We’re all fellow victims of the system

One healthcare assistant I worked with was off sick repeatedly with severe mental health problems, and when she did turn up at work she was bullied relentlessly by one of our colleagues. The rest of the staff were under extreme pressure due to short-staffing, but blaming a fellow victim? It was just cruel.

When I started nursing I was already used to this draconian approach to illness. My mother wouldn’t let me stay off school, however bad I was feeling. ‘Pull yourself together,’ she would say, as I was ushered out of the door.

The approach to nurse sickness needs to change, but will it happen? Not likely. All the guidance in the world won’t make an iota of difference while services are so short of staff. Too often, sick nurses feel the need to go to work. Not to mention that those in power often take the attitude of ‘better a substandard worker than no worker at all’. If a worker is too sick to function properly and something goes wrong, then they will be held responsible.

I often thought that if I died on duty, they would prop me up in a corner and use me as a drip stand. And someone, somewhere, would be able to tick the box to say that all staff were present and correct.