"This weekend I cried.
I cried because as a mum to a 2 year old, that I had only briefly seen in 3 days, I missed her and my heart ached.
I cried because I am a nurse. Not because I hate my job but because I love it so much and we are stretched beyond breaking point. Not just us nurses but health care assistants, midwives, doctors and paramedics.
We have been told far too many times lately that we are being greedy by wanting more money or that we don't want our enhancements cut. We are told we need to be 24/7 by people who do not work 24/7, when that is exactly what we do.
In my role I have seen every hour of the day and in doing so I have missed family occasions, missed aspects of my daughters growth, missed friends birthdays. But I love being a nurse. I love providing people with basic care. I love giving comfort to those in their scariest moments. I love holding families hands reassure them that I am doing my very best to care for their loved ones. I love sitting and chatting with the little old man who has no one else to talk to, who also likes a cheeky flirt with his nurses.
The NHS is being cut and reduced and broken down every day yet the ever demanding needs of patients does not reduce in fact it increases, as does the amount of paperwork to go with it. This increase in demand will a lot of the time take me away from doing the aspects of my role that I love... Patient interaction.
Please protect our NHS. Please protect me so I can carry on holding the hands of those leaving this world or simply helping someone walk to the toilet and back so that they can retain some of their dignity.
Today I am smiling. Today I will give 110% to my patients."
- Stacey Williams, NHS Nurse
(Posted today on the "I'm In Work Jeremy" Facebook page)
Presumably Octavious thinks Stacey is "willing to coast along doing the bare minimum", since her profession is one of those under greatest attack from his hero, Mr. Hunt.