Clapping - a Confession

A confession – I ‘clapped for Carers’ for a couple of weeks.  Wasn’t really that comfortable doing so – it’s not really a thing the English do but I did it.

Another confession – I don’t ‘clap for Carers’ anymore.

I feel better having got that off of my chest.  But I feel so much better knowing that no one can accuse me of clapping for the NHS because I won’t do that.

I won’t clap for NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Managers (starting salary more than £58K)

I won’t clap for NHS Climate Change Managers (starting salary more than £44K)

I won’t be clapping for NHS Procurement Managers (starting salary £38K)

I won’t be clapping for the owners of private care homes.

And I won’t be clapping for Sir Simon Stevens – NHS Chief Executive (salary £190K+) or the thousands of other  highly-paid NHS ‘executives’

Indeed, I won’t be clapping for any of these people who have failed us.

And that’s what they have done.  They have failed us. 

They have failed to have sufficient PPE supplies for hospitals and care homes.  Be clear – the failures are those of the NHS ‘management’ and Care Home owners.  It is patently not the failure of the government. 

The NHS have wasted taxpayer money on virtue signaling jobs such as those above.  Think of a local NHS trust.  Now think what possible impact the Trust’s Climate Change Manager can have on the climate.  The Sun (the one in the sky not the newspaper) is the single most important determinant in the situation regarding our climate.  Not just most important but overwhelmingly dominant.  And yet, Trusts employ someone who will tell you to turn off the light when you leave a room or recycle your plastic water bottle!

The leadership of the NHS and Care Homes have feathered their own nests while neglecting their core responsibilities to their patients and their employees.

Ask yourself this – Are you aware of any, I repeat any, NHS Procurement or Supply Chain Manager – you remember, those whose job it is to ensure that the NHS is supplied with what it needs to do its job – anyone who has resigned at his or her failure?   The lure of those above national average salaries (plus of course, cosseted benefits) far outweighs integrity and basic decency on the scales of life, for these people.

Imagine for a moment, what would have happened if the Government had not stepped in?  Does anyone seriously believe that the NHS Executive would have been able to organize the Nightingale Hospitals?  Anyone? 

Some of the actions taken by the Government have maybe later found to be unnecessary – Nightingales being a case in point – but they were, and remain, a necessary contingency.  These though were built by the organizational skills of the British military. Mostly the British Army.  Not the army of Supply Chain and Procurement Managers and so called ‘professionals’ but the real Army.  They just did what they always do – they got on with it.  Give them a problem and they’ll fix it.  Give the same problem to the NHS and they advertise for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Managers and Climate Change Managers so as to ensure that all aspects address the requirements of the ‘woke’ commentariat.

And while your ire might be directed against this army of bureaucrats, please don’t lose sight of their ‘leaders’.  The Tax Payers’ Alliance (@the_tpa) advised, in April 2020, that 242 NHS ‘executives’ were on 6 figure salaries.  Supposedly they get these ‘film star’ wages because they know what they’re doing.  Well, their stellar performance has led us to the situation where the Government had to intervene and assume responsibility to get things done because the NHS ‘executives' were simply not up to the job. 

Post-Covid19, there will be some kind of public inquiry – I now have the ability to predict the plaintive calls of the Labour Party for one – remarkable, I know - it’s a gift .  This inquiry must examine and name and shame the NHS ‘executives’ who so roundly failed us.  Heads must roll and a complete re-organization of the NHS must be undertaken.  Clearly it is not fit for purpose. Note:  When these heads roll – no Golden Goodbyes, please.

These NHS ‘executives’ and indeed, throughout the organization, support a group-think that – you have to have been in the NHS, in order to work for it.  This dangerous policy has borne fruit in the recent crisis with the so called leaders – you remember, those people that are constantly on the news, saying that the NHS is underfunded, those ones – unable to perform a basic task like getting PPE to front-line carers in hospitals and GP surgeries. 

And the private sector is no better.  I occasionally sleep so I must have missed the moment when responsibility for the provision of PPE shifted from private sector employers to the State.  I’ve never heard of a construction company, knocking on the door of No. 10 and asking for their hard hats or safety boots.

Of course, if you accept that it IS the responsibility of the State to provide for private businesses, then you can be sure that the BBC and other media will give you a platform from which to whine – after all, if it’s anti-Government, then the BBC  or Sky is your man (or woman).

I could go on in the same vein but enough for now.

I started off by saying who I won’t clap for but please don’t think I am some kind of ingrate who can’t recognize the huge contribution made by individuals up and down the country.  I am talking about;

Hospital doctors and nurses

Shop workers

GPs and their staff

Dustbin men and women

Postmen and women

Delivery drivers

Government Ministers

Volunteers who tirelessly just help.

I would have liked to include teachers but it seems that they, and their Left-dominated unions, have decided that while it’s safe enough for others to work, they can’t let the opportunity to thwart the Government pass them by and so they won’t return to work.