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So it’s pretty clear that shit has got properly bad in the NHS right now and you may be wondering if you can help somehow. Here are some suggestions, presented without expectation, as I know everyone has their own circumstances to manage, but ideas are my thing. Do add stuff.
Firstly, all the important COVID stuff. Please just do it. We don’t have the capacity to remind you. Wash hands, space out, clean surfaces, open windows, stay home, wear masks. This stuff protects you, others, and helps reduce our workload. We NEED this.
If you get invited for a vaccine, COVID/flu/whatever, and you can, please take it. Don’t put off booking it, save us calling you to remind you, get the jabs, protect yourself, those around you, and reduce the number of people needing beds. It’s quick, easy, & better than illness.
Please don’t engage with anti-vaxx, anti-NHS, COVID denying nonsense. Don’t tag your NHS mates to respond. We don’t have the capacity, and this feeds the algorithm. Block and report. Move on. Don’t feed it.
If you know an NHS/care worker, check in. Don’t be pissy if we fail to reply. We’re broken. But know simple messages make us smile. If you fancy, post them something. It’s nice to get post, even a simple card, and shows we’re being thought about when we get home.
By all means, get cross, but think about how and who. A lot of this WAS preventable, and politicians should be worried. There are local elections in May. Register to vote. Volunteer with a party you trust (I’m always gonna suggest @WEP_UK but we welcome political engagement).
Keep talking. Chat to relatives and friends about the suggestions in this thread, about getting vaccines etc, about sticking to rules. Try to avoid being judgemental/getting in fights about it all - this climate is divisive. We need to resist those divisions.
Be kind. That woman going through wrong way up the aisle in Tescos May be post a 13 hour shift having lost patients. It’s hard to get even basic stuff right at that point. But we still need to eat, so, forgive us.
I’m sure there are many other great suggestions. But I’m tired and yet wired and this is all I can coherently manage right now. Feel free to add stuff, #MedTwitter.
