It begins! Calls for NHS lanyards to be removed because of the Nowak killing

[SocialistMammy]

I suppose this knee-jerk over-the-top reaction was inevitable.

There are calls today - including from Kemi Badenoch - for public sector staff, including the NHS! to stop wearing "political" lanyards.

These could be just showing that you're a decent person who opposes genocide, or that your patient is safe with you regardless of your sexuality or gender identity when they are being treated.

And this is all because .. of the murder of Henry Nowak.

So, despite the calls from Nowak's family not to politicise their poor boy's death - that's EXACTLY what the far right are now trying to do. And the NHS has NOTHING to do with that police officer.

Where this is heading looks very ugly - we've got a World Cup starting shortly, and that's going to mean England flags being used to attack minorities. Will footballers have to make statements about diversity being anti white? Probably - it feels like the far right think this is their time now and ANYTHING is up for grabs.

It will be lanyards today, deportations tomorrow. Mark my words.

Yes - and the PP has remained silent on the political badges issue for frontline workers.

Curiously.

Is it though? I’m very sorry the impact the it had on the poster but it sounds like the health care worker was allowed to wear the badge. If she didn’t do or say anything else to make the poster uncomfortable then it sounds like the poster assumed that the worker would treat her poorly based on the fact that she supported Palestine. Or perhaps the HCW did so more than this? If they didn’t then I don’t see grounds for complaint here. In fact, if that was the sole grounds for making that assumption then the HCW might have a case of discrimination. I don’t think you’d be able to say that an LGBTIQ+ lanyard made you feel unsafe that a HCW would mistreat a biological woman even if you genuinely felt that way. I’m not suggesting they the poster was discriminating but I don’t think a complaint off a lanyard alone would be upheld if the HCW was allowed to war it. It’s why I do agree think that all causes and political symbols should be removed because it’s inevitable that it will make people uncomfortable which is wrong. No symbol means that everyone is welcome and supported.

you couldn't complain about the actual HCW if they were only wearing a badge that they were allowed to wear but you could definitely complain about the hospital for allowing badge wearing.

No grounds for complaint? Are you having a laugh?

Of course she can complain. The policy has made her feel intimidated! The rights and wrongs of the individual staff member are bloody irrelevant.

It still made her unable to communicate an important piece of information crucial to her health and wellbeing.

Giving a lecture about how she has no right to complain isn't just tone deaf. It's actively insulting in view of her experience being reflective of an official report.

I’m not giving a lecture or insulting her point of view. I said that I see how she felt intimidated and fully agreed that badges shouldn’t be permitted. I didn’t doubt the poster’s experience or they they felt intimidated because they told us they did. I was responding to the statement that the HCW’s behaviour was awful. My question was what the HCW did wrong if she was allowed to wear the badge? Yes I agree that the poster should complain about the policy but not the staff member unless the HCW did something else wrong they we didn’t hear about. I very fairly pointed out that it’s unfair to staff to receive a complaint for doing nothing wrong.

I hope the poster does complain about the policy as I don’t think the badges should be allowed. I can see how it’s intimidating just as I think pro Israel badges are intimidating to many. They don’t have a place in a healthcare environment.

For sure and I hope they do complain about the policy. It doesn’t sound like the HCW did anything wrong though if they only wearing the badge. That would be unfair to the HCW. The policy is awful.

People have been allowed to get away with this and it’s such a relief that it is under the spotlight. As others have observed, if someone walks into a medical appointment with a Stop the Boats badge or a Proud Terf t-shirt it’s not going to go down well.

This has just made me remember that I saw an NHS consultant about a year ago and she was rather “casually” dressed and had a big Pride lanyard. Then more recently I saw her privately. Ha ha in the private hospital she had on a smart blouse and skirt and no in-yer-face lanyard…

I didn't complain actually and I really regret not doing.

I was quite ill at the time and was hanging in the balance of needing an operation (luckily I didn't need it) and when I realised why they were being so horrible I couldn't be sure anything would be done about it or quickly enough for me to not be left vulnerable where they were concerned.

The hospital was fucking chaos, there was Dr strike at the time and only two actual Dr's in the hospital (one in A&E and one doing operations!)

It was only when I got home and felt safe again that I really processed it.

It's not too late.

You are still able to lodge a complaint now. It's not time limited to you being in hospital. I would actually point out why you didn't feel able to complain at the time as it's relevant to your complaint itself too. You were vulnerable and didn't want to be in a position of being treated unfavorably.

Don't forget it's likely that there will be resistance to banning such lanyards on the ground so a reminder that this is a very real issue with real examples to hospital management isn't a bad thing and may help speed up implementations policy directives.

That may mean you make a difference to someone else in a similar position.

It also means you don't get this nonsense that comes from hospitals where they go "well we had no complaints so it was never a problem". (Hello hospitals who tried this on in several scenarios - the one I'm most familiar with in the context of MN being Bounty photographers on wards). They use data against groups to 'show' it's 'made up shit that doesn't really happen'.

I would message John Mann about your experience. https://members.parliament.uk/member/1387/contact

@IonianNerveGrip @RedToothBrush @ScribblingPixie

To be honest when I was discharged from hospital I just wanted to get as far away from that hospital as possible. I was really scared of going back there and had even considered moving house as it's obviously my district hospital and I don't want to risk going back to that place.

If I'm honest one of the reasons I didn't complain at the time aside from being worried that my treatment would get worse was if I had to go back in there it would be on my records and it would be worse.
The media has a very aggressive campaign constantly pumping people on a daily basis with hate and fear and it's doing some horrible things to people.

I hadn't experienced anti-semitism for years and even then it wasn't like this. It actually took me a while to work out that's what was going on and I was in shock (although I'm not sure why, I suppose I just wasn't expecting it).
I felt incredibly vulnerable at the time and after and still do when I think I might end up back there.

I didn't realise I could still log a complaint. I will give it some serious thought because I would hate for anyone else to experience that.

That's more than reasonable. I appreciate it's very difficult and might not be something you ultimately feel you can do. It is important this is on the radar of the authorities in terms of it's real world impact though and not just something in a dry official report.

It isn't time limited for this reason. They may say they can't do much but it's still something that's been registered too. There's a record so they can say 'yes this did happen, it wasn't made up tabloid shit stirring'.

There are also other ways you could do something too.

You could, if you thought your MP would be sympathetic, write to them and say exactly that and why you don't feel comfortable making a complaint to the hospital.

Or you could approach an appropriate Jewish group or synagogue with your experience.

There's no 'right thing' to do here, but visibility of the experience of various groups who don't necessarily get recognised because the prevailing winds are blowing the wrong way is really important.

Everyone has a right to healthcare in this country, free from prejudice or judgement. This includes minority groups which are 'out of fashion' (for want of phrasing it better) or even as previous posters have stated, people who aren't very nice and maybe have commited dreadful crimes - because legal rights and health care professionalism are applicable to all.

You matter and you count. Everyone does. Sometimes that acknowledgement is as important and anything else that may ultimately come from your negative experience.

Leave politics at home. No badges no flags. Just to do the work that we are paid for.

I'm so sorry @Lugol. This makes my blood boil.

I just read in the paper today that Jess Phillips made a speech in which she said she was seen faster in a&e because of her pro-Palestine stance - wtf!!?!

(The columnist remarked that if that got out every patient would be decked out in badges and scarves in the hope of jumping the queue…)

Obvious bias as it says quite clearly that Red Cross will not tell the Authorities.
That will mean that they work for law breakers and against UK. They need to change their policies.