Nurses have voted to strike because something needs to change.
I don’t think the people in government who make the decisions understand what it’s like working in the NHS. When they go into hospitals and shake hands with people, they’re not going into major trauma units where people have just been hit by cars. They’re not seeing us resuscitate patients. It’s nothing like medical dramas on TV. If they could be a fly on the wall and come into the NICU for a day, they would be shocked.
If nursing was a male-dominated profession, there probably would have been changes a long time ago. People think doctors do everything, but we’re the ones who are physically there looking after patients 24/7. A long time ago, my role would have been more basic nursing care, but nursing has changed so much and we do such complex things. People dress up as nurses at Halloween and they think: it’s just a sexy woman doing this job.
When I heard about the strike I knew I would vote for it and my colleagues felt the same. It’s so important. But I don’t understand the logistics of it. I don’t think we’ll be able to do a proper strike, like the train strikes where all the trains stop running. The care can’t stop. We physically can’t strike or patients will die. Babies on ventilators can’t look after themselves. They can’t feed themselves. They can’t get their own medication, they can’t resuscitate themselves.
I know that intensive care will have to be fully staffed. But I support the staff who can strike and will be striking. I’m scheduled to work on one of the strike days, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know the consequences of not having enough staff. so I can’t possibly not go in, knowing it will put babies at risk. But regardless of the strikes, I’m not expecting a massive change.
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