Welcome back friends. Here is another entry in the crap poems adventure.
This is an ode to the last 2 years of my life, and the strained relationship I am experiencing with a department within the NHS.
As the last verse explains, I see that there are other staff who are exhausted, especially after the pandemic and the never ending rush of people who need help. But there are a few people within the NHS who seem to be burned out. I understand why it happens and why they feel the way they do, but I desperately wish I wasn’t at the receiving end of their frustration.
‘The cost of access’ explains my frustration as a patient trying to navigate a healthcare system that, in some places, is now failing.
I wish it wasn’t true, but I’ve seen it first hand.
I hope more than most that the organisation gets and maintains the funding and staffing it needs, and in-turn that those staff are well supported. In my opinion, if these things aren’t looked at soon, then the rot will continue to spread.
To the NHS staff I’ve met who truly care for their patients, the staff who took care of me, my partner, my mum and our daughter in our darkest hours, I say THANK YOU. I only wish we could clone you.
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The cost of access
The idea I should trust you
When you repeatedly betray.
The idea you care for so many
Leaves me in dismay.
Free at the point of access.
A service like no other.
But these mistakes undo the good.
And drown out your blue colour.
I do not want your pity.
I do not want false hope.
I hate the waiting games you play.
I simply cannot cope.
Do you know mental illness?
Has the black dog nipped your heels?
Because you have zero empathy.
For all of our ordeals.
Do you think that we’re all joking?
Do you think it’s just a laugh?
Because while we wait for help to come
you break our hope in half
And hope is all we have to keep
our dreams and hearts alive.
So now we have to balance how
we emotionally survive.
Do we wait? Is that our price?
Or should we leave the queue?
Waiting adds to all this pain.
We’re left, holding, to stew.
I have waited 18 months
but more have waited longer.
I wonder how they’re managing
I hope their world is stronger.
“We don’t accept abuse of staff.”
“Don’t use language that’s hateful.”
If you’d give us the same respect
then we’d be just as greatful.
“Respond right now if you want
to accept this referral.”
In desperation, queue for hours
or face certain deferral.
I’m not alone, many of us
feel broken by your strangle.
The trouble is the system fails
and there’s no other angle.
Staff are tired, patients to.
What happens in this climate?
Free at the point of access, right?
I wish I could go private
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Thanks for reading 💜
Creative Steph 