Come on England!.. Come on NHS! - A Comparison
After a crazy A&E shift - my mind went wondering...
A thought about the England Football Team and the NHS…
I’m a huge football fan and the World Cup is always a time to be excited about. While growing up my family would always get together to watch world cup games and debates about the various teams were always in full flow. This year was the same as I watched most of the games either with my friends or family.
I watched the England vs France game in full. I was always sat at the edge of the sofa whenever England would play the ball forwards and reacted as they created some amazing chances. This was all while my little 6-month-old would startle each time I celebrated, moaned, or shouted at the referee even though he could never hear me. It’s a shame really, the golden boys in the Three Lions jersey were once again knocked out in a global knock-out competition.
As I was driving back from work the next day after having worked a crazy shift in A&E – a thought crossed my mind. The England football team is just like the NHS. Here’s why:
Just like the brilliant individuals who make up the England football team, we have some amazing personnel working in our health service. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, ACPs, physios, PAs – these are all individuals who work incredibly hard to contribute to patient care. We wear the NHS lanyard as a source of pride just like our boys wear their jersey with honour. It’s painful to see that the number of people waiting for treatment has doubled to more than seven million and almost half of patients are waiting more than four hours at emergency departments, an almost 10-fold increase.
We rotate and support one another. Declan Rice dropping deep to assist Maguire and Stones was class. Saka dropping in deep to neutralise Mbappe was excellent. The “world’s best player” was quiet all game. Think about how we support one another. As a doctor I have always relied on my nursing colleagues to advise and assist me. The number of times the chest physio has helped me treat an unwell respiratory patient is innumerable. We really do act as a support net to one another.
Despite England’s good performance there is huge room for improvement. The England squad is certainly underperforming. We currently have the best crop of players ever, but we fail to play with flair and authority. We are always on the backfoot. Defending and trying to fix our holes. This also applies to our health service. Austerity brings in cuts, job losses and we tend to take three steps back before moving forwards.
The England squad pioneered tactical football, the 4-4-2 formation and set piece management. Likewise, the NHS pioneered the primary care and secondary system, it was the first free at the point of access service and has set the international standard for cancer care. But despite all these achievements – there are other world systems that are better than ours.
We lack investment and leadership. Southgate has done a good job but he’s not going to win us the World Cup. The money is in premier league football and international football tends to suffer. England players have previously made remarks on the outdated facilities that the England squad uses, and this is no different to our ageing IT system and general bureaucracy.
Our NHS has so much potential. It has some of the most hardworking, talented, and committed professionals in the world. We wear the badge with honour, but we require committed and forward-looking leadership to make us perform.
Come on England… Come on NHS!
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