“I wonder what would happen to Healthcare if;

Its staff were allowed to work four days a week.

If we were given the opportunity to take unpaid leave when we needed it.

If we could move seamlessly from one job to another without having to take annual leave to do checks which we just did in the last year.

If we were offered jobs which were close to where we live, without having to move to and become bereft of support.

If we didn’t have to be geographically separated from our spouses, partners and children.

If we were given the space and opportunity to do our mandatory training all in one day.

If the special moments in our life were recognised as times that should be treasured, instead of having to barter for them as if they are commodities for sale.

To never be short of colleagues at the most critical times.

To be thanked for our tireless efforts.

To be comforted in our times of grief.

For compassionate leave to be defined in a way which is truly compassionate.

For our organisations to wrap their arms around us in protection, to cry with us when we couldn’t help a patient and to celebrate when we have achieved great things.

To recognise our humanity, our limitations and not to robotically hold us to ransom against draconian targets imagined by an entity so far removed from reality that they lack innate persuasion.

If we were recognised as we are, individual, sentient, beings who are subject to the same hopes, dreams and aspirations as others.

That we are not defined by our ability to prescribe medication, to mobilise a patient or assess their swallow, rather these functions are only the tip of the iceberg, and that so much more of us exists beneath the surface.

If when we are afraid of not knowing what to do, that we are showered with support instead of having to beg for it as if it were a favour.

If those who are senior treated their juniors as colleagues rather than servants.

If hierarchies of position didn’t exist and we were all treated equally.

If our mental health was recognised to directly affect patient care and that it should never be third but first in the priority queue….

I wonder…”