When the health budget is under scrutiny, do staff matter more than machines?

Recently I have been reading about plans to use robots for basic medical procedures and the electronic monitoring of patients around their own homes, to ensure their safety without the need for another person being present. This reminded me of a woman whose father had a terminal illness who asked to see the hospital doctor in whose care he had been placed. Her reaction to the subsequent meeting with this man was, “I asked to talk to his doctor and they sent me a technician.”

I’ve had little contact with hospitals in my life, that is until my husband, Donald, became ill last year and early one October evening I had to call an ambulance to take him to hospital. I expected him to come home with me and a family member was on standby to pick us up but at 1am he was still in emergency care and deemed not well enough to come home. He was distressed and so was I but one of the nurses came with me to the door and put her arms round me as she promised that she would sit by his side until he slept and that she would be watching over him for me. I left feeling comforted and was able to sleep for a few hours before returning to his bedside.

The next day Donald’s condition was still being monitored but my daughters and I were given as much space and privacy as possible so that we could be close to him. We sat in his cubicle for several hours, holding his hand and listening to his laboured breathing but it was not until his breathing became almost inaudible that I realised that he was dying. The machine to which he was connected sent out its noisy warning, the emergency staff took over and we were led to a small room as they made a final attempt to keep him alive.

The registrar came to tell us he had died and sat quietly with us for a while. Despite being very tired and very young the registrar answered all our questions and talked about Donald as if he had known him and cared about his death. Later a nurse came to replace him and she too was wonderfully caring and gave us the feeling that we were the only people who mattered in that busy hospital.

Two weeks afterwards, I received a card from two of the nurses saying how sorry they were that Donald had died and offering to help in the times when things seemed tough.

When my daughters and I talk about those last hours with Donald, the machines, the equipment, the blood transfusions and the drugs all take second place. What we will always remember is the kindness of the staff.

There are many changes that need to be made to our health services but, if our family’s experience is anything to go by, we are fortunate in having people working in our public hospitals who really care about the patients and their families. My personal answer to the question at the top of this blog is a very strong “Yes”.

Marie Hull-Brown, Mental Health Promoter - Older People, Mental Health Foundation