YP Letters: Our medics are stressed and overworked, not superhuman

Politicians need to appreciate hospital staff, says John Bolton. Do you agree?

I HAVE good reasons for being a supporter of our NHS as I was but a lad at its inception; more so since surviving a heart attack almost 25 years ago and subsequent follow-up involvement.

We have seen the efforts of various governments trying to deal with the enormous demands we make on the service and those who work at all levels with so much dedication and professionalism.

Such has been the pressure in recent weeks across the country that there have been signs of near breakdown of the system, and one doesn’t have to have inside knowledge to appreciate the additional stress this causes staff and patients alike.

I’ve also been watching the Channel 4 series Confessions of a Junior Doctor, which has convinced me of the urgency for immediate and drastic decisions to be implemented at the highest level. Anyone, of whatever political persuasion, standing in this forthcoming election should have to watch this series. It is equal in importance to any Brexit issue.

What is it about the health service and some politicians that tries to justify the expectation that junior doctors, registrars and nurses can function normally, making life-and-death decisions, over a 24-hour period of intensive, physically and mentally demanding duty, often on understaffed wards?

One recently appointed registrar, with around 200 patients in a number of wards, had responsibility for 10 junior doctors and had to perform his third operation some 18 sleepless hours into his 24-hour duty.

So involved was he that he didn’t diagnose his own need of an operation until he virtually collapsed.

No wonder many young, highly trained personnel leave because they feel they have failed to reach the expected “super-human” standard. This must add incalculable millions of pounds of waste. Many of those stay in medicine abroad or the private sector.

The programmes reveal many positive aspects and some touching moments of struggle and dedication but, in reality, they also show that the conditions described above are not new; only increasing in severity.

From: David Vaughan, Ilkley.

TOM Richmond’s recent column on a hospital porter, and the hope he offered to his patients, should be required reading for every General Election candidate. Well done to The Yorkshire Post for publishing such insight.