The Royal Free Hospital

• IN 2020 I had the privilege of being elected to the role of Public Governor for the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, on a platform that the voice of the public is used to inform the trust’s decisions and improve medical care and patient experience and to represent immigrants, similar to myself, whether they are from the Middle East, Asia, Ireland, anywhere.

As public governor, the main thing I hear again and again is “why aren’t they paid properly?”

Some feel it is simple logic that a pay rise leads to a bidding war against other trusts and only benefits nurses.

It’s my view that what is good for nurses is good for those receiving their care. I would rather not be treated by a nurse, underpaid and overworked, coming to the end of their 12-hour bank shift at 8am before a long commute home.

Bidding wars are totally acceptable at the top table, but not among nurses.

In recent weeks people like Edwina Currie have been cheerleaders for the appointment of Dido Harding as the new head of the NHS.

Currie said the NHS is “heavily dependent on people coming from overseas… we’re taking trained people from much poorer countries, like the Philippines, and we pinch them”.

With a deft sleight of hand Currie, not known for a great track record on health care given she rubber-stamped the appointment of Jimmy Savile to head up a task force to run Broadmoor psychiatric hospital (giving one of Britain’s most notorious paedophiles extraordinary access to hundreds of disturbed and medicated young girls), robbed every Filipino NHS worker of their own agency and being seen as an autonomous human being who might, for their own personal reasons, opt to live in the UK; contributing greatly to British society as a result.

They are “pinched”.

Baroness Harding, who was in charge of the woeful Test and Trace programme, wanted to be the NHS chief and stop the reliance on foreign workers.

Other than the spectacular failure of Test and Trace, Harding hasn’t much experience in health. She oversaw the leaking of the details of four million customers of TalkTalk group.

City A.M. described her as “naive”, noting that when asked if the affected customer data was encrypted or not, she replied: “The awful truth is that I don’t know”.

For a better NHS it’s important to get out of this mindset that immigrants are simply “pinched”, from “poor countries”.

Like me they simply chose to come to England for opportunities and most are welcomed by the vast majority, just as they could go to Canada, Australia, the UAE, and other countries where their services are in demand.

More than most of us could ever aspire to, they have contributed greatly to the UK and its economy and its communities. They deserve respect from people who have a platform.

“Pay them properly” is not a trite slogan but an important element of recruitment and retention; and fairness.

Our local trust, I’m sure, realises this too and needs to continue to be world class by retaining and recruiting the best, at all levels.

But it is time our nurses were remunerated properly. Do people like Harding and Currie realise this? I suspect, as usual, the awful truth is that they simply don’t know.

MARTIN CONNOLLY
Public Governor for the
Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust