What alternative reality did this post come from? Do please tell me where to find it, because the reality is very different for me and my family.
This year, NHS workers have been working harder than ever in order to keep us safe and well.
I'm quite sure that ICU doctors and staff are working incredibly hard and are under a lot of stress, but that is a minority of NHS. Everything else has gone away or been shut down.
I'm a full time unpaid carer for my brother who has been very sick for many years, and when the COVID-19 crisis started, all his appointments were cancelled, rescheduled or changed to useless telephone appointments.
Cardiology, endocrinology, neurology - all postponed - cardiology appointments were postponed three times!
His regular mental health appointments were cancelled altogether - the twice yearly follow up with the psychiatrist - gone! The fortnightly appointments with the mental health support nurse - gone. The named contact replaced by a phone number for emergency contact only.
Even the A&E no longer function normally - it took 12 hours of constant phoning to find a hospital A&E willing to give an anti-Tetanus jab after he accidentally hurt himself while weeding in the garden.
GP services have also stopped functioning - no appointments, no physical examinations, no diagnostics - all we get is a telephone conversation which doesn't help.
Even the prescription services have gone haywire:- instead of getting medications for 12 weeks, the NHS directive was to reduce these to 4 weekly reordering. Some of these medications have to be ordered by the pharmacist, and these take time. Every time that I request a repeat prescription, there is a mistake in the disage, or the request email is ignored (e.g. ordered one day too early). Every single time I have had to make phonecalls to follow up or to act as a go between between the pharmacist and the GP practice, why hasn't some prescription been issued and when will we get it?
Eventually in November, my bro managed to get a Holter fitted at the hospital (measures ECG automatically over a period of time) and a BP Monitor (measures blood pressure at 30 min intervals), vital diagnostics for someone who keeps getting faints and dizzy spells, occasionally falls, and sometimes looses consciousness and just collapses to the floor. Even that was fraught - the hospital nurses, in a nearly empty hospital invested most of their energy into trying to stop me - his carer - from attending with him. For someone who has severe mental problems and no memory, it's impossible for him to recall what he was instructed to do or to answer their key questions about medical history. What a waste of effort and emphasis! As for the printouts of the BP readings that we were previously able to get when we requested them, the answer was - "the hospital doesn't do this any more, you have to request this through the GP".
There is only one part of the NHS which continues to function unchanged, and that is the Clozapine Clinic service - perhaps because the medication is regulated by law. It can't be issued without a satisfactory blood test, because it's high risk.
The previous NHS support of home carers has become non-existent, or more difficult (often unnecessarily so) since COVID-19. The NHS staff don't seem to realise that we, the unpaid carers, are also struggling during the COVID crisis, and instead of getting more help and support to continue to look after our charges, the health service has just additional obstacles in our way, and passed on all the effort and responsibility onto home carers. The NHS has taken away all the support which we previously had in order to be able to perform our care.
Your post also says Doctors, nurses and support staff have isolated themselves from their loved ones and put their own health on the line to go above and beyond in the fight against Covid-19.
I'm sure that some of them have done so, mostly in care homes. But in reality, the majority of doctors, nurses and support staff have isolated themselves from their patients. When did you last see a doctor face to face for a physical examination?
So, in answer to your question: How have you shown your appreciation for the NHS this year? the answer must be this one -
Where are you NHS? Missing you and wish you were here.