perspective

Today, one of my wee patients (not to sound too patronising... but she was wee) on a dander up the ward with me said, ‘I’m so lucky. I could be in Darfur or the Gaza strip...’ She was referring to access to healthcare. I guess perspective on healthcare can be a great thing. I’m not sure everyone would agree on her outlook on it... but I have to say that when people complain about the NHS, I do sometimes feel like saying – go to Africa and then complain... (even though occassionally I know it's probably been me that's been complaining about workforce planning, agenda for change confusion, bureaucracy etc.. i get sucked in being a CSP rep...).

In general though, I think the same thing about university. Ok, so I’ve been frustrated by lack of efficiency/some terrible lecturers at times, but talking to friends in Nigeria and considering the alternative of endless strikes, corruption and having to play the game to get through, I’d take it any day. It’s all relative.

But then I know that comparing things to the worst rather than the best doesn’t promote a desire for excellence and it's easy to settle for the status quo...

The psychologist wanabe (who appears randomly in my mind) would refer to this article – maybe our common emotional response to the NHS is all based on our expectations and maybe we have a silver medalist complex... because we're aiming for gold.