Thread by @JujuliaGrace

🧵I’ve lost 3000 followers in the past 24 hours, due to criticising JK Rowling.

I’ve had some messages suggesting that I shouldn’t use my personal Twitter account to express my views, and instead should only speak about my work. Let me tell you about my work.

I was working…

…as a doctor in psychiatry, doing my speciality training in London. When you work as a psychiatry doctor in the NHS, you care for the people in society who struggle. Many of those people have been let down by politicians, let down by society, and let down by barriers…

…and I learned a great deal about humans, and how we treat one another, and what the consequences are on a human level.

NHS patients are let down by a system riddled with structural barriers. NHS staff are also let down; treated terribly by a government which has underfunded…

…the service for a decade, and is attempting to privatise the NHS.

I had two babies 17 months apart, and I had a lot of time to think, alone with my babies. And one day I decided I’d had enough. There was too much human anguish caused by this system…

…it’s brutal. And because everyone is under intense pressure, there’s not a lot of kindness in the system. There’s no time to pause or reflect. The responsibility for NHS doctors is relentless. There’s also a pressure to be ‘professional’ at all times, and ‘professional’…

…often meant staying silent when problems emerged, for staff and for patients. It is very difficult for NHS doctors to speak up. They face very real consequences if they do.

When I decided to start @EveryDoctorUK, I was an immediate target of abuse to anyone propping up that…

….system or benefitting from it, and have remained a target ever since.

I made an active choice to speak up and bear the consequences (risking losing my medical career). I am comfortable with that; I made my choice…

…and because I made that choice, I have the liberty to speak up.

I did not start EveryDoctor to create yet another medical organisation which toes the line and is afraid to make a stand. I started EveryDoctor to shine a light on inequalities and fight for people being poorly…

…treated within a healthcare system which is underfunded by a government with a privatisation agenda. Staff and patients.

That is what EveryDoctor is. We believe in a future where every doctor is supported. We believe in a future where every patient is safe. And we are not…

…going to sit by and watch while marginalised groups are abused.

So please, don’t accuse me of ‘diluting the cause’ by speaking up about oppression, or poor people being failed, or structural barriers affecting people in multiple ways. That is EXACTLY why EveryDoctor exists…

…there is no organisation like it. I am proud of what we do. I am proud of our members. And I won’t shy away from saying what’s important, for fear of losing ‘popularity’. Popularity isn’t important to me. I couldn’t give a damn about popularity. I care about people.