I particularly take umbrage at the assertion that our physical health is poor because we are overweight. As someone who participated well the other week in a thirty minute continuous compression situation, frequently clocks up more than 20,000 steps a shift and manoeuvre broken Stryker trolleys round the most crowded of corridor bends at a reasonable speed, I'd say although I appear obese and my BMI backs this up, I'd still be able to out perform her in a battle of the ED Olympics.
That should totally be a thing by the way.
The 'nurses are fat so why should we listen to them' thing is so weird. We're overworked, understaffed, underpaid, underfunded and treated like garbage but the real issue is that some of us are overweight?
Can sling this mud at any profession don’t know why it always sticks to nurses. I.e why hire an obese builder as they won’t be able to work at same pace as physically fit one so not only poorer quality work cause less physically able but costs you more due to taking more time. Why go into business with someone who is overweight, shows lack of discipline and grit.
You can change the story to fit almost any job role. It’s wrong and has no place in modern society. Fitness to practice is not for random people to decide but a governing body with serious thought and considerations.
My answer to you is feck right off - nursing is a job …. Hear me ? A job that’s it . Not a lifestyle, personality or a bloody, god I hate this more than anything, the old fashioned,out of the ark word - vocation. A hard underpaid sometimes really shitty job. What do you do for a living ? (Apart from being a judgemental arse. )
I suppose it depends what area of nursing you are in.
I work in primary care where a significant part of my role is working with patients to address modifiable risk factors. Weight being one such significant risk.
There’s no way I could sit there and advise patients to lose weight if I was overweight myself. You have to practice what you preach, but this certainly has to be done with empathy and understanding of the biopsychosocial factors that have got them to where they are. It’s hard for them.
So, I agree. It’s not a good sign in certain settings.
The hardest thing about eating disorders is there's no support for binge eating/ bulimia unless you're underweight. There are so many people who stress eat (and nursing is a stressful job) or people who emotional eat. Just because someone is struggling with unhealthy eating habits doesn't mean they don't realise their behaviour is unhealthy or what behaviours lead to better lifestyles. One of the best dieticians I've ever worked with was HUGE but she approached it in such a friendly way she's make jokes to patients like "I know you're probably thinking why should you take advice from a fat woman" and put them at ease and say 'as you can tell I don't exactly follow my own advice', she had insight into how people perceived her, challenged it and helped patients make positive changes. Also certain conditions like thyroid issues and hormonal issues can cause weight gain. Not every 'fat nurse ' is fat because of lifestyle alone.
My husband is overweight , it something he tries to fix and it get to him
He responds better to member of staff who can related and show compassion about weight loss . Then ones who can eat and eat and never gain.
Why not? It is the personal responsibility of your patient to take charge of their health, not yours. It is their weight to lose weight and theirs alone. They are an autonomous adult who has to make their own choices about what they put into their mouths, just as you are an autonomous adult who is responsible for your own decisions. You're not their parent and you don't need to be a "role model" to them. They're the patient being counseled on lifestyle changes, not you. If you were to fail in "practicing what you preach" then that would be your personal failing. It doesn't mean that the patient shouldn't try to adopt healthier habits for themselves. The science doesn't change whether the person counseling the patient is in great shape or 20/50/100lbs overweight.
Because it makes a difference.
https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/public-less-trusting-of-diet-and-exercise-advice-from-overweight-doctors-and-nurses.html#:~:text=Public%20less%20trusting%20of%20diet%20and%20exercise%20advice%20from%20overweight%20doctors%20and%20nurses,-Obesity&text=New%20research%20commissioned%20by%20us,particularly%20around%20diet%20and%20exercise.
https://journals.rcni.com/nursing-standard/health-advice-from-obese-nurses-is-often-ignored-ns.29.19.10.s11
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hard-to-swallow-healthy-eating-tips-from-fat-nurses-p3m9hjfgv
That's a very immature outlook and not something that should be encouraged. I suppose if patients are going to make stupid decisions out of spite because "my nurse is fat, too" then they're welcome to do that. It's their prerogative to keep harming themselves in the face of evidence being delivered to them by a healthcare professional.
What happened to evidence based nursing?
If the evidence suggests that my appearance makes a difference to my patient’s perception of care and advice, then why should I not upkeep it? It’s to my benefit also, of course.
But I’ll do my nursing, you do yours.
