I have spent the weekend being looked after by my young granddaughter (with lots of adults about too). She has observed my wife looking after me and has sussed out the detail completely. if I need to get up she brings me my stick and then holds my hand whilst she walks me around the house, knowing intuitively when to respect my dignity. At the moment when she grows up she wants to be a nurse, a doctor, or a social worker, but let’s wait and see. The key thing is that she is not pressured into doing any particular kind of work and is supported to do what she wants to do in her own time.
This makes me feel that social care and health are not a bleak and barren landscape. If it was, why would any one sign up to any of the professional qualifications?
My personal experience in all but one of my contacts with hospital health care has been outstanding. My care team has always treated me as an equal and included me in all decisions.
When I had to move from active treatment, my hospital team stayed in contact, in the hope I would get well enough to get back on treatment, which is possible.
Every time I listen to, or have conversations with social care and health workers, I rarely come across anger or disappointment. The most important thing that comes across to me, is how much the majority of the people that work in social care and health enjoy what they are doing and that they do their best. The thing that hampers them most is the fear they have of the way the social care and health system extracts value from both systems (with no regard to how this will impact on people’s ability to deliver care, treatment and support).
And that’s the challenge – a workforce that cares and puts the needs of the people they support before their own needs. Yes, there are bad apples out there but there are in every industry.
Jim Thomas and D Thomas
October 2025
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