{"id":2818,"date":"2018-06-28T11:04:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T11:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2023-03-22T12:40:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T12:40:29","slug":"the-nhs-at-70-an-experience-not-available-in-any-textbook-alex-gordon-medicine-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2018\/06\/28\/the-nhs-at-70-an-experience-not-available-in-any-textbook-alex-gordon-medicine-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"The NHS at 70: \u201cAn experience not available in any textbook\u201d \u2013 Alex Gordon (Medicine 2014-)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one way or another I\u2019ve been a part of the National Health Service (NHS) since 2012, having started my career as an Auxiliary Nurse prior to beginning my studies at Cardiff\u2019s School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That initial vocational experience has served me well, and given me incredible insight into the many cogs involved in keeping the NHS running. It\u2019s the fifth-largest employer in the world, and everyone works together for the benefit of the patient.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m now in my fourth year at Cardiff, and in that time I\u2019ve been on placements across Wales. In different wards and hospitals which span a range of specialities, the one constant is the commitment and professionalism of NHS staff.<\/p>\n

The experience itself is not available in any textbook; I could never have become a doctor without first being fully immersed in hospital life. As students, we\u2019re lucky that we benefit from that on a day-to-day basis at the University Hospital of Wales.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit of a clich\u00e9, but these people and places have inspired me to keep working towards my goal. The NHS is where I see my future career, and it\u2019s something I feel really passionate about.<\/p>\n

Working in this environment forces you to consider the brilliance of the system \u2013 particularly how a patient can have thousands of pounds worth of emergency treatment and not have to worry about settling the bill at such a stressful time.<\/p>\n

We have to remember how lucky we are. Health inequality is far less prevalent in the UK than in many other countries, and it\u2019s truly my belief that socioeconomic factors should not dictate someone\u2019s access to healthcare. Those were the values at the heart of the NHS 70 years ago, and the same is true today.<\/p>\n

There is always talk at the moment about pressures on the NHS, and what our service will look like in future years. \u201cThe\u00a0NHS will last\u00a0as long as there\u2019s folk with faith left\u00a0to\u00a0fight for it,\u201d is a quote attributed to its founding father, Nye Bevan.<\/p>\n

If we have people as compassionate and committed as those I meet on a daily basis, it will continue to serve us. Here\u2019s to the next 70 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one way or another I\u2019ve been a part of the National Health Service (NHS) since 2012, having started my career as an Auxiliary Nurse prior to beginning my studies at Cardiff\u2019s School of Medicine.","protected":false},"author":1504,"featured_media":2856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiff-connect","category-news"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1504"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}