Meet our NHS

Kalliopi Kolagki, front centre, with colleagues at Watford General          © Jess Hurd Kalliopi Kolagki is a nurse in the Accident and Emergency ward of Watford General Hospital. Originally from Greece, she’s been in Watford for 18 months and is one of hundreds of EU workers on the hospital staff. She’s enthusiastic and professional, and speaks of her experience as “very positive”. But she also has a very particular anecdote that speaks volumes about today’s NHS, for good and ill. “On the shop floor – that’s how we talk of A&E – I’ve seen  a certain change of behaviour since Brexit, from patients and relatives,” she says. “Because nowadays, they usually ask you where you come from. “We had one patient, she was elderly, with back pain, who kept on saying, ‘I’m not going to receive care from anyone who doesn’t come from this country’. To be honest, A&E is multi-cultural. Italian to Spanish to Indian – you name it, we have it. And it was kind of impossible to find anyone who wasn’t from somewhere else.” If Kalli was offended, she’s hiding it with laughter. “We did eventually find someone English for her. We don’t throw people out.” Watford’s branch secretary Jason Flintras, who is also a nurse from Greece, estimates that more than 50% of all the hospital staff – and 60% of the nurses – are EU workers. “I hear lots of people saying, ‘European people come and take our jobs’. Bu...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Magazine BREXIT eu migrant NHS recruitment Source Type: news