Covid-19 Inquiry
Well that was kind of fortuitous. Not the pandemic. Not working on the covid ward. Not all the trauma those events caused people. No, what was fortuitous was having this image brought under scrutiny during the Covid-19 Pandemic inquiry.
I’ve avoided the inquiry as much as possible as the outcome is unlikely to be any other than the hollow “lessons will be learned” until we see the same missteps repeated again.
It’s been 3 years since I initially uploaded the image in response the denigration of healthcare workers by the government. The original text gives much clearer context, but we’re 3 years down the line and while the government still undervalues keyworkers, they continue to award theirselves inflation busting payrises.
Here’s the original text, posted to my facebook page on March 6th 2021:
I posted a nice smiley photo yesterday, but now for a not so happy pic. I’ve used art to cope with the emotional labour of working through covid, but the recent announcement by the Conservative government and comments from people like Nadine “nurses do their job because they love their job” Dorries (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56288237) has tipped me somewhat over the edge.
I’m a nurse. For the past six months I’ve been working on the covid admissions and assessment ward. I’ve tried to ignore a lot of the covid denial and anti-lockdown idiocy that’s been posted on social media but to put it into perspective from someone who’s worked in healthcare for the whole of the pandemic: it’s real.
I’ve seen more people die in the six months I’ve been on the covid ward compared to the last three years. I’ve had covid, my colleagues have had covid, some of my colleagues have been on ventilators because of covid and have long term damage because of it, some of my colleagues have died of covid including a fantastic nurse who trained me, and a domestic who was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I recovered. I’m still healthy. I’m alive, unlike over 130,000 people who have perished, and that is squarely on the shoulders of Boris Johnson and his government. Funny how there’s always money for cronyism (£37bn to Serco for Test and Trace, £100s of millions to Tory associated companies for covid contracts) but never anything left to care for people.
The painting behind me is unfinished. I started it after I got covid as a way of processing how I feel about the way keyworkers (not just NHS) have been treated over throughout this period. In the painting we have a keyworker being sacrificed while being showered by well-meaning, but pointless gestures of support (if you want to support keyworkers: adhere to lockdown and don’t vote Tory). The foreground is littered with empty oxygen cylinders leading to a mass of skulls that represent those who have died, behind which is a sea of blood representing the unseen and unknown long term effects of covid.
If you care about the NHS. If you care about keyworkers (all keyworkers) then don’t clap. Don’t tie ribbons, or post rainbows or whatever else. If you actually want to make a difference to keyworkers lives then just make a simple promise. Promise not to vote Conservative.
#nhspay15 #FairPayForNursing #nhspromise #keyworkers #nurses #nhspay #nhsstaff #nhsworkers #nhsnurse
