HSE pet names cull the latest in sustained assault on kindness
IRELAND is no longer the land of a thousand welcomes, at least to its citizens. Over recent years, with increasing frequency, the Ireland many of us grew up in has started to change, for the worse. The tears of an old woman brought this home to me while standing in a queue at a rural post office that was about to close its doors forever on Friday morning. The move to close post offices in areas of small populations makes perfect sense from an economic perspective the way they are currently operated. In an era of mobile and tablet instant ‘app’ification, the days of queuing up for ages in post offices are fading fast. In America, whose culture we are emulating at an alarming pace, twentysomethings believe going to the supermarket is a total waste of time. Fast forward a few years and the way we shop will be completely different.
But to totally forget about our elderly is more than just collateral damage of our society’s desire to get up to speed with big, successful world economies. The Government, our banks, our health service have all, to varying degrees, fallen into a default lowest common denominator, capitalist, PC position. The woman was chatting with a postmistress she has known for decades at a post office counter surrounded by community notices and ads, phone numbers, the minutiae of a community’s life, one she has visited innumerable times – about to be dismantled within hours. The woman did something big businesses in this country are failing to do, she took the time to chat with someone on a human level. The woman dragged out the conversation a little, with pauses and a sigh or two – saying goodbye – before turning away with tears in her eyes.
An elderly man was up next. He needed help filling out a form as his sight wasn’t strong enough to read the small print on some official form. The postmistress took the time to help him. His voice was heavy with emotion and warmth as he wished her well, after she assured him she’d be seeing him again soon.
The human touch was there.
Now look at the HSE’s latest brainwave, preventing staff from referring to patients as dear or Love.
In this age of technology shouldn’t making connections with people, in what can otherwise be an intimidating, frightening environment as a hospital, be higher up on the agenda than limiting communication.
In a week when you’d imagine Ballybrack FC couldn’t be topped for ‘gaffe of the week’ after one of its staff claimed a Spanish player named Fernando Nuna la Fuente, was dead to get out of playing Arklow, the HSE goes and tops it all with its political correctness gone mad latest policy.
Under strict new rules for employees, patients can only be referred to by their first name. The phrase ‘ how are you feeling hun?’ will be banned shortly as part of this wider overhaul of communication in hospitals. There is also a warning on referring to patients by their bed number or their ailment such as ‘ the one with the hip’.
The ‘communications programme’ has been rolled out in 18 hospitals around the country and is expected to be extended to others in the coming months.
At a time when elderly people, especially, are feeling increasingly estranged from society at banks, in supermarkets, in airports and in their own villages, this is another nail in a socially progressive, modern Ireland’s coffin.