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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

NHS staff dancing..

633 replies

Whitefeather01 · 23/04/2020 09:09

I couldn't see another tread on this. But if there is, please link it.

What's your opinion on this? AIBU to think this is in very bad taste?

OP posts:
Elsiebear90 · 23/04/2020 09:44

Also, I don’t particularly follow the news, but not all trusts are working at capacity. I work at one of largest trusts in the country at an acute trauma centre and despite having hundreds of confirmed covid cases the hospital is half empty. We have loads of ITU beds free and the chief executive has said we have fared much better than expected so can start making plans for elective work to begin again over the next few weeks if things don’t worsen. I’m sure in some departments and wards people are working flat out and struggling to get breaks (as per usual), but for a lot of the hospital it’s fairly quiet with not much going on.

00100001 · 23/04/2020 09:44

@Unusualbloodgroup

But, the point is, staff are clapping and cheering whilst others are dying....

Wannabangbang · 23/04/2020 09:45

YABVU these people are putting their lives at risk DAILY. Alot of nurses are dying or are dead, if they want to dance in their breaks let them bee. It's keeping them upbeat!! Get a life

TimeForChange123 · 23/04/2020 09:45

It's cringe. And I don't know why people keep assuming every NHS worker must be on their knees in ITU or a covid ward and having a terrible time. Some are and it's awful but many, many are not.

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:45

I really don’t think that posting a video of dancing on social media indicates how close and resilient a medical team is. Thank goodness.

Gruffawoah · 23/04/2020 09:45

OP you have made the bad decision to dare to criticise something to do with our beloved NHS, which is beyond reproach and we are meant to be so grateful to have no matter what. Yes it is bad taste, people can do what they like at work, plastering it on social media is insensitive. And for what purpose? I can understand that the dancing could provide light relief, but for the adoring comments of strangers harping on about what a great job they are doing? The reason that the wards are empty and they have the time is because people are either too terrified to go into hospital when they need to, or their potentially lifesaving treatment has been cancelled. Not the fault of those in the videos, but it takes a certain kind of ignorance to not see why it might be seen as a bit of a slap in the face to those who have effectively been sentenced to death at home. Hopefully it is done in work time if they are donned in PPE anyway.

Inthepurplerain · 23/04/2020 09:46

Let’s all just ban fun and laughter in hospitals then, yeah? @MouthBreathingRage

There’s always been people fighting for their lives in hospital.
There’s always been people losing their lives visiting hospitals.
There’s dead bodies being stored at the hospital.

Having fun in a hospital out of earshot and sight is not disrespectful, just take a second to think about what these staff members are risking, seeing and the way they will be feeling.

I would always rather see a happy member of nhs staff over a crying one.

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:46

@00100001 it’s patient centred...

Gruffawoah · 23/04/2020 09:46

Also it makes it appear that the media is spreading lies about some departments being on their knees, and no doubt will justify people starting to relax around lockdown. That isn't very fair on their colleagues who are struggling and working bloody hard is it?

MindyStClaire · 23/04/2020 09:46

The Mail and their ilk building someone up only to tear them down. A new low to target NHS nurses in the middle of a pandemic, but so fucking predictable I'm annoyed I didn't see it coming.

You're annoyed at the wrong people OP. Praising poorly paid public sector workers will only sell so many papers. Don't allow yourself to be played like this.

(I am not a nurse, this isn't personal.)

derxa · 23/04/2020 09:47

If it cheers them up then fine but I don't want to see it.

ThrowbackMagic · 23/04/2020 09:48

Exactly @Cornettoninja @001

00100001 · 23/04/2020 09:49

@Unusualbloodgroup ...so?

What's your point?

OllyBJolly · 23/04/2020 09:49

If you don't like it, don't watch.

The NHS and care workers I know are having the shittest of shit times. My friend's DD says they have a cupboard off their ward that they use to go and cry in. If organising a dance routine adds a bit of joy to their day then so be it.

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:49

It’s not just the mail, lots of health professionals are not comfortable with it, lots of patients and relatives aren’t. This has been brewing for a while but people have been afraid to say anything because of the backlash that they feared.

It’s been on Twitter and other media outlets for a while. Their feelings don’t count though it would seem because the loud shouty ones say it’s fine by them.

Honeybee85 · 23/04/2020 09:50

YANBU

@Gruffawoah worded it perfectly.

00100001 · 23/04/2020 09:50

Why is it ok for a nurse and dr team, to clap and cheer and ring a bell etc when other people are dying...

How would it make the family feel, to hear that bell rung/see a video just after they got the news their relative just died?

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:51

@00100001 my point is that doing TikTok videos in PPE is not patient centred. That’s my point, I am not sure how else I can explain it. The patient should be at the centre of everything.

bumblebeefairy · 23/04/2020 09:51

These people are coming into work risking their lives to save the lives of others. I think it actually needs some thought to even take that in. This is the worst time there has ever been to be working in the NHS. Who can fault them in using their break/end of shift to have some morale building? I don't watch the videos either. If you don't want to watch them, you don't have to.

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:51

They don’t do it when someone else has just died either.

AnnofPeeves · 23/04/2020 09:51

The one I saw yesterday had staff in aprons, gloves and scrubs. Either the PPE was being worn at the start of a shift (which would be odd as that would normally be handover), the end of a shift (I hope not as that would be an infection risk) or was put on for the video (a waste of kit). Also people were filmed sitting on trolleys Confused

If NHS staff want to dance to cheer themselves up, I'd say do it, but don't film it and make it public. People are dying in unprecedented numbers daily in the buildings they are dancing in. It doesn't seem appropriate to me. I say that as an ex NHS frontline worker btw; we used to have loads of fun to let off steam, but it was kept private, which feels appropriate to me.

00100001 · 23/04/2020 09:52

@unusualbloodgroup

So now the staff can only do nice things for patients? they're not allowed to try and cheer themselves up? Confused

Unusualbloodgroup · 23/04/2020 09:52

Not to post on social media no. It’s not professional.

Thinkingabout1t · 23/04/2020 09:53

Long may NHS staff dance and laugh. If I had a chance I would be pouring champagne for them.

They are risking their lives to save total strangers every day, and some if those patients may even be the kind of ... words fail me ... who are complaining about their dancing. Anyone who doesn’t like it can shove their own heads up their own arses.

Abbccc · 23/04/2020 09:53

It's fine to have a bit of a dance in your break, but that's not what these videos are. They are elaborate and coordinated dances that isn't just a bit of dancing to habe fun and relax during your break. If that's all it is why post on SM?