Coming up to 30 years in the NHS for me and here is what Ive found.
I joined the NHS in 1988 a youthful enthusiastic lass it seemed exciting and very different days, living in Tory Britain under Thatcher and all that brought to the north east of England where I lived. We had years of Thatcher by then and the destruction of communities mining, textiles and heavy industry in the pursuit of the yuppy dream of wearing high waisted trousers, braces and working on the stock market. The glamour of greed reflected in television shows like Dallas and Dynasty if only we could have all woken up like Bobby Ewing declaring life just a nightmare, to be brutally honest the politics of the NHS at age 18 despite studying politics didn’t really concern me. Morale although strained wasn’t anywhere as dismal as today. We talked in nursing in those times about things like the nursing process, we had time to handwrite individual care plans for our patients, nursing on Nightingale wards we could see all our patients and although life was hard the pay was very poor we were promised that we would have money to live on when we retired and that the sacrifice of pay was worth it, hell we had to strike then but it was short lived as the government implemented regrading and the end of the state enrolled nurse.
Fast forward to John Major the introduction of the patients charter, we were naive we believed this was for the good of the patients now looking back it was the foundations for the internal market. We started to hear about private enterprise in the NHS but in the north where I lived we didn’t really see it but constant restructure commenced and he beloved hospital where I worked was closed with the loss of all those beds as we merged with a neighbouring health authority. That was bad news and the start of a rolling snowball that became an avalanche.Crown indeminity had gone and now we had ambulance chasers just like America . It started to feel different, Our fragmented communities still reeling from the onslaught of Thatcher the chronic diseases that had blighted our area from industry and high unemployment our patients were dependant and becoming generally sicker. The country was sick. Then there he was our saviour with a bright white smile and a red flag Tony Blair.
The morning Blair was elected I remember I was ecstatic a Labour government we had a new big union uniting us all in the NHS Unison and we thought that this would be amazing. A new hospital we were promised and we really did need it nursing patients in wards that were built for the war it needed a revamp. When the builders arrived it struck a chord with me, they didn’t seem to care about the practical issues, nope it would be a smart new PFI building it would look great and we would have bays of patients gone were the nightingale wards sacrificed for 4 bedded bays how novel. Less beds but we were sold because it was new. We raised concerns about the number of beds but were told more would be done in the community in this bright new age and how brilliant it was going to be.
Under Blair it was indeed different patient targets, we lost some of our ward teams as they were now under supervision of a private firms these were the mainstay our wards they were our domestic and portering staff. The rot had set in. It felt the union had sold us down the river on our pay deal to appease their labour masters but the patients seemed happier and as a nurse really that is all that matters. We still seemed to have plenty of nurses so the patients were well cared for.
Then it happened a Tory government again, nursing would not recover as we watched restructure after restructure hit the NHS somehow there seemed less of us, it was a gradual thing. Nursing had become degree and masters orientated we were creating a generation of nurses who were graduates but the job was the same. The pay freeze set in we didn’t notice at first then our pensions were reorganised and it became so complicated but basically it meant that most of us would be working until we were 67 not the magic 55 as we were promised when we joined.
The first time I saw TUPE deal I was horrified how had this happened? when did we let the private sector in? Then Jeremy Hunt with his smirking smile and his bloody NHS lapel badge. He wrote a book about privatising the NHS and he has. Not even Corbyn himself will resurrect the NHS now its too far gone. Its fragmented its broken, I do believe that is the plan now , firstly we are talking about how should we fund the NHS free at the point of use ( well providing your BMI is acceptable and you don’t smoke or drink). Just wait mark my words an intelligent conversation about national insurance will happen and soon we will be paying Branson for our NHS then maybe you can get a silver upgrade or something.
The birth of a capitalist health care system is nearly here and we let it happen.
The Red Nurse 