Health and Safety?

I am disgusted at the recent allegations and allusions to “gatherings”, “events”, and “parties” by working members of a government elected to represent the British people, and by those associated with them. If these took place, this is more than immature, it is deeply irresponsible.

I am writing as the mother of a young and professional member of the NHS who prefers to keep anonymity, and as a mother of 5 children.

I raised my children to respect laws and to understand that there were consequences to poor behaviour; to understand that with freedom comes responsibility. Yet it appears that we have people in very prominent positions in government that have broken those rules. Who are these people, and why do they break the rules they are responsible for making?

Last Christmas I was unable to see my Mother, or any of my children because of the restrictions of “lockdown”. I was devastated, but we all felt that it was the right thing to do. The restrictions were such that there was no way of meeting up because family was either at university or living in London or some distance away, and breaking restrictions was not an option. I remember saying to a friend that maybe her daughter’s hen party could still go ahead if they all sat at separate tables of 6 in a cafe at one point, but this was simply a desperate conversation of which there were many as I tried to navigate the emotional stress of the enormity of being asked not to mix with family at Christmastime and having to cancel pre-planned events. Surely there was a way. Sometimes Christmas is the only time that a whole family gets together, and sometimes (for example, when a member of the family is in the process of a medical degree where they get very little time off while studying for their exam), it is the only time a mother sees her child in the space of a year. When you are in a position of responsibility your responsibility is to your patients first and there is no question of breaking rules which might jeopardise their health, or put them at risk. You are required to make personal sacrifices and your family along with you. It seems to me that the same rules applied to the public during moments where new rules were made.The rules made no exceptions because public health was at risk.

I remember listening to anguished relatives talking on the radio about how they were unable to visit terminally ill relatives and thinking well my problems are nothing by comparison even though my own mother was high risk and had to stay at home. Of course, I felt responsible and wanted to visit her but I had to do so when restrictions were lifted.

In work, I have found myself in situations where rules were being broken and I have always raised this and encouraged others to do so to. I have resigned from posts where I didn’t feel properly supported, or that those I was working with had behaved professionally. I have always raised matters that went against protocol. I have always shared with colleagues that when you do not raise problems or point out errors, risk, or potential hazards you become part of the problem or culture; for example, in recent years health and safety at work became the responsibility of all employees and not just one designated individual. In other words, if you spot a hazard it is your responsibility to raise this with the designated person in charge, and if that is you to deal with it.

When basic health and safety rules are ignored by many people, a culture of fear can prevent people from speaking out. Or, which is worse, people can become blind to risk factors believing the risk factor is someone else’s problem.