Clapping the NHS at 8pm today

[Violetdaffodil]

I am an NHS worker

To all those of you who voted for the Tory party at the last election, a party that has for a long time tried to destroy the NHS and only realise our worth now that there is a serious pandemic afoot,

and to all of you who were clogging up the beaches, the Lake District, the parks in London etc without a care in the world last weekend

I don’t want to hear your hypocritical clapping out the window for the NHS workers tonight, so PLEASE DON’T

A gesture is as meaningful as you want it to be. As it happens lots of people found it moving and appreciated the small show of thanks and solidarity.

Of course it doesn’t erase politics or fix anything tangible but why does that have to come into it? Can’t those have their own conversations? Why go out of your way to shit over something that briefly lifted spirits?

When there are a couple of minutes silences to mark deaths and tragedies do you shake your tambourine or do you leave people who find comfort in it to get on with it?

In the words of a busker in our town "Don't clap, throw money"
I’m sure she wouldn’t object to people clapping and throwing money though, right?

Oh for an edit function just to fix poor off-the-cuff formatting!

My dear friend is a nurse, her Husband died a few months ago and she is petrified she will die from this virus and leave he young adult Daughter without any other family. She had a really bad day yeasterday and didnt know if she could carry on.
In a phone call just after 8 last night she was in tears again but this time of thankfulness that so many people took the time to stand and clap, she felt so lifted and will be back doing her best to help today.
One small gesture will have raised the spirits of 1000s of people

The NHS is funded properly. It’s wasted in management and early Labour privatisation.

I don't see how it can possibly be. Don't you realise how little you pay as a % towards healthcare as a nation in comparison to others?

What about pay rates for medical staff? Why would nurses strike for equal pay if they were paid fairly?

The NHS is funded properly. It’s wasted in management and early Labour privatisation

We spend less of our GDP on healthcare than almost all other comparable countries, and half what the US does. We also have a low number of managers per clinician. Before trotting out "too many managers", ask yourself if you want doctors and nurses organising rotas, ordering supplies, doing HR checks etc.

If you clapped last night, consider sparing a couple of pounds for this?

This was posted on the live thread on the Guardian website at 10.41
www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/mar/27/uk-coronavirus-live-rough-sleepers-nhs-applause-covid-19-latest-news

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/masks4nhsheroes

We are a group of colleagues (doctors in hospitals and GP), who have set up this initiative to source PPE for those who need it most in our fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19). Our names are Dr Mona Barzin (GP), Dr Salaj Masand (Medicine, Ashford Hospital, Kent), Mr Ravi Visagan (Neurosurgery, King's College Hospital, London) & Mr Nav Kumar.

Also look at Care Workers’ Charity launches £1m coronavirus hardship appeal for care staff in an ‘impossible situation’
Care workers are facing hunger and hardship as they go into self-isolation, a charity has warned.

There is a link to donate here
www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/26/self-isolating-care-workers-debt-hunger-warns-charity

@CFSKate No they won't, because it's not Insta-friendly.

Cfskate, thanks for the link. Have donated
(Amazing isn't it, someone you can clap and make a donation )

Me too.. exactly you can do both!

I'm a hospital social worker (employed by NHS). I didn't and won't go go out and clap because I'm dealing with this all day and am mostly knackered on the sofa when I get home. I also know the applause isn't for me.
But I think so many people who aren't out working, can feel very powerless in all this. Clapping is a way to feel like you are doing SOMETHING and that you are grateful. So I don't think it's self-indulgent. I think it's something that can help those clapping psychologically and build community connections, if people are seeing neighbours coming outside at the same time.
And, you know, I don't think there's space in my brain for cynicism (and I have never and never will vote Tory so it's not that I think the government are great and am not furious about underfunding - particularly in social care) - so no, the clapping isn't for me, personally, but really, I don't begrudge it for a second, because we need more communal stuff and if it makes people feel good, that's bloody welcome.

Violetdaffodil
The NHS encountered significant problems with the information technology (IT) innovations accompanying the Blair reforms. The NHS's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), believed to be the largest IT project in the world, is running significantly behind schedule and above budget, with friction between the government and the programme contractors. Originally budgeted at £2.3 billion, present estimates are £20–30 billion and rising that just being one of the many things wrong with the nhs that labour started. People voted Tory because of the democracy it was willing to uphold when the other parties were willing to ignore it ! You must be pretty sad to solely base you political vote in one part of our democracy

Blair’s labour started the struggle of the nhs. The Blair Government, whilst leaving services free at point of use, encouraged outsourcing of medical services and support to the private sector. Under the Private Finance Initiative, an increasing number of hospitals were built (or rebuilt) by private sector consortia; hospitals may have both medical services (such as independent sector treatment centre (ISTC or "surgicentres"),[14] and non-medical services (such as catering) provided under long-term contracts by the private sector. A study by a consultancy company which worked for the Department of Health showed that every £200 million spent on privately financed hospitals resulted in the loss of 1000 doctors and nurses. The first PFI hospitals contained some 28 per cent fewer beds than the ones they replaced.[15]