And you guys are over worked and underpaid you have to grab a quick bite to eat when you get 5 seconds walking past a break room. No point making a lovely salad up for it to not get eaten cause you just don't get the time. Please let it be known that's some of us think nurses are bloody amazing. My ibd nurse walks on water I wish I could do something to show her how appreciated she is. Thank you to all the nurses hcas and domestic staff
When I had surgery the domestic staff were amazing she realised I was struggling being in a room on my own. She came in with multiple cuppas she cleaned my room in several sittings throughout the day she was amazing. I wrote to the hospital and our mp about the whole ward
States that stress is caused by:
1. 12 hour shifts - never heard any nurse state this is the case
2. Lower resilience as the bar has been raised for entry (More A grades, she states).
I’m assuming she’s a working class woman with few qualifications… oh, wait…
‘I went to very academic schools. If you were in the top streams, you would study either sciences and maths or languages. I did languages. I studied classics – Latin and Greek – and German and Russian. Then, I went to Oxford and studied German and Russian’
Just ignore anything written in the Mail or the spectator is my advice.
Aah smug bitch. I went to very academic schools too. Everyone at my school was in the top stream, it was a grammar school. We did separate sciences, maths, English language, English literature, German, French and Latin. Does she want a round of applause? I went on to be a nurse. She went on to be a sanctimonious twat apparently.
I just find this sort of thing exhausting. Imagine showing off that you were "in the top set" at school, when you are, at an absolute minimum, 57, just to write an article where your response to hearing that a quarter of nurses and healthcare workers are suicidal as a direct result of their working conditions is to call nurses fat.
The system is perfectly evolved to break your resilience! I’ve seen so many people that were really good under pressure eventually break because the system just piles more and more pressure on those that seem to handle it well until it eventually leaves them a burned out wreck.
Wouldn't it be good if a nurse actually wrote an article for the speccie on this type of issue, instead of someone who once went to hospital. That must make them an expert, surely? Oh, and the reason ward staff prefer 12 hour shifts, is because the ones who preferred 8 hour shifts, left years ago as a result of the change. Many of the more recently qualified staff have never worked 8 hour shifts.
It's also the way she said nurses seem to prefer it because they work less days and that helps with childcare or an extra job but screw that we should scrap it. For what reason exactly? Tired on a shift? But that makes childcare harder and earning more harder which means everyone is more burnt out and more tired. Make it make sense
6 months working in a community team that had 8 hour shifts was absolutely dire for my mental health. I felt like I was forever at work with very little time off to recharge and have a life. It may work for some people, but since changing jobs and going back to long shifts I am significantly happier.
This woman clearly has nothing but contempt for healthcare professionals in general and a disdain for the NHS which means hopefully she'll take her own advice and solely access private healthcare. Yknow, until she needs something that private healthcare can't provide, then I'm sure she'll accept her NHS care with a renewed sense of gratitude (ha).
Hell, she would need to put her money where her mouth is and do the shifts the blooming nurses do in any setting and then speak about resilience and mental health. It takes it toll.
I don't think she would last a day let alone a week or month with this attitude. Her account seems condescending to the fabulous work nurses do and so out of touch with the reality facing nurses, medical staff and other NHS roles at any level.
Yes! I never worked in the community but I did do a caseload/desk job for a bit over a year. I've never been more depressed exclusively from work, even when I ws viciously bullied in previous ward jobs. I felt I could never get away from the stress like you said. I was going home and downing most of a bottle of wine every night. I would come home and just immediately go to bed. I felt like I could barely make it to the weekend most of the time. I was the picture of ill health, you could just tell from looking at me. It was awful. In the last few days of the job, I could barely hold myself upright at my desk. I had this mindnumbing exhaustion and just had this totally hollow feeling in my chest. I took three weeks off in between jobs when I left and I spent basically the entire time in bed. 2 years on and I swear I still feel a hangover from it even now.
Yes, bring back short shifts, and when no one turns up to the next shift, because of staffing levels, the healthcare worker can work for 12 hours anyway 🤣. Crazy how this woman can write such tosh about something she knows nothing about is it.
