Saturday, March 6, 2010

It’s been a busy couple of weeks around these parts. Gaston* was born by caesarean section on the morning of the 22nd February. Then he was re-admitted into hospital because his weight had dropped, he’s back out now and all is well. We’re simply coping with the no-sleep bit now.

The NHS is a remarkable institution; you might even look at it as history’s greatest art project. It challenges Darwinian and capitalist principles; resisting their most venal forces, focussing instead on sustaining and nurturing our human spirit.

We experienced both sides of the NHS. On one hand there are the highly trained people who take you through the birth experience – the midwives, doctors, paediatricians, anaesthetists and nurses. Every one is calm, matter of fact, professional and of course, highly skilled – I’m in awe of them.

The administration that glues the piece together is not so great. We ended up using hospitals in different counties – they both had different systems and paperwork and they couldn’t fathom each other out. In one of the hospitals there was a lack of signage and a reception that had no clear idea of where anything was. At one point we were sent to an examination room and left because the person we’d talked to hadn’t put us into the ‘system’. This might seem minor, but in a heightened sense of stress, these are the little things that make the whole experience more comfortable. You would hope these were the easier bits to get right, but it seems not. Is this the price of ‘efficiencies’?

The problems make the NHS a more remarkable success. It is an incredibly difficult thing to get right given its size, complexity and the implications of getting it wrong. Why we as a country are not more proud of it is a mystery; we should resist the urge to criticise it and instead be contributing and investing in its success – it is this country’s life’s work and our greatest triumph.

* Gaston is not the child’s name – it’s the name of the ladybird in Ben and Holly’s Little Adventure, a sort of Lord of the Rings for three-year-olds.