of them declared’ I just need a pee and the queue for the ladies is too long’. Unlike the Halifax Building Society last week, the two ladies didn’t seem concerned with the use of pronouns, only about relieving themselves.  

Last Wednesday saw me spending the evening with Nadine Dorries. Never thought I would be saying that. Nadine is of course, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. We met at the Royal Carlton Hotel. Just to be clear, this establishment has nothing whatsoever to do with the Carlton Club, where last week the Conservative MP Chris Pincher was alleged to have sexually assaulted two other men. Nadine was completely the opposite, and nothing like how she is often portrayed in the media.

She spoke with confidence about her political portfolio and what was being planned for the future. She took questions and I was able to ask her about her views on the increasingly hostile stance being taken by much of the UK right wing media on the performance of the NHS. She faltered and fudged a response something along the lines of we have a free press in this country. That might be the case, and that is probably a discussion for another blog, but I get really saddened by headlines such as: ‘the NHS is failing us all’ or ‘our hospitals are not the envy of the world’ and ‘the NHS is making us the sick man of the world’ and the recent comment that I thought really revealed the extent of the way facts are being twisted, and exaggerated  ‘so many doctors on the golf course, feeling fatigued or attending to pressing matters in the Dordogne’. For many folk working in health and social care it is very demoralising to see their contributions being portrayed in this way. Sadly, it is very easy to take pot-shots at a national service like the NHS to score cheap political points or to increase readership.

No one either working in the NHS or a recipient of the services it provides would be able to deny that the NHS is challenged. There are record numbers of people on waiting lists (6.2 million). Thankfully, most of the population have a less hostile view of the NHS than the right-wing media. The latest Care Quality Commission adult inpatient survey revealed that 84% of folk had confidence in those treating them, and 85% said they were always treated with respect and dignity. Both bits of data reflect the fabulous contribution being made by colleagues in what can only be described as unprecedented times.

Nadine and I had a slight disagreement when she claimed that the Prime Minister was responsible for the success of the Covid vaccination programme, I argued that it was the scientists, nurses, GPs, and faith healers that should be given the credit. We agreed to disagree and she moved on to the next question.

Nadine was very well informed, and when later, I was able to have a one-on-one chat with her, she asked if I was still a Non-Executive Director at the Vic (Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS FT). I told her no, I had stepped down from that role to take up the Chair at Stockport NHS FT. I actually found I liked her more than I thought I would before the evening. And I must confess, I felt for her when she got Rugby Union and Rugby League mixed up at a Rugby League event the following day!

Nadine is 2 years younger than me. Last week I found out we both had joined a new group in society. According to the Office for National Statistics, in their publication of the 2021 census, they noted that the population of England aged 65 and over has finally overtaken the number of children aged under 15 years old. It appears many more people are living healthier, more fulfilling lives thanks to those providing health and social care when needed, plus a greater recognition of the need to address the social determinants of poor health. As Michael Marmot, the world leading expert on health inequalities has noted, we have a long way to go to redress the inequalities in our society, but we are firmly on that journey now.

He also reminds us that more harm, and ill-health is caused by poverty than any failings of the NHS. Last Friday saw the welcome dawn of a new age of collaboration across the NHS, Local Authorities and the third sector. Integrated Care Systems are now legal entities with a duty to collaborate, to address inequalities and promote health and wellbeing in localities and communities.

This weeks last word must go two wonderful people (I don’t mean my new friend Nadine or myself) who celebrated their 102nd birthdays last week. Edith Dumbleton and Dorcas Tobin were born 45 mins apart on the 28th June 1920. They celebrated with a cheese sandwich and plan a bigger celebration with tea and cakes in a few days. And let’s not forget that our NHS will be 74 years old on Tuesday, 5th July. I hope like me, you will join in the nationwide NHS Tea Party and celebrate all that has, and continues, to be achieved in the service of others. I hope Edith and Dorcas raise their cups in celebration of the NHS too.