I have daughters who play sport. Indeed one who is a PE teacher. I have fond memories from their earliest school days through university and later on watching ladies football and hockey in their sports clubs. Other dads will remember rugby or tennis, athletics or netball, cricket or swimming. I’m sure our memories are much the same as the reality of grass roots sport is played out.
Images stay with me of cold, wet Sunday afternoons or chilly Tuesday nights, windy muddy pitches or queuing for game time in pools or courts. Balls kicked between pitches, babies and toddlers crying for their mums who cast anxious glances from the pitch to the sideline, whilst partners do their best to keep the children occupied or bribed with toys or sweets. Teenagers jeering at the ‘girls’ n ‘kids’ trying to sneak onto a corner of the pitch at half time, grandparents smiling proudly wrapped up against the cold sitting on muddy camping seats with a thermos flask asking ‘which one is our Susan’. Avoiding the dogs fouling the pitch ignored by careless owners talking to other walkers, goalposts nets and pitches that have seen better days or swimmers being jostled by exuberant children throwing balls and dive-bombing.
And yet shining through is the joy, the fervour, the will to succeed, the happiness at doing something they enjoy. They may (or may not) be good at the sport they play but they share their excitement as the game or event approaches. It gives us our memories of why young people (and sometimes older out of breath and rather larger than they should be people) play the sport they love. It is what sport is about for most people and it is a million miles from the packaged glossy world of TV sport. The logos and spin and branding and identity of the Premier League has no real connection to this world of grass roots sport and to some degree is mirrored by the controlling nature of the Government’s PR machine when reporting on public services. I’m reminded of the Department of Health PR official stopping filming when a TV reporter asked Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State where he was going to be during the junior doctors’ strike; the NHS stopping the publication of inconvenient data and KPIs last December or the ‘line to take’ that dominates every politician’s briefing pack when talking about public services or even the price of a loaf of bread. David Laws picks this up in his new book ‘Coalition’ whilst Tom Bowers comments on NHS spin in ‘Broken Vows’
This mismatch between the reality of care services offered by hard working committed staff to millions of deserving, uncomplaining, compliant service users and the politician’s image of a well-funded, smooth, Rolls Royce of a sector that can meet everyone’s needs, can deliver huge savings and is capable of doing so despite the climate of austerity, fear of failure and excess demand over supply is really frustrating. Dr Mark Porter of the BMA says” the politicians tend to see a service that is just one major reorganisation away from being perfect” and yet things are never perfect nor should they be otherwise we never try to make things better. The NHS wants pragmatic realistic solutions, stability, less spin, and the chances to learn from experiences and to continually improve…not live in fear about saying the wrong thing, whistleblowing or making a mistake.
We know there are problems in our NHS, like any service or industry; of course there is waste; of course there is poor care; of course mistakes are made; of course there are time wasters amongst the patients; of course there are staff that just turn up and take the money… it is like every other industry or sector. But for every failure there are a million successes- for every mistake there are a million achievements and for every member of staff who doesn’t care there are many thousands who do. We’ve lost the ‘joy’ of our NHS, the celebration of what ‘real’ looks like. I’ve talked before about the billions of pounds we spend, the daily achievements of our health services and the unfair pressures we place on our staff. I’ve talked about the choices we as patients make every day, to use or not use services, and then the moans we offer when A&E is busy on a Friday night.
And yet we are still captivated by politicians who try to gloss over the warts and all reality of our daily life in the health service. The success delivered is in spite of and not because of Government Ministers, PR spins, sound bites and glossy presentations. Care is something delivered in a ward, an outpatient department, a community mental health facility, a health centre, the patient’s own home or a walk in centre- not Whitehall’s own Premier League TV show.
The reality of our grass roots services is by and large wonderful to see and yet myths are plentiful as evidenced by the Nuffield trust in 2016 ’10 NHS myths to watch out for’.
- The NHS isn’t being privatised- there has always been private providers and even now only 6% of any NHS services are delivered by the private sector
- The NHS isn’t ‘out to tender’ – only 5.5% of services are subject to competitive tender
- The public actually don’t hate the private sector and want the NHS to provide all care- as 67% of the public say they don’t mind who provides care as long as it’s free to the point of use
- A&E isn’t in meltdown and is not everyone’s first point of call because GPS work less hard than they used to- actually 90% of care is delivered in a primary care setting and GP services demand rose by 13% between 2008-2014. The primary care sector professionals like pharmacists actually saw their attendances rise by 18% in the same period.
- GPs don’t only see minor cases- actually 60% of visits are for long term conditions or complex care with over 12 visits per year per person on average.
There are many more myths from there being too many managers to junior doctors not working weekends, from ‘staff don’t care’ to ‘the NHS is performing badly’. These myths become the political football that dominates elections and ‘Question Time’ and TV political shows. It’s the Government version of BT Sport or Sky football pundits. Why don’t we instead sign up to celebrating falling waiting times, falling smoking rates, falling infection rates, improved dietary advice, improving public health, improving cancer successes and improving patient satisfaction but still accept that there is always room to do better.
By and large as I’ve said before, our NHS delivers. By and large patients get a great deal and by and large our staff are brilliant and they do care. It’s a long way from political sound bites and ‘NHS bashing’ just like by and large our kids playing evening or weekend sport have kept hold of what makes it important- and realise that just like Whitehall the glossy, packaged, PR driven TV sports world is a long way from reality.
Really enjoyed reading this and endorse your thoughts.
Neil
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