‘My heart op wait shows why we must protect NHS’ – union boss
UNION boss and father-of-two Mark Serwotka has spoken about his agonising 35-day wait in hospital for a heart transplant.
Mr Serwotka, who is head of the Public and Commercial Services Union, suffered heart failure after contracting a rare virus while walking his dog in 2010.
He is kept alive by a £130,000 device strapped to his waist, called a ventricular assist device, which pumps blood around his body for him.
But there was hope for the Cardiffborn, Aberdare-raised father when he was told a suitable heart donor had been found for him.
In a new blog post, he said: “I was told there was a heart, I was getting my transplant. I was prepped and ready to be wheeled into theatre.
“My wife and son drove up to Cambridge and my daughter jumped on the first train she could from Bristol where she is studying.
“At the last minute the team did the final examination of the donor heart and found it was diseased.
“I naturally felt gutted, and it was especially hard on my family.”
But Mr Serwotka said the professionalism, standard of care and the support his family received at an incredibly emotional time as “absolutely phenomenal”.
“We couldn’t have been in better hands,” he added.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be in here before my transplant, but my stay so far really has hardened my resolve to ensuring we defend our NHS with everything we’ve got.”
He said his experience at Papworth Hospital, a heart and lung hospital in Cambridgeshire, has reaffirmed his beliefs about why the NHS should be saved from budget cuts and privatisation.
He added: “It means defending the health workers, who have been treated appallingly, with their pay and pensions slashed, their contracts ripped up and even hints now that foreign doctors won’t be welcome in the UK in the future.
“This last point makes me particularly angry because from day one, when I first started having problems in 2010, I’ve been looked after by fantastic and dedicated doctors and other professionals from all over the world.”
He said there are many layers of the NHS that the public – and the Conservatives – struggle to get their head around.
“When we picture the NHS we mostly think of nurses and doctors. But being in my position, you get to see so much more and it’s truly wonderful,” he added.
“The porters who ferry you around, the staff who clean the wards and bring your food, the dietitians who say what should be on your plate, the physios who get you back on your feet, and the specialist nurses like my brilliant transplant co-ordinator team here at Papworth. To name just a few.
“This is something I honestly think Jeremy Hunt and the Tories will never fully grasp, or don’t want to.
“They don’t have a genuine sense of how the whole NHS is run. Or our other public services, for that matter.
“They see them as bureaucracies, first to be vilified, the better then to be cut down to size.”