Who Cares?

Expertise is not what’s wanted

in a health-care system favouring

a labour force we can underpay,

train by rote or not at all.

‘Do it like this,’ because that’s what a woman

who doesn’t understand the implications

of what she’s teaching tells us.

‘The latest research shows you should

rock from the hips when moving a load,’

‘Chlorhexidine kills all bacteria and spores,’

‘Best interest can be defined by a set of criteria.’

Who says? What about using the knees to lift

and being less confident about the destruction

of notoriously persistent spores, what about

the art of discovering the individual’s best interests?

At eighteen you take it all in 
unquestioningly.

At thirty two you’re training others,

wanting them to abide by the policies

and protocols you’re all locked into.

At fifty you wonder how much of it is

arbitrary depending on which training company

your organization employs,

which set of research papers they choose

from the wide range of journals
(if they read them at all).

You wonder who listens to patients,  

residents, clients’ families, carers,

who learns by careful attention to them,

reflecting on their experiences.

It often seems that those who know most

have no voice because who listens

to a carer, paid or unpaid? 
Anyone can do the job,

‘no experience required.’

In fact it pays better to be a waitress,

or till operative or pot washer,

so obviously we can’t expect much 

of someone who cares.

©Janet Henderson 6^thSeptember 2019

I wrote this in response to this article in the Guardian. You can read about my thoughts on the value we place on care in this blogpost on my other blog, Social Horizons.