Are you one of those who have been persuaded by the TV news to clap our healthcare staff every Thu night at 8pm? Perhaps you feel like a well-intentioned citizen, showing your appreciation for the healthcare staff maintaining our hospitals in these times of plague? You ought to re-think your actions.
Has it not occurred to you how patronising this is? People are risking their lives in hospitals every day, with many dying, and you think a wee clappie will suffice?
No one should have to risk their lives to do their job. Whatever happened to the Health and Safety at Work Act? Healthcare staff shouldn't have to do this, in fact many of their Unions are telling them not to work if they feel they are being put in danger.
The government is acting appallingly here, encouraging healthcare staff to work without appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and then using the TV news media to encourage "Clap for Carers" in some sort of propaganda exercise that keeps them sweet, and keeps them working. Because the government knows that if healthcare workers do ever down tools, then the country is in a desperate situation where law and order may break down and the government may collapse.
This clapping is all very reminiscent of the previous World Wars when the public lined the streets to clap our soldiers off to the Front line where they would be killed. Always ensure those members of the public risking their lives are made to feel appreciated, that is the government's intention. It is all about CONTROL.
If the government really cared about our healthcare workers they would have acted more promptly when news of the coming plague was first announced, and rushed to buy in sufficient stocks of PPE. But they didn't, because they don't really care about people.
Our healthcare workers need proper appreciation, not a wee clappie.
First and foremost the government should not make any of them work without appropriate PPE. And the fact that they are doing this means this government must fall.
Secondly, healthcare staff should immediately be paid danger money, and not a trifling amount like a 2% pay rise. No, these workers ought to get 50% extra wages every day they
face the coronavirus danger.
I hugely appreciate the risks our healthcare staff are taking, but I will not patronise them with a wee clap. When the government provides them with the required PPE and an appropriate danger allowance, then I shall add my clap.
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