Thankyou but please stop

[MingeofDeath]

Front line NHS worker here. Thank you for your amazing support, we are working unbelievably hard in extremely stressful conditions, so thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
There is just one teeny little thing though; we are not heroes, just normal people going about our jobs. I don't want to see kids of NHS workers waving their pictures around on telly. I'm finding it a bit much. Please don't fetishise us
I know that AIBU

@idblowJonSnow
Actually no, they don’t. People who vote Tory don’t get to look good and clapped. You can’t say you love and appreciate someone and then throw them under the bus next time the opportunity arises. That is hypocrisy.

@TabbyMumz

Every doctor I know in the NHS is very clear that the conservatives are not the party to vote for if you value the nhs.

I have friends on all sides of the spectrum and know many Tory voters too.

I hear you Minge. There's something that feels shallow about all the clapping. I'm sure people mostly mean well, but what we really need is long term improvements in the NHS and better treatment of staff, not a virtue signalling displaying of public support every Thursday. Only in December prior to the last general election I was saying my vote would largely be about supporting political parties that support public services, but for most people it seems like Brexit was the issue. Even though re: Brexit as NHS staff we've repeatedly said we need our European staff to keep the NHS going, as we already have 1 in 5 qualified nurse posts vacant, but no-one listened and got carried away with this weird national obsession of 'taking back control'. And it's mostly all those people who have voted in the Tories and backed Brexit in my area that stand around clapping on Thursday evening not realising they have contributed to the breakdown of the NHS this past decade. And wage inequality in this country is just horrendous. Not just in the NHS, but in almost all keyworker jobs (retail staff, delivery drivers, carers, bus drivers etc) people have been poorly paid, worked long hours, and viewed as unskilled for years, to the extent that for many people it's actually financially better to remain on benefits than what it is to get a full-time job. If people really want to thank keyworkers, then they need to support better wages and treatment of them for the long-term, not just clap every Thursday.

"Every doctor I know in the NHS is very clear that the conservatives are not the party to vote for if you value the nhs."

Oh, that's alright then.

????

Eh? Because you say so Op?
So my friends and family that work in A&E, care homes and ICU shouldn't have the thank yous and the clapping that is cheering them up and giving them a boost because you don't like it?

What gives you the right to tell us to stop and take that away from them?

(Labour voter - am I still allowed to say thank you according to MN)

@TabbyMumz when you say there are masses of NHS staff with 'nothing to do' can I ask where your evidence is? I am an NHS speech and language therapist currently trying to support vulnerable kids with zero understanding of this situation. An important job but not necessarily viewed as 'key' work at this time. Our department are slowly being redeployed. Initially supporting district nurses and more recently supporting a registered nurse with palliative care for all the hundreds of extra people dying at home rather than in hospital. My speech therapist friend is doing covid swab tests. Yet another is supporting directly on a ward with basic care needs. We are being asked to think carefully about taking leave and being asked to increase our hours. Not quite the picture you paint

Whereas I don’t disagree with the funding and the virtue signalling I think there is another element that a PP touched on. For most of the week people isolate themselves and don’t talk or interact (particularly the vulnerable and elderly) that it is a moment once a week when neighbours come out and see each other. Join in a clap now that really signifies we are still all doing what we can whether it is working in the NHS, food production, deliveries etc or just staying at home. That moment when actually for all of Brexit and the divide that it has caused people come together and say we are all trying get through this together. Have a moment of social contact before heading back in.
It also I think helps to have a point in the week. So really I don’t think it’s about clapping for the NHS so much anymore

TabbyMumz look at the government stats of funding into the NHS including inflation, if you really think the Tories have funded it the same. What nonsense.

The clapping is a decoy started by the Tory party as propaganda

Much as I like the idea of saying thank you, it does have these undertones if why it is being done, why it was started and why it is such a clever ploy 😐

I saw one of my local supermarkets applauding NHS staff as they walked in at 7am for their shopping hour the other day and handing them free Easter eggs. I did think it was a bit cringe even though it was a nice sentiment.

