Fly Whistleblowers to the Moon
Sympathy is an interesting trait in people. For some reason, the trials and tribulations of whistleblowers engages either profound hatred or sympathy in people. The problem with sympathy is that while it is alright in small does, in the long term it begins to get suffocating. I recall a consultant psychiatrist sometime ago who found out about my whistleblowing and assumed I wanted to analyse or talk about it or that I wanted pity. This I believe is the worst of human nature. If we wanted "pity", we wouldn't have chosen the path of whistleblowing would we? The reason we whistleblow is because we have a strength of character and believe in something. Whistleblowers are often pretty tough people. Tougher than many people assume. I am certainly not one to sit around wasting time crying and moaning at others.
Of course they all mean well but when it comes to constructive practical advice, there is never very much because in the end people are rather impotent when they are faced with dealing whistleblowers. Even people who talk about whistleblowers like Steve Bolsin will say " Awwww look at him, he had to go to Australia". Well, he would not have had to go to Australia if people had been helpful enough to give him a job or practical assistance as opposed to providing him with large amounts of "Pity". Bolsin has a large brain, he works faster than the average bear and as a side effect he happens to be immensely sexy but that is probably due to fact that he is quite charismatic and practical. He was a big loss to the UK but the UK never did anything to bring him back to the UK.
Sympathy often annoys me because in the time I have been a whistleblower, not one person has ever told me that they would assist to effect changes in the system, to ensure that there would be accountability or that there would be changes in the medical culture in the way they all treat whistleblowers with contempt or as the " untouchable". I have been offered large amounts of sympathy, pity and counselling but we need some action because in the end large numbers of patient deaths is not a laughing matter. In addition, we don't need to waste time procrastinating. If we did, we might as well be a government minister or a NHS Manager.
In summary, I am not the sort of person who wants to spend time talking about issues over coffee unless someone wishes to use it as a constructive method of improving the system. That's why we are whistleblowers - ie we effect change and we don't sit around contemplating or debating the world. I think that is the case with all whistleblowers although society will find its way of undermining their work, side lining them and pretending they don't matter. The other issue to remember is that whistleblowers are 3D people - there is often more to them than simply the whistleblowing incident. Anyway, when I have people offering me sympathy in sickly amounts, I walk away and play Frank Sinatra. That's what I did yesterday when I received a email from the World Health Organisation expressing their sympathy for my suffering. I found it profoundly amazing that no one expressed some sympathy of the large number of patient deaths on Ward 87, not even the World Health Organisation who completely missed the point. Perhaps WHO means the rest of the world but the UK. Do we assume that the UK is a first world country when its health service exists in the third world. That won't matter to the average person as its not their family who end up in the NHS.
The good thing about Frank Sinatra is that you know that doing it " your way" is probably the right thing to do. Fly Me to the Moon is always a great song and one of my favourites. In the days I didn't have an IPOD, it was my favourite tape in North Staffordshire NHS Trust while I was oncall. Good feet tapping music while you are writing up your medical notes. The other thing about Frank Sinatra is that his music makes you believe in tomorrow and the future which we all hope will be different and better.
Of course they all mean well but when it comes to constructive practical advice, there is never very much because in the end people are rather impotent when they are faced with dealing whistleblowers. Even people who talk about whistleblowers like Steve Bolsin will say " Awwww look at him, he had to go to Australia". Well, he would not have had to go to Australia if people had been helpful enough to give him a job or practical assistance as opposed to providing him with large amounts of "Pity". Bolsin has a large brain, he works faster than the average bear and as a side effect he happens to be immensely sexy but that is probably due to fact that he is quite charismatic and practical. He was a big loss to the UK but the UK never did anything to bring him back to the UK.
Sympathy often annoys me because in the time I have been a whistleblower, not one person has ever told me that they would assist to effect changes in the system, to ensure that there would be accountability or that there would be changes in the medical culture in the way they all treat whistleblowers with contempt or as the " untouchable". I have been offered large amounts of sympathy, pity and counselling but we need some action because in the end large numbers of patient deaths is not a laughing matter. In addition, we don't need to waste time procrastinating. If we did, we might as well be a government minister or a NHS Manager.
In summary, I am not the sort of person who wants to spend time talking about issues over coffee unless someone wishes to use it as a constructive method of improving the system. That's why we are whistleblowers - ie we effect change and we don't sit around contemplating or debating the world. I think that is the case with all whistleblowers although society will find its way of undermining their work, side lining them and pretending they don't matter. The other issue to remember is that whistleblowers are 3D people - there is often more to them than simply the whistleblowing incident. Anyway, when I have people offering me sympathy in sickly amounts, I walk away and play Frank Sinatra. That's what I did yesterday when I received a email from the World Health Organisation expressing their sympathy for my suffering. I found it profoundly amazing that no one expressed some sympathy of the large number of patient deaths on Ward 87, not even the World Health Organisation who completely missed the point. Perhaps WHO means the rest of the world but the UK. Do we assume that the UK is a first world country when its health service exists in the third world. That won't matter to the average person as its not their family who end up in the NHS.
The good thing about Frank Sinatra is that you know that doing it " your way" is probably the right thing to do. Fly Me to the Moon is always a great song and one of my favourites. In the days I didn't have an IPOD, it was my favourite tape in North Staffordshire NHS Trust while I was oncall. Good feet tapping music while you are writing up your medical notes. The other thing about Frank Sinatra is that his music makes you believe in tomorrow and the future which we all hope will be different and better.
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