Thread by @Nurseborisbash

🧵
I was a hero.
I didn't feel like a hero, but Boris Johnson labelled nurses as heroes and so began the lie.
When the pandemic hit I was on bereavement leave. My husband had been killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving me to raise our 4 children alone. I have no other
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living relatives, so when I say alone, I mean alone.
As soon as I saw what was happening in Italy, I signed straight back up to help.
I had 30 years experience of emergency medicine and I couldn't sit by and do nothing. I knew I was needed.
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I sat my children down and had a very emotional discussion with them about my decision.
Naturally, they pleaded with me to change my mind. It opened the wounds left by the tragic way they'd lost their dad.
I assured them that I would be protected by PPE and
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safety measures.
They were reassured and so I returned to A&E to do my bit.
It became apparent very quickly that we were not safe, not protected and PPE was locked away for use with only confirmed or strongly suspected covid cases.
We were cannon fodder.
Dispensable.
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Testing patients took over 12 hours, so you can see the problem, the flaw in the government spin.
Very soon, staff started to get sick. Remember, there was no vaccine at this point, so we were terrified.
PPE supplies did pick up, but amongst it was substandard
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Unusable plastic crap.
Then, our friends, our wonderful colleagues started to die. I've talked before about the three friends I lost, but I've not talked about their deaths in terms of an industrial accident.
In any other work place, these industrial deaths would
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precipitate mitigation, law and rule reviews and a full investigation.
That didn't happen, so over 1000 nurses lost their lives trying to save others and the government deemed their lives to be worth £60,000.
My heart breaks for their families. They should have been
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honoured but they were soon forgotten by government.
In fact, 3 days after Boris Johnson held a minute silence for them in the cabinet Office, he held a party there.
I didn't die and for that I'm grateful and one of the lucky ones, but last year I caught covid
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twice in the space of 7 weeks.
I know I contracted it at work, because I never left the house apart from going to work.
I have never recovered and have long covid.
Most days I can't even get up, so despite knowing that the #NursesStrike would probably not benefit me,
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I spent my time fighting and campaigning on here for the future of nursing and saving the NHS.
I will continue that fight as long as I have breath in my lungs.
However, today I found out that I will drop to zero pay in three days time.
The burden of proof that I
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caught covid at work is mine to prove.
A difficult, if not impossible task.
I started this thread with the lie that nurses are heroes and told you that I don't feel like one.
Would you?
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