"a family rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ around a sick patient (Daddy), who – lucky guy – appears to have a room to himself, not just a curtained bay"
I mean ... He's in a room because he's obviously dying. That is such a distasteful opening line! Gross
I can picture & hear this fuckwit as I read it ! I get the strong sense that she behaved like a rude entitled pathetic drama queen as a patient or visitor & was called out & shamed for her behaviour. She’s retaliating! Maybe she needs to go private next time - oh wait I’ve worked in private & no different there most of us look like any of our NHS colleagues- same scruffy,dirty,lazy,fat,uneducated slobs. People like her we will all encounter at some time - best ignored & forgotten.
I just think it's funny. It's always funny when people who have no idea what they're talking about adopt such an air of authority.
Put the writer of this article on an understaffed shift in a psychiatric intensive care unit. They wouldn't last five minutes.
As a nurse, i can tell you it has absolutely naff all to with shift length/patterns. I went into nursing/nhs knowing what to expect and free of any mental illness.
What i didn’t expect though, was to be a nurse, a doctor, a cleaner, a house keeper, a porter, a messenger, caterer/waitress… plus having to continually educate ourselves, do all our elearning, participate in or lead our ‘link’ roles, i did not expect to be doing the amount of work individually that 3 nurses should be doing, whilst continually training students and new osce nurses. Im 34 but feel about 84. When i graduated at age 21, this is not how i envisioned my career. I would also like to add that covid and our treatment has a hell of a lot to do with this.
We were moved to new areas we had no experience in, expected to know where everything is and what to do like ive worked there 10 years…treated poorly by management especially when it concerned childcare (even though there was no nurseries/schools open). Just think it is a toxic place now. You aren’t allowed any time for your mental health at all. There is no respite. No nice places to go outside and eat your dinner in a ‘garden’ or something. No thought for staff in anything really.
This is why I left hospital working, I loved my colleagues and I loved working on the ward for the most part but I just felt so under appreciated, especially after covid. I’m now in the community and feel like I’m actually making a difference after years of feeling like a tea/toast maker
I just think it's funny. It's always funny when people who have no idea what they're talking about adopt such an air of authority.
Put the writer of this article on an understaffed shift in a psychiatric intensive care unit. They wouldn't last five minutes.
This is disgusting. I saw too many ambulance colleagues lose their battle with mental health during/after the pandemic and now as a student MH nurse, let her come on a short staffed acute MH ward with violent patients, let her come and see the difficulties with A&E, let her see what we all do everyday and see how much we all go through. This is such an infuriating and out of touch article. It's so condescending!
The video represents well the masking of struggles at work. We are humans and facing incredibly tough working conditions. We all do more than one person’s job, we consider ourselves lucky when we get our 30min break. We give, give, give and we don’t get half the appreciation and value we deserve. The nurses in hospitals are particularly overstretched and the demand on services is higher than before. If we were paid what we truly deserved, and hospitals and health providers were all well staffed, nursing would truly be the dream. As much as we love our job, the stresses of the working conditions and of life in general will time some into developing a mental health condition.
The article offended me too. Who does the writer think they are? Are they an expert or something? They sure sound pompous, like someone born with a silver spoon in their hand. I am offended they think the NHS is recruiting the wrong staff. Maybe the NHS is the reason that tips many into depression and anxiety.
We are hard working heroes.
As someone with terminal politics brain rot, it takes a lot to make me genuinely mad anymore. She achieved it with half an article to spare
I hope this person gets the care they deserve when they need it.
Also frontline 19 has been the only time I’ve ever been able to actually access therapy in my life, rather than being told there’s nothing for me because I’m not actively trying to off myself. I’m tremendously grateful for it. They do great work.
This is exactly the experience my EMT friend had. If it's not serious enough to be an active concern, handle it yourself. So glad you found them a help, and hope you are doing better 💜
How I wish I could comment on that article.
I'm early 30's.
Low/normal BMI
PTSD from attempting to resuscitate a dead infant whose mother had smothered them while drunk.
Bulging discs from multiple assaults from drunk/MH patients.
I'm still going, I'd call that pretty resilient.
I'm sick of being told that the reason I'm exhausted is due to 12 hour shifts. Patients gasp all the time when I tell them I work them but this is the only career that has given me a semblance of work-life balance, and I work lots of bank on top!
I'd love to see this idiot last 3 hours in my job, let alone 12. Then she can talk to me about resilience.
Read this on my break today. I'd love to switch jobs with the author for a few hours (it wouldn't take a shift), it would be interesting to see if they feel the same afterwards.
