The greatest fear of many people entering our public healthcare system is not only the illness they carry, but how they will be treated once they get there.
Too many patients and their families experience an apparent lack of compassion, an uncaring attitude and a shortage of helping hands when they are at their most vulnerable. Patients who are already suffering should not have to endure indifference, disrespect or the feeling that they are a burden to those entrusted with their care.
Healthcare is not simply about buildings, beds, equipment and medication. It is about human beings treating other human beings with dignity, patience and compassion.
Our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who work tirelessly under difficult conditions deserve recognition. However, no shortage of resources or excessive workload should make compassion an optional extra. Where staff shortages and poor working conditions contribute to the problem, the authorities must address them. Where individuals demonstrate unacceptable attitudes, accountability must follow.
A patient is not a nuisance, a hospital bed is not a storage space, and an elderly person is not a burden. Every patient deserves to be treated as somebody’s mother, father, child or loved one.
The Ministry of Health must investigate complaints, strengthen patient-care standards and establish a system through which patients and families can report mistreatment without fear of victimisation.
We cannot measure the success of our healthcare system solely by how many patients it admits or how much money it spends. We must also ask how patients are treated, how promptly they receive attention and whether their dignity is respected.
When people enter a hospital already frightened by illness, the last thing they need is to feel abandoned by the very system established to help them.
COMPASSION COSTS NOTHING, BUT ITS ABSENCE CAN BE DEVASTATING.
Is it too much to ask that our public healthcare system treat every patient with the humanity and respect they deserve?
A concerned citizen
Gordon Laughlin,
Westmoorings
