Tired, in point of fact

The text of a recent letter published in The Times, UK.

Sir, Grateful as I am for the King’s supportive comments on Christmas Day, I have to say that “tireless” is not an accurate adjective for healthcare workers (“King’s speech is a gift for ‘tireless’ health workers”, news, Dec 26). We are not tireless, we are exhausted, demoralised and angry, and are fed up with working in a service that is understaffed, underfunded for what it is being asked to provide and which is being used as a whipping boy by anyone with a political axe to grind. We are tired of being expected to carry on despite this, and despite decades of real-terms pay erosion. We are also tired of being told by politicians that industrial action puts patients’ lives at risk while they refuse to acknowledge that their failure to act has resulted in a state of collapse for the NHS, which is a far greater threat to patients.

Using adjectives such as “tireless” fails to acknowledge that burnout and exhaustion are causing thousands of healthcare workers to leave, either for other jobs or for countries that value us more.
Dr Cath Livingstone
Consultant anaesthetist, Galashiels, Selkirkshire