Every day we see awful things that should shame the nation. The new health secretary’s solution? Ask the public to pitch in

Thérèse Coffey has unveiled her plans to tackle the NHS crisis by vowing to direct a “laser-like focus” on the needs of patients. It’s a pledge that might have had more credibility had she not revealed herself last week to be the first health secretary in NHS history to care more about commas than comas.

Nevertheless, I wanted – indeed was desperate – to believe her. You would be too if you worked inside a hospital. It’s easy, after all, to glaze over calamitous headlines about the state of the NHS. But for frontline staff, those crisis conditions are vivid, immediate and slammed into our faces daily – felt, heard, touched and smelt. Corridor deaths, putrefying flesh, relatives’ features contorted with justifiable rage, bed covers pulled back on more than one occasion to reveal fragile octogenarian skin, unforgivably caked in dried excrement. Vignettes I will never unsee, scenes to shame a nation. She had better have a plan, I have found myself muttering, because we can’t carry on like this.

Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and the author of Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at [email protected]

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

World’s biggest banks to play a role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions

Pledge by over 450 financial institutions in 45 countries billed as one…

Binance boss says no one can be protected from a ‘bad player’

Changpeng Zhao announces plans for an industry ‘recovery fund’ for struggling crypto…

Amazon duped millions into enrolling in Prime, US regulator says in lawsuit

Federal Trade Commission alleges Bezos firm used ‘manipulative and deceptive user-interface designs…

Joe Root wins Test for England having been left to do what he does best | Andy Bull

The former captain can now concentrate on his batting and he produced…