In an utterly chilling account, an anonymous NHS Doctor has exposed the reality of what really goes on behind the scenes when Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a hospital, and outlined in the starkest possible terms the truly horrifying conditions that NHS staff are now forced to work under due to 9 solid years of funding cuts and disastrous Tory neglect.
Virtually every British citizen adores the NHS and everything that it stands for – and if you can read the NHS Doctor’s words and you still choose to vote for Boris Johnson’s party, there really must be something very, very wrong with you indeed:
“I am an NHS doctor and Boris Johnson visited my hospital recently.
We were only told on the day for security reasons. They painted the ward I work on. We were asked to hide dirty laundry. Cleaners were sent out into the car park, on a rainy cold day, picking leaves off the ground. We were told he was going to use our acute area as a ‘meet and greet’
Then we were asked if we wanted to meet him. Every doctor in the hospital said no. They could not find a single consultant who was willing to meet him. The consultant who was on the rota for the day was not there and the rumour on the ground was that he had said he would not let Johnson onto the ward. Instead, the on-call consultant was replaced with another consultant, one high up in management. He was also trying to do a ward round and see newly admitted, acutely unwell patients. There were more management and executives than I’d ever seen. There were young men in expensive suits, looking around themselves at us like tourists on safari.
In the end, a handful of people agreed to meet him. One allied healthcare professional was so angry at his presence she could not stop shaking, but wanted to let him know how unhappy she was. There was also a nurse who didn’t follow politics and didn’t really understand what the fuss was about. There was one healthcare assistant who was very excited he was there because she had seen his dad on I’m a Celebrity get me out of here. She didn’t know exactly who he was but she loved his dad and wanted a selfie. There was a photo of that which made the papers. Hers was the sole smile I saw that day.
The atmosphere was tense and unpleasant. Furious and sullen. Myself and two nurses were trying to see patients whilst hiding in rooms so we wouldn’t meet him by accident. I could feel my ability to safely see extremely unwell patients was slipping – both by the physical space invaded, the wet painted walls, his enormous entourage, but also at the stress of our hospital being visited by the very people who had caused us such damage.
It was like being visited at home by your abusive boyfriend, asking “what can I do to help?”
A number of people, staff and patients, were hanging around the entrance to see him arrive, but he was brought in quietly through a side door. He did not meet anyone other than people who had been seen by his team first.
There were some boos, and some people turned their backs. One member of staff dropped her glasses on the floor to avoid shaking his hand. Every patient I saw that day told me to keep him away from them. “I’d give him a slap.” “Kick him out the hospita!” Showing me texts from their relatives, after they’d told them he was here: “Tell him he’s a c***.”
This is a northern Leave town.
Then there were staged photos. Someone prepared some tea, and it sat there until it was cold. Then Johnson pretended to make it and poured it out for the staff who were obliged to drink cold tea whilst they took photos of Johnson serving them.
There were two very large men in scrubs who no one had seen before, standing around crossarmed. One of the nurses asked who they were. “We are anaesthetists.” I don’t know. Maybe they were anaesthetists we’d never met before. I’d have asked for an ID badge if I’d seen them.
The hospital has been asking for funding to move one ward to a better location for over 5 years. This has been constantly refused by the conservative government. On this day it was granted. More photos.
It was a busy shift. A&E ran out of beds, as usual, and I dash past sick 90 year olds waiting on trolleys on my way to resus to see the sickest. It’s not yet winter, but in the NHS, it’s always winter now.
He left eventually, with all his suited syncophants, and we tried to pick up the pieces of the shift. Some staff were almost too angry to work. I recall the impotent shaking fury of a friend of mine, a nurse, with white paint on his arm where he’d accidentally knocked a freshly painted wall. Sick patients hadn’t properly been reviewed with the distraction, and the numbers fom A&E were piling in. I had a blinding headache and felt rattled. It was probably midday the next day before flow calmed a bit. I worked 12 hours that day and the next and the next. A nearby hospital went on divert on one of those days – too overwhelmed to be able to take new patients, so they were sent to us. Again the rammed corridors of the sick and the old, left in corridors when we don’t even have bedspace to see them in. The queueing ambulances outside waiting for someone free to handover to. Hospitals on divert has happened with terrible frequency over recent years in the winter, and is always very unsafe. It is not typical for November.
The chief executive apologised to me for how hard the day had been and acknowledged our fury but said the important thing was they’d been allowed their funding, after all this time. I said “thank you for the crumbs.” He said, “that’s electioneering.”
There was some talk of voting afterwards, and making sure everyone was registered to vote. What else can we do?
i have been a doctor for 9 years. Almost every doctor I know has an exit plan. So many have already gone. Without hope, that things are going to change. I don’t know how many more NHS winters I’ve got left in me.”
The anonymous NHS Doctor’s heartbreaking words were first published on Twitter, and have since gained more than 2,000 retweets:
This is the truth of what happens when @BorisJohnson visits your hospital. This has been written by an anonymous friend of mine. Please read. Please share. It is the truth about our #NHS – the lies cannot continue@JonAshworth @OwenJones84 @shaunjlawson @jonworth @IanDunt pic.twitter.com/NYTSKTi9BF
— HM (@HinduMonkey) November 25, 2019
However, with the account revealing the true reality of the NHS under Tory rule, this Doctor’s words need to be seen by everybody in the country – especially those who are intending to vote for Boris Johnson’s party in two weeks’ time.
Almost everyone will have friends or family on social media who might be considering voting for the Tories – so please share this article on your wall and ask them to read every single word before making their decision.
Nobody who loves our NHS could possibly read this doctor’s horrifying account and still even consider voting for the Tories. If you do, then – frankly – you should be utterly ashamed of yourself.
