Moving through the Sliding Doors of Parallel Realities

Well last week was certainly a funny one. At times I felt completely divorced from one reality, although totally immersed in another. It reminded me of that film ‘Sliding Doors’. Last week I was pleased to be able to honour all the tireless volunteers who give their efforts freely week in week out at our Trust, by helping serve many of them with a delicious festive feast, alongside our Chief Exec Karen. Disappointingly the unstinting support of these hundreds of folk and their desire to make a difference for patients and families didn’t make any of the weekend papers.

Last Sunday the news was full of the French football team knocking us out of the World Cup. Not that I paid much attention. There are far more important things in the world to be concerned about than football. I won’t be watching the match later on today either. I don’t sit in the camp that thinks the Qatar World Cup has been a great success. I suppose it depends on how you view the event, but I don’t think it was successful from any perspective. The regime is still oppressive, uncaring, and as we saw last week, with the revelations from Brussels, still corrupt.  

I shall instead, be celebrating Christmas at an annual Christmas get together with friends and colleagues from University and NHS times. They are mainly nurses, and folk who have been nurses for a long time, both in practice and in education. We are all feel immensely privileged to have been part of a profession that has a long tradition of compassion and kindness. Coincidently one of the other things I was proud to be part of last week was presenting long service awards to a group of my colleagues who collectively, had contributed some 2610 years of service to the NHS. Each one of my colleagues had worked at least 30 or 40 years in the NHS, absolutely amazing. And so last week I was saddened by the nurses’ day of industrial action. Although no nurses from my Trust or indeed, any NHS trust across Greater Manchester took part in the industrial action, I felt it was a sad day for the profession.

That said, I have every sympathy with those nurses who feel that they have no option but to take industrial action in order to get something more substantial than a Thursday clap to demonstrate the way society, and our government value the profession. As I have noted before, a 19% pay award is probably unachievable, but that should not be a reason not to keep talking and find a way forward.

Mind you, I don’t have, and never have had, any time for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). I have long thought they have lost their way. Robert Carr’s recently published report into the RCN, which revealed a bullying, and misogynistic culture and a senior leadership team that was ‘riddled with division, dysfunction and distrust’ would seem to bear out my view. I think partly my issue with the RCN stems from the apparent confusion that exists between their role as a trade union and a professional body.  

I have never been a member of the RCN, so my observations are made from afar. Nonetheless, that doesn’t make them any the less worth considering. Likewise, I have never been a member of, or an employee of, the World Health Organisation (WHO), but that won’t stop me from commenting on an announcement they made last week. It concerned the appointment of two new employees, Dr Jeremy Farrar, the new Chief Scientist and Dr Amelia Tuipulotu the new Chief Nursing Officer. What I found interesting was the way the WHO described the two roles.

For example, Dr Farrar was described as bringing together the best minds in science and innovation from around the world to develop and deliver high quality health services to the people who need them most. On the other hand, Dr Tuipulotu was described as someone who will champion, nurture and support nurses and midwives to ensure their skills and experience are being well utilised to strengthen health systems and to bolster their critical role in bringing patients, communities and national health systems together.

So far so good perhaps. It was when the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus spoke that I began to wonder. He described these appointments as: ‘As Chief Scientist, Jeremy will accelerate our efforts to ensure WHO, its Member States and our partners benefit from cutting-edge, life-saving science and innovation. As Chief Nursing Officer, Amelia will ignite the all-important need not only to fill the gap in health workers worldwide, but also ensure they receive the support they need and deserve’. Somehow these descriptions seemed somewhat unbalanced and for me, disappointing in the way the nursing profession was being described in comparison to the practice and place of science in the world.

Of course, we all saw the benefit of the work of both groups during the Covid pandemic, and the WHO as a ‘global organisation for good’ continues to make a difference to so many people worldwide. And if you fancy working for the WHO, you can apply here. The other thing we benefited from during the pandemic was the ease of online shopping. I read with amusement the news that Amazon workers in Coventry have voted to go on strike. They are doing so for the same reasons as the nurses, and it’s not just about money. Once again, I felt I was entering through the sliding doors of a parallel reality where striking Amazon workers would be viewed as more important to us all than striking nurses. For all our sakes, I hope not.