During the COVID pandemic we watched how nurses put their lives in danger by caring for those of us who were infected. On Thursday evenings we all stood outside our homes and clapped loudly for our beloved and courageous nurses. It meant a great deal to us to do this. We recognised their sense of duty at personal risk and cost to them.
The patients came first. We need to note here that our nurses are a diverse mix, immigrants, coming from all over the world to work for the NHS, qualified nurses from India, Africa, India, Europe, Philippines and so on. They are mostly women although there are male nurses as well from these countries. When we were clapping for our nurses, I believe that in our brains, we built up an image of a white angel looking after us.
Hey, people, life ain’t like that!
All these diverse nurses are the angels who look after us.
Now that we are back to normal, no COVID, things have changed. They are the nurses you see every day and racism has reared its ugly head. Abuse grows and the data on the increase in violence and abuse is clear. So these “angels” are treated appallingly as COVID is no longer a problem. The patients who are racist now feel free to abuse the NHS staff.
There is an enforcement intervention called Operation Cavell named after Nurse Edith Cavell who was executed by the Germans during the First World War. Her famous quote is,
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
She was born in Norfolk but did a great deal of her nursing in Belgium to help the soldiers during the war.She nursed both German and Allied troops. She was already renowned for being a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium.
She also helped about two hundred allied soldiers to escape from German-occupied Belgium. She truly lived her beliefs. She could not hate or feel bitterness towards anyone.
So Operation Cavell has started in hospitals but it MUST spread right across the NHS. It is a partnership of three organisations – the NHS, the Police Services and the Crown Prosecution Service which should prevent and reduce assaults against all emergency service workers.
The NHS must be safe for both patients and staff. In addition, there should be an inclusion to deal with online abuse in general and racist abuse in particular.
Another problem is that many NHS staff do not feel safe reporting abuse which is happening internally and if male bosses or doctors are abusing female staff the element of fear is not good.
I remember visiting my mother in hospital one day and she was in a state of shock. She had been placed in a geriatric ward and very often elderly people become invisible. She had been in bed and two young doctors were discussing their sex life at the bottom of her bed. They were also talking about a particular nurse who apparently never said no and one of the doctors was saying,”You should try Veronica, she’s a great lay.”
I have always wondered how that poor nurse felt with the behaviour of those doctors and no hope to turn to someone for help and support. I told my mother that I would go and complain about their disgusting behaviour but she was frightened too because she was ill and felt vulnerable. She could not trust the doctors as she thought they would terrorise her.
There can be an atmosphere of fear which is a huge obstacle to reporting especially when the reporting process is controlled locally. This is why harmful behaviour may not be dealt with at all.
If the NHS sees abuse as important as the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery and the Royal College of Surgeons feel, then the workplace must become a safe working environment.
Professor Nicola Ranger, the General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, considers this level of violence as an emergency. From 2024 – 2025, there has been a sharp increase in reported attacks in hospitals with an average of 285 a day.
My friend who was a theatre nurse reported back to me how a surgeon in gynaecology was operating and looked up and laughed,”nice little tight one here”. She never forgot that. An example of internal abuse as the nurses were too nervous to complain!
My husband’s heart surgeon treated his nurses as his handmaidens. He hated me as I would not stand for any nonsense because I saw my role as protecting my husband.
Examples of external abuse are how an A&E nurse saw weapons brandished in front of her on a monthly basis and two men ejaculating on nurses who were caring for them. A retired consultant said that he had been violently attacked twice.
Because we now have the awful Stop the Boats and Farage and his racism, this anti- immigrant attitude is really affecting the NHS staff.
Aggression against front line workers which includes teachers is growing more and more.
People are getting upset with the service in hospitals and they are frustrated but the problem is partly their fault as the NHS staff have to face up to such awful behaviour when it happens. The hostility and violence they have to put up with is an absolute disgrace.
My mother, being Indian, saw both sides, the abuse against the wonderful diverse nurses and the care she received from them. Our immigrant nurses are wonderful and I know how grateful I am for their care.
We should respect all nurses. It is a very hard job especially for those from different countries who are making sacrifices on our behalf. Let us make sure that we as patients and those as other workers internally make our hospitals a truly safe place to work.