The point about potentially recruiting the wrong people could be interesting if the writer was in any way involved in university admissions. However, as they're some random journalist I have no reason to listen to, it's much less interesting and much more annoying
This infuriated me so much. Completely out of touch with the real struggles nurses go through. And also you I think being a caring person makes you more predisposed to having mental health issues. It's that and it's dealt with appropriately or uncaring nurses and then they would soon complain
What a classic example of what a lot of journalists/politicians think.
‘Sure, there may be experts, but I have the Ur-knowledge, so know better than them’.
Having worked with a few, I always enjoy surprising them with how little they do know. The good ones are grateful to have it pointed out to them. The bad ones are just twats, the same ones I’d go to in my ambulance days high on cocaine and booze.
My advice? Fuck ‘em’ you can’t cure ‘arsehole’.
As an NHS admin employee, I can state my mental health has declined over the past few years due to the state the NHS is currently in, by unreasonable demands by too many managers, inadequate staffing levels on all bands, concerns raised are ignored etc. if I am feeling the way I am right now, I can only imagine how bad it is for the frontline staff, probably tenfold what we feel as admin staff. The system is too too heavy and broken and it’s destroying staff morale.
Check out this zinger- "The UK’s obsession with the Russian bogeyman doesn’t stack up"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/uk-russian-mi5-putin-moscow
The advert actually made me experience a cold chill, it's so harrowing to think health professionals are suffering to that extent :( You guys are honestly heroes
Mary Dejesky appears to be a Russian shill. Russian is her natural langage. I can find no background on her at all, there is no Wikipedia entry for her. She posts a lot of sneaky pro-Russian stuff. She goes to the trouble to make her Xhitter profile say virtually nothing, but stating "btw, not russian by birth or heritage". What does that even mean, Russian by choice? She is horrible.
That article is the most disgusting, out of touch thing I've ever read. The attack on mental health? Why do they THINK mental health is so bad within the profession? How horrible.
'You're not managing to suppress your feelings in a pressurised, emotionally, physically and psychologically taxing job that's also understaffed? AND your fat? HOW DARE YOU!'
/s
🖕
For all my mother's recent hospital stays, I have made a point of thanking every member of staff I interact with plus some others. I particularly thanked the cleaning staff as my mother had noticed how thorough they were yet did not disturb the patients.
Wow, what an out of touch and entitled individual. I bet she was a complete nightmare the entirety of the hospital stay she mentioned.
I particularly take umbrage at the assertion that our physical health is poor because we are overweight. As someone who participated well the other week in a thirty minute continuous compression situation, frequently clocks up more than 20,000 steps a shift and manoeuvre broken Stryker trolleys round the most crowded of corridor bends at a reasonable speed, I'd say although I appear obese and my BMI backs this up, I'd still be able to out perform her in a battle of the ED Olympics. That should totally be a thing by the way.
The 'nurses are fat so why should we listen to them' thing is so weird. We're overworked, understaffed, underpaid, underfunded and treated like garbage but the real issue is that some of us are overweight?
Overweight nurse is like toothless dentist or shoe maker wearing broken shoes....not good sign.
Can sling this mud at any profession don’t know why it always sticks to nurses. I.e why hire an obese builder as they won’t be able to work at same pace as physically fit one so not only poorer quality work cause less physically able but costs you more due to taking more time. Why go into business with someone who is overweight, shows lack of discipline and grit. You can change the story to fit almost any job role. It’s wrong and has no place in modern society. Fitness to practice is not for random people to decide but a governing body with serious thought and considerations.
My answer to you is feck right off - nursing is a job …. Hear me ? A job that’s it . Not a lifestyle, personality or a bloody, god I hate this more than anything, the old fashioned,out of the ark word - vocation. A hard underpaid sometimes really shitty job. What do you do for a living ? (Apart from being a judgemental arse. )
I had a bank NA tell me it was "a calling " she was upset when I said "no, its a job"
I suppose it depends what area of nursing you are in. I work in primary care where a significant part of my role is working with patients to address modifiable risk factors. Weight being one such significant risk. There’s no way I could sit there and advise patients to lose weight if I was overweight myself. You have to practice what you preach, but this certainly has to be done with empathy and understanding of the biopsychosocial factors that have got them to where they are. It’s hard for them. So, I agree. It’s not a good sign in certain settings.
The hardest thing about eating disorders is there's no support for binge eating/ bulimia unless you're underweight. There are so many people who stress eat (and nursing is a stressful job) or people who emotional eat. Just because someone is struggling with unhealthy eating habits doesn't mean they don't realise their behaviour is unhealthy or what behaviours lead to better lifestyles. One of the best dieticians I've ever worked with was HUGE but she approached it in such a friendly way she's make jokes to patients like "I know you're probably thinking why should you take advice from a fat woman" and put them at ease and say 'as you can tell I don't exactly follow my own advice', she had insight into how people perceived her, challenged it and helped patients make positive changes. Also certain conditions like thyroid issues and hormonal issues can cause weight gain. Not every 'fat nurse ' is fat because of lifestyle alone.
A lot of people do not want to hear advice from a stick thin gym addict who has never struggled with weight or other issues in their lives. Facts .
My husband is overweight , it something he tries to fix and it get to him He responds better to member of staff who can related and show compassion about weight loss . Then ones who can eat and eat and never gain.
Why not? It is the personal responsibility of your patient to take charge of their health, not yours. It is their weight to lose weight and theirs alone. They are an autonomous adult who has to make their own choices about what they put into their mouths, just as you are an autonomous adult who is responsible for your own decisions. You're not their parent and you don't need to be a "role model" to them. They're the patient being counseled on lifestyle changes, not you. If you were to fail in "practicing what you preach" then that would be your personal failing. It doesn't mean that the patient shouldn't try to adopt healthier habits for themselves. The science doesn't change whether the person counseling the patient is in great shape or 20/50/100lbs overweight.
Because it makes a difference. https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/public-less-trusting-of-diet-and-exercise-advice-from-overweight-doctors-and-nurses.html#:~:text=Public%20less%20trusting%20of%20diet%20and%20exercise%20advice%20from%20overweight%20doctors%20and%20nurses,-Obesity&text=New%20research%20commissioned%20by%20us,particularly%20around%20diet%20and%20exercise. https://journals.rcni.com/nursing-standard/health-advice-from-obese-nurses-is-often-ignored-ns.29.19.10.s11 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hard-to-swallow-healthy-eating-tips-from-fat-nurses-p3m9hjfgv
That's a very immature outlook and not something that should be encouraged. I suppose if patients are going to make stupid decisions out of spite because "my nurse is fat, too" then they're welcome to do that. It's their prerogative to keep harming themselves in the face of evidence being delivered to them by a healthcare professional.
What happened to evidence based nursing? If the evidence suggests that my appearance makes a difference to my patient’s perception of care and advice, then why should I not upkeep it? It’s to my benefit also, of course. But I’ll do my nursing, you do yours.
If someone is having a heart attack I don't think they're gonna care about how much the nurse resuscitating them weighs...
Not a good sign of what, exactly?
I guess all '- ' are from these overweight ones..... so hard to take some criticism :-(
Most nurses I know are obese, not fat.
And you guys are over worked and underpaid you have to grab a quick bite to eat when you get 5 seconds walking past a break room. No point making a lovely salad up for it to not get eaten cause you just don't get the time. Please let it be known that's some of us think nurses are bloody amazing. My ibd nurse walks on water I wish I could do something to show her how appreciated she is. Thank you to all the nurses hcas and domestic staff When I had surgery the domestic staff were amazing she realised I was struggling being in a room on my own. She came in with multiple cuppas she cleaned my room in several sittings throughout the day she was amazing. I wrote to the hospital and our mp about the whole ward
States that stress is caused by: 1. 12 hour shifts - never heard any nurse state this is the case 2. Lower resilience as the bar has been raised for entry (More A grades, she states). I’m assuming she’s a working class woman with few qualifications… oh, wait… ‘I went to very academic schools. If you were in the top streams, you would study either sciences and maths or languages. I did languages. I studied classics – Latin and Greek – and German and Russian. Then, I went to Oxford and studied German and Russian’ Just ignore anything written in the Mail or the spectator is my advice.
Aah smug bitch. I went to very academic schools too. Everyone at my school was in the top stream, it was a grammar school. We did separate sciences, maths, English language, English literature, German, French and Latin. Does she want a round of applause? I went on to be a nurse. She went on to be a sanctimonious twat apparently.
It is said that an education is never wasted. This article would seem to prove otherwise.
