The COVID experience: difficult to talk about, but vital that we do

Post-traumatic stress disorder, exhaustion, the demands of a backlog of non-COVID care during a staff exodus – these are just some of the issues currently facing the NHS workforce, UNISON’s special delegate conference heard yesterday. Linda Hobson from Newcastle Hospitals branch opened Wednesday afternoon’s business by moving a motion from the Northern region on The NHS after the pandemic. “It’s difficult to talk about what we’ve experienced, but it’s important that we do talk about it,” she told delegates. And as an NHS worker and branch secretary of a busy and acute hospital that saw some of the UK’s first COVID patients, Ms Hobson was in a good position to do talk about the impact of the crisis, “even as we tentatively emerge from lockdown.” She noted that “mental-health interventions alone will not deal with the crisis in the NHS.” A proper pay rise was now a priority. And she highlighted yet another issue facing the health service: privatisation. There was a stark contrast between the effectiveness of the privately-run track and trace system in England and that of the NHS-run vaccination roll-out, “a real example of one-team working.” Janet Maiden, of University College London Hospitals branch, echoed Ms Hobson’s call for an end to privatisation in health and social care. Ms Maiden also mused: “Who could have imagined the last 15 months?” before reminding delegates of the comments by Boris Johnson’s former advisor Dominic Cummings, r...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News 2021 virtual special national delegate conference Covid vaccine social care Source Type: news