Captain Tom Moore, the war veteran who walked laps of his garden to raise money for the NHS, has become the oldest person ever to score a number one single in the UK.
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Without intending any disrespect to those gallant fundraisers, I think I would feel very uncomfortable receiving medical care funded by the efforts of geriatrics and crippled children.
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I donât think money raised is to pay for care , but to support NHS charities, buy treats for hard working staff etc
I would prefer them to be paid a living wage so they could buy their own treats.
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Without intending any disrespect Mike, I think you would feel a lot more uncomfortable if you were unfortunate enough to go down with this bastard of an illness and not be able to count on the amazing efforts of the people who this great man has worked so hard to help. He is a shining example to us ALL.
Stay safe.
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I am in sympathy with your views, Mike, but deplore the word geriatrics to refer to elderly people. Geriatrics is a specialist branch of physical medicine concerned with the care and treatment of disorders associated with âold ageâ, just as paediatrics applies to disorders of children.
Geriatrics was adopted to recognise this branch of medicine as a distinct specialty in the 1960s but has outlived its usefulness because of its derogatory and derisive associations in the public mind. Best avoided IMO.
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Quite right, I am guilty of using lazy shorthand.
I can only offer the excuse that I had just suffered my first wasp sting of the year and was feeling slightly gereatric!
I also realise that I will probably be criticised for using the word crippled. I believe we now say challenged.
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I think you misunderstood my post.
A rich country should be able to fund its health service through fair taxation and not depend on charity, however raised.
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The charity is not funding the health service
What does that charity fund? You said treats. Really?
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Bit deaf, so I donât enjoy listening to scratchy laptop speakers, but I found this from the BBC -
âIn the long term, the funds will be used in planning to allow people to leave hospital quicker and safely, and also provide mental health support for staff and volunteers involved in dealing with the pandemic.â
I guess you must feel that it is OK for this to depend on the chance that the brave captainâs efforts going viral, rather than funded through taxation. Or or the things just optional extras,
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I agree. Giving âtreatsâ to nursing professionals is another example of the infantilism of womenâs work that has afflicted nursing for a century or more, and suppressed wages and conditions of service.
Believe it or not, when I first embarked in a nursing career in 1956, only a few years after the inception of the NHS, only unmarried women were taken on as probationer nurses, and a qualified nurse had to seek the permission of her Matron if she wanted to marry and retain her hospital post.
Male probationers were accepted as âsafeâ, the unchallenged assumption being that male nurses were self-evidently queer. I was not and am not, but I was incredibly naive at18.
My liking for girls was regarded as scandalous by the matronly authorities, who were predominantly and openly Lesbian, yet nonplussed about how to address my inclination to be ânormalâ. But they put huge emotional pressure on girls I liked (and liked me) to warn them off, under threat of dismissal. The tough ones used to laugh in Matronâs face, and give her the âvisualâ finger. She liked that âbutchâ behaviour, of course, though she was as cold as an icicle.
I could write a book. You wouldnât believe it!
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That is weird Mike because I can read the article
Not only women. âUnqualifiedâ workers are vitally important to safety and efficient running of a hospital.
Lying on a trolley in a French hospital, I was gratified to observe that the porter was meticulously washing the wheels before pushing me though the air lock into the pressurised theatre.
I am not convinced that underpaid contract workers in UK hospitals take the same pride in their work.
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FFS Health care professionals ,male,female whatever are dying Peter dying horrible disgusting deaths drowning in their own fluids. Over 120 so far and still their colleagues continue to work knowing the chance they are taking, and you begrudge something to cheer them up and give them pleasure
My local trust has given all its nurses â goodie bags â with donations given to the hospitals It has set up a free supermarket where staff can get things (some basics some a bit more luxurious ) stocked from donations from the community, donations made because people want to help hospital staff , people who accept they are living in 2020 and not tied to the ideas of over 60 years ago
And by the way I didnât specify nurses I said hard working staff
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What an extraordinary post. Iâm almost stunned into silence by such inappropriate language. Iâm truly shocked by your words but I also know that to respond on here can lead to all sorts of nastiness so wonât comment further.
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I genuinely wonder what you are quite so shocked by Irene.
People seem far too sensitive nowadays.
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Call me oversensitive, but there really seems little point in pursuing this exchange. Please just keep yourselves safe and hope that you are never in a position where your survival depends on someone elseâs readiness to expose themselves to risk for you.
The fact remains that Captain Mooreâs accomplishment is quite exceptional and must be recognised as such without trying to score political points.
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