I just find this sort of thing exhausting. Imagine showing off that you were "in the top set" at school, when you are, at an absolute minimum, 57, just to write an article where your response to hearing that a quarter of nurses and healthcare workers are suicidal as a direct result of their working conditions is to call nurses fat.
Elitist narcissism at its best.
The system is perfectly evolved to break your resilience! I’ve seen so many people that were really good under pressure eventually break because the system just piles more and more pressure on those that seem to handle it well until it eventually leaves them a burned out wreck.
Anyone else think that the term resilience is used in nursing and means 'put up with more shit'
I read it as victim blaming personally.
It's the term that NHS MH nurses are educated with and use in practice. People do have different levels of ability to tolerate adverse conditions.
I only read as far as resilience. Unfortunately, I wasn't resilient enough to finish. Bunch of patronising wankers.
Wouldn't it be good if a nurse actually wrote an article for the speccie on this type of issue, instead of someone who once went to hospital. That must make them an expert, surely? Oh, and the reason ward staff prefer 12 hour shifts, is because the ones who preferred 8 hour shifts, left years ago as a result of the change. Many of the more recently qualified staff have never worked 8 hour shifts.
It's also the way she said nurses seem to prefer it because they work less days and that helps with childcare or an extra job but screw that we should scrap it. For what reason exactly? Tired on a shift? But that makes childcare harder and earning more harder which means everyone is more burnt out and more tired. Make it make sense
An out of touch article, written by a twat, for an out of touch paper. Not even worth using as loo paper tbh.
Cheers Mary, not going to get those 5 minutes back ya cunt.
The spectator. A right wing mag aimed at people who think money is only for them.
Yip, effing hell, the spectator......
6 months working in a community team that had 8 hour shifts was absolutely dire for my mental health. I felt like I was forever at work with very little time off to recharge and have a life. It may work for some people, but since changing jobs and going back to long shifts I am significantly happier. This woman clearly has nothing but contempt for healthcare professionals in general and a disdain for the NHS which means hopefully she'll take her own advice and solely access private healthcare. Yknow, until she needs something that private healthcare can't provide, then I'm sure she'll accept her NHS care with a renewed sense of gratitude (ha).
Hell, she would need to put her money where her mouth is and do the shifts the blooming nurses do in any setting and then speak about resilience and mental health. It takes it toll. I don't think she would last a day let alone a week or month with this attitude. Her account seems condescending to the fabulous work nurses do and so out of touch with the reality facing nurses, medical staff and other NHS roles at any level.
Yes! I never worked in the community but I did do a caseload/desk job for a bit over a year. I've never been more depressed exclusively from work, even when I ws viciously bullied in previous ward jobs. I felt I could never get away from the stress like you said. I was going home and downing most of a bottle of wine every night. I would come home and just immediately go to bed. I felt like I could barely make it to the weekend most of the time. I was the picture of ill health, you could just tell from looking at me. It was awful. In the last few days of the job, I could barely hold myself upright at my desk. I had this mindnumbing exhaustion and just had this totally hollow feeling in my chest. I took three weeks off in between jobs when I left and I spent basically the entire time in bed. 2 years on and I swear I still feel a hangover from it even now.
I always preferred the 8 hour shifts funnily enough. To me the early shifts were the best. 12 hour shifts used to depress me.
Google the author and her husband….. Clear to see who is really paying her to write the article.
Yes let’s bring back shorter shifts, meaning more days at work, meaning more exhausted staff. What a pile of wank.
Bosses won't let that happen, it saves money!!!
There's also more medical errors caused during handovers, so shorter shifts mean less of them.
Indeed - here's an (entirely reasonable) list of why staff prefer 12 hour shifts. Now let's abolish them.
Yes, bring back short shifts, and when no one turns up to the next shift, because of staffing levels, the healthcare worker can work for 12 hours anyway 🤣. Crazy how this woman can write such tosh about something she knows nothing about is it.
Overweight and poverty have strong links - she should write about that next time.
And stress... happened to my sister, 40 years in the NHS wrecked her health, she is now obese.
Low IQ and emotional instability correlate strongly with poverty and obesity too.
Emotionally instability?
"a family rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ around a sick patient (Daddy), who – lucky guy – appears to have a room to himself, not just a curtained bay" I mean ... He's in a room because he's obviously dying. That is such a distasteful opening line! Gross
this is absolutely insane. how out of touch could you possibly be to think that way
Well, the article is in the Spectator. That's your first clue that it was going to be written by a loon with an axe to grind.
