First, I hope those reading this are physically healthy—that you are symptom free and have avoided this truly awful virus. I hear the symptoms are horrendous; the degree of fatigue and coughing is exhausting even without the fever, joint pain, headaches and relentless tiredness.
Equally, I hope you remain mentally healthy. If someone is physically unable to do something then they usually stop trying. But for those who are psychologically struggling, many find it harder to admit, and attempt to push through, work on and ignore (or be unaware) of the signs. That is until we burn out and run out of resilience. It takes enormous courage to stand up and say enough is enough. We were working on good faith and reactive management, with a depleted nursing workforce, even before the current dystopian situation.
Now, more than ever, we need to stay safe and be kind to one another.
In recent weeks, so many thoughts and questions have run through my mind. These are just a few:
The NHS has deployed resources, removed red tape, created capacity and halted all non-urgent health care. What is the next stage? Dealing with the aftermath is going to be as important as dealing with the crisis. The current pandemic feels like a ‘majax’ (a major incident) rolling on and on. It is the biggest challenge the NHS has ever faced, with no exit showing yet. And it is important to support our staff.
‘A principle of major incident management is to preserve the workers, without which there is no rescue.’
Did we ever think about a pandemic back at our BAUN conference in Liverpool in November 2019? It was a joyous celebration, but it feels so long ago. Thanks to Captain Tom and Michael Ball I still sing that Liverpool anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.
We work in the NHS, a system with frailties and vulnerabilities, but with a human resource so resilient, calm and unselfish that we are proud to be part of the collective compassion, patience and endless commitment to do our best. However, as Hiam et al wrote:
‘Once this is done, there must be complete transparency about how the NHS came to be left in this exposed position…’
I hope you will look to the future and sign up for the BAUN Conference 2020 in November, in this Year of the Nurse. As Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said:
‘This is the chance to highlight our vast and varied skills and the work we do and to ensure our professional voice is heard and represented at the heart of all health and care decisions and policy.’
I hope by November we will have a degree of free movement. Your organisations are recognising your value and, as part of this, I hope they will encourage you to take some leave to join up with your urological colleagues around the country to celebrate. Industry partners can also look at reducing the complexity of applying for grants to sponsor your attendance. As BAUN President, I have written to all our industry colleagues asking them to look at the process of supporting your attendance to conference as a means of working in collaboration with BAUN, supporting the ‘heroic and angelic’ sentiments with something tangible for urological nursing.
Work on the BAUN conference is being performed by the trustees around their day jobs. Please join us in Edinburgh for ‘Harnessing courage: leading urological nursing into the future’, celebrating not only the Year of the Nurse but BAUN's 25th birthday.
Until then, I feel proud to walk among you—‘walk on with hope in your heart.’