NHS Strikes - We're Losing Patience
By Hayley Sigrist I shouldn’t have worn heels. I’ve been here for ten minutes, and it feels like I've signed up to a triathlon. The doctors here are used to it. They’re used to this consistent rush; the bleeping from bleepers, the consultants consulting and that sickly, stomach-turning feeling only full-blown exhaustion can give you. They’re used to it, yet they still love doing it. The following day, for the following week, possibly even, for the rest of their lives. One of the junior doctors here at Princess Royal University Hospital is keeping herself busy. By 2’oclock, she’s seen the best part of 30 patients admitted in the day before. She’s organised investigations, started treatment plans for those well enough to leave, reported back to the one consultant on the ward and, to top it all off, she’s got the flu. She’s working on what would have been her day off. It’s a Saturday, she could be watching Christmas movies with the...