Also cuts in mental health devices, social services, adult care, camh and community health budgets including children's centres. Even school nurses were cut. All of this takes further money away from the NHS and things costs more in the long run because of the cuts.

I'm a Labour party member, and I was out campaigning during the GE on behalf of Labour, as it was clear to me that they were the party we could entrust the future of the NHS to, and not the Tories.

I clap each week, out of gratitude to the NHS workers, as well as all the other key workers, the people who are self isolating, etc. It is 2 minutes out of our pretty crap week that make people feel a bit better - see their neighbours, etc.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive in my mind, but I do think we need to call out the hypocrisy of the likes of Boris and all the other MPs who applauded themselves when they turned down giving public sector workers like nurses a decent pay rise, now clapping for the NHS.

Andnowwearesix....there have been other nhs workers on here saying different. Saying they are being asked to take leave. If you think it through, speech and language therapists and other workers arent all being put in icu are they. They wont be properly trained. A nurse from paediatrics said she had nothing to do because she was only trained to work with children and there were none in. People trained to work in the eye hospital will more than likely not be having as many patients in...the list goes on. The NHS is a massive machine, full of millions of workers, admin, finance, HR, etc etc. Its interesting you mention s and l specialists, as we use this dept quite a bit. All the sessions have completely stopped. The dept has pretty much closed down. They are a massive dept. Of course some will be redeployed, but not the vast majority and they will need retraining. I just think it's silly to put halos on people just because they work for a certain organisation.

Oh God the clapping - 'Oh I can clap for 2 minutes on a thursday and I've done my bit'???
I can still smoke and drive like a dick, I can still shout at A&E staff on a Friday night after too many, I can still abuse my wife and kids, causing them to need police or hospital or other care - but I've clapped?

Oh and I've also noted those in my road who don't clap!

It is virtue signalling at it's worst.

I appreciate the NHS (dp is a keyworker in it) and do so by not smoking, not causing any harm to myself or others, and I don't clap.

(I also didn't vote Tory)

Oh ffs kids can’t vote, get over it.

For every NHS staff like Isadora, you do get the staff that want the appreciation through the clapping. Why not, this has all underlined x 100 why the NHS is so important. But I have NHS acquaintances not on the frontline and not deployed to it who were more than happy to accept the priority Tesco slots, free coffees etc, and posted about it on social. Like I said, fair enough.

"I saw one of my local supermarkets applauding NHS staff as they walked in at 7am for their shopping hour the other day and handing them free Easter eggs. I did think it was a bit cringe even though it was a nice sentiment."
They are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, it will be a marketing ploy...plus not many people are buying Easter eggs so they will have stock over. There is a massive waste from supermarkets at the moment, we saw them throw loads of stock away the other day, and most of the stock on the shelves had close sell by dates.

I haven't clapped.
I was this close to putting up a "thank you NHS, I've never voted Tory" poster in my window. But figured I'd look like a twat, so haven't.

Didnt take long for this thread to become a tory basher

I don't think you grasp what fetishisation really is but I agree with your wider point.

NHS staff require adequate pay (rises) and efficient PPE both of which are lacking - the clapping absolves the government of responsibility to meeting these goals.

The clapping is a decoy started by the Tory party as propaganda

What? Wasn't it a woman who lives in London who had the Clap for Carers idea?She's been interviewed a few times on the BBC.

The clapping like a seal business is cringey as hell but it's mainly just well meaning folks showing their appreciation for your hard work and courage, in the only way they can.

I don't think it's anything to do with 'fetishising' you, that's a very strange interpretation.

My brother and sister are both nhs workers - one of them in ICU. They have told me they appreciate the gesture, so I’ll carry on thanks.

My father is retired but used to work for the NHS. He did it for the very good final salary pension. That's all.