Well, at least that’s what an NHS executive told me at a meeting recently.
There are now NHS resilience training workshops happening around the country. They will teach us how to cope with all the changes that are going on. And we all need to accept new measures, toughen up, be strong, shake it off and get on with the job. We need to be more resilient.
OK. That’s an interesting take. But let’s step back and explore this word “resilience”.
resilience (rɪˈzɪlɪəns)
noun
1. The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness
2. The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity
Yes, there are changes happening in the NHS. Some of them may be for the greater good, and of course we need to move with the times.
But many of them are not. Many of them are very damaging. And no frontline NHS worker would disagree.
Have you ever wondered why health care professionals do what they do? It’s certainly not for the money. And it’s not for status either. Personally, the novelty of carrying the title “Doctor” in front of my name wore off after a weekend.
No. It’s because we care. We have a deep desire to make a positive difference in the health and well-being of our community.
So what if the changes being imposed upon us ultimately prevent us from doing our job to the best of our ability – should we just accept them?
If we feel these changes may be harmful to patient care, should we just toughen up, be strong, shake it off and get on with the job?
Because that doesn’t make us resilient. It makes us complicit. It means we’re indoctrinated. And in that state of mind, our days truly are numbered.
To me, resilience is not about quietly doing what you’re told. It’s not about numbing the internal conflict within you.
Resilience is about standing up for your beliefs in the face of adversity. It’s about resisting changes that do not resonate with you at your core. Being strong and committed to what you know is true. Having unshakable certainty and conviction in what you feel is right.
Having the strength to say No without fear of consequences.
Remembering who you really are.
That’s real resilience.
But you won’t learn that from an NHS workshop anytime soon…
I agree entirely with your sentiments. We need clinicians and managers pulling together more than ever for the benefit of our staff and ultimately patients.
Staff are our most valuable asset and we have to think of new ways to care for them. They need us as much as their patients need them.
We should start a national revolution of caring for our most precious resource.
I would be honored to have a doctor like you!💥💥. Doing what you believe is highest and best for the patient!! I don’t think integrity can be taught. You are blessed!
It seems to me that the managers/administrators do not pay much attention to the clinicians’ requirements, their intentions and actions that they need to take in a clinical scenario—instead the focus is on outcome of the actions taken. Patients’ clinical needs and their care must never be compromised.
I firmly believe that anybody who works within the NHS must have a one to one exposure to the sick and unwell for a period of time to witness their level of suffering, may it be a high-ranking CEO from a financial background or a modest domestic staff.
As a practicing physician, I have experienced some major changes to its core structure and milestones of the NHS in England and Scotland since 1967 to the present day which includes, who makes decisions about NHS services, service commissioning and the way money is spent. Interestingly nobody talks about the care givers such as the nursing staff or ancillary and domestic staff who often leave a much lasting impression on patients.
I feel that there must be a more constructive dialogue between the administrators and the healthcare professionals. Through that exposure we can come up with better planning and deliver a much superior healthcare to patients than our predecessors who came up with great theoretical planning and brilliant ideas which did not work half the time—if they did, wouldn’t we just stick to that! At least six new ideas and new philosophy applied to improve the NHS over the last five decades, our debt situation has not improved—year on year it is growing exponentially.
There is a manager in each one of us and we must learn to manage our own affairs so that administrators could be freed to focus on other important issues.
Well, however grotesque this may sound, it is because of patients’ suffering and their helplessness, that we have bread on our table. Way before that bread passes down the gullet, the least we could offer those sufferers is TIME! Just ask yourself a simple question, years gone by why people still remember Florence Nightingale or Mother Teresa and not Joe Blogs CEO who retired with an OBE—you will have the answer.
The word “Resilience” is just another word for the managers/administrators to play around with until such time they find some more appropriate word! So, unless we collectively change our attitude we will be hearing this word “Resilience” over and over again for a while yet.