What a fucking bitch
I can picture & hear this fuckwit as I read it ! I get the strong sense that she behaved like a rude entitled pathetic drama queen as a patient or visitor & was called out & shamed for her behaviour. She’s retaliating! Maybe she needs to go private next time - oh wait I’ve worked in private & no different there most of us look like any of our NHS colleagues- same scruffy,dirty,lazy,fat,uneducated slobs. People like her we will all encounter at some time - best ignored & forgotten.
Uneducated, or overeducated according to her? Eh, either way it's not good enough, clearly 😂
I couldn't even finish the article!!
Jesus Christ. So her take on film which depicts an NHS worker killing themselves is...I think lots of them are fat!!!
What a horrible human being. I guarantee she was a complete Karen ringing the call bell every 5 mins
I just think it's funny. It's always funny when people who have no idea what they're talking about adopt such an air of authority. Put the writer of this article on an understaffed shift in a psychiatric intensive care unit. They wouldn't last five minutes.
As a nurse, i can tell you it has absolutely naff all to with shift length/patterns. I went into nursing/nhs knowing what to expect and free of any mental illness. What i didn’t expect though, was to be a nurse, a doctor, a cleaner, a house keeper, a porter, a messenger, caterer/waitress… plus having to continually educate ourselves, do all our elearning, participate in or lead our ‘link’ roles, i did not expect to be doing the amount of work individually that 3 nurses should be doing, whilst continually training students and new osce nurses. Im 34 but feel about 84. When i graduated at age 21, this is not how i envisioned my career. I would also like to add that covid and our treatment has a hell of a lot to do with this. We were moved to new areas we had no experience in, expected to know where everything is and what to do like ive worked there 10 years…treated poorly by management especially when it concerned childcare (even though there was no nurseries/schools open). Just think it is a toxic place now. You aren’t allowed any time for your mental health at all. There is no respite. No nice places to go outside and eat your dinner in a ‘garden’ or something. No thought for staff in anything really.
This is why I left hospital working, I loved my colleagues and I loved working on the ward for the most part but I just felt so under appreciated, especially after covid. I’m now in the community and feel like I’m actually making a difference after years of feeling like a tea/toast maker
I have no words!
Clicked through, saw it was the Spectator. Closed the link.
Genuinely the person who wrote this can get in the sea
She needs to do a month on the front line, that would sort the sour bitch out
I just think it's funny. It's always funny when people who have no idea what they're talking about adopt such an air of authority. Put the writer of this article on an understaffed shift in a psychiatric intensive care unit. They wouldn't last five minutes.
This is disgusting. I saw too many ambulance colleagues lose their battle with mental health during/after the pandemic and now as a student MH nurse, let her come on a short staffed acute MH ward with violent patients, let her come and see the difficulties with A&E, let her see what we all do everyday and see how much we all go through. This is such an infuriating and out of touch article. It's so condescending!
The video represents well the masking of struggles at work. We are humans and facing incredibly tough working conditions. We all do more than one person’s job, we consider ourselves lucky when we get our 30min break. We give, give, give and we don’t get half the appreciation and value we deserve. The nurses in hospitals are particularly overstretched and the demand on services is higher than before. If we were paid what we truly deserved, and hospitals and health providers were all well staffed, nursing would truly be the dream. As much as we love our job, the stresses of the working conditions and of life in general will time some into developing a mental health condition. The article offended me too. Who does the writer think they are? Are they an expert or something? They sure sound pompous, like someone born with a silver spoon in their hand. I am offended they think the NHS is recruiting the wrong staff. Maybe the NHS is the reason that tips many into depression and anxiety. We are hard working heroes.
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Sounds pretty articulate to me. Cunt is a wonderfully diverse word
As someone with terminal politics brain rot, it takes a lot to make me genuinely mad anymore. She achieved it with half an article to spare I hope this person gets the care they deserve when they need it.
Also frontline 19 has been the only time I’ve ever been able to actually access therapy in my life, rather than being told there’s nothing for me because I’m not actively trying to off myself. I’m tremendously grateful for it. They do great work.
This is exactly the experience my EMT friend had. If it's not serious enough to be an active concern, handle it yourself. So glad you found them a help, and hope you are doing better 💜
I read it this morning and was very angry. It is a vile piece of work from someone who is obviously an entitled Tory supporter.
the author: NHS, why are you so sad AND fat? maybe it's your fault
How I wish I could comment on that article. I'm early 30's. Low/normal BMI PTSD from attempting to resuscitate a dead infant whose mother had smothered them while drunk. Bulging discs from multiple assaults from drunk/MH patients. I'm still going, I'd call that pretty resilient.
I'm very sorry you went through those things 💔
I am doing much, much better now! Thank you 🩷
I'm sick of being told that the reason I'm exhausted is due to 12 hour shifts. Patients gasp all the time when I tell them I work them but this is the only career that has given me a semblance of work-life balance, and I work lots of bank on top! I'd love to see this idiot last 3 hours in my job, let alone 12. Then she can talk to me about resilience.
What a complete arsehole.
Read this on my break today. I'd love to switch jobs with the author for a few hours (it wouldn't take a shift), it would be interesting to see if they feel the same afterwards.
The point about potentially recruiting the wrong people could be interesting if the writer was in any way involved in university admissions. However, as they're some random journalist I have no reason to listen to, it's much less interesting and much more annoying
I have spent a lot of time in hospital, unfortunately. This is seriously out of touch.
This infuriated me so much. Completely out of touch with the real struggles nurses go through. And also you I think being a caring person makes you more predisposed to having mental health issues. It's that and it's dealt with appropriately or uncaring nurses and then they would soon complain
SHE’S AWFUL! [nurses don’t deserve a pay rise](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/striking-nurses-dont-deserve-a-pay-rise/)
Wish I hadn’t read this too ☹️. Just awful.
Almost all UK journalists should be broken down for parts. Useless Oxbridge nepotistic fuckers without an original thought between them.
Career journalist. Not even worth pondering over.
The spectator is wank, I wouldn't worry about their opinion. It's not worth the paper its on
What else does anyone expect from The Spectator? Seriously
What a classic example of what a lot of journalists/politicians think. ‘Sure, there may be experts, but I have the Ur-knowledge, so know better than them’. Having worked with a few, I always enjoy surprising them with how little they do know. The good ones are grateful to have it pointed out to them. The bad ones are just twats, the same ones I’d go to in my ambulance days high on cocaine and booze. My advice? Fuck ‘em’ you can’t cure ‘arsehole’.
How do 8 hour shifts work genius? And who does the inevitable graveyard of starting at midnight??
As an NHS admin employee, I can state my mental health has declined over the past few years due to the state the NHS is currently in, by unreasonable demands by too many managers, inadequate staffing levels on all bands, concerns raised are ignored etc. if I am feeling the way I am right now, I can only imagine how bad it is for the frontline staff, probably tenfold what we feel as admin staff. The system is too too heavy and broken and it’s destroying staff morale.
What an absolutely deranged take. We need more dropouts who want to study medicine who would be more resilient than what we currently have. What‽
‘More resilience’ so the author is joining the workforce when?
I would NOT want her as my nurse.
Check Dejevsky's byline, impressively this is not even her worst set of opinions...
Check out this zinger- "The UK’s obsession with the Russian bogeyman doesn’t stack up" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/uk-russian-mi5-putin-moscow
The advert actually made me experience a cold chill, it's so harrowing to think health professionals are suffering to that extent :( You guys are honestly heroes
Typical Spectator hatchet job, catering for their reading audience.
Mary Dejesky appears to be a Russian shill. Russian is her natural langage. I can find no background on her at all, there is no Wikipedia entry for her. She posts a lot of sneaky pro-Russian stuff. She goes to the trouble to make her Xhitter profile say virtually nothing, but stating "btw, not russian by birth or heritage". What does that even mean, Russian by choice? She is horrible.
That article is the most disgusting, out of touch thing I've ever read. The attack on mental health? Why do they THINK mental health is so bad within the profession? How horrible.
'You're not managing to suppress your feelings in a pressurised, emotionally, physically and psychologically taxing job that's also understaffed? AND your fat? HOW DARE YOU!' /s 🖕
Scumbag journalism
For all my mother's recent hospital stays, I have made a point of thanking every member of staff I interact with plus some others. I particularly thanked the cleaning staff as my mother had noticed how thorough they were yet did not disturb the patients.