Prince William has highlighted an important issue with labelling NHS staff ‘heroes’, pointing out that they may feel a burden to remain strong and not seek help for the mental health stresses of working in healthcare through a pandemic.
‘I am still concerned about what I’m hearing from the frontline, which is that staff still find it very difficult in the NHS to talk about their mental health and to be open about it,’ he told The One Show last night. ‘We’ve made the NHS frontline staff, rightly, heroes – but in doing so we once again give them the burden that we gave our soldiers fighting the war.
‘They should rightly be hailed as superstars and brave and wonderful staff, but I’m very conscious from a mental health point of view that we don’t alienate some of them,’ he continued. ‘Where they feel like once they have this “hero” tag, they can no longer shake that and therefore can’t ask for support [because] they have to be a strong pillar of strength.'
William said that the NHS staff would be better hailed as positive examples of dealing with mental health, by doing their job and saving so many lives but also ‘looking after themselves so they come through this in one piece’. The worst thing, he said, would be to have ‘broken NHS staff all over the country’.
His comments came on the same evening that the weekly Clap For Carers came to an end, with founder Annemarie Plas saying it had become ‘negative’ and ‘politicised’. During the clap last night, in fact, a group of doctors protested the phenomenon outside parliament when they stood silently for 237 minutes - in support of the 237 NHS staff that have died in the fight against Covid-19 - and held signs reading ‘doctors not martyrs’.
‘What I don’t find nice, and I really don’t need, is people clapping,’ one anonymous doctor wrote for the Guardian last week. ‘The NHS is not a charity and it isn’t staffed by heroes…When this ends, people need to show their value of key-working staff in practical ways. Pay them enough to be able to live in our cities, and recognise, support and welcome immigrant staff who prop this country up. Listen to the views of NHS workers when they raise concerns, address the culture of blame and bureaucracy.’
In the same vein as Prince William's comments, the doctor took issue with the idea that NHS staff are working 'on the frontline' as it once again compares them to soldiers in combat. Ultimately, it does exactly what William fears and alienates them from the public they're trying to save.
NEED HELP?
Anyone can contact Samaritans free at any time from any phone on 116 123, even a mobile without credit. This number won’t show up on your phone bill. Or you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit Samaritans.org to find the nearest branch, where you can talk to a trained volunteer face to face.
Read More:
The Best Instagram Accounts To Follow For Support, Positivity And